King of Beasts (2018) Movie Script
1
[narrator] The code of the savage.
The Council of the Elders are meeting
to decide which of the younger warriors
shall be sent out after the lions.
[jungle drums]
Most of the younger warriors
wear headdresses
made from the manes
of the lion they have killed.
Their faces, legs, and chests are
painted red, yellow, and white
with a substance made from the
ashes of previously killed lions.
[war chanting]
For now,
the main master of the wild,
the terror that stalks by night,
this grim lord of slaughter
is to meet his doom at the hands of
the only foe who dare molest him,
or the man who steps back in the face
of a charge is forever branded a coward.
The crowded moment begin. The leader
plunges his spear into the beast.
[lion roars]
He's down.
His shield protects him.
He's up again.
Not a man will step back.
Look out. There's another one.
[lion roar]
[narrator] Look out!
He's got an-other one.
Quick as lightning,
the white spears clash again.
Even if he falls to his death,
he fights with the spears.
Strange to say, the victors
appear unhappy over their victory,
for the lion is a symbol
to them of everything great,
and they worship
his power with deep respect.
[theme music]
[gun-shot]
[indistinct grumbling]
[indistinct]
Shit.
Piece of shit. I mean...
Piece of shit.
[gun-shot]
[Bill O'Reilly] Do you think the world's
going to change because it's getting warmer?
[Donald Trump] It'll get cooler.
It'll get warmer. It's called weather.
Yeah, I think it's a big scam for a lot of
people to make a lot of money. In the meantime,
China is eating our lunch. I love the
idea of solar, and then I do a test,
and you get your money back
in 36 years. The problem is
you got to make it economically viable, Bill.
Right now, it's not economically viable.
[Bill O'Reilly] And if it were, then somebody
would be marketing it. That's for sure.
- Hi, how are you doing?
- Good. How are you?
- I'm doing great.
- Good.
[Aaron] How did we become the richest,
most powerful country in only 200 years?
I guess you can always argue that there's
more than one way to skin a cat, but...
I'll just go ahead
and stick with capitalism
and my second amendment rights.
[Man on phone] What's Richard's
flight schedule tomorrow [indistinct]
[Aaron] But it's just like, I mean, I just can't
even tell you how fucking mad I am, you know.
It's like, "Come on, people." I mean this
is why you don't do this stuff, you know.
This is-- I'm sitting here.
Anyway, so... I mean.
[phone ringing]
- [girlfriend] Hey.
- Hi.
Got everything organized?
Yeah. What are you doing?
You getting your nails done?
- Yes.
- Oh, good heavens.
Yeah, got to get them
done for the Fourth.
- Please take care of my grizzly bear. Okay?
- He's good.
- Are you sure?
- Yes, I bought him a new toy today.
Okay, I'm worried
about my grizzly bear.
I think you worry
about him more than me.
I worry about
my dog very much. Yes.
- He's the love of my life.
- Really? We're do I fall?
Well I mean, you're right there, baby,
but I'm just saying. Okay? Alright.
Okay, talk to you later.
- Okay, Love you,
- Love you too. Bye, bye.
Bye.
[man on TV] Yeah. Man, oh man.
I am just
over the moon with this.
Look at that big tuft
he's got there on his elbow.
That is what you call
a big-maned Tanzania lion, baby.
Chris, this thing is a stud.
When I saw him come out,
it only took but a second.
Yeah, this here was...
It was a big day for me.
[gun-shot]
"Uh, You are one sick, twisted
individual that takes great pleasure
in killing beautiful animals like the lion in
the video. I'm going to ask for your picture
to be put across the world wide web in the
hope that someone will stop you, period.
If they don't, then you deserve
to die a very slow, painful death,
a stroke where you're paralyzed would
be justice for what you're doing.
I bet you are a sexual sadist. That is
why you like to kill innocent animals
because it gets
you hard, sick fuck.
Those innocent animals
don't need to die
because of your disgusting sexual
fetish, you freak. Leave them alone."
I mean, where do you--
where do you get
sexual deviation, uh,
from going hunting?
You know when I say that...
And people might think that it sounds tongue in
cheek when I say that it brings me to tears,
but that's really not true.
It does.
You know, the...
It's hard
to put into words, really,
the feelings
that I have for the lion,
and it's a shame that
people won't take the time to
recognize the importance
that all of us can bring
to their protection,
including the hunters.
You know, and oftentimes...
You know I get mad, and
I'm a very type A personality,
and I think
people who know me see that.
I lift weights, and I'm
aggressive, and that sort of thing,
but, you know, to get to know me
and understand my real feelings
for the wildlife there, would give
somebody a different perspective on--
on what I believe and what I stand for.
And not just me, but a lot of us.
And that's why I get so frustrated that
a lot of the people on the flip side
of our coin you know, bash what we do
and think we're there just to harm,
and to rape, and pillage the wildlife,
and the people, and the territory,
and stuff, but, when nothing's
further from the truth.
I mean, you have to come there.
You have to experience it.
Stop telling me what you think you know.
Come there and see it for yourself.
[theme music]
You speak English.
- [male] She's funny. [indistinct]
- [Male] Come on. baby.
[chatter]
[drum music]
[car engine running]
[Dean] Too much dead grass.
This dead grass
is not good food for anything.
There's nothing that eats it.
What we do this time of year,
we burn all of it,
and within a week or 10 days,
all the new growth comes,
and it's much better, much more
nutritious for all the animals,
and it's better
for the bush. Yeah.
[ominous music]
[photographer] I'm just going to
find something to shoot.
[Aaron] Yeah, all right.
[laughing]
[photographer]
Find something to kill.
[Dean] He said better make another plan to
try and find a hippo when You've got time,
and rather just go and whack a zebra.
He said you should see a zebra,
just to make sure we get a bait of
today because if we don't find one,
then we're screwed, you know?
My role here is to make sure
that during hunting activities,
all the rules
and regulation are followed.
[Dean] The trophy fee is quite
expensive, $3,000, $4,000.
We don't really want to shoot one of those for
bait because it's such an expensive animal.
We'd rather
shoot something more cheap.
We'd rather shoot something like a hippo.
It's much cheaper, much more bait.
[Aaron] Desperation
is getting bad already.
[Dean] You'll have to start using
cameramen. We've got plenty of them.
- [hunter] You got to hang
around, hang around. [indistinct]
[Aaron] Just a lot of bad
luck this morning, really.
[Dean] Most people in the world think that the
wilderness is like Serengeti National Park
where there
are millions of animals,
but in the reality is that
places like Serengeti may be 5%
of what goes on in Africa. The rest
of Africa is different from Serengeti.
The reality is more like what we
are seeing, where people live,
and people-- There's conflict
with people and animals,
and you see the people
cut the trees down,
and they destroy the habitat.
That's more the reality in
Africa than a national park.
A national park is a fairly
artificial environment.
They put a big border around it,
and they protect it.
But the rest
of Africa's not like that.
Populations
of people increase every year.
Every year they extend their villages
further and further into the bush.
There's less area for the animals to live.
There's more poaching.
It's not all good news
for the animals.
[man] Lots of candy.
We give candy to the kids.
[Dean] There you go.
[Dean] She saw a lion. Sometimes she's
moving from one village to another village.
She saw a lion,
but all the younger ones,
they haven't yet seen any lions.
It's a delicate line
you walk because as hunters,
we want to maintain
this are as a hunting area.
As people, they want to look at it, and say:
"Oh, there's some forest. There's some land.
I can go and plant some stuff," so there's
always that little bit of tension, you know.
but overall they
see us as a beneficiary here
because we employ some of these guys in
the camps and their families, you know.
They're forever
criticizing colonialism,
and the white man,
and what he did, and...
but then I always say,
Well, okay.
The very man
who's criticizing it
is standing
in a three-piece suit,
wearing a tie,
black shoes, belt.
He woke up in a house of bricks and
tiles with electricity and piped water,
and he picks up his cell phone,
and he cooks his breakfast in a toaster.
Every single
thing he does, from there,
getting in his car, going on a
blacktopped road to the office, you know.
Turning on a computer... Everything
there came from the Western world.
So, he's utilizing
everything that's Western,
and he wants to be in that zone.
That's the conflict.
Yeah, Africa's very confused,
you know.
They have this conflict,
internal conflict.
Hard thing for the Western
world to understand as well.
[laughing]
Very, very ancient technology,
passed down from father to son.
- [Aaron] This is bush technology here.
- Yeah.
[Aaron] You don't have
a tractor with a [inaudible]
[Dean] When you don't have
a trailer, this is what you do.
I love the sound of the glass.
The sound of the African bush.
[inaudible].
- [Aaron] It might be a little strong.
- [hunter] What do you want?
Some Red Label?
Wash the dust off.
[hunter]
Did some bush bashing today.
- Cheers, guys.
- Cheers.
- Good day.
- [inaudible] see a leopard.
[Aaron] Yeah, it was cool
seeing a leopard today.
