Capstick was a born raconteur whose colorful descriptions and eye for exciting, authentic detail bring us face to face with some of the most ferocious killers in the worldunderrated killers like the surprisingly brave and cunning hyena, silent killers such as the lightning-fast black mamba snake, collective killers like the wild dog. I'll leave in an hour. The scissor-shaped incisors sheared away huge chunks of meat from buttocks and thighs, the lion chewing with the side of his muzzle until his face and chest were covered with dark gore. One, an absolutely immense black-maned male, was the biggest lion I have ever seen, certainly over ten feet in length. I can only hope he was her first victim. The luck of the draw.Willy De Beer, surprisingly, survived his wounds. It seemed stuck. 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. What the hell was Silent looking at, anyway?Moving a quarter of an inch at a time, he began to back away from the bush toward me. 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! I used to watch nature shows and cringe when the lion caught the little antelope. As the professional, Paul was obliged to earn his $25 per day salary by following the lion and killing it. Africa has no patience with careless hunters. If they have less apprehension about the scent of man through familiarity, I feel they are more likely to attack. His broken fingers touched something hard: in a flash he realized that it was a rifle barrel, the fallen .243. David Livingstone was severely mauled in his early days by a lion he had wounded in Bechuanaland, the cat grabbing him by the shoulder and shaking him until he felt no pain at all. His wife had reached it and was gripping a crossbar that formed a frame for the lashed-on, grass. Imagine the number of people they had eaten in the ten years they operated unmolested! It was that sun-downer or three that made you forget the saber-toothed tsetse flies and the pain in the small of your back, like a hot, knotted cable from too many miles bent over tracking. As thrilling as any novel, as taut and exciting as any adventure story, Peter Hathaway Capstick's Death in the Long Grass takes us deep into the heart of darkness to view Africa through the eyes of one of the most renowned professional hunters. 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 thought you might be able to help me out. Similarly, if it's not getting enough water, the grass will die. Without releasing his grip, the lion tugged, gently pulling the body from between the hut and the sleepers a few inches away. I checked the Jeffery, shook the panatella-sized cartridges to hear the satisfying rattle of cordite against the cool, brass cases, closed the rifle's action and, sitting on the bed with a cigarette and the bottle of beer, waited to see what would happen.Perhaps an hour went by, a hell of a long time when you are sitting in the dark wondering if something big and hairy is going to burst through the frail grass walls and grab you. Still measuring our relative distances carefully, I decided to take a step toward her. Are you all right? My mind raced like a flywheel: What'll it be, boy, lion or crocs? For Peter Hankin, one of central Africa's most experienced professional white hunters, the last safari is over.It is light before Hankin's clients, unarmed and cowering in their tents while listening to the wet feeding sounds, can escape and seek help. 281 likes, 18 comments - Devon Hewett (@hewettvision) on Instagram: "PASTURES _____ Her smile was the sunshine that nourished my garden. Few men can say they have known Africa as Peter Hathaway Capstick has known it -- leading safaris through lion country; tracking man-eating leopards along tangled jungle paths; running for cover as fear-maddened elephants stampede in all directions. It's been written by someone who knows more than most about the subject having spent decades there. I bought Capstick's "Death in the Long Grass." My first Africa Safari-type book. I was certain the lion could not miss the thump-crash of my heart as it jammed into the bottom of my throat in a choking lump, my mouth full of copper sulphate. Ithink we will find this eater of people this day." Can you give it a try before the trail cools? The man was still staring in horror, mumbling gibberish. And of the few who have known this dangerous way of life, fewer still can . He wasn't certain what had awakened him but realized that he could hear the breathing of a heavy animal just through the grass of the walls. 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. Before Joubert can come up with his express rifle, the Zambian foolishly wounds the man-eater with a blast of SG buckshot from his single-barrel-issue Greener shotgun/carbine. That tracker turned and ran like a scared-ass ape toward camp, leaving me all alone except for one vocal lion. In the excitement he was, he was actually shooting at the lion, and to this day I suspect he wonders if I pulled some sort of practical joke.Another hunter friend of mine reports that, upon seeing his first lion at close range, his client threw away his rifle and ran like a lunatic straight after the big cat. If you can catch him the first time and make an effective shot, you will end his career right there. She stifles an involuntary growl, her black upper lip curled back to show thick, long fangs. 