Never Poke A Mad Kitty With A Stick! (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

The voiceover was funny, "Now it's the cat's turn to do the poking!" Don't dish it out if you can't take it.

 

[Julie K]

Hey, who the heck let all these gun-nuts into the HTF?

I dunno Dennis, kind of disturbing isn't it?

 

[Mary M S]

Julie,

What would you do, if the

Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H Magnum

jammed?

Read one 'contingency' action, for this scenario a long time ago and always wondered how well it would work.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Actually I'd do what Robert Redford did in Out of Africa: just wait to see if the kitty wanted to eat Meryl Streep. Gotta love a movie with Redford as the sexy hero, playing the part of a guy named DENNIS, waving a gun around.
I'd use one of my short Czech VZ-24's with bayonet attached as a fallback. But if you know me you know I really wouldn't want to hurt a kitty.
When I lived in San Diego years ago I was introduced to a couple who owned a "bootleg" African lion cub. It was wonderful to roughhouse around with a young lion that was at that stage of his life "tame". Really sad in retrospect because they always grow up and don't live well with humans. I'll never forget sitting on their sofa and having a lion try to sit in my lap....

 

[Mary M S]

I can’t believe I’m telling this, had not thought of it in years. As an infant terrible, I chased anything living, which was not human. Due to this love of beasties I had rabies shots twice while I was growing up, since the “strange” dogs ran off, and no one knew who/what they were, so I got the series.

One day, at the zoo, my parents could not drag me away from the big cat cage, where I was studying a large Male Lion. This was the old boxy zoo version, terrible concrete cages in a row; you could get fairly close behind the handrail to the bars. My intensity must have bothered the guy, because all the sudden, he turned around, backed up to the bars, (I’m thinking, ‘Oh look, he’s doing something!) and yep Bulls-eye, he had perfect aim when he ‘marked me’.

Dennis, I liked your story much better, I have never held a lion, but had my close encounter of a ? kind.

(Oh, the action I read to take, in a jam situation, it's late, - next post).

 

[Julie K]

The jamming question is a good one - I actually sent back my first .375 H&H because of that issue. After a few rounds I could not get the bolt open. Definitely not a good thing on a rifle of that sort.
Fortunately the one I have now is in good working order. The first one had manufacturing defects and should never had been sold in the first place.
As for what I'd do - well, Dennis would rely on his bayonet, but I'd use the .45ACP I had as backup. Hey, if I'm walking into a closed room with something potentially nasty, I'm having plenty backup.

 

[StephenK]

Hmm..the jamming question reminded me of a little joke...

Two Hunters in Africa were stalking game when they came upon a lion hiding in the bush. The hunters get panicked and in their haste to fire, both jam their guns. Suddenly, one of the hunters drops his rifle and starts running away. The other hunter does the same and calls out to his friend, "what are you doing? you can't out-run a lion!"

His friend calls back, "I don't have to out-run the lion, I just have to out-run you!"

 

[Julie K]

A hunter and his guide suddenly come upon a lion in a small clearing. The hunter fires, but the range his so short that he misjudges and completely misses the lion. The lion leaps at him, but doesn't make contact. The hunter and guide manage to run off to safety.
A little way away, the guide tells the hunter that he's got to practice his short-range shooting. As they start to set up targets for practice, they hear a commotion in the clearing next to them. They peer through the grass only to notice the lion practicing short leaps.

 

[Mary M S]

Julie,

I read this so many years ago, I can not remember if it was an account of an actual event.

In the 30’s ? a lion charged a guide in Africa, whose gun jammed as he fired at the lion’s initial leap.

Having no other defense, he tried to maintain his feet, the lion was at his forearm, he balled his fist, and waited for the lion to shift grip. When the jaws opened for that split second, leaping off his feet, he put the weight of his whole body behind the fist, and went down the lion’s throat.

The gag reflex is so strong, that the lion released and fled, and was found a short distance away, rolling in agony by a bearer and the hunter who ended the encounter.

A few years ago, while dealing with the ‘Renters from Hell’ nearby, who owned the neighborhood rampaging Pitbull, I thought of that story, and wondered, if I would have the presence under crisis, baring any other weapon available, to try that one on the ‘urban terror’.

The only problem being, Pitbulls are known for not ‘shifting’ grip.

 

[Julie K]

Mary,
I'm not aware of that particular incident, but I have heard recommendations of shoving an arm (your left if you're right handed) down the critter's mouth while grabbing the tongue. The idea here is to keep the animal's mouth away from your neck while you get busy with your right hand and doing as much damage as you can in order to make a continued attack too painful for the attacker.
I've had to think upon that technique before (nasty dog next door) but it's not something I'd want to try unless I absolutely had to.
But a well made, well maintained rifle rarely jams. Barring the manufacturing defect I mentioned in that first rifle, the Winchester claw extractor does a good job in keeping things jam-free. I've heard that particular mechanism described as being good for when you're upside down under a lion and frantically trying to reload

 

[John Spencer]

Yet another in a long line of horror stories about the dangers of trying to make a pussy bow to your demands.
Come on. You guys know you were thinking it!
Honey. Honey? Where ya goin'? What? Um...I really don't think that's physically possible. Ok. Bye then. :frowning:

 

[Scott Strang]

Julie K sez

Excluding snakes, insects, and other humans (hmmm...interesting grouping there), the number one killer of humans in Africa is the hippo.