[photographer] O-oh,
well, that was a bad idea.
Been a certain place.
[Dean] Guys says
you have a big nose.
[Dean] Puts his fucking
drink down, you know.
- [photographer] O-oh [laughing]
- [Dean] Unless he put's his drink down.
- [Aaron] That's a problem.
- [Dean] Okay.
Grabbed him by his head, boff,
headbutted him, bwak, down on the ground,
- grabs him by--
- [Aaron] That headbutt will get you.
Grabs him by his hair,
walks him to the door.
It's like on the second floor,
so there's a set of stairs,
fuck, drags him by his hair
to the door. This guy's out.
I mean, his eyes--
eyes are like... You know?
Drags him to the steps, pushes
him over, fucking kicks him.
He rolls down three steps,
comes back, picks up his drink.
He says: "Shit, sorry about
that. Uh, What were we saying?"
There's like blood on the roof,
and there's blood on the walls.
[Aaron] He's talking about the guy that was
convicted for murder and put in jail, P.H.
[photographer] Went to prison
for like fighting?
- No, he went to prison for murder.
- [photographer] Oh. Shoot.
- Ten years.
- [hunter] Yeah, but...
They said he smoked
a fucking poacher.
- [photographer] Didn't Georgie smoke a poacher?
- Aaron] Yeah, Georgie Ferrera
- smoked a fucking poacher as big as Dallas two years ago.
- Cliffi's, you know.
[Aaron] Cliff House?
Oh, I didn't know that.
[Aaron] This poacher, I mean, dude,
he came up and levelled a gun at Georgie,
just levelled his 500 and,
dou, smoked the guy.
There's no issue with it.
It isn't an issue.
[Aaron] Yeah, I'm not shooting anybody.
When Sammie opened in 2003,
I mean, we were literally
in a shootout back and forth.
I was like: "Holy fucking shit.
Where did I sign up for this bullshit?"
The vultures
were circling their camp.
We went there, and I mean.
And that's when we found...
Man, that was back in the days of,
you know just three-chip color digital,
just standard def, you know, wasn't even...
But I had a camera, and I videoed it all,
and we found 150 dead animals.
What they do is they smoke it.
I mean basically turned it into jerky. They
call it biltong here, but you basically--
For some reason, I pictured fresh,
you know steaks, and their steak's shit.
- I couldn't even sell that.
- [Dean] They get these monkeys and shit, and they smoke them.
So, yeah. I mean, it still looks like a
monkey, but it's smoked and mummified.
- [photographer] Yeah [laughs].
- And they just--
Yeah, you go
and buy the smoked monkey.
And The truth is, I actually
like the biltong here.
But You know, they dry it, or salt
it, or smoke it, or whatever.
And then, later, they go and put
it in a pot with boiling water,
and they reconstitute it
and then eat it like that.
Yeah, I like it.
- [Dean] [inaudible].
- [Aaron] I do like those scopes.
He says that he heard buffalo,
yeah, the herd.
Can you see my...
It 's right there.
- [Aaron] That must be why he brought his gun.
- Huh?
That must be
why he brought the gun.
So, they're trying to find...
[Aaron] You see him, bro?
[suspenseful rhythmic music]
[Aron] Up to the left.
There's one looking right at us.
See the one looking right at us?
[gun-shot]
[Aaron] Oh, man.
That's him. What?
[gun-shot]
- [animal cry]
- [Aaron] Fucking nightmare.
[suspenseful music]
[Aaron] One nice buffalo here.
[Aaron]
You just gotta tell me when.
Yeah, this one bullet
in a perfect area.
You know, animals, when you
shoot them, they don't struggle.
They-- They just got--
get a sudden-- sudden death,
which is fine. Yeah.
[Aaron] Well, we've come back to this guy.
We think that other one's
gone over there in the grass.
And so, It's getting late,
so it's probably not too wise
to push it into the grass.
Let me do that again.
[Aaron] It'll be better if you hold the
motherfucker still. Yeah, you've got to find a way
- to brace better, or something.
- [photographer] That's fatigue.
from been doing it for--
how long? I mean, I was...
[hunter] Happy days, boys.
[Dean] The best part
of the buffalo right there.
Yeah, there we go, splat.
Beautiful.
Very tasty.
Two days' time, on the cold,
filled in pepper,
one glass of red wine.
Yeah, that's gonna be good.
[car engine running]
[rope creaks]
[car starting]
A big male could eat
higher than I could reach.
He just stands up on his back
legs and he could eat way up here.
Way up here. I mean,
they're big, they're huge,
Because he could eat all this,
he could eat most of this, no problem.
- [Dean] It's little bit lower.
- [photographer] it's a little bit low.
- [photographer] but we're gonna change it tomorrow.
- [hunter] Yeah.
Yeah, if he comes and gets a fill of
this, he ain't going nowhere.
That's right. [laughing]
[Aaron] Look out. Oh, you don't
want that on you. Nuh-uh. Bad stuff.
[hunter]
Is the shit-slinging done yet?
[Aaron]
Nuh-uh, look out. Look out.
[car driving]
[Photographer] You kill a couple buffalos,
you get a lion, you get a leopard.
You have them taxidermized.
You're probable looking at what?
- 150, 175 thousand.
- [Aaron] You're certainly looking well over a hundred.
The most expensive
companies in Tanzania
are over a hundred
thousand dollars
before you even
have any kind of success.
If you're gonna kill a lion,
this is the kinda lion you need to kill.
Must be six or greater, must be on its
own, must not be in a pride,
must not have cubs. There's
a whole set of guidelines
and for people
like myself and Aaron,
who-- we have the lions'
interests at heart,
we truly do. You know, You don't just
do that if you don't care about it
and I care about doing it
right and doing it properly
and I mean that's what this is all about.
Statistically, right, no,
you probably won't get one, but
you bought yourself a lion hunt,
and you'll go home
having hunted lions.
[wildlife sounds]
[indistinct]
[indistinct]
A couple of hyenas,
feeding here last night.
Jumping up,
latching on, pulling off.
Sometimes you get a moment
when the light hits the grass
just right or the light goes
through the leaves of a tree
and it looks really nice. So you've
got to take a picture cause this is...
This is film
nature is a character,
so, I mean, you have to be able to capture
those moments when there's beautiful things.
[Aaron] I think that probably
should, that's pretty square.
- This things are all pretty wide, wide angle.
- [hunter] Yeah.
Yeah, we'll see tomorrow if we don't
get some pics we'll move it again.
[Dean] It should be fine.
Alright, let's rock and roll.
[intense music]
[Aaron] Fuck. Fucking shit.
[Aaron] Fuck.
I mean that's a perfect shot.
That buffalo shouldn't have gone
200 yards and fell over stone dead.
That's the same piece that would have
robbed the fucking dog shit out of me.
Hand me that gun,
will you? Just--
At least we found it
so we know that it's terminated.
It's not good to find it
too late like this.
[Aaron] Yeah, I mean He's not
really getting that reflector on me.
[photographer]
Yeah, I mean it's okay.
[Aaron] Oh, I know,
but I don't want just okay.
Yeah see the reflector's
not even on me.
See if maybe we
can get Dean to hold it.
[inaudible]
[Aaron] Yeah.
[Aaron] maybe just up a little
bit. Up a little bit higher.
[Aaron] No, you-- up higher.
[Aaron] We want it just a little bit
higher, just a little bit higher.
[creaking]
[car driving]
- Morning.
- [Aaron] Morning.
[Dean] Everybody sleep okay?
Well, I wasn't dreaming
I was covered in ants, yeah.
You're still covered in ants?
That lets you know that you're alive.
- [photographer] Mm-hmm.
- [Dean] Yeah.
- Morning, boys.
- [Dean] How you doing man?
[Dean] Well, well, well.
Good, good, good.
I was born funny, dude.
Haven't you noticed that?
[photographer] When you're that
ugly you gotta be something.
That's right.
When you gotta a face for radio,
you gotta come up with some good lines.
[photographer]
Face for radio, dreams for TV.
Live a little in the mean-time.
- [Aaron] Or a lot.
- [Dean] Live a lot in the mean-time.
[Aaron] Well, let's see what kind
of trouble we can get into today.
Yeah, I'd like
to see a big lion on bait.
- That'd be alright.
- [Dean] The baits are in good places, it's a waiting game.
If they were easy to kill, then we'd sell
them on five day hunts six days hunt.
It's 21 day hunt for a reason.
- It's a leopard.
- Claw marks on the tree.
[Dean]
Yeah, you can see the leopard.
[Dean] That's a big female or
a young male, it's not very big.
It's the way it goes.
They can drive you crazy these [indistinct]
why didn't you do it? He gets so frustrated,
you know, checking. Why didn't he come?
Why did-- He says boss:
"He's got four legs,
we've got two."
[laughter]
It's a simple explanation.
He'll do what he wants
to do, he's an animal.
[Aaron] That water looks really tasty.
- [photographer] M-hm.
[Kendeal] How big does
a big male leopard get?
