Vin T. Sparano - Hunting Dangerous Game: True Tales from Around the World

Copyright 1992, 2016 by Vin T. Sparano

Introduction 2016 Vin T. Sparano

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit: Ken Laager

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-1476-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1479-3

To my Grandsons Steven and Connorwith the hope they will blaze new trails in their lives

Vin T. Sparano has been an outdoor editor and writer for more than fifty years. He earned his B.S. degree in Journalism in 1960 from New York University. Sparano is Editor Emeritus of Outdoor Life magazine, having served as Editor-in-Chief from 1990-1995 and previously as the Executive Editor for more than ten years.

In addition to his long career with Outdoor Life , Vins work in the field includes numerous articles and a syndicated feature writer for USA Today and Gannett Newspapers. He has written and edited eighteen books, including Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia , Complete Guide to Fresh and Saltwater Fishing, Complete Guide to Camping and Wilderness Survival , Tales of Woods and Waters , The American Fishermans Fresh and Saltwater Guide, The Greatest Hunting Stories Ever Told , Classic Hunting Tales , the Northeast and Southeast Guides to Saltwater Fishing and Boating, Hunting Dangerous Game , and Game Birds and Gun Dogs.

Sparanos knowledge of hunting includes big game, upland game, small game, and waterfowl. His adventures have taken him caribou hunting in the Artic Circle and to Zimbabwe, Africa, where he has hunted dangerous game as well as plains game. In the United States and Canada, Sparano regularly hunts for elk, bear, antelope, turkey, mule deer, and whitetails.

Sparano is a familiar sight fishing from his boat, the Betty Boop . During the fall, his focus is on the great striped bass fishery off Barnegat Inlet. In the winter months, Sparano travels to Florida, where he fishes the famous Islamorada Flats for tarpon and bonefish as well as the offshore waters for sailfish, tuna, and other bluewater gamefish.

A certified NRA Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun and Hunter Safety Instructor, Sparano has been an active member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America for almost thirty years, fulfilling a term on its Board of Directors. He is a past President of the New York Metropolitan Outdoor Press Association and a Heritage Member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association. He is also on the Board of the Catch and Release Foundation and the Board of Governors of the Fishing Hall of Fame.

In 1996, Sparano was awarded the United States Department of the Interior Conservation Service Award by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. In 2003, Sparano was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Metropolitan Outdoor Press Association for his extraordinary accomplishments and contributions to outdoor journalism. In 2009, Sparano was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Fishermans Conservation Association. Sparano is listed in Whos Who in America . He lives in Waretown, New Jersey.

As a young hunter, I encountered my first dangerous big-game when a black bear showed up at my deer stand. I didnt have a bear tag, but Im not sure I wanted to shoot it anyway. The bear finally ambled off, but not before it made me a little nervous about the encounter. I had read too many stories in the pages of Outdoor Life of bears mauling hunters.

Eventually, when I became editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life , I searched out such stories. Why did readers love these hair-raising adventures? Thats an easy question to answer: There isnt a hunter in the world who isnt intrigued about hunting an animal that can turn the tables and become the hunter.

Over the years, on many big-game hunts, especially with Jim Zumbo, former hunting editor of Outdoor Life , I thought I would never make it back home. Its these tough hunts that have found a place in my memory chest of adventures. But it was not until I hunted Cape buffalo in Zimbabwe, Africa, that I really faced the realization that I might not make it home. I think it was Robert Ruark who scared me before I actually landed in Africa.

Ruarks Suicide Made Easy, the lead story in this book, was an adventure I read before going to Africa. Imagine my frame of mind after reading about Ruarks description of the Cape buffalo:

His horns are ideally adapted for hooking, and one hook can unzip a man from crotch to throat. He delights to dance upon the prone carcass of a victim, and the man who provides the platform is generally collected with a trowel, for the buffalos death dance leaves little but shreds and bloody tatters.

Thats exactly what went through my mind when Rob Martin, my professional hunter, said We have a problem. Robs words sounded calm, but they did not cover up a warning that my hunt could get very messy. This was not the way it was supposed to happen. I hit the Cape buffalo squarely in the chest with a .375 Holland & Holland, a cartridge the size of a banana. MBogo was supposed to go down. He didnt even flinch! In fact, the bull trotted off with his buddies.

Following that bull was not easy. We had to cross a bug-infested marsh with insects Ive never seen swarming around my head and ankles. Temperatures were in the nineties, and there was no escape from the searing sun. When we got in range, I again hit the bull squarely in the chest with my .375. Almost defiantly, the bull trotted off again. What does it take to knock him down, I asked?

That bull weighs more than 2,000 pounds and hes all muscle, said Rob. You cant kill an animal like that with one shot. Even when you do kill him, the bulls brain never tells the body that its dead.

We tracked that bull for another hour when we finally found it in some high grass. He suddenly showed up only fifteen yards away and glaring at me. Shoot! Rob shouted. Quick now! I put the crosshairs on the bulls chest and fired. This time the .375 knocked the buffalo off his feet and the bull went down. Had the bull dropped back because he was hurt bad, or did he drop back to wait for us to get with range of his horns and his hubcap-size hoofs? Ill never know for sure.

If you are trying to visualize the final shot that put my buffalo down, you have to look no further than the front cover painting on this book. The painting, by Ken Laager, illustrated the story of my buffalo hunt in the pages of Outdoor Life.

Make no mistake, you will experience fear when you face an animal that can hurt you and even kill you. Your mouth will run dry, your knees will feel weak and your hands will shake. I know because it happened to me.