PARA45
AH ambassador
My God, that Eland is as big if not bigger than a Brahman bull. 
What are you going to do with the ele?
What are you going to do with the ele?
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ZIMBABWE: Elephant & Leopard In Zimbabwe - Cancellation Hunt Report
- Thread starter Green Chile
- Start date
Ele ears and skin were taken for tanning. I need some ideas on artistic applications for the ears. Any recommendations? Paperwork will be filed for import of ivory. Plan on talking to Conservation Force for their assistance.
I am having a map of Africa on one of mine. Got the idea from @Tanks
Leopard for days and days
Well, this whole 14 day hunt was leopard focused…start to finish…from day 1 to day 14. Leopard are tough. Sometimes they are taken quickly or easily and I almost feel sorry for those hunters. Luck is always good to have but leopard are not easily taken by most who pursue them. I think Craig Boddington spent over 80 nights in a leopard blind over many safaris before he took one. My first African hunt almost 20 years ago was supposed to be a leopard hunt with Dries Visser in South Africa. The permits didn’t come through so you might say my first attempt for leopard was a bust. I’ve always wanted to check that box and have that experience.
On my first trip to Africa about 17 years ago, I was hunting with CMS Safaris for tuskless at a tented camp in Makuti. One night, I heard something walking quietly on the sand path beside my tent. It wasn’t human…it wasn’t hard hooves…it was something with soft padded feet. It was measured careful walking…it was intelligent. Some may doubt it but I know I heard it come up to the tent next to the bed and I heard it distinctly sniffing…smelling the air. In the morning, I came to breakfast before sunup and said hey, call me crazy but I heard something strange last night walking beside my tent. The tracker went over to look and said a female leopard had paid us a call in the night and had walked right up to my bed side of the tent. That female leopard brought in 2 or 3 big males after our hunt and CMS clients shot 2 of them. Leopard are just special. To my eyes, no predator is more beautiful than a big spotted cat.
Cattle killing leopard are huge and the cattle are certainly being killed on this ranch by them, even while I was there. Here are some examples of cattle ranch leopard taken over the years by my PH for other clients...
Well, this whole 14 day hunt was leopard focused…start to finish…from day 1 to day 14. Leopard are tough. Sometimes they are taken quickly or easily and I almost feel sorry for those hunters. Luck is always good to have but leopard are not easily taken by most who pursue them. I think Craig Boddington spent over 80 nights in a leopard blind over many safaris before he took one. My first African hunt almost 20 years ago was supposed to be a leopard hunt with Dries Visser in South Africa. The permits didn’t come through so you might say my first attempt for leopard was a bust. I’ve always wanted to check that box and have that experience.
On my first trip to Africa about 17 years ago, I was hunting with CMS Safaris for tuskless at a tented camp in Makuti. One night, I heard something walking quietly on the sand path beside my tent. It wasn’t human…it wasn’t hard hooves…it was something with soft padded feet. It was measured careful walking…it was intelligent. Some may doubt it but I know I heard it come up to the tent next to the bed and I heard it distinctly sniffing…smelling the air. In the morning, I came to breakfast before sunup and said hey, call me crazy but I heard something strange last night walking beside my tent. The tracker went over to look and said a female leopard had paid us a call in the night and had walked right up to my bed side of the tent. That female leopard brought in 2 or 3 big males after our hunt and CMS clients shot 2 of them. Leopard are just special. To my eyes, no predator is more beautiful than a big spotted cat.
Cattle killing leopard are huge and the cattle are certainly being killed on this ranch by them, even while I was there. Here are some examples of cattle ranch leopard taken over the years by my PH for other clients...
Prep for leopard hunting…
Leopard hunting is a real art and I feel like it falls into a few main subject areas at a practical level once you hit the ground; finding spoor, baiting strategies, and blind setups. I will share a few thoughts on each subject going forward just about my own learning.
I was fortunate to hunt with two real leopard specialists on this hunt. Between the two PHs, they have taken over 230 leopards and their trackers are highly experienced as well. I felt like this was a graduate level exercise in solving the leopard riddle. I'm a problem solver by profession so I was thrilled to participate and was like a sponge, soaking up everything and taking a lot of notes along the way.