[Aaron] Around here,
probably 150, 160 pounds.
But a big male lion's 3, 4?
[Aaron] Oh no, he's probably
a big male lion, 450 pounds.
- [photographer] It's a big cat.
- It's a big cat.
[Dean] The worst thing that can ever
happen is vultures find your bait.
[Dean] It's very frustrating.
In America, that's what I do there.
I've been a hunting guide for 24 years.
So, I've guided lots of--
lots of hunters, so...
- Does it pay there, over there?
- Does it what?
- Pay.
- Yeah.
- More than here?
- Uh.
You know, It all depends,
I mean, some places yeah,
some places, no.
Yeah, it just all depends.
So, where I live we have elk and
deer and big horned sheep and goats
and mountain lions,
you know, and all that stuff.
But I live up in the mountains.
It's very pretty, but it's cold.
[laughs]
But it's very pretty. You know,
in our country where you have, you know,
only a 10% unemployment rate, You
know, so 90% of the people have jobs,
you know, they don't
need to go live off the land,
and live off the wildlife,
you know?
So, we can still continue to protect
our wild places and wildlife resources.
Here, I understand it's a different
story, man. I do. Look I've seen it,
I know, I understand, but gosh
damn, I hate to see the wildlife
and the wild lands,
you know be the loser.
But, eventually
they're gonna be the loser.
Because the people
are gonna win.
[Aaron] He doesn't
have a great big mane.
But I mean he has big shoulders,
big, I mean--
he's not streamlined.
He has big shoulders and big back.
I promise you, I could have shot that
lion, that's not what it is about.
We're going to try to get them on
bait, try to get a better assessment,
try to get a better closer look at him.
I mean, you want to try to get
a good assessment
before you just start shooting.
I mean, I think that was a
prime example of people thinking
we just wire a wire through the bush
and if a lion jumps out, we smoke him.
Well, that's not
the way it works.
Hey watch, be careful,
he's known.
[laughs]
A little different than
a buffalo, that's for sure.
What we came for.
[Dean] I was still walking in
the dark in the early morning,
and the two male lions started fighting to
my left, close, close, close in the dark.
I don't know why they started fighting,
but all of a sudden they started fighting.
And then-- I mean,
the sound was un believable,
You know, you need to record that
early in the morning when it's quiet.
But, same, in the dark
right here, fighting.
They were mad.
[photographer] Could you have the chef in the
future not put the tuna fish on the bread?
[Dean] You want it separate?
Do you want some other?
No. I mean, I don't
really like tuna fish, so...
[Aaron] Goddamn it,
get the fuck off of me.
But he can bring you
some normal bread if you want.
[photographer]
No, it's fine, it's fine.
[Dean] I've had seven wounded
lions that I've had to follow.
When you know they're aliv e and you've still
got to go and find them, I've had seven,
and only two of them charged.
Some lions don't always charge, you know.
They call them cowardly lions,
but I don't like that word.
It's not a cowardly lion,
it's just--
But, yeah, not all of them have
it in them to charge, but still,
when you get the one that does,
it's incredibly intimidating.
If you consider the combination of
speed and aggression and strength--
Mm-hmm.
That combination and the fact
that they can hide in the bush
and you don't see them until-- you
know, it's my least favorite for sure.
Yeah.
[inhaling sharply]
[Aaron whispering] Waiting for
the hippo to show himself.
[Aaron] It's not a lot of fun.
It's boring.
You realize by the time this
thing comes out of the water
it's probably
going to be close to dark.
- [photographer] It's 6:30.
- [Aaron] Well I don't care what time it is,
I'm just talking
about light-wise.
[gun-shot]
When they don't move like that,
he's lying dead on the bottom in the sand.
Yeah, we'll come
in the morning and find him.
[Aaron] Have you heard of that
group Tanzanians for Wildlife?
They were petitioning Tanzanian Wildlife Department
to not issue me a visa to enter the country.
[Dean] There's some
pieces of shit around the place.
[hunter] But the thing I saw on
TV, there are these elephants
walking in a field, and there's a
female elephant, and then they're
all grouped together, and they start
trying to run, and they're grouping
and the next minute
you see a gun barrel,
and you see a bullet
come out of the gun barrel.
And as it hits one of the elephants,
the picture sort of dissolves
and turns into
a woman with two or three kids.
- [Aaron] Oh, fuck.
- Right. and she's now running
in the field and they're all scared
and she's holding the kids, you know?
And off they go. And it's basically,
you know, so flipping well done,
and it's Hollywood-ed that someone sitting
in a chair is gonna: "Oh, my god, shame,
- is that what it's like?".
- [Aaron] Yeah, they just shot a family.
They just a family,
they just a shot her daughter.
- And that's what they do.
- [Aaron] M-hm.
They sway the mindset of people,
that middle chunk of population
who don't know any better.
And we as hunters--
I'm telling you now,
if we don't start doing
the same Hollywood-ed up...
Everybody thinks banning hunting
is going to save wildlife,
- [hunter] Yeah.
- [Dean] And the reverse is 100% the case.
[Aaron]
You've been here for a week now,
you've seen
anybody else out here?
Ain't anybody else out here.
You think someone is going to come here
and pay you for a photographic safari?
You think when
Sammy Glitchbottom and his wife
and his 2.5 kids rock up
from Indianapolis, Indiana,
with their safari hat on...
he's got a safari hat.
How quickly do you think that the wife
is giving the husband one of these
and saying: "You get us the hell
out of here, and I mean now".
About the third time
the nine year old is screaming
"mommy,
the flies are killing me".
Boom!
[hunter] Definitely it's true.
There is only
one source of revenue
in the entire
country of Tanzania,
for the Tanzanian
Wildlife Department.
And that is hunting dollars.
Period, end of story.
Yourself for example. Coming on this safari,
you're supporting me, you're supporting Dean,
you're supporting
all the trackers, 20-30 staff,
that come in here
and set up the camps every year.
The admin in town, all their families, the
game scouts that-- and the anti-poaching guys.
The pyramid is like this,
by one guy coming on this safari.
Cause it gives value to wildlife,
it gives you a reason to look after them.
You know, if they don't have
a reason to look after wildlife,
why look after them? You don't.
[Dean] We look at it, wildlife
from a different perspective
from what black
people look at it as.
Why it sits there for our
entertainment and enjoyment.
But, there's got to be a bigger
reason to look after it,
and they've got
a benefit like Aaron says.
They have to benefit from it,
it's not just
for our luxury purposes.
These people that live out here,
they're not saving money for retirement,
they're not worried about their golf,
you know, their golf house in Florida.
They are simply worried about,
"how do I feed my family today".
These guys don't think past
tomorrow. That don't mean that
because they're not capable
of thinking past tomorrow,
it's because they live in the moment
because today they've got to eat today.
It's how it is.
Yeah, that's reality.
It's not negative, it's reality.
It's unfortunate,
but it's the case.
[music]
[indistinct]
His blood
is shattered everywhere.
As soon as it hits this rock, it's
going to be as far as it's going to go.
- [photographer] You never surfed a day in your life.
- [Aaron] Nope. I have now.
Surfed on a hippo.
[Dean] That's a hell of a way
to start the morning.
See if it's anything
for Tanzania star.
- [Aaron] I probably won't put the surfing picture on Facebook.
- [photographer] No?
[photographer]
That's a damn shame.
They wanted push-ups, squats,
flutter kicks, and burpees.
- [photographer] It's hard.
- Oh, that would kick your ass.
[photographer] Gotta get down. Gotta
get down. Get your chest on the ground.
- [Aaron] How is it on your hands?
- [photographer] It's not bad.
[photographer]
My feet hurt a little more.
[Aaron] Oh, yeah?
[Aaron] But you'll see,
I mean, when I'm at the lion,
I mean I'll give him, you know,
a moment of silence and...
That's killing. No doubt about it.
You're going to kill him.
But you know,
part of it is unexplainable.
Too much of what you see
in the United States...
That-- They don't represent, you
know, the way things really are.
Simba doesn't have a name,
you know. He's not Simba.
You know, the warthog isn't Pumbaa
and all the other cast of characters
in The Lion King and such, I mean.
They're not buddies. They don't hang out.
They don't dance and run around
and throw parties together.
I mean, when Simba sees Pumbaa,
my friend, I assure you,
he's killing him as fast as he can and
he's doing everything he can to kill him.
And he's killing him in any way possible.
It's about survival out here. Period.
A lion is a killing machine.
That is what he does.
That is all he does. He kills. That's
how he survives and that's all he knows.
That would chase the flies away, for sure.
They're already gone.
[Aaron] The only dream I've had of a lion, was
when I was on a bedtime malaria medication.
I was outside of the truck.
My buddy was in the back of the truck.
The lion jumped into the back
of the truck to attack him,
and I had my gun. So, instead of
shooting the lion to save my buddy,
I just shot
my buddy in the head.
- I mean it's was like, what?
- [photographer] A little mercy killing.
