by, Katie Ross

Ever since I started going hunting with my dad, when I was very little (maybe five or six), I have always had this crazy desire to hunt a lion. I am twelve years old now and I find myself in the Kalahari region of South Africa, chasing after one with a bow and arrow.

I spent the first day searching for tracks with my father, Mark Ross, and P.H. (professional hunter) Antonie Lotter. The only tracks we found all day were at a small watering hole and belonged to a large female lioness. We decided to put out bait and set up a blind so that we could hunt there the next morning at daybreak. After setting up the bait and blind, we spent the rest of the day driving the roads looking for tracks, but found nothing. The second day Antonie and I sat in the blind where we put out the bait, while my dad and Apie (the owner of the safari lodge, Serapa Safaris) went out looking for tracks. At around 8:00 am of that cold morning, Apie and my dad came and picked us up, saying they had found the tracks of a large female lion, possibly the same one from the previous day. We quickly gathered our things, hopped in the truck, and drove to where they had left the native trackers, who were already on the trail of the lioness. The native black trackers have amazing skill following lion tracks through the bush. They tracked the lioness through the tall swaying grass for what seemed like miles with us in tow. I looked and looked, but couldn't even see the tracks they were following. Eventually we came across the beautiful and deadly looking lioness. Several times we spooked her from where she was hiding in a thorn bush, perhaps once or twice thinking we might be her next meal, and always before I could set up for a shot. Shooting a lion with a bow on foot is extremely challenging, as they hide so well, they are always looking at you and they rarely give you a good angle on their vitals. At last, the lioness did not run far before the tracks stopped and the trackers excitedly motioned that she was in a tree. Maybe she would stay put long enough for us to get a shot. Antonie called me over, and gestured his rifle toward the tree she was in. It was hard to get a shot in the thick brushy tree. Making matters worse, we were looking right into the sun and she was very high in the tree, which meant I had to shoot at a difficult angle.

Finally I was 15 yards from an awesome, big, and powerful lion and it was up to me. I struggled to draw back my Mathews Passion as my dad had just recently cranked it all the way to 50lbs. At this moment only one thing went through my mind. I had been practicing with this bow every day, and I had been playing this over and over in my head for more than a month now, and now it all depended on this shot. I squeezed the trigger of my release, the arrow struck the giant cat, and the Rage broadhead made a loud crack. The lion roared loudly but would not come down. Upon inspection we could see the shot was a little high due to the small window of branches I had to aim through, or perhaps the extreme angle upward I had to shoot. My dad, very excitedly instructed me to get another arrow out, and a second Gold Tip arrow with a Rage was on the way straight for the heart. With the second shot she came down the tree like she was going to charge, however, on the way down she was in such bad shape she got tangled in the fork of a large branch. When she finally freed herself of this obstacle, with perhaps her last bit of energy she trotted off towards a nearby thicket. You could see she was in a bad way and we later concluded that this tangling probably stopped her from coming at us. We watched as she barely made it into a bush, about twenty to thirty yards away. Antonie and Apie approached the bush, guns ready, ahead of me and my dad (who was videoing the whole hunt), but there was no need for guns. Apie called me over and simply said, "There is your lion!" At this point everybody started yelling and congratulating me including the trackers. Antonie and my dad gave me hugs that almost took my breath away.

It was a very exciting moment that had happened so fast. I then realized what I had accomplished, and was filled with joy and excitement. I ran over and lifted her paws, looking at her claws and then her teeth. Apie said by the size of her teeth and claws and her large body, she was a trophy lioness. From the scars on her face and neck, I could tell she was very old and mature, and I reflected that she probably had quite a story. Now my dad is fond of telling every stranger he meets that I took a big lion on foot with my bow and everyone seems astonished when I tell them the story. I think they cannot imagine how this hunt must have looked or been. I believe many people think my dad might be a bit crazy for letting me do this, and they're probably right. For me, I am just thankful that I got to live my dream of taking a lion with a bow. I'll have this memory and accomplishment to fall back on the rest of my life.




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