Royal Hunter

Royal Hunter

On a trip to Nepal several years ago, I was making my way apprehensively along a maze of trails to a remote tent camp in the Chitwan area. Adding to my anxiety, I had passed several fresh pugmarks of tigers, and as the light began to fade I imagined a big cat watching...
Trouble with Lions

Trouble with Lions

For weeks on end, deadly man-eaters would plague Arthur Neumann’s safari. The English hunter, Arthur Neumann, was still recovering from a terrible mauling by an angry cow elephant in the Lake Rudolph area of British East Africa (now Lake Turkana, Kenya). The year was...
The Final Charge: Roosevelt’s Bull Moose

The Final Charge: Roosevelt’s Bull Moose

A loner by nature, the eastern bull moose is a completely different animal during the rut, when it wages savage fights for dominance with other males. In the fall of 1915, 57-year-old Theodore Roosevelt went big game hunting for the last time. It would prove to be one...
Rising Buffalo

Rising Buffalo

Instead of just two bulls, Theodore Roosevelt and his party were suddenly confronted by a huge herd of angry Cape buffalo. The buffalo rose like massive black warriors from the papyrus swamp. Theodore Roosevelt and his party had just come face-to-face with one of...
Kermit Roosevelt: The River of Doubt

Kermit Roosevelt: The River of Doubt

On the day after Christmas in 1913, Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit were planning another day of hunting on the Taquary River in Brazil. Both father and son were hunting jaguars before embarking on their big adventure down the River of Doubt. The jaguar is considered...
The Elephant’s Got the Gun

The Elephant’s Got the Gun

One of the first hunters to take advantage of the “Ivory Rush” in the Lado Enclave, John Boyes soon learned just how dangerous his new occupation would be. The death of King Leopold of Belgium in 1909 created an elephant hunters’ free-for-all in the...
The Reluctant Guide for Roosevelt

The Reluctant Guide for Roosevelt

The fresh-faced young man from New York was eager to hunt mountain goats and was doing his best to persuade the rugged man from Missouri to act as his guide. The Missourian was Jack Willis and the tenderfoot was 28-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, who was with a...
The Festive Hunt, 1909

The Festive Hunt, 1909

The long line of native pagazi, each man carrying his allotted 60 pounds of supplies and equipment, moved like a giant mamba through acacia bushes and across the savannah. The American flag was held proudly aloft at the front of the long, seemingly endless line. Some...