Yeah. I guess I...
[photographer]
Oh, yeah, you're screwed.
Something deep down
in the very core
of this dream is just
that Aaron is an asshole.
He wants
to kill all his friends.
I mean, I've been told I'm an asshole by
many people. That is not something new.
[photographer] He kills all the other
lion hunters, then he will be left
the last and best hunter.
That's right. If you
can't beat your competition,
kill them. Eliminate them.
[electronic music]
[bark]
[roar]
[lion growls]
[Dean] We have to try to
shoot one in the next two days.
[Dean] We need to shoot it while
we still got some hippo meat left.
[Dean] That is really good.
[photographer]
Six o'clock last one.
- [Aaron] That's a good picture.
- [photographer] Yeah.
Big lion. Big Simba.
[laughing]
[Dean] Very long mane hair.
That's nine, ten inches long that thing.
[Dean] That's good hair.
Very good hair.
A deep thinking hunter.
One that doesn't necessarily...
shoot every animal he sees.
I'd say that, that shot kind of
will portray him in a way that it shows
the thought process of what happens
when he sees an animal. He'll sit there and
he thinks about it and he contemplates it
and goes through, you know, the
qualifications of what is shooting animal.
So, a shot like that kind of...
just, you know-- It's a good light.
It helps the viewer to, you know,
see him in an intimate way.
The way that he looks at the
animal before he takes it, so.
Hopefully we can
get that across.
Got him!
This lion is not afraid of us.
I mean it's 50 meters.
He's not afraid.
Completely, not afraid.
From the backside,
it seems to be a big lion.
[Abu] He's very happy.
[Aaron] I'll just kill hill.
[Dean] I just wanted
you to have a quick...
[Aaron] It's a pretty cat,
though. Pretty animal.
It ain't going to be pretty.
No, he's going to be angry.
[Dean] It should go south pretty fast, you
know. One second, everything's under control.
Next thing
is it's fucking haywire.
When that lion's looking at you with those
yellow eyes. You know, they look through you.
And you can-- you feel the presence
that is that animal. And it's special.
My father took me hunting
for the first time
when I was eight years, nine,
whatever I was. Eight or nine years old.
He didn't have to
make me want to be a hunter.
That first time I went,
I was-- it-- I was hooked
like I was hooked on the
strongest drug you've ever seen.
And I believe that
to be one thing. Instinct.
Just because some people on
earth choose to suppress that,
don't think it's not in your DNA
because you're lying to yourself.
'Cause it is.
Man is the ultimate predator.
Man will determine
the outcome of the lion.
Man will determine the outcome of
every wild living thing on this planet.
Man rules the world.
[dramatic music]
Uh, I think today
we are going to get a lion,
'cause we have prepared it--
we have prepared it a lot,
so it's time to get it.
Yeah, that's what I feel.
- [dramatic music]
- [lion growling]
[photographer whispering] What
kind of light do you have?
[Dean whispering] Watching.
[Aaron] I can't get him to stand up.
I can't shoot him laying down.
It's just a bad shot.
I don't even know what to say.
He's just fucking sleeping
over there now.
Range. Here we go.
- Quick, to do, to do.
- Yeah, yeah.
[roar]
- We did it, man.
- [Dean] The first one was perfect.
Yeah. We did it.
[Dean] Well done.
[exhales]
Wild-- wild lion with a bow.
Wild lion with a bow.
[exhales]
[Dean] Well done, Aaron.
[Aaron] Thank you. Oh, man.
[zipping sound]
[Dean] Man, what a morning, eh?
- Jeez, Louise.
- [Aaron] Yeah.
I'm glad we didn't
just get in there and whack him.
I'm glad we sat and watched him
and, you know
appreciated him for a bit too.
You know, I-- I don't feel bad.
I feel remorseful for the life,
but, I love for-- I love it for what
I do and I love it for the opportunity
that the good lord gives us to do this
and allows us to hunt these things.
And especially the lion.
[sighs]
[indistinct]
Wow. Alright, let's...
Hang on a second.
Do we need to do that again?
- [Dean] Well done. Well done.
- [Aaron] Thank you.
[Dean] Man that was a beautiful
old lion there. Really.
- [Aaron] Yeah, it is.
- [Dean] Well.
Yeah, that's the-- That's an old
bugger, man there's no doubt.
- [Dean] That is exactly what we needed. Six-foot.
- [Aaron] Oh, man.
- [Dean] You shot him so well.
- That's amazing.
[natives chanting] Simba. Woo!
[Cheering]
[laughing]
Thanks, guys.
Thanks, guys. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
We were expecting a gun.
- [Dean] They were listening for gunshots.
- One of you was calling.
- [Dean] There was no gunshot.
- There was no gunshot.
[Dean] Then they knew you used the bow.
Both of them without hearing a gunshot.
[Aaron]
Take a picture from the side.
[Aaron]
Just do one from the side.
[Aaron] Just watch out.
Very, very important to be respectful
to the animal at all stages.
You know, even when you load
them, you want to load it nice.
You don't want to just throw it off the tailgate
when you get back to the skinning shed.
You don't want to throw it off and dump him on
the ground. You know, you want to be respectful
at all times to them, you know.
It's still, you know, an old animal
and a beautiful animal.
And Yeah, respect them.
[whispering]
Hold that.
[indistinct]
[Dean] Oh, shit,
it's quite heavy.
Aaron, come check
these babies out, Aaron.
Ok, Let me see. Watch out guys.
Oh yeah, look at that.
If that thing licked you, it would tear
your skin off. Just by licking you.
[Dean] It's for licking meat.
They can lick meat off the bone.
[Aaron] Yeah. Look it has tiny little
teeth in its tongue Look at that.
- [Aaron] Yeah, but, man that's a real indication...
- [Dean] That's cool.
[Aaron] These are rubbed flat,
these are rubbed clear to the bottom.
- [Dean] That's awesome.
- He did a good job.
- [Aaron] Old man, huh?
- Good job.
It can be seven or more.
Eight or more. Yeah.
- Behind you. That's the problem.
- [photographer] I mean, I got some...
[Kendal] Pull the tail around,
just a bit, guys.
Let him catch the tail.
- Dude, we smoked him.
- [Dean] Fucking killed him, man.
- One time
- [Dean] One time shoe shine.
- [Aaron] Yeah.
- [Dean] That is the one I came for, for sure.
From this record, they will know how much
they are going to demand from the company.
That's it.
- [Aaron] Okay, you ready?
- [photographer] Yeah.
[Aaron] OK, go.
[photographer]
Back up a little bit. Okay.
[Aaron] Then everybody's
got to run out of the way.
- [photographer] Further front.
- [Aaron] More to the front.
- [Aaron] Go more to the front.
- [Dean] Go to the front.
- [Abu] To the front.
- [photographer] Yeah, Hold on, let me...
[photographer] Stand there.
[Aaron] You gotta go
little more to the front.
- I don't think it's going to happen.
- [Aaron] Okay. Yeah. Watch out.
Watch out. It's going down.
- [Abu] At least you have tried.
- Well, if you don't think you can do it,
let's don't do it.
You don't want to get hurt.
[photographer] Yeah.
I don't think my shoulders can take it.
[Aaron] Okay, alright.
Well, fair enough.
- Okay.
- [Dean] Take that lion shit off.
Yeah, because that-- You will never see
anything that smells worse than that.
- [Dean] Lion shit is the bottom of the--
- Bottom of the barrel?
- [Dean] The bottom.
- It's got maggots in it.
[laugh]
- [gun-shot]
- [Cheering]
29 yards, uhm. Aaron stuck
him right behind the shoulder.
No mess. No fuss.
No drama. Very clean kill.
And yah, nice old lion there.
[music from radio]
[laughter]
- The last.
- You want the full kabuki?
Yeah, the full kabuki?
[radio playing music]
[Aaron]
That came out pretty cool, dude.
That was great, the way
he was watching us, you know.
[photographer] He's sitting
there and he's doing...
- That was pretty funny.
- [Aaron] Did you see when he closed his eyes?
Eyes closed, oh my god,
he's going to sleep.
[photographer] Yeah. Once he started
licking his face and stuff, though
I figured it's not
gonna be much longer now,
'cause it looks like
his mouth's getting dry.
He's getting bored.
He's thirsty.
I'll bet you a hundred dollars
he was going to get up,
look around a bit...
"yeah, yeah, yeah, everything's cool."
He was going to walk and go get a drink, then
he was going to lay down and go to sleep.
[natives singing in the distant]
[Dean] This is
the shipping instructions.
We have the lion skull.
The lion's full skin.
Everything is written down.
- Okay.
- Then, this is the-- this is basically [indistinct]
- This actually becomes [indistinct]
- Okay.
[natives singing]
You know, guys like us
guys like me get the opportunity
to come here and share
a little bit of your culture
and share a little bit of your
country and share your game
and the hunting that you guys all
enjoy just as much as I enjoy it.
And I just want to tell you all
from the bottom of my heart...