Mental prep…
One of the things I think is important to success in any hunting endeavor is to feel prepared myself. There is equipment prep, shooting prep, etc but I want to educate myself in any way possible. To that end, I did a lot of reading over the years to learn anything and everything I could about leopard hunting. There aren’t a ton of resources but there are some books and DVDs. They might take some looking and some spending to get there but I felt like these particular resources were great investments in mental prep to having a good leopard experience. Reading leopard stories is one thing but finding practical leopard hunting wisdom and strategy is a different need. These are the resources I have found that help in that regard that I would recommend to others.
Leopard hunting is a real art and I feel like it falls into a few main subject areas at a practical level once you hit the ground; finding spoor, baiting strategies, and blind setups. I will share a few thoughts on each subject going forward just about my own learning.
I was fortunate to hunt with two real leopard specialists on this hunt. Between the two PHs, they have taken over 230 leopards and their trackers are highly experienced as well. I felt like this was a graduate level exercise in solving the leopard riddle. I'm a problem solver by profession so I was thrilled to participate and was like a sponge, soaking up everything and taking a lot of notes along the way.
Mental prep…
One of the things I think is important to success in any hunting endeavor is to feel prepared myself. There is equipment prep, shooting prep, etc but I want to educate myself in any way possible. To that end, I did a lot of reading over the years to learn anything and everything I could about leopard hunting. There aren’t a ton of resources but there are some books and DVDs. They might take some looking and some spending to get there but I felt like these particular resources were great investments in mental prep to having a good leopard experience. Reading leopard stories is one thing but finding practical leopard hunting wisdom and strategy is a different need. These are the resources I have found that help in that regard that I would recommend to others.
Is there one or two of those books you would mark at the top
Assuming you have The Perfect Shot already for general Africa use, Chui is very good. I would also recommend the Leopard DVD. The Boddington book is nice but expensive as is Into the Thorns, which is very hard to find. So I would recommend the Boddington DVD and Chui above the others. The DVD is the easiest to find of all of it.
On the second evening of my leopard hunt, we were sitting in a ground blind consisting of a canvas/nylon popup additionally hidden by cut branches in front. It was pitch black with no moon, and I had the same sensation. The slightest sounds beyond the tent wall by my knee, and suddenly Nick Nolte's hand silently pressing against my other. I could feel the animal's presence - and then I couldn't. We waited about an hour and headed in. Nick's only comment was "the professor, I'll show you in the morning." Sure enough, a huge set of tracts walked up to the front left corner of the blind around the back and then to the right front corner of the blind and moved off. His nose had to be inches from my right side. Apparently this particular cat had perfected this technique. Amazing creatures.
Shooting prep…
We all prep differently for hunts but one of the things I intentionally did for this leopard hunt is to get a single shot rifle ready. It was very strategic for me to mentally limit myself to one shot only. I could have picked any number of rifles, like most of us here. I started by saying...wake up...I only have ONE shot. What caliber you pick...what load you like...there are many options. In a very broad sense, pick a favorite deer rifle and put a good soft bullet in it and you're done.
Remember, most of the shooting on a leopard rifle is going to be used in getting the bait animals for the leopard. In many cases, that will be impala, warthog or whatever is easily found. You will need a lot of bait for most leopard hunts. Sometimes you can do a buffalo, hippo, etc but where I was hunting it would be impala mostly to draw the cat in and then we would get a zebra to try and hold the cat on the bait for several nights. I shot 12 impala and 1 zebra on this hunt for bait use. That's a lot of practice with the exact setup you will be using for leopard and helps a lot with confidence. It's one thing to practice back home and a very different thing to see bait animals dropping quickly on your hunt. There's no substitute for confidence based on facts!
I do think the optics for a leopard rifle are a VERY specialized application in Africa. For me, the only answer was a lighted reticle. If you don't have one, then get one! I just don't think we should have the excuse that I couldn't see my reticle or the light was bad...but I shot anyway! I just can't think that way so I made sure I had the optics really nailed down. For me, it's a Swaro Z8i and in this case, was the 1-8x.
