By Gayne C. Young
Kirk Douglas had never fired a rifle when he decided his wife needed a leopard coat and that he should be the one to kill the leopard to make it. The actor admitted such upon his arrival in Kenya, where he had booked a three-week safari with famed outfitters Ker and Downey. According to True: The Man’s Magazine, Kirk told professional hunters Don Bousfield and John Fletcher, “The only rifles I’ve ever fired were loaded with blanks and used in numerous movie roles.”
Bousfield and Fletcher took the admission of the star of “Spartacus” as fact then did their best to give him some quick shooting lessons en route to camp. The group stopped for beers then had Kirk pop his empties at a distance of 40 yards with a .22 rifle. Kirk proved a natural shot and the party continued on to camp. That first camp held the two “white hunters” and a staff of “22 native boys” who served as skinners, trackers, cooks and camp help.
Yeah, people said things like “white hunters” and “22 native boys” back in 1962.
The shooting lessons continued that evening with a .264. Bousfield handed the rifle to Kirk and gave instructions tailor made for the actor.
“Now, Kirk, this role calls for you to put a bullet smack in the middle of that bullseye,” the PH offered while pointing at a paper target 200 yards away. “And if you can’t do it, we’ll get John Wayne for the part.”
“First shot?” Kirk asked.
“First shot,” Bousfield reiterated.
Kirk eased into the rifle and squeezed. His first shot was dead on. His second right next to the first.
Kirk didn’t do so well with his next assigned rifle. The Hollywood star was handed a .375 and told to shoot just as he had before. Kirk fired offhand and the recoil kicked the scope straight into his eye and nose.
“Stupid of me,” Kirk said wiping his bloody nose with the back of his hand. “Let me try it again.”
Kirk fired twice more and easily hit the bullseye both times.
Kirk Douglas On the Hunt
That night over plenty of Polish vodka for Kirk and bourbon for the PH’s, the discussion turned to what game to try for first. As there were signs of elephant near camp, it was suggested that the group concentrate on such. Bousfield added that he felt confident that they could find Kirk an elephant of at least 100 pounds.
The group hunted for several days without the chance at a big tusker, but not for a lack of trying. One day the group hiked over 18 miles in 100-degree weather after elephant. Another saw them sit in a tree 40 feet above a water hole for seven hours straight. Despite the lack of opportunities for elephant, Kirk did take some game, however. One night he shot 11 Guinea fowl, two Francolin, and 14 doves with his .22. Another day saw Kirk take a Peter’s Grant’s gazelle. Of this first game animal Kirk said, “This is the first thing I ever killed. And just for a moment, when I saw it so clearly through the scope, I didn’t know if I could do it. It really hit me for just a moment, the thought of depriving that gent of his harem. But when I saw the camp boys pile into that meat, and saw how they needed it, and appreciated it, all twingers left me. I’m a killer now. Bring on that elephant!”
Because of the lack of suitable elephants, the decision was made to concentrate on plains game. The group called for a plane and was transported some 400 miles to Tanganyika. That first day on the plains was just the change in scenery that Kirk didn’t know he needed. “We must’ve seen close to a thousand zebra! Hundreds of wildebeest, Tommy gazelles, impala— the whole works, and no hiking at all. Just drive up and walk a couple hundred yards from the Land Rover and shoot.”
Kirk took advantage of the abundance of game and that first day took several zebras, warthog, and another Grant’s gazelle. Parts of these trophies were set up as leopard bait.
Over the next two days, Kirk took seven more animals, including oryx, eland, wildebeest, and impala. On the final morning of the hunt news came that one of the leopard baits had been hit and the decision that Kirk should spend his last night in a makeshift blind after the cat was made. Kirk agreed and the group went after more plains game. While hunting, the group came across a man named Neville Stein. A game catcher by profession, the man was in the area to collect animals for sales to zoo. Kirk was curious about the man and the way he made his living. Kirk listened as Stein explained his profession then asked if he could catch a zebra. Stein agreed, gave Kirk a quick lesson on how to use the noose at the end of a very long bamboo pole, and put the actor in the bolted-to-the-side-of-the-truck game catcher seat. Stein punched it and drove into a herd of zebra at 60 miles an hour. A young male was chosen, and Neville tore through the mass of black-and-white until the animal was separated from the others. Kirk lassoed the horse and Stein stepped on the brake. The whiplashed animal tumbled to the ground and was then forced into position for a quick photo then released.
See, people did stupid shit for pictures back in the 1960s as well!
Spartacus Retreats
Bousfield took Kirk to the leopard blind late that afternoon. The PH watched the bait while Kirk read a book. Three hours passed before the cat suddenly appeared. “It seemed like a sort of dreamworld,” Kirk later said. “Shadows were getting deeper and I was a little sleepy from reading. Then, as if he had materialized out of nowhere, the leopard was there. I never saw him climb the tree. He was just there.”
Kirk took careful aim and dropped the big cat with one shot. Back at camp, Kirk celebrated his first ever safari and declared, “I’m hooked. I don’t know how I ever got along all those years without hunting. I don’t want my kids to wait as long as I did.”
Kirk never took his boys hunting, and this proved to be his only hunting trip. His trophies were displayed in his projection room back in California. He turned his leopard into a rug rather than into a coat for his wife and instead purchased one for her. Some 50 years later, at the age of 98, Kirk came out against his safari. He wrote in an August 7, 2015, Huffington Post piece entitled “The Killing of Cecil Reopens a Shameful Memory,” “While I, too, mourn the killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, it revives in me an uncomfortable memory. Some 50 years ago, I went on my first (and only) wild-game hunt—the most stupid thing I’ve ever done. But, at the time, I was gung-ho. I remember being drunk with power as I softly pulled the trigger of my high-powered rifle and watched a leopard, a gazelle, an oryx, a zebra and other defenseless animals fall to the ground.” Kirk continued that he donated most of his trophies to the Museum of Natural History in New York City as he could no longer bear to look at them.
Kirk’s actions in 2015 were the very definition of a 180-degree turn in thought. And while he was free to make such an abrupt change in opinion, I prefer the 1962 version of Kirk Douglas far better. That version seemed to be having a blast.
Special thanks to Robert Deis of MensPulpMags.com for his assistance in researching this piece. (Lead image via Wikimedia Commons)