Thank you very much.
[narrator] The code of the savage.
The Council of the Elders are meeting
to decide which of the younger warriors
shall be sent out after the lions.
[jungle drums]
Most of the younger warriors
wear headdresses
made from the manes
of the lion they have killed.
Their faces, legs, and chests are
painted red, yellow, and white
with a substance made from the
ashes of previously killed lions.
[war chanting]
For now,
the main master of the wild,
the terror that stalks by night,
this grim lord of slaughter
is to meet his doom at the hands of
the only foe who dare molest him,
or the man who steps back in the face
of a charge is forever branded a coward.
The crowded moment begin. The leader
plunges his spear into the beast.
[lion roars]
He's down.
His shield protects him.
He's up again.
Not a man will step back.
Look out. There's another one.
[lion roar]
[narrator] Look out!
He's got an-other one.
Quick as lightning,
the white spears clash again.
Even if he falls to his death,
he fights with the spears.
Strange to say, the victors
appear unhappy over their victory,
for the lion is a symbol
to them of everything great,
and they worship
his power with deep respect.
[theme music]
[gun-shot]
[indistinct grumbling]
[indistinct]
Shit.
Piece of shit. I mean...
Piece of shit.
[gun-shot]
[Bill O'Reilly] Do you think the world's
going to change because it's getting warmer?
[Donald Trump] It'll get cooler.
It'll get warmer. It's called weather.
Yeah, I think it's a big scam for a lot of
people to make a lot of money. In the meantime,
China is eating our lunch. I love the
idea of solar, and then I do a test,
and you get your money back
in 36 years. The problem is
you got to make it economically viable, Bill.
Right now, it's not economically viable.
[Bill O'Reilly] And if it were, then somebody
would be marketing it. That's for sure.
- Hi, how are you doing?
- Good. How are you?
- I'm doing great.
- Good.
[Aaron] How did we become the richest,
most powerful country in only 200 years?
I guess you can always argue that there's
more than one way to skin a cat, but...
I'll just go ahead
and stick with capitalism
and my second amendment rights.
[Man on phone] What's Richard's
flight schedule tomorrow [indistinct]
[Aaron] But it's just like, I mean, I just can't
even tell you how fucking mad I am, you know.
It's like, "Come on, people." I mean this
is why you don't do this stuff, you know.
This is-- I'm sitting here.
Anyway, so... I mean.
[phone ringing]
- [girlfriend] Hey.
- Hi.
Got everything organized?
Yeah. What are you doing?
You getting your nails done?
- Yes.
- Oh, good heavens.
Yeah, got to get them
done for the Fourth.
- Please take care of my grizzly bear. Okay?
- He's good.
- Are you sure?
- Yes, I bought him a new toy today.
Okay, I'm worried
about my grizzly bear.
I think you worry
about him more than me.
I worry about
my dog very much. Yes.
- He's the love of my life.
- Really? We're do I fall?
Well I mean, you're right there, baby,
but I'm just saying. Okay? Alright.
Okay, talk to you later.
- Okay, Love you,
- Love you too. Bye, bye.
Bye.
[man on TV] Yeah. Man, oh man.
I am just
over the moon with this.
Look at that big tuft
he's got there on his elbow.
That is what you call
a big-maned Tanzania lion, baby.
Chris, this thing is a stud.
When I saw him come out,
it only took but a second.
Yeah, this here was...
It was a big day for me.
[gun-shot]
"Uh, You are one sick, twisted
individual that takes great pleasure
in killing beautiful animals like the lion in
the video. I'm going to ask for your picture
to be put across the world wide web in the
hope that someone will stop you, period.
If they don't, then you deserve
to die a very slow, painful death,
a stroke where you're paralyzed would
be justice for what you're doing.
I bet you are a sexual sadist. That is
why you like to kill innocent animals
because it gets
you hard, sick fuck.
Those innocent animals
don't need to die
because of your disgusting sexual
fetish, you freak. Leave them alone."
I mean, where do you--
where do you get
sexual deviation, uh,
from going hunting?
You know when I say that...
And people might think that it sounds tongue in
cheek when I say that it brings me to tears,
but that's really not true.
It does.
You know, the...
It's hard
to put into words, really,
the feelings
that I have for the lion,
and it's a shame that
people won't take the time to
recognize the importance
that all of us can bring
to their protection,
including the hunters.
You know, and oftentimes...
You know I get mad, and
I'm a very type A personality,
and I think
people who know me see that.
I lift weights, and I'm
aggressive, and that sort of thing,
but, you know, to get to know me
and understand my real feelings
for the wildlife there, would give
somebody a different perspective on--
on what I believe and what I stand for.
And not just me, but a lot of us.
And that's why I get so frustrated that
a lot of the people on the flip side
of our coin you know, bash what we do
and think we're there just to harm,
and to rape, and pillage the wildlife,
and the people, and the territory,
and stuff, but, when nothing's
further from the truth.
I mean, you have to come there.
You have to experience it.
Stop telling me what you think you know.
Come there and see it for yourself.
[theme music]
You speak English.
- [male] She's funny. [indistinct]
- [Male] Come on. baby.
[chatter]
[drum music]
[car engine running]
[Dean] Too much dead grass.
This dead grass
is not good food for anything.
There's nothing that eats it.
What we do this time of year,
we burn all of it,
and within a week or 10 days,
all the new growth comes,
and it's much better, much more
nutritious for all the animals,
and it's better
for the bush. Yeah.
[ominous music]
[photographer] I'm just going to
find something to shoot.
[Aaron] Yeah, all right.
[laughing]
[photographer]
Find something to kill.
[Dean] He said better make another plan to
try and find a hippo when You've got time,
and rather just go and whack a zebra.
He said you should see a zebra,
just to make sure we get a bait of
today because if we don't find one,
then we're screwed, you know?
My role here is to make sure
that during hunting activities,
all the rules
and regulation are followed.
[Dean] The trophy fee is quite
expensive, $3,000, $4,000.
We don't really want to shoot one of those for
bait because it's such an expensive animal.
We'd rather
shoot something more cheap.
We'd rather shoot something like a hippo.
It's much cheaper, much more bait.
[Aaron] Desperation
is getting bad already.
[Dean] You'll have to start using
cameramen. We've got plenty of them.
- [hunter] You got to hang
around, hang around. [indistinct]
[Aaron] Just a lot of bad
luck this morning, really.
[Dean] Most people in the world think that the
wilderness is like Serengeti National Park
where there
are millions of animals,
but in the reality is that
places like Serengeti may be 5%
of what goes on in Africa. The rest
of Africa is different from Serengeti.
The reality is more like what we
are seeing, where people live,
and people-- There's conflict
with people and animals,
and you see the people
cut the trees down,
and they destroy the habitat.
That's more the reality in
Africa than a national park.
A national park is a fairly
artificial environment.
They put a big border around it,
and they protect it.
But the rest
of Africa's not like that.
Populations
of people increase every year.
Every year they extend their villages
further and further into the bush.
There's less area for the animals to live.
There's more poaching.
It's not all good news
for the animals.
[man] Lots of candy.
We give candy to the kids.
[Dean] There you go.
[Dean] She saw a lion. Sometimes she's
moving from one village to another village.
She saw a lion,
but all the younger ones,
they haven't yet seen any lions.
It's a delicate line
you walk because as hunters,
we want to maintain
this are as a hunting area.
As people, they want to look at it, and say:
"Oh, there's some forest. There's some land.
I can go and plant some stuff," so there's
always that little bit of tension, you know.
but overall they
see us as a beneficiary here
because we employ some of these guys in
the camps and their families, you know.
They're forever
criticizing colonialism,
and the white man,
and what he did, and...
but then I always say,
Well, okay.
The very man
who's criticizing it
is standing
in a three-piece suit,
wearing a tie,
black shoes, belt.
He woke up in a house of bricks and
tiles with electricity and piped water,
and he picks up his cell phone,
and he cooks his breakfast in a toaster.
Every single
thing he does, from there,
getting in his car, going on a
blacktopped road to the office, you know.
Turning on a computer... Everything
there came from the Western world.
So, he's utilizing
everything that's Western,
and he wants to be in that zone.
That's the conflict.
Yeah, Africa's very confused,
you know.
They have this conflict,
internal conflict.
Hard thing for the Western
world to understand as well.
[laughing]
Very, very ancient technology,
passed down from father to son.
- [Aaron] This is bush technology here.
- Yeah.
[Aaron] You don't have
a tractor with a [inaudible]
[Dean] When you don't have
a trailer, this is what you do.
I love the sound of the glass.
The sound of the African bush.
[inaudible].
- [Aaron] It might be a little strong.
- [hunter] What do you want?
Some Red Label?
Wash the dust off.
[hunter]
Did some bush bashing today.
- Cheers, guys.
- Cheers.
- Good day.
- [inaudible] see a leopard.
[Aaron] Yeah, it was cool
seeing a leopard today.
[photographer] O-oh,
well, that was a bad idea.