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. ofcentral Africa, where eyebell-to-eyeball confrontations are as common as not. For amoment she hesitates, but her ancestral fear of the smell is washed over by the desperation of her hunger. Read less. I lay listening for long minutes but decided it must be only nerves. I couldn't say for sure, but in my experience a Botswana lion is as likely to charge on sight at close quarters as not.Because of the loose, sandy texture of the soil, tracking is quite easy in this area. Apparently, the pride had left, so I went back to my cot and fell asleep, lions or no lions. A post-mortem on thebody of Peter Hankin determines that, mercifully, he died instantly of a broken neck from the lioness' first bite. He had 222 stitches in his head alone and immense skin and bone grafting work on both head and hands. Except for muscular ripples up and down his flanks, he never moved again. They did not go away, though; they just stayed out in the high grass adjacent the camp and growled. Operating in a photographic safari area, professional hunter Peter Hankin has had to leave it at his hunting camp, Chitangulu, forty miles downstream. One of them, older and more weather worn, is pitched fifty yards from the others. Death in The Long Grass by Peter Hathaway Capstick An entertaining read about Hathaway Capstick's experiences in the African Bush. I had bearded that lion in deep grass at night with an empty gun! Although I was tired, sleep came fitfully; possibly the ever-nearing roar of those lions helped keep my mind occupied. A lion can cover forty-five feet quicker than you can pronounce it. As thrilling as any novel, as taut and exciting as any adventure story, Peter Hathaway Capsticks. Finally an idea formed that would give me an edge. Peter Hathaway Capstick (1940-1996), a former Wall Street stockbroker turned professional adventurer, was critically acclaimed as the successor to Hemingway and Ruark in African hunting literature. As the lioness lay chewing on his head, she may have thought that the crushing sounds she heard beneath her teeth were the breaking of the skull bone instead of those of the man's hands and fingers. Death in the long grass by Capstick, Peter Hathaway. Maneating lions, if undisturbed, commonly eat almost every vestige of their victims, even the blood-soaked clothes and shoes as well as the bones. I was sure it was badly hurt, perhaps crippled because it stayed in the same position without moving away or attempting a charge. Nobody had the nerve to go to his aid. Widow Jean Harvey recovered from her bites, if not her nightmares, and was released from the hospital within two months of the tragic night.I have often wondered what became of the two other starving lions that were reported as accompanying the lioness that killed Len Harvey. The Chabunkwa man-eater was dead.Ripping off my belt, I placed a tourniquet on Silent's tattered arm. The death of Peter Hankin in the Luangwa Valley came to me as more than a news item; I had worked for him as a professional hunter in the area quite near where he was killed. We work hard to protect your security and privacy. For some reason the lion then turned on Paul's legs and began chewing, as I recall, on his left thigh. tree, there is a tiny, silent movement. Rooting man-eating lions out of thick cover is not my idea of good fun. Jaguar, yes. This is easily the best of Capstick's books and the one that I can't resist going back to. The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. I reached for a pencil and pad. 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? A low, incredibly sinister rumble welled up through the dark, and the hut shook under a heavy shock. Hans Besser, a German hunter early in this century, told of a missionary of the White Fathers in Tanganyika being carried off and taking fifteen minutes to die while the lion ate him. "But you've shot my hand off. I felt the first lukewarm slug burn the dust from between my teeth and form a small, liquid bonfire in the pit of my stomach. I whistled up Silent and told him to get cracking with the normal, for a three-day trip. I personally suspect that the increase of tourism and the expanded game reserves have taken the edge off the traditional fear lions have had of man since he first developed the sharp stick. This study guide consists of approx. On De Beer's legs and Matthew's eyes, they staggered back to the house where Mrs. De Beer drove the thirty miles to Main Camp, Wankie, for the Rhodesian army helicopter that evacuated the victims at five the next morning.Rescuers found Len Harvey's body where it lay in the hut, partially eaten by the lioness. ""Yes, Dad, I'm all right," answered a pain-tight voice. Except for the arm and some claw marks on his chest, he seemed to be unhurt. Many times the animal tried to break in, and finally the woman's nerve broke. The wild thought raced through my skull that if the lion came now, the rifle would be too slippery to hold, since my palms were sweating so heavily. Atdusk one evening a woman was mixing a meal of. Capstick writes with absolute authority on an Africa which is rapidly receding into the past. He held his crouch with his head cocked for almost a minute, watching something off to the left of the spoor. Death in the Long Grass: A Big Game Hunter's Adventures in the African Bush by 1 watched in the last 24 hours 41 product ratings Condition: Good Price: US $8.32 Buy It Now Add to cart Add to Watchlist Returns accepted Ships from United States All net proceeds go to charity US $3.99 Economy Shipping. No spoor, no roaring, no kills. To nearly all of us, the concept of being eaten, , is so remote as to be unthinkable. In this kind of business you learn to remember close calls only for what they taught you, not for how they might have turned out. I am not a hunter, nor have I any interest in hunting. 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. Silent entered with my flask, and we were able to get a gagging shot down his throat. Our safari crew was scared white, but none of the big cats showed any aggressiveness and eventually melted off into the night. Because of the great personal danger inherent in sport hunting for lions under modern conditions, it might be said that hunting lion on foot in the thick covers of central Africa is the purest expression of the honest sport of hunting. The safety snicked off the .375 as the Rhodesian paused. 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. Read more. 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 hunted for the oldest of motives: the challenge of man against a fast, deadly animal on the animal's terms. I also. All rights reserved. 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