African hunting is dangerous, even when you’re not after dangerous game.
An experienced American hunter was fatally trampled by elephants in Gabon, while hunting a particular antelope species. Per Metro News UK:
A millionaire US big game hunter was ambushed and killed by five elephants whilst hunting a small forest antelope. Ernie Dosio, who owns a vast collection of exotic animal heads in trophy rooms back home, was trampled to death while on a hunt in the Lope area of Gabon. The 75-year-old was being guided by a professional hunter in thick forest on a £30,000 stalk of a yellow backed duiker.
The vineyard owner has hunted elephants, leopard, rhino, buffalo and lion across Africa and back home in the US he has hunted almost every species of wild deer…The elephants were so well hidden in the dense undergrowth they appeared ‘as if from nowhere’ and the professional with the high-powered rifle was just flung aside. He was seriously injured and lost his gun in the thick bush as the elephants attacked the terrified hunter with just a shotgun who was then brutally trampled underfoot.
Dosio was restricted in this hunt to a shotgun; he didn’t have a chance.
By all accounts, Dosio was a lifelong hunter, highly respected both in the US and in Africa, and a good man.
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An independent filmmaker has released a proof-of-concept pitch for a film set in South Africa in the midst of the Anglo-Boer War. That’s not something you see every day…
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Hawken Horse is convinced that I am on a mission to blow up y’all’s book budgets. Does this guy look like he’s up to something sinister like that?
War on the Turtle’s Back: Indigenous Peoples During the Period of the Seven Years War in North America, 1752-1766 arrived yesterday, and it is magnificent.
This volume is a mandatory tome for the Frontier Partisan library. It is beautifully made, with production values that you just don’t see that often anymore, and the illustrations are quite impressive. Most importantly, the content is rich as an untapped beaver stream. The depth and breadth of the work is extraordinary, covering ethnography, material culture, tactics and the military history of the era from the Great Lakes to the Dawn Land of Nova Scotia, all from the native perspective.
The period covered is slightly before the era I am currently focused on, but the tactical and material culture descriptions still apply and I will definitely be mining this tome for the work.
Helion & Company and author Laurence Burrows have done a great service to all students of Frontier Partisan history. This is one you’ll want to savor.
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Who Is There To M0urn For Logan? Art by Robert W. Griffing.
The latest from Hawken Horse’s forthcoming album Fringes of Freedom is out. It is a recitation of Logan’s Lament set to music. Really got me with the repeat of “Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.” Frisson chills.
Greg Austin Walker says
Score:
Mama elephants and calf – 1.
Millionaire with home full of animal heads – 0.
There is no truth to the ensuing rumor that his head was last seen being used as the “ball” in an elephant soccer game…or later as a “frisbee”.
Elephants do not play such games or collect trophies.
That is all. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.
The Black Tyrone says
Comical comments are expected. Should the reporting be accurate and in today’s climate who knows… I understand he was quiet promoter of conservation and contributor to various wildlife funds. Probably not on a par with the great Colonel Teddy whose statue was removed after having stood in front of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Natural History for decades and in the middle of the night as I under stand it! No doubt by those with a similar mentality as those removing General Robert E Lee’s statue in Richmond a while back. Education is a wonderful thing though not a characteristic of all. Mores the Pity
JimC says
Hey Black Tyrone. Good to hear from you. Been a while.
By all accounts the hunter was a good man; his hunts were all licensed and contributive both to local economies and conservation. He was also a very generous contributor to charities at home. I get why some people consider trophy hunting in Africa distasteful, and I recognize that risk of death is part of what you sign up for with any African hunt (as noted in the post, this one as not for dangerous game). But the gloating I’ve seen is deplorable.
The Black Tyrone says
Yes, gloating hardly “manly”
John M. says
Dosio’s trophy hunts alone probably did more for African wildlife conservation than any dozen “wildlife funds” that are household names in America.
deuce says
Indeed.