When it comes to hunting, few quests are as iconic as pursuing Africa’s Big 5 – the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and Cape buffalo.
Over an eight-year span, Butch Meilinger stared down a lion at nine yards, took down a 10,000-pound elephant that had been terrorizing a village and spent 30-plus days over two years pursuing the most elusive of the group, the leopard. Then, he took it a step further, by scoring on a Nile crocodile and a hippopotamus to complete what’s known as Africa’s Dangerous 7. Amazingly, he did it all with not a high-powered rifle, but a crossbow.
Meilinger’s efforts landed him in the Safari Club International hunting record book as the only person to take Africa’s Dangerous 7 with a crossbow. Now, the Wind Gap resident shares these tales from the Dark Continent first-hand in his new book, “Pursuit of a Hunter,” released earlier this year. He recently shared his thoughts on why he wanted to tackle some of the world’s most dangerous game at close quarters with only archery gear at his side. Here’s what he had to say:
Butch, you are the only person to take Africa’s Dangerous 7 with a crossbow. How difficult was that accomplishment? It was never a thought. The very first animal I took was a leopard and a year later a lion. Then I started to wonder if I could take the Big 5. Eventually, after eight years, I was able to accomplish that.
Then I found out the most significant accomplishment in African hunting was Africa’s Dangerous 7, which is the Big 5 plus the Nile crocodile and the hippo. I took the crocodile in 2015 and then the very last one, the hippo, was where all the pressure was.
What made you want to do this with archery gear? I guess I was just looking for a little bit more of a challenge. I was doing a (hunting) trade show in Ohio and Horton Archery was there and I inquired about it. I said, ‘How accurate are these crossbows?’
I had a discussion with a guy named Riley Foster. We went and tried it and it was pretty accurate. I told him that I wanted to go to Africa and hunt a leopard. He said, ‘If you hunt a leopard and you take one with this crossbow, you’ll never have to purchase any Horton equipment again. You’ll automatically be on the Horton Pro Staff.’ I ended up having success and in the process I learned there was only one other leopard taken at that time with a crossbow, and it was by a guy named Bernard Horton who owned the company and lived in Botswana. Unbeknownst to me, Riley contacted him and two days later he drove to South Africa to our camp (to meet me).”
What was the most challenging of the Dangerous 7 to pursue and why? The most challenging and the most dangerous was the leopard, without a doubt. I hunted it three times. The first time, I had 12 days - close but no cigar. The following year I went for 12 more days, heard them and actually had a rare daytime sighting, but he was way too far away. The third time, I booked for 15 days, where we were going to use a traditional way of hunting them by bait and they are also allowed the last four or five days to use dogs.
Did you have any too-close-for-comfort moments? The lion was nine yards from us in thick brush and he started towards us and he turned. Then it took us four-and-a-half hours to catch up and get a shot. But the leopard was the most significantly dangerous one it. It attacked (at one point).
You did a green hunt for a white rhino. How did that work? I didn’t want to kill the animal. There are enough animals and it is legal to kill them, but honestly I didn’t have an interest in killing them. And, then obviously the cost (was a factor) - that horn is expensive.
The animal that I took, I used a dart and an anesthetic that the biologist who accompanied me on the hunt put in. Obviously, you have to get a little closer because you have a heavy bolt with weight on. I had to figure out how far up to hold the crossbow. We sighted it in at 30 yards and the shot came in at 42 yards. To hit him in the butt, I aimed for the top of his back and it dropped 19-20 inches because of the weight.
Five or six minutes later he went down. We went up to him, we covered his eyes, we took the dart out. The biologist then took a blood sample and we drilled a hole in his horn and put a chip in. This allows nature conservation to monitor the animal’s movements, as well identify the area in which the animal may have been poached. We also measured the circumference of the front and back horns and the length of each and then I had fiberglass replicas made. The Safari Club International record book actually accepts a darted animal as being taken (legally).
When you do some of these hunts, they really help the villages. Can you talk a bit about that? I took an elephant, which was the last member of the Big 5 that I took. What happened was a few bulls and a bunch of cows were terrorizing this village’s crops. A farmer came out one night with a 15-foot-long piece of bamboo. He was yelling and hollering and trying to scare them away. He never saw his 10-year-old daughter who decided to come along. A big bull elephant charged and crushed her instantly. The government then issued what they call a PAC, Problem Animal Control permit.
We were fortunate after seven days to get a shot. We saw these two bulls crossing down a ridge. If they went to the left they were going to a water hole that we had set up, and if they went to the right they were going into a protected boundary area. Fortunately, they went to the left. When we got there, there were about 16 elephants there. The bull happened to be right in front of our blind. I took the shot and was successful. The next morning that whole village was out there dancing and jumping around.
The bottom line was there were 42 people in that village and they got protein for the first time that year. They’re allowed to fish, but they are not allowed to trap or kill animals - it’s against the law. That protein at the end of April or early May was the first protein that they had for that year and it fed 42 people for 78 days.
Why did you decide to write a book? What was that aha moment? I’ve always had a desire to do that, I always kept a log. My father taught me at a young age to mark down the things that you do so you can remember them. So, I had a diary going way back to the ’60s.
I went to Alaska fishing in 2018 and one of the guides there was a world-class salmon guide on the Kenai River named Mark Tuter. He was alongside me trying to point out some fly fishing tips. I said, ‘Mark, I heard your name before.’ He had written a book called “The Heart of the Hunter.”
He said, ‘What’s your last name?’ I told him and he said, ‘I’ve heard of you; you’re considered one of the top crossbow hunters in the world.’ He brought me an autographed copy of his book the next day and I got home and read that book three times and said, ‘I can do this.’ I started and nine and a half or 10 months later I completed it.
‘Pursuit of a Hunter’ is available at www.lulu.com. For $22, Meilinger will also personally autograph copies of the book for anyone who contacts him directly via email at butchmeilinger@yahoo.com.
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