Been a certain place.
[Dean] Guys says
you have a big nose.
[Dean] Puts his fucking
drink down, you know.
- [photographer] O-oh [laughing]
- [Dean] Unless he put's his drink down.
- [Aaron] That's a problem.
- [Dean] Okay.
Grabbed him by his head, boff,
headbutted him, bwak, down on the ground,
- grabs him by--
- [Aaron] That headbutt will get you.
Grabs him by his hair,
walks him to the door.
It's like on the second floor,
so there's a set of stairs,
fuck, drags him by his hair
to the door. This guy's out.
I mean, his eyes--
eyes are like... You know?
Drags him to the steps, pushes
him over, fucking kicks him.
He rolls down three steps,
comes back, picks up his drink.
He says: "Shit, sorry about
that. Uh, What were we saying?"
There's like blood on the roof,
and there's blood on the walls.
[Aaron] He's talking about the guy that was
convicted for murder and put in jail, P.H.
[photographer] Went to prison
for like fighting?
- No, he went to prison for murder.
- [photographer] Oh. Shoot.
- Ten years.
- [hunter] Yeah, but...
They said he smoked
a fucking poacher.
- [photographer] Didn't Georgie smoke a poacher?
- Aaron] Yeah, Georgie Ferrera
- smoked a fucking poacher as big as Dallas two years ago.
- Cliffi's, you know.
[Aaron] Cliff House?
Oh, I didn't know that.
[Aaron] This poacher, I mean, dude,
he came up and levelled a gun at Georgie,
just levelled his 500 and,
dou, smoked the guy.
There's no issue with it.
It isn't an issue.
[Aaron] Yeah, I'm not shooting anybody.
When Sammie opened in 2003,
I mean, we were literally
in a shootout back and forth.
I was like: "Holy fucking shit.
Where did I sign up for this bullshit?"
The vultures
were circling their camp.
We went there, and I mean.
And that's when we found...
Man, that was back in the days of,
you know just three-chip color digital,
just standard def, you know, wasn't even...
But I had a camera, and I videoed it all,
and we found 150 dead animals.
What they do is they smoke it.
I mean basically turned it into jerky. They
call it biltong here, but you basically--
For some reason, I pictured fresh,
you know steaks, and their steak's shit.
- I couldn't even sell that.
- [Dean] They get these monkeys and shit, and they smoke them.
So, yeah. I mean, it still looks like a
monkey, but it's smoked and mummified.
- [photographer] Yeah [laughs].
- And they just--
Yeah, you go
and buy the smoked monkey.
And The truth is, I actually
like the biltong here.
But You know, they dry it, or salt
it, or smoke it, or whatever.
And then, later, they go and put
it in a pot with boiling water,
and they reconstitute it
and then eat it like that.
Yeah, I like it.
- [Dean] [inaudible].
- [Aaron] I do like those scopes.
He says that he heard buffalo,
yeah, the herd.
Can you see my...
It 's right there.
- [Aaron] That must be why he brought his gun.
- Huh?
That must be
why he brought the gun.
So, they're trying to find...
[Aaron] You see him, bro?
[suspenseful rhythmic music]
[Aron] Up to the left.
There's one looking right at us.
See the one looking right at us?
[gun-shot]
[Aaron] Oh, man.
That's him. What?
[gun-shot]
- [animal cry]
- [Aaron] Fucking nightmare.
[suspenseful music]
[Aaron] One nice buffalo here.
[Aaron]
You just gotta tell me when.
Yeah, this one bullet
in a perfect area.
You know, animals, when you
shoot them, they don't struggle.
They-- They just got--
get a sudden-- sudden death,
which is fine. Yeah.
[Aaron] Well, we've come back to this guy.
We think that other one's
gone over there in the grass.
And so, It's getting late,
so it's probably not too wise
to push it into the grass.
Let me do that again.
[Aaron] It'll be better if you hold the
motherfucker still. Yeah, you've got to find a way
- to brace better, or something.
- [photographer] That's fatigue.
from been doing it for--
how long? I mean, I was...
[hunter] Happy days, boys.
[Dean] The best part
of the buffalo right there.
Yeah, there we go, splat.
Beautiful.
Very tasty.
Two days' time, on the cold,
filled in pepper,
one glass of red wine.
Yeah, that's gonna be good.
[car engine running]
[rope creaks]
[car starting]
A big male could eat
higher than I could reach.
He just stands up on his back
legs and he could eat way up here.
Way up here. I mean,
they're big, they're huge,
Because he could eat all this,
he could eat most of this, no problem.
- [Dean] It's little bit lower.
- [photographer] it's a little bit low.
- [photographer] but we're gonna change it tomorrow.
- [hunter] Yeah.
Yeah, if he comes and gets a fill of
this, he ain't going nowhere.
That's right. [laughing]
[Aaron] Look out. Oh, you don't
want that on you. Nuh-uh. Bad stuff.
[hunter]
Is the shit-slinging done yet?
[Aaron]
Nuh-uh, look out. Look out.
[car driving]
[Photographer] You kill a couple buffalos,
you get a lion, you get a leopard.
You have them taxidermized.
You're probable looking at what?
- 150, 175 thousand.
- [Aaron] You're certainly looking well over a hundred.
The most expensive
companies in Tanzania
are over a hundred
thousand dollars
before you even
have any kind of success.
If you're gonna kill a lion,
this is the kinda lion you need to kill.
Must be six or greater, must be on its
own, must not be in a pride,
must not have cubs. There's
a whole set of guidelines
and for people
like myself and Aaron,
who-- we have the lions'
interests at heart,
we truly do. You know, You don't just
do that if you don't care about it
and I care about doing it
right and doing it properly
and I mean that's what this is all about.
Statistically, right, no,
you probably won't get one, but
you bought yourself a lion hunt,
and you'll go home
having hunted lions.
[wildlife sounds]
[indistinct]
[indistinct]
A couple of hyenas,
feeding here last night.
Jumping up,
latching on, pulling off.
Sometimes you get a moment
when the light hits the grass
just right or the light goes
through the leaves of a tree
and it looks really nice. So you've
got to take a picture cause this is...
This is film
nature is a character,
so, I mean, you have to be able to capture
those moments when there's beautiful things.
[Aaron] I think that probably
should, that's pretty square.
- This things are all pretty wide, wide angle.
- [hunter] Yeah.
Yeah, we'll see tomorrow if we don't
get some pics we'll move it again.
[Dean] It should be fine.
Alright, let's rock and roll.
[intense music]
[Aaron] Fuck. Fucking shit.
[Aaron] Fuck.
I mean that's a perfect shot.
That buffalo shouldn't have gone
200 yards and fell over stone dead.
That's the same piece that would have
robbed the fucking dog shit out of me.
Hand me that gun,
will you? Just--
At least we found it
so we know that it's terminated.
It's not good to find it
too late like this.
[Aaron] Yeah, I mean He's not
really getting that reflector on me.
[photographer]
Yeah, I mean it's okay.
[Aaron] Oh, I know,
but I don't want just okay.
Yeah see the reflector's
not even on me.
See if maybe we
can get Dean to hold it.
[inaudible]
[Aaron] Yeah.
[Aaron] maybe just up a little
bit. Up a little bit higher.
[Aaron] No, you-- up higher.
[Aaron] We want it just a little bit
higher, just a little bit higher.
[creaking]
[car driving]
- Morning.
- [Aaron] Morning.
[Dean] Everybody sleep okay?
Well, I wasn't dreaming
I was covered in ants, yeah.
You're still covered in ants?
That lets you know that you're alive.
- [photographer] Mm-hmm.
- [Dean] Yeah.
- Morning, boys.
- [Dean] How you doing man?
[Dean] Well, well, well.
Good, good, good.
I was born funny, dude.
Haven't you noticed that?
[photographer] When you're that
ugly you gotta be something.
That's right.
When you gotta a face for radio,
you gotta come up with some good lines.
[photographer]
Face for radio, dreams for TV.
Live a little in the mean-time.
- [Aaron] Or a lot.
- [Dean] Live a lot in the mean-time.
[Aaron] Well, let's see what kind
of trouble we can get into today.
Yeah, I'd like
to see a big lion on bait.
- That'd be alright.
- [Dean] The baits are in good places, it's a waiting game.
If they were easy to kill, then we'd sell
them on five day hunts six days hunt.
It's 21 day hunt for a reason.
- It's a leopard.
- Claw marks on the tree.
[Dean]
Yeah, you can see the leopard.
[Dean] That's a big female or
a young male, it's not very big.
It's the way it goes.
They can drive you crazy these [indistinct]
why didn't you do it? He gets so frustrated,
you know, checking. Why didn't he come?
Why did-- He says boss:
"He's got four legs,
we've got two."
[laughter]
It's a simple explanation.
He'll do what he wants
to do, he's an animal.
[Aaron] That water looks really tasty.
- [photographer] M-hm.
[Kendeal] How big does
a big male leopard get?
