Read more. Also, one just doesn't turn down official requests from district commissioners, not if one wants to hang on to one's professional hunter's license. I slowed further and he explained in Fanagalo that he had seen the flicker of an ear beneath a small thorn shrub in the grass but wasn't certain if it belonged to a lion or a hyena. When you pick up a rifle and take the first step on a lion hunt, you know that you are taking a fair chance of being maimed or killed. One of them, older and more weather worn, is pitched fifty yards from the others. Capstick writes with absolute authority on an Africa which is rapidly receding into the past. Impasse. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Death in the Silent Places - 9780312186180, Peter Hathaway Capstick, hardcover at the best online prices at eBay! With humor, grace, and supreme tension, Capstick takes the reader . He must have already cleared it through my company or he wouldn't have known I was free. I have seen the, in the British Museum, dating from approximately 1400 B.C. One big slug had taken him from below at a slight angle, punching a cantaloupe-sized hole through his chest that broke his off-shoulder into atoms, the other just creasing his side in a long, red welt that cut the short hair of his flank like a barber's razor. I finally decided, after locking eyes with her for at least six months, that I would prefer the devil I didn't know to the one lying there watching me like a butcher reading a cuts chart. Some professionals show their assorted scars with pride, but I don't feel that way. As she neared the hut again with steel nerve, there was a scuffle of movement, and although she was a young woman who had never listened to anyone die, the sound that came through the darkness left no doubt that Len Harvey was beyond help.Banging on the De Beers' door, she poured out her story and collapsed. In this novel, Alex's uncle dies in what he is told is a car accident. tree, there is a tiny, silent movement. Our safari crew was scared white, but none of the big cats showed any aggressiveness and eventually melted off into the night. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2014. In this case the price of the binge wasn't a headache, but death.The headman pointed to the north when I asked him in Fanagalo where the lion had carried his kill. I whistled up Silent and told him to get cracking with the normal, for a three-day trip. Beautiful stories and vivid descriptions. I would later report that the hide had spoiled and was not taken, so I wouldn't have to turn in more than the ears to the Game Department, which claims all unlicensed trophies. by Peter Capstick. His preying eyes slipped carefully across the village, but all was still--none of the hairless animals in sight.In a low, hunch-shouldered crouch, he slinked toward the rear of a darkened hut, his huge paws soundless against the packed red clay. Still, we had our best shot at him yet.We took up the trail at half-past five as the false dawn began to turn the trees into gnarled monsters. After enough experience, you find your brain never goes completely to sleep, but, like an army posting sentries, keeps partially awake while the main body sleeps. Smells like that same chap who ate the other bunch over at Chabunkwa, about five miles from this village. The man-thing is still asleep, unaware of crouching death so near, his breathing deep and regular in the cat's lain-back ears. , a wraparound loincloth. If you're watering multiple times a day in mid-temperature weather, you're giving it too much. His friends will later decide that even if he had the rifle now he would still have less than one minute to live.Fifty yards from Hankin's tent, in the shadowy skeleton of a fallen. "Le Xin Watan Memorial Park" located on Roman Highway, Fuxing District, Taoyuan City, was built in 2017. No blood. By the sounds, the lioness was standing over Colin's body. We were back at the Senga village in late afternoon, the brave little hunter grinning from the painkiller I had given him from my flask.I snapped a couple of pictures of the lion with the self-timer and began to skin him. His wife had reached it and was gripping a crossbar that formed a frame for the lashed-on, grass. His writing style remains undated, as readable as a tabloid newspaper and as exciting as any Forsyth thriller. It did. After ten yards of retreat, he pantomimed that a woman's hand was lying just off the trail and that he could smell the lion. Suddenly, the upper hinge had broken, and the woman lost her hold. Over. takes us deep into the heart of darkness to view Africa through the eyes of one of the most renowned professional hunters. Silent ruled out the possibility of this being another lion; one glance at a set of week-old prints and my gunbearer could tell you that lion's favorite color as well as his probable political leanings. He treated all within earshot to a tirade on the lack of government protection from the horrors of the bush. There were the usual bushveldt sounds