I honestly don't know.
Right now, it seems that he probably wanted to put a lion's head on his wall because he thought that the trophy might somehow bolster his image as a man - that it might make him seem more masculine than he thinks people are viewing him now. I think he was hoping that people who see the trophy might think that he had earned it by engaging in acts of personal courage by challenging and defeating a dangerous predator. You know, there are people who buy and wear service medals that they didn't earn. People do a lot of weird things for a lot of weird reasons. Traveling halfway around the world to kill a defenseless lion seems so pointless, so gratuitous. But, he must have had some kind of reason.
Anyway, his actual motives might be completely different. Maybe he just hates animals.
That's why I think he should come forward to explain why he was doing what he was doing. His silence is inviting other people to attach to him motives which may be unfair.
“Right now, it seems that he probably wanted to put a lion’s head on his wall because he thought that the trophy might somehow bolster his image as a man - that it might make him seem more masculine than he thinks people are viewing him now. I think he was hoping that people who see the trophy might think that he had earned it by engaging in acts of personal courage by challenging and defeating a dangerous predator. You know, there are people who buy and wear service medals that they didn’t earn. People do a lot of weird things for a lot of weird reasons. Traveling halfway around the world to kill a defenseless lion seems so pointless, so gratuitous. But, he must have had some kind of reason.
Anyway, his actual motives might be completely different. Maybe he just hates animals.”
This comment is so gratuitous, so clueless, so over the top that I believe that you actually believe it. If you wish to understand even a scintilla of a hunter’s motivation, here is a book for you to read:
http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Hunting-Jose-Ortega-Gasset/dp/1885106181
Calling a 400 lb cat with big teeth and claws, who has fought his way to the top of a pride “defenseless”, is a clue that your assumptions about reality are suspect.
Lions are not cuddly little cartoon characters.