We were at the zoo about 3 weeks ago and after seeing the teeth, or tusks, in a hippo's mouth, it's not hard to see how they can f**k up a human. This one opened her mouth when ever you put yours hands together and spread them apart. She was cute but certainly looked dangerous.

Our zoo is not in the best of shape. They did have a couple pigmy hippos but they were shot and eventually killed by the "bad element" that lives around the zoo. They also take shots at the elk and other deer-like animals in the zoo. It's located in the bad part of town.

Really sad. Perhaps some of those guys should be put in the tiger's cage.

 

[Scott Strang]

John Spencer sez

Yet another in a long line of horror stories about the dangers of trying to make a pussy bow to your demands.

 

[Henry Carmona]

Im back
Wow you guys are nuts , j/k.
Actually, im told that most guids in Africa carry a sawed off shot gun with heavy loads to defend themselves agains most cats.
A rifle is too long and you have to be very careful to get a good shot. The shotgun with some heavy buckshot in a 3 1/2 inch mag has a great spread and i can see how it would allow for a not so perfect aim.
Being a Park Ranger carries some danger in the job, but these guys were trying to help the Leopard in some way and releasing it. Sometimes you just have bad luck
I agree that most deaths are attributed to the Hippo, but i believe the most recognized of dangerous animals to hunters in Africa is the Cape Buffalo.
I once had another video (ill look) of a few guys on a Leopard hunt and they cornered it in a rock quarry.
Well, the leapord jumped out and attacked the guy and really scratched up his arm bad, before another guy made a miracle shot and killed it with a revolver.

 

[Allen W]

I stepped out of my tent on a pitch black night in Tanzania on Safari 10 years ago and spooked a Hippo. I never saw him I just heard him cracking the trees that were in his way like popcicle sticks. It was amazing to hear four and five inch diameter trees snapping. Don't ever get in between the river and a hippo, when they get nervous they go to the water and mow down anything in their way!
I learned a little swahili which was very helpful and I will never forget, just in case the natives forget to clue you in "Simba na kudya" means the "the lion is coming!"
Our guide always told us it was the cape buffalos that killed more people in Africa than any of the cats. It was a different paradigm to hunt there and realize very quickly that everything you hunted in Africa was hunting you as well.
The scariest thing I saw? A black mamba snake. They call it a "two step snake" as in, take two steps after it bites you and keel over. I felt like I had at least a fighting chance to defend myself against everything else there except the mamba. It travels with about half its body above ground, is about 10 feet long and really fast. Rattlesnakes do not bother me but I do not wish to ever see another black mamba.
Our guide always carried a 450#2 caliber double barrel rifle with open sights for close range defense work. Two seperate firing mechanisms with two triggers, so you have a built in back up everywhere you go, just in case.
I really hope I get the opportunity to go back someday, it was the trip of a lifetime. I did bring back 55 rolls of great pictures though.

 

[Julie K]

My guide carried a .416 Rigby. Damn, I want one bad
I didn't run into any mambas, but puff adders are scary to me. They like to sun themselves on paths and don't always move if a small or lightweight person comes down that path.
I also enjoyed the hippos in the river next to camp. I also made sure to not have to leave my hut to go to the bathroom in the night. Then there was the thrill of hearing a leopard 'cough' at a close distance and never, ever seeing a thing...
Damn, I want to go back real bad too.

 

[Henry Carmona]

A few years ago, while dealing with the ‘Renters from Hell’ nearby, who owned the neighborhood rampaging Pitbull, I thought of that story, and wondered, if I would have the presence under crisis, baring any other weapon available, to try that one on the ‘urban terror’.

The only problem being, Pitbulls are known for not ‘shifting’ grip.

Back in the day, when it was the norm, handlers would use a "Breaking Stick" which they would use to break a pit bulls grip on another dog by inserting it between the teeth and down the pit bulls throat.

 

[Mary M S]

Nice to know it would work in that urban scenario, however (gulp) hope I never have to test it.

I really did go over it in my mind, particularly after my neighbor saved the 80 yr old across the street who was trying to retrieve her mail and became corned by this dog.

The neighbor stated, next time she would fetch her gun, before she went to the rescue,(tough cookie who raced cross-county motorcycles). She kept the pit intimidated enough it never charged, but had to keep turning the elderly woman and herself, as it spent about 4 minutes trying to maneuver and come up from behind her. The mailman heard the commotion and came with mace, the neighbor said she thought (the dog) would not stay as easily intimidated on a second occurrence, and she wanted to be ready.

It is something to ponder, since without a weapon most humans natural response would be to get a forearm out of the dogs grip, not go the other way with it!

 

[Henry Carmona]

Scary moment one time for me was when a neighbor hood dog attacked me.
It was like hiding behind a car and all i could do was grab it by the scruff of the neck with both hands and hold it.
I actually walked to the neighbors house and kicked at his door for him to come out and take his damn dog!!

 

[Mary M S]

I hope he apologized.