We spotted the nyati early, before the sun had begun to clang like a blacksmith's hammer on the anvil of southern Africa. They were not the first of the safari–you couldn't travel very far in Mozambique in the early '70s without seeing thousands of Cape buffalo–but those had been mere background for the intoxicating realization that we were, at long last, in Africa. It was the first safari for both my companion, Jack Carter, and me. We'd flipped a coin, agreeing to alternate shooting opportunities as they came, regardless of species... except for two.

Reprinted for Houston Safari Club Hunter's Horn; Spring 2021 - Leopard maulings of sport hunters have never been particularly uncommon, but fatalities from them have never been as numerous as from the other members of the Big Five.

The lion lay atop his termite hill, half-asleep in the heat of the Botswana noon. He was lazily aware of the goodness of the shade and of the smell of the lioness who lolled beside him, and of the annoyance of the tsetse flies. His empty belly was complaining, but the lion was accustomed to that; the pride would hunt that night. Game was plentiful and it would not be difficult to kill. He was profoundly contented, the unchallenged master of his world. He lifted his massive head and yawned, twitching away a persistent tsetse.

Reprinted for Houston Safari Club Hunter's Horn; Summer 2021 - Know how it feels to be the target of automatic weapons fire in infantry combat. I have seen the eyes of a drunken man, armed with a machete, bent on taking my life. I’ve looked a wounded Cape buffalo bull in the teeth at just 15 yards

I know how it feels to be the target of automatic weapons fire in infantry combat. I have seen the eyes of a drunken man, armed with a machete, bent on taking my life. I've looked wounded Cape buffalo bull in the teeth at just 15 yards. I've endured the stunning silence after a light airplane's one engine quit without warning. I once had the reserve air valve of a scuba tank jam and leave me literally breathless 85 feet below the surface of the Caribbean. Altogether, I can recall a lot of times when the seconds seemed to drag by like a convict's weeks... but _the _longest ten minutes I've ever lived through were in a blind in an African dusk, listening to a leopard feeding just 45 steps away!