of insects, the wet swirls of catfish and crocs on the river, the honking of hippos and the sleepy chatter of insomniac baboons in the grove of fever trees over the ridge. Ignoring the agony of broken bones, he tried to grasp it. I went back into the hut. Shocked awake, Len Harvey realized what was happening and, with the incredible bravery of the desperate, threw himself on the lioness barehanded, punching and scratching to make the big cat drop his wife. That lion still roams free. I felt that just as the day before, the lion would travel a few miles, then stop to feed, although after the meal he had taken the previous day, he couldn't have been terribly hungry. One, an absolutely immense black-maned male, was the biggest lion I have ever seen, certainly over ten feet in length. He triggered the first shot, then, as fast as his smashed hands could work the bolt action, fired twice more. Lions are not at all above scavenging and take to moderately decomposed carrion quite nicely, thanks very much. Peter Hathaway. The heat of the African night pressed heavily against him, and, as he paused, the hush of quiet breathing came to his pricked-up ears. He thought it unsafe to have a loaded gun around the camp. Silent entered with my flask, and we were able to get a gagging shot down his throat. Although injured carnivores who cannot fend for themselves in a normal hunting manner may, indeed, turn to sneaking a native or two between meals, most people-preying lions are generally healthy, sleek, and often oversized specimens more than fit to pursue their normal food. A parallel may be found in the case of the new mother who awakes instantly at her infant's faintest cry. May be a former library book. Leopards, on the other hand, almost never make a sound when charging. To treat your dead grass, run a lawn tiller over the grass and water it every day for a week to help it . Even as I pick up my copy I can feel my heart start to pound, feel the dust of Africa under my feet, smell the whiff of cordite and hot metal, taste the tang of blood. Gripping read, good way of storytelling the various bush animals, Especially liked the account fo the cape buffallo. television series, it's understandable that most Americans don't regard the average lion as much tougher or more dangerous than Rima the Bird Girl.And speaking of the Adamson lions, you might be interested to know that one of those cuddly creatures sprang upon an open car driven by one of Kenya's top game officers, who was riding with his wife and young son in a game reserve a year or so ago. I had learned in Asia that the best weapon against a thin-skinned animal at close range was a 12-gauge shotgun with magnum loads of buckshot. I was wishing I had listened to mother and become an accountant or a haberdasher as I slipped into a duck-walk and inched ahead. Great book with amazing stories, book itself brand new and in perfect condition. Death in the Long Grass 9780417034607 | eBay BUY 3, GET 20% OFF See all eligible items and terms Hover to zoom Have one to sell? I grabbedthe rifle and electric torch, pulled the thorn fence away, and dashed barefoot toward the screams. One of the Italians kindly took it on his license for me, solving a very real legal problem.Interestingly, a rash of killings that had been takingplace over the past few months in an area some fifty miles upriver abruptly stopped after the incident. I also. It was hard, dangerous hunting that I had quit rather than risk a client's being chewed up. We looked at them and they looked at us. The cat gave a horrible roar and released Silent as I wrenched the spear free, the long point bright with blood. ""It didn't take long to find out about the disturbance. Imagine the number of people they had eaten in the ten years they operated unmolested! Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. The man was still staring in horror, mumbling gibberish. A murmur of voices arising from somewhere in our camp indicated that I was not alone in my apprehension. Except for a very small percentage of the acreage that the buffalo herds had knocked down, it was practically impenetrable. I've read "Death in the Dark Continent" and "Death in the Tall Grass," myself and loved them.Thanks to this thread,I too am inspired to "dig" them out again!It's been years since I read them one cold,snow filled winter. ""No one had been bitten. It grabbed the boy by the skull from between the unarmed mother and father and dragged him out of the Land Rover, severely mauling him until, somehow, the father was able to reclaim his son. Death in the long grass: Myanmar's snake bite menace Snake charmer Sein Tin cannot remember how many times he's been bitten by snakes, but he believes the writhing tattoos that coil around his arms and body, several depicting Myanmar's mythical "naga" sea serpent, have saved him from mortal wounds. This time the lioness was ready and waiting for him. I just read it again, and loved it just as much as when it was first published ! Death in the Long Grass (1978 