We all prep differently for hunts but one of the things I intentionally did for this leopard hunt is to get a single shot rifle ready. It was very strategic for me to mentally limit myself to one shot only. I could have picked any number of rifles, like most of us here. I started by saying...wake up...I only have ONE shot. What caliber you pick...what load you like...there are many options. In a very broad sense, pick a favorite deer rifle and put a good soft bullet in it and you're done.
Remember, most of the shooting on a leopard rifle is going to be used in getting the bait animals for the leopard. In many cases, that will be impala, warthog or whatever is easily found. You will need a lot of bait for most leopard hunts. Sometimes you can do a buffalo, hippo, etc but where I was hunting it would be impala mostly to draw the cat in and then we would get a zebra to try and hold the cat on the bait for several nights. I shot 12 impala and 1 zebra on this hunt for bait use. That's a lot of practice with the exact setup you will be using for leopard and helps a lot with confidence. It's one thing to practice back home and a very different thing to see bait animals dropping quickly on your hunt. There's no substitute for confidence based on facts!
I do think the optics for a leopard rifle are a VERY specialized application in Africa. For me, the only answer was a lighted reticle. If you don't have one, then get one! I just don't think we should have the excuse that I couldn't see my reticle or the light was bad...but I shot anyway! I just can't think that way so I made sure I had the optics really nailed down. For me, it's a Swaro Z8i and in this case, was the 1-8x.
What a fantastic memory. These cats are special.
That is unfortunate. I think of friends. This is Dirk De Bod and Nick Nolte when we were all a bit younger.
Finding spoor…
Once you're prepped and on the ground, you have to go find leopard spoor/tracks/activity. I think it's ok to hang a bait in an area that has produced leopards in the past but usually, you want to hang your baits where the sign is current not old. We covered a lot of miles in this 50 sq mile region early in the hunt. Lots of driving around with everyone looking down into the dirt. Occasionally an impala would pop up and we would take it. Then we would return to looking for sign. It was common to have 2 or 3 baits in the truck and we weren't hanging any of them. Where do you spend your precious, limited baits? That is the most important question in the first few days of leopard hunting. There will be many discussions and many miles spent answering that question.
You also would prefer to hang your baits on adult male spoor, not female or young male activity. That gets a little into strategy but we were covering every road and backwater path we could find to see where leopard activity crossed. One thing to keep in mind with leopards is that they are lazy walkers. They don't want to take the hard way. Their feet are soft and while they can go anywhere, they prefer easy walking. So you can get a lot of info by checking the roads. Many times you will find their tracks walking down the same road you are driving on.
While the PHs are very good with spoor and ultimately make the final decisions, the trackers have a way of blowing your mind. You're driving in the dark and they are standing in the back of the truck watching the road go by at 10, 20, 30 mph and then you hear tapping on the roof. They want to back up and look at something...or they see something ahead on the road. You get down and no, that's a hyena track...or often, it's a leopard track and they want to look at it. They might even tell you it's a female track before getting out of the truck but they want to see it anyway. How they do that in the dark while moving at speed is a total mystery to me. Wonderful but crazy!
Once you're prepped and on the ground, you have to go find leopard spoor/tracks/activity. I think it's ok to hang a bait in an area that has produced leopards in the past but usually, you want to hang your baits where the sign is current not old. We covered a lot of miles in this 50 sq mile region early in the hunt. Lots of driving around with everyone looking down into the dirt. Occasionally an impala would pop up and we would take it. Then we would return to looking for sign. It was common to have 2 or 3 baits in the truck and we weren't hanging any of them. Where do you spend your precious, limited baits? That is the most important question in the first few days of leopard hunting. There will be many discussions and many miles spent answering that question.
You also would prefer to hang your baits on adult male spoor, not female or young male activity. That gets a little into strategy but we were covering every road and backwater path we could find to see where leopard activity crossed. One thing to keep in mind with leopards is that they are lazy walkers. They don't want to take the hard way. Their feet are soft and while they can go anywhere, they prefer easy walking. So you can get a lot of info by checking the roads. Many times you will find their tracks walking down the same road you are driving on.