[Aaron] Around here,
probably 150, 160 pounds.
But a big male lion's 3, 4?
[Aaron] Oh no, he's probably
a big male lion, 450 pounds.
- [photographer] It's a big cat.
- It's a big cat.
[Dean] The worst thing that can ever
happen is vultures find your bait.
[Dean] It's very frustrating.
In America, that's what I do there.
I've been a hunting guide for 24 years.
So, I've guided lots of--
lots of hunters, so...
- Does it pay there, over there?
- Does it what?
- Pay.
- Yeah.
- More than here?
- Uh.
You know, It all depends,
I mean, some places yeah,
some places, no.
Yeah, it just all depends.
So, where I live we have elk and
deer and big horned sheep and goats
and mountain lions,
you know, and all that stuff.
But I live up in the mountains.
It's very pretty, but it's cold.
[laughs]
But it's very pretty. You know,
in our country where you have, you know,
only a 10% unemployment rate, You
know, so 90% of the people have jobs,
you know, they don't
need to go live off the land,
and live off the wildlife,
you know?
So, we can still continue to protect
our wild places and wildlife resources.
Here, I understand it's a different
story, man. I do. Look I've seen it,
I know, I understand, but gosh
damn, I hate to see the wildlife
and the wild lands,
you know be the loser.
But, eventually
they're gonna be the loser.
Because the people
are gonna win.
[Aaron] He doesn't
have a great big mane.
But I mean he has big shoulders,
big, I mean--
he's not streamlined.
He has big shoulders and big back.
I promise you, I could have shot that
lion, that's not what it is about.
We're going to try to get them on
bait, try to get a better assessment,
try to get a better closer look at him.
I mean, you want to try to get
a good assessment
before you just start shooting.
I mean, I think that was a
prime example of people thinking
we just wire a wire through the bush
and if a lion jumps out, we smoke him.
Well, that's not
the way it works.
Hey watch, be careful,
he's known.
[laughs]
A little different than
a buffalo, that's for sure.
What we came for.
[Dean] I was still walking in
the dark in the early morning,
and the two male lions started fighting to
my left, close, close, close in the dark.
I don't know why they started fighting,
but all of a sudden they started fighting.
And then-- I mean,
the sound was un believable,
You know, you need to record that
early in the morning when it's quiet.
But, same, in the dark
right here, fighting.
They were mad.
[photographer] Could you have the chef in the
future not put the tuna fish on the bread?
[Dean] You want it separate?
Do you want some other?
No. I mean, I don't
really like tuna fish, so...
[Aaron] Goddamn it,
get the fuck off of me.
But he can bring you
some normal bread if you want.
[photographer]
No, it's fine, it's fine.
[Dean] I've had seven wounded
lions that I've had to follow.
When you know they're aliv e and you've still
got to go and find them, I've had seven,
and only two of them charged.
Some lions don't always charge, you know.
They call them cowardly lions,
but I don't like that word.
It's not a cowardly lion,
it's just--
But, yeah, not all of them have
it in them to charge, but still,
when you get the one that does,
it's incredibly intimidating.
If you consider the combination of
speed and aggression and strength--
Mm-hmm.
That combination and the fact
that they can hide in the bush
and you don't see them until-- you
know, it's my least favorite for sure.
Yeah.
[inhaling sharply]
[Aaron whispering] Waiting for
the hippo to show himself.
[Aaron] It's not a lot of fun.
It's boring.
You realize by the time this
thing comes out of the water
it's probably
going to be close to dark.
- [photographer] It's 6:30.
- [Aaron] Well I don't care what time it is,
I'm just talking
about light-wise.
[gun-shot]
When they don't move like that,
he's lying dead on the bottom in the sand.
Yeah, we'll come
in the morning and find him.
[Aaron] Have you heard of that
group Tanzanians for Wildlife?
They were petitioning Tanzanian Wildlife Department
to not issue me a visa to enter the country.
[Dean] There's some
pieces of shit around the place.
[hunter] But the thing I saw on
TV, there are these elephants
walking in a field, and there's a
female elephant, and then they're
all grouped together, and they start
trying to run, and they're grouping
and the next minute
you see a gun barrel,
and you see a bullet
come out of the gun barrel.
And as it hits one of the elephants,
the picture sort of dissolves
and turns into
a woman with two or three kids.
- [Aaron] Oh, fuck.
- Right. and she's now running
in the field and they're all scared
and she's holding the kids, you know?
And off they go. And it's basically,
you know, so flipping well done,
and it's Hollywood-ed that someone sitting
in a chair is gonna: "Oh, my god, shame,
- is that what it's like?".
- [Aaron] Yeah, they just shot a family.
They just a family,
they just a shot her daughter.
- And that's what they do.
- [Aaron] M-hm.
They sway the mindset of people,
that middle chunk of population
who don't know any better.
And we as hunters--
I'm telling you now,
if we don't start doing
the same Hollywood-ed up...
Everybody thinks banning hunting
is going to save wildlife,
- [hunter] Yeah.
- [Dean] And the reverse is 100% the case.
[Aaron]
You've been here for a week now,
you've seen
anybody else out here?
Ain't anybody else out here.
You think someone is going to come here
and pay you for a photographic safari?
You think when
Sammy Glitchbottom and his wife
and his 2.5 kids rock up
from Indianapolis, Indiana,
with their safari hat on...
he's got a safari hat.
How quickly do you think that the wife
is giving the husband one of these
and saying: "You get us the hell
out of here, and I mean now".
About the third time
the nine year old is screaming
"mommy,
the flies are killing me".
Boom!
[hunter] Definitely it's true.
There is only
one source of revenue
in the entire
country of Tanzania,
for the Tanzanian
Wildlife Department.
And that is hunting dollars.
Period, end of story.
Yourself for example. Coming on this safari,
you're supporting me, you're supporting Dean,
you're supporting
all the trackers, 20-30 staff,
that come in here
and set up the camps every year.
The admin in town, all their families, the
game scouts that-- and the anti-poaching guys.
The pyramid is like this,
by one guy coming on this safari.
Cause it gives value to wildlife,
it gives you a reason to look after them.
You know, if they don't have
a reason to look after wildlife,
why look after them? You don't.
[Dean] We look at it, wildlife
from a different perspective
from what black
people look at it as.
Why it sits there for our
entertainment and enjoyment.
But, there's got to be a bigger
reason to look after it,
and they've got
a benefit like Aaron says.
They have to benefit from it,
it's not just
for our luxury purposes.
These people that live out here,
they're not saving money for retirement,
they're not worried about their golf,
you know, their golf house in Florida.
They are simply worried about,
"how do I feed my family today".
These guys don't think past
tomorrow. That don't mean that
because they're not capable
of thinking past tomorrow,
it's because they live in the moment
because today they've got to eat today.
It's how it is.
Yeah, that's reality.
It's not negative, it's reality.
It's unfortunate,
but it's the case.
[music]
[indistinct]
His blood
is shattered everywhere.
As soon as it hits this rock, it's
going to be as far as it's going to go.
- [photographer] You never surfed a day in your life.
- [Aaron] Nope. I have now.
Surfed on a hippo.
[Dean] That's a hell of a way
to start the morning.
See if it's anything
for Tanzania star.
- [Aaron] I probably won't put the surfing picture on Facebook.
- [photographer] No?
[photographer]
That's a damn shame.
They wanted push-ups, squats,
flutter kicks, and burpees.
- [photographer] It's hard.
- Oh, that would kick your ass.
[photographer] Gotta get down. Gotta
get down. Get your chest on the ground.
- [Aaron] How is it on your hands?
- [photographer] It's not bad.
[photographer]
My feet hurt a little more.
[Aaron] Oh, yeah?
[Aaron] But you'll see,
I mean, when I'm at the lion,
I mean I'll give him, you know,
a moment of silence and...
That's killing. No doubt about it.
You're going to kill him.
But you know,
part of it is unexplainable.
Too much of what you see
in the United States...
That-- They don't represent, you
know, the way things really are.
Simba doesn't have a name,
you know. He's not Simba.
You know, the warthog isn't Pumbaa
and all the other cast of characters
in The Lion King and such, I mean.
They're not buddies. They don't hang out.
They don't dance and run around
and throw parties together.
I mean, when Simba sees Pumbaa,
my friend, I assure you,
he's killing him as fast as he can and
he's doing everything he can to kill him.
And he's killing him in any way possible.
It's about survival out here. Period.
A lion is a killing machine.
That is what he does.
That is all he does. He kills. That's
how he survives and that's all he knows.
That would chase the flies away, for sure.
They're already gone.
[Aaron] The only dream I've had of a lion, was
when I was on a bedtime malaria medication.
I was outside of the truck.
My buddy was in the back of the truck.
The lion jumped into the back
of the truck to attack him,
and I had my gun. So, instead of
shooting the lion to save my buddy,
I just shot
my buddy in the head.
- I mean it's was like, what?
- [photographer] A little mercy killing.
Yeah. I guess I...