edition) | Open Library Peter Capstick Last edited by Tom Morris January 5, 2022 | History Edit An edition of Death in the Long Grass (1978) Death in the Long Grass A Big Game Hunter's Adventures in the African Bush by Peter Capstick 0 Ratings 0 Want to read 0 Currently reading 0 Have read Overview View 1 Edition The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. That lion was one trophy that Silent had earned.The doctor examined Silent's wounds, bound them, and gave him a buttful of penicillin against likely infection from the layers of putrefied meat found under the lion'sclaws and on his teeth, then released him in my care. One doesn't tend to pack the tourists in when word gets around that there is an outside chance of seeing the inside of a lion on a trip through the Tsavo National Park. She had been too busy with Willy De Beer to realize Matthews' presence but suddenly dropped the ranger and, with a hair-raising roar, charged the prostrate boy. Look at it this way: why fool around with Cape buffalo and zebra when man is such a pushover?There are many natural catastrophes, such as plagues and epidemics that litter the bush with corpses, that may lead to lions' learning to eat man. The average shot will be about fifteen yards, if you are lucky, and if you can determine which part of the lion the shadow-dappled patch of hide covers. Perhaps he just wanted to borrow a cup of zebra. "Keep on it, Old Boy," he told me.I did not think the man-eater would kill again tonight because of the size of his meal the night before. Read less. It dawned on him that the lioness must be standing on the stock. The lion immediately swarmed over her upper body and, with a crush of fangs, dragged her quickly off.I looked at my wristwatch. My side was starting to turn a lovely black and blue where the lion had hit me, but whether it was from a paw stroke or just the 450 pounds of impact, I didn't know. Yet, they kept at it until, almost at dark the last day of the safari, they heard a lion roaring a mile away. They are also, I can promise you, the most consistently nasty. A thoughtful author who does well to inform and explain. Then he touched something smooth and hard, snatching up a bottle of beloved Coca-Cola, a still unopened gift from the Italians. The soft snapping of Silent's fingers attracted my attention back outside the hut. Still measuring our relative distances carefully, I decided to take a step toward her. Two months after the attack his head was still swollen twice the normal size, and he continued to suffer from dizziness and ringing in the ears. The bare, beaten earth outside the hut was empty. Anatomically unequiped, as was he, to perform the function through the door, she had stepped out into the night, and the lion had immediately nailed her. Horn of the Hunter: The Story of an African Safari. It was the lion's head, looking in, and I realized in a flash that he was crouched or lying on the roof, a flimsy network of slender poles and bunched grass. Human nature being what it is, Homo sapiens are somehow loathe to entertain the thought that any mere animal would possibly want to eat them for food. He was buried the next day. With my heightened senses, I could now hear the animal padding through the soft dirt outside the hut, looking for a weak point. After giving up his career, the New Jersey native hunted in Central and South America before going to Africa in 1968, where he held professional hunting licenses in Ethiopia, Zambia, Botswana, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Lions may or may not eat people killed under these circumstances, but if they do, they don't seem to forget how easily the meal was obtained and. Only now did I realize how close I had come to being the Chabunkwa lion's eleventh victim. ""Bugger hit the village just this side of the Munyamadzi--know it?--around midnight last night, so far as the report goes. once roamed throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and, of course, the whole of Africa. Nairobi has an impressive cemetery of lion-killed white men, including Sir George Grey, brother of the then prime minister of Great Britain early in this century. A post-mortem on the lioness revealed no reason for her attack beyond hunger. After leaving Wall Street, the New Jersey native hunted in Central and South America before going to Africa, where he held pro hunting licenses in Ethiopia, Zambia, Botswana, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Yet, the lions paid them no appreciable interest. Three more unearthly screams followed. Pinching a bottle of cold beer from the condensation bag, I went back to my hut and lashed the door shut with a long piece of buffalo hide thong.Anybody who is not at least slightly terrified by theprospect of a man-eating lion dropping by for a late snack is, in my opinion, suffering from soft spots in the head. Others, such as Willy De Beer and Paul Nielssen say that the pain was excruciating.The fact that I have never been seriously injured by an animal, save a bite on a