While the PHs are very good with spoor and ultimately make the final decisions, the trackers have a way of blowing your mind. You're driving in the dark and they are standing in the back of the truck watching the road go by at 10, 20, 30 mph and then you hear tapping on the roof. They want to back up and look at something...or they see something ahead on the road. You get down and no, that's a hyena track...or often, it's a leopard track and they want to look at it. They might even tell you it's a female track before getting out of the truck but they want to see it anyway. How they do that in the dark while moving at speed is a total mystery to me. Wonderful but crazy!
Two giants in the industry. Big respect to those 2 pros.That is unfortunate. I think of friends. This is Dirk De Bod and Nick Nolte when we were all a bit younger.
PARA45
AH ambassador
If you have the space, this!
Any photos y'all could share? There's some cool stuff out there.
One early morning, while looking for spoor, we drove past a cattle kraal and noticed a calf lying strangely on its own in the hot sunshine. We called over to a herder and asked what had happened. A leopard had attacked it during the night and before it could be dragged out of the kraal, the momma cow chased it off. Unfortunately, the calf did not survive…and yes, after checking the spoor, this was the same alpha tom we had been looking for!
CAustin
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Great Bull congratulations
CAustin
AH ambassador
- Joined
- May 7, 2013
- Messages
- 15,878
- Reaction score
- 16,218
- Media
- 279
- Member of
- Courtney Hunting Club, NRA Life Member, SCI Kansas City Chapter
- Hunted
- Zimbabwe,Namibia, South Africa, KwaZulu Natal, Kalahari, Northwest, Limpopo, Gauteng, APNR Kruger Area. USA Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas
Excellent choice.
Baiting strategies…
Anyone can find spoor eventually but then what do you do? I think this is one of the most critical aspects of solving the leopard riddle; what do you do after you find leopard activity? If you find female tracks, you have to consider whether or not you want to act on that.
There is sound strategy in using a big female cat to bring in a big male. We did some of that on this hunt and I fully agreed with the strategy. I would do it all over again and for those going for leopard, you should consider using this same strategy.
We had a boundary area next to a fantastic property that we didn’t have access to. They have incredible game densities on the other side due to good management, good water and great anti-poaching programs. We saw a lot of nice PG on their side of the fence. When we found great female leopard spoor on our side of the boundary, we decided to roll the dice and use some bait to see if we could keep the female active on our bait, hoping she would draw in a big tom…maybe from the other side. Leopards move around wherever they want. Sometimes here...sometimes there.
We worked that angle as ONE option for about 10 days. It didn’t pay off but we got some beautiful photos of the tabby cat. She was a large female but they aren’t legal. Want to see her? No problem…
I love that last photo of her yawning. Good looking cat!
Anyone can find spoor eventually but then what do you do? I think this is one of the most critical aspects of solving the leopard riddle; what do you do after you find leopard activity? If you find female tracks, you have to consider whether or not you want to act on that.
There is sound strategy in using a big female cat to bring in a big male. We did some of that on this hunt and I fully agreed with the strategy. I would do it all over again and for those going for leopard, you should consider using this same strategy.
We had a boundary area next to a fantastic property that we didn’t have access to. They have incredible game densities on the other side due to good management, good water and great anti-poaching programs. We saw a lot of nice PG on their side of the fence. When we found great female leopard spoor on our side of the boundary, we decided to roll the dice and use some bait to see if we could keep the female active on our bait, hoping she would draw in a big tom…maybe from the other side. Leopards move around wherever they want. Sometimes here...sometimes there.
We worked that angle as ONE option for about 10 days. It didn’t pay off but we got some beautiful photos of the tabby cat. She was a large female but they aren’t legal. Want to see her? No problem…
I love that last photo of her yawning. Good looking cat!
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BLAAUWKRANTZ safaris wrote on Greylin's profile.
We have just completed a group hunt with guys from North Carolina, please feel free to contact the organizers of the group, Auburn at auburn@opextechnologies.com or Courtney at courtney@opextechnologies.com Please visit our website www.blaauwkrantz.com and email me at zanidixie@gmail.com
Zani
Zani
FDP wrote on gearguywb's profile.
Good morning. I'll take all of them actually. Whats the next step? Thanks, Derek
Have a look af our latest post on the biggest roan i ever guided on!
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HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS hunting/trailcam pictures and hunting/tour updates
It was a great week. Thanks again, Henry!
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