[photographer]
Oh, yeah, you're screwed.
Something deep down
in the very core
of this dream is just
that Aaron is an asshole.
He wants
to kill all his friends.
I mean, I've been told I'm an asshole by
many people. That is not something new.
[photographer] He kills all the other
lion hunters, then he will be left
the last and best hunter.
That's right. If you
can't beat your competition,
kill them. Eliminate them.
[electronic music]
[bark]
[roar]
[lion growls]
[Dean] We have to try to
shoot one in the next two days.
[Dean] We need to shoot it while
we still got some hippo meat left.
[Dean] That is really good.
[photographer]
Six o'clock last one.
- [Aaron] That's a good picture.
- [photographer] Yeah.
Big lion. Big Simba.
[laughing]
[Dean] Very long mane hair.
That's nine, ten inches long that thing.
[Dean] That's good hair.
Very good hair.
A deep thinking hunter.
One that doesn't necessarily...
shoot every animal he sees.
I'd say that, that shot kind of
will portray him in a way that it shows
the thought process of what happens
when he sees an animal. He'll sit there and
he thinks about it and he contemplates it
and goes through, you know, the
qualifications of what is shooting animal.
So, a shot like that kind of...
just, you know-- It's a good light.
It helps the viewer to, you know,
see him in an intimate way.
The way that he looks at the
animal before he takes it, so.
Hopefully we can
get that across.
Got him!
This lion is not afraid of us.
I mean it's 50 meters.
He's not afraid.
Completely, not afraid.
From the backside,
it seems to be a big lion.
[Abu] He's very happy.
[Aaron] I'll just kill hill.
[Dean] I just wanted
you to have a quick...
[Aaron] It's a pretty cat,
though. Pretty animal.
It ain't going to be pretty.
No, he's going to be angry.
[Dean] It should go south pretty fast, you
know. One second, everything's under control.
Next thing
is it's fucking haywire.
When that lion's looking at you with those
yellow eyes. You know, they look through you.
And you can-- you feel the presence
that is that animal. And it's special.
My father took me hunting
for the first time
when I was eight years, nine,
whatever I was. Eight or nine years old.
He didn't have to
make me want to be a hunter.
That first time I went,
I was-- it-- I was hooked
like I was hooked on the
strongest drug you've ever seen.
And I believe that
to be one thing. Instinct.
Just because some people on
earth choose to suppress that,
don't think it's not in your DNA
because you're lying to yourself.
'Cause it is.
Man is the ultimate predator.
Man will determine
the outcome of the lion.
Man will determine the outcome of
every wild living thing on this planet.
Man rules the world.
[dramatic music]
Uh, I think today
we are going to get a lion,
'cause we have prepared it--
we have prepared it a lot,
so it's time to get it.
Yeah, that's what I feel.
- [dramatic music]
- [lion growling]
[photographer whispering] What
kind of light do you have?
[Dean whispering] Watching.
[Aaron] I can't get him to stand up.
I can't shoot him laying down.
It's just a bad shot.
I don't even know what to say.
He's just fucking sleeping
over there now.
Range. Here we go.
- Quick, to do, to do.
- Yeah, yeah.
[roar]
- We did it, man.
- [Dean] The first one was perfect.
Yeah. We did it.
[Dean] Well done.
[exhales]
Wild-- wild lion with a bow.
Wild lion with a bow.
[exhales]
[Dean] Well done, Aaron.
[Aaron] Thank you. Oh, man.
[zipping sound]
[Dean] Man, what a morning, eh?
- Jeez, Louise.
- [Aaron] Yeah.
I'm glad we didn't
just get in there and whack him.
I'm glad we sat and watched him
and, you know
appreciated him for a bit too.
You know, I-- I don't feel bad.
I feel remorseful for the life,
but, I love for-- I love it for what
I do and I love it for the opportunity
that the good lord gives us to do this
and allows us to hunt these things.
And especially the lion.
[sighs]
[indistinct]
Wow. Alright, let's...
Hang on a second.
Do we need to do that again?
- [Dean] Well done. Well done.
- [Aaron] Thank you.
[Dean] Man that was a beautiful
old lion there. Really.
- [Aaron] Yeah, it is.
- [Dean] Well.
Yeah, that's the-- That's an old
bugger, man there's no doubt.
- [Dean] That is exactly what we needed. Six-foot.
- [Aaron] Oh, man.
- [Dean] You shot him so well.
- That's amazing.
[natives chanting] Simba. Woo!
[Cheering]
[laughing]
Thanks, guys.
Thanks, guys. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
We were expecting a gun.
- [Dean] They were listening for gunshots.
- One of you was calling.
- [Dean] There was no gunshot.
- There was no gunshot.
[Dean] Then they knew you used the bow.
Both of them without hearing a gunshot.
[Aaron]
Take a picture from the side.
[Aaron]
Just do one from the side.
[Aaron] Just watch out.
Very, very important to be respectful
to the animal at all stages.
You know, even when you load
them, you want to load it nice.
You don't want to just throw it off the tailgate
when you get back to the skinning shed.
You don't want to throw it off and dump him on
the ground. You know, you want to be respectful
at all times to them, you know.
It's still, you know, an old animal
and a beautiful animal.
And Yeah, respect them.
[whispering]
Hold that.
[indistinct]
[Dean] Oh, shit,
it's quite heavy.
Aaron, come check
these babies out, Aaron.
Ok, Let me see. Watch out guys.
Oh yeah, look at that.
If that thing licked you, it would tear
your skin off. Just by licking you.
[Dean] It's for licking meat.
They can lick meat off the bone.
[Aaron] Yeah. Look it has tiny little
teeth in its tongue Look at that.
- [Aaron] Yeah, but, man that's a real indication...
- [Dean] That's cool.
[Aaron] These are rubbed flat,
these are rubbed clear to the bottom.
- [Dean] That's awesome.
- He did a good job.
- [Aaron] Old man, huh?
- Good job.
It can be seven or more.
Eight or more. Yeah.
- Behind you. That's the problem.
- [photographer] I mean, I got some...
[Kendal] Pull the tail around,
just a bit, guys.
Let him catch the tail.
- Dude, we smoked him.
- [Dean] Fucking killed him, man.
- One time
- [Dean] One time shoe shine.
- [Aaron] Yeah.
- [Dean] That is the one I came for, for sure.
From this record, they will know how much
they are going to demand from the company.
That's it.
- [Aaron] Okay, you ready?
- [photographer] Yeah.
[Aaron] OK, go.
[photographer]
Back up a little bit. Okay.
[Aaron] Then everybody's
got to run out of the way.
- [photographer] Further front.
- [Aaron] More to the front.
- [Aaron] Go more to the front.
- [Dean] Go to the front.
- [Abu] To the front.
- [photographer] Yeah, Hold on, let me...
[photographer] Stand there.
[Aaron] You gotta go
little more to the front.
- I don't think it's going to happen.
- [Aaron] Okay. Yeah. Watch out.
Watch out. It's going down.
- [Abu] At least you have tried.
- Well, if you don't think you can do it,
let's don't do it.
You don't want to get hurt.
[photographer] Yeah.
I don't think my shoulders can take it.
[Aaron] Okay, alright.
Well, fair enough.
- Okay.
- [Dean] Take that lion shit off.
Yeah, because that-- You will never see
anything that smells worse than that.
- [Dean] Lion shit is the bottom of the--
- Bottom of the barrel?
- [Dean] The bottom.
- It's got maggots in it.
[laugh]
- [gun-shot]
- [Cheering]
29 yards, uhm. Aaron stuck
him right behind the shoulder.
No mess. No fuss.
No drama. Very clean kill.
And yah, nice old lion there.
[music from radio]
[laughter]
- The last.
- You want the full kabuki?
Yeah, the full kabuki?
[radio playing music]
[Aaron]
That came out pretty cool, dude.
That was great, the way
he was watching us, you know.
[photographer] He's sitting
there and he's doing...
- That was pretty funny.
- [Aaron] Did you see when he closed his eyes?
Eyes closed, oh my god,
he's going to sleep.
[photographer] Yeah. Once he started
licking his face and stuff, though
I figured it's not
gonna be much longer now,
'cause it looks like
his mouth's getting dry.
He's getting bored.
He's thirsty.
I'll bet you a hundred dollars
he was going to get up,
look around a bit...
"yeah, yeah, yeah, everything's cool."
He was going to walk and go get a drink, then
he was going to lay down and go to sleep.
[natives singing in the distant]
[Dean] This is
the shipping instructions.
We have the lion skull.
The lion's full skin.
Everything is written down.
- Okay.
- Then, this is the-- this is basically [indistinct]
- This actually becomes [indistinct]
- Okay.
[natives singing]
You know, guys like us
guys like me get the opportunity
to come here and share
a little bit of your culture
and share a little bit of your
country and share your game
and the hunting that you guys all
enjoy just as much as I enjoy it.
And I just want to tell you all
from the bottom of my heart...
Thank you very much.