booted foot by a Brazilian jaguar, is owed both to luck of the purest form and an absolute dedication on my part to caution with any game. This is not a book for the squeamish but it remains essential reading for anyone planning to visit Africa with a camera or a rifle. Actually, I had it salted and presented it to Silent, who believed that sleeping on it would bring back much of the romance of his youth. I tried to yell to him but the words wouldn't come.In a single bound, the great cat cuffed the spear aside and smashed the Awiza to the ground, pinning him with the weight of his 450-pound, steel sinewed body the way a dog holds a juicy bone. with a taste for white meat? May not include supplemental materials. portrays the great killers of the African bushnot only the lion, leopard, and elephant, but the primitive rhino and the crocodile waiting for its unsuspecting prey, the titanic hippo and the Cape buffalo charging like an express train out of control. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2011-08-30 17:14:45 Bookplateleaf 0008 Boxid IA142818 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Donor allen_countydonation I've done it nine times and I certainly hope it never comes to ten.There are several factors that make a wounded lion soincredibly dangerous. It's an average rank, and the book has a moderate amount of sales on Amazon. In the anemic wash of a dying Central African moon, three canvas teints gleam bluely in a sparse grove of sausage trees near the water's edge. Installing the two clients atop this with me, I had Elias carefully drive toward the continuing growls, the bumper of the car's front flattening the grass ahead of us.As we came closer, perhaps seven or eight yards, we saw some movement at the place from which the growling was coming and instantly fired. Capstick started writing about his adventures in the late 1960s and published numerous articles in various sporting magazines. I had heard lions roaring in the distance but thought nothing of it at the time. Shall I give you a radio sched at eight tonight to see if anything's new? He seems to love big, powerful guns/rifles/shotguns, but a close second favorite of his is a round (or three) of "sundowners", hefty glasses of scotch/whiskey/good, really good wine. There was nothing between me and that lion but a fairly fragile mosquito net, so I felt it incumbent on me to take a dive out the opposite side of the cot. classic big game animal. If you are a professional, every stitched seam on your body shows that you're probably not very good at it. Excerpted by permission. I automatically broke the action and dunked in two fresh rounds from between the fingers of my left hand, the greasy cordite fumes stinging my eyes.The thrashing continued outside the hut for a few seconds less than it took me to untie the rawhide lock with quivering fingers. Snarling fit to freeze the man's blood, he tore away a section of the grass wall and squeezed his head through, right next to Silent's waist.The little gunbearer scrambled around the floor trying to find his spear without success. Reprinted by permission. As opposed to leopard baiting, where the object is to actually kill the animal over the offering, the use of baits for lion serves mainly to draw a lion to an area and hold him so he can be followed up for a shot. ${cardName} not available for the seller you chose. It is normal between a hunter and his gunbearer/tracker that the first spoors while the other covers the possibility of an ambush charge. Surviving illustrations appear to demonstrate that warriors surrounded their lion in much the same manner of the Masai or Nandi of East Africa, throwing spears or javelins and then relying upon the tall shields they carried for protection when the lion charged.Most early European sportsmen hunted lion from horseback with muzzle-loading rifles in Africa, not quite as safe a proposition as one might immediately presume. In a flash of dark motion she is in the air, claws extended like naked linoleum knives, the light mosquito netting shredding before her charge. Well, I reckoned, double or nothing. Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout. One paw ripped through the grass like shredded newspaper, the lion tearing chunks from the hard, wood frame with his teeth. Where was the ammunition? Fumbling, he loaded them both, jacking a round into each chamber. One of the worst is Central Africa, especially near the Great Rift Fault that crosses the continent perpendicularly. No lions. For some reason the lion then turned on Paul's legs and began chewing, as I recall, on his left thigh. The big cat runs off into the bush where Joubert takes up the blood spoor.Over the next hour the lioness inscribes a large circle through the heavy riverine cover and incredibly, despite her wounds and the men following her, returns to the man she has killed and resumes feeding. "The young men thought it was too hot to sleep inside their, , Bwana," he replied. 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