Modern Weights and Measurements of Wild Lions

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Ted Holt poses with a 600 pound lion he killed in South Africa. (Photo submitted)

Ada Evening News

    
By Justin Lofton

Staff Writer

ADA—Area hunter and entrepreneur Ted Holt brought down the “first of the five,” a 600 pound lion, from 30 yards with a compound bow.

On a 14-day hunting safari in September in South Africa with his wife, Evelyn, and friends Larry and Coleen Hutchings, Holt also shot a 1,500 pound cape buffalo. Together, Holt and Larry Hutchings harvested a total of nine animals and, after bagging the buffalo and lion, Holt said he wants to hunt the rest of the “Big Five.”

Holt is determined to hunt them with a compound bow.

“I’m going to attempt to kill the ‘Big Five’ with a bow and arrow, which hasn’t been done very many times,” he said. The “Big Five” includes the lion, cape buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant and leopard.

“I got two of them this last trip but I’m going to go back and try to get the elephant and the leopard,” Holt said. On his next trip, if he gets the other two animals in 14 days, he said he would extend his trip for another seven days to go after the rhino.

Holt said he was on the ground when he got the lion but was backed up by two professional guides in case something went wrong.


“They both have high-powered rifles. If something happens, they can take charge,” he said.

He said South African natives eat the meat produced by the hunts.

“The natives live strictly off of that wild game,” Holt said. “They eat everything that we kill. That’s how they survive.”

He said he’s been hunting since he was a boy. In the United States, he said he’s hunted white tail deer, hog, elk and even killed a brown bear in Alaska.

“I’ve hunted ever since I’ve been big enough to walk,” Holt said.

He said he’s strictly a bow hunter. While he doesn’t see anything wrong with guns, Holt said he simply prefers hunting with a bow.

“To think about getting within 30 yards of a cape buffalo and 30 yards of a lion ... it's quite a thrill,” he said. “I don’t drink, run around with wild women, gamble or smoke. I just hunt.” When he goes after the elephant, Holt said he has to be within 10 yards when he shoots.

Holt said he was happy with his guide, Kuche Safari, and intends to hunt with the same guide when he returns for the elephant and leopard. Reply