Trail Cam for Leopard

Please post some tips to hunting small predators, such as jackal.

I have been trying to hunt jackal on my farm, but they have become very smart over the years. I have been thinking of useing calls and/or decoys, but i dont know which ones to use. Please let me know what you have used or are using.

I Also have bought some trail cameras to take pictures of the leopards on my farm, but i have not gotten any usable footage. Let me know what kind of cameras you use.

Thanks,

Oli

Oliver.................I have shot a few jackals but have never tried calling them. I have called a lot of coyotes, foxes and cats at home though and I have been told that the same mouth blown calls and electronic calls that are used for coyote will work on jackals.

Here is a place where you can find what you are looking for when it comes to game calls for Jackals, Foxpro (click here) offers a few predator sounds specifically for Africa, including Jackals and by all means you should try a variety of other sounds to see what works best such as Cottontail Distress, Young Rabbit, Partridge Distress, Game Bird Chick Distress, Guinea Fowl Distress, Chicken Distress and there is more to choose from. Good luck trying some calls, the problem you are describing is what I call super Jackals. You have obviously removed the dumb and slow ones from the breeding pool and are left with super Jackals to have fun with.

Here is what we use for trail cams, Cuddeback (click here), they work well and are reliable. And I got them in South Africa. I have posted numerous pictures of Leopards on bait taken with it in the photo gallery here on AfricaHunting, you can see them by clicking here. This trail cam is already a couple of years old, I am certain that they have even better stuff right now. They have a video trail cam that the quality of the video is great. Have you baited your Leopards? I wonder if your issue revolves around the placement / positioning of your trail cam or the trail can itself?

Thank you very much for your helpful information. I will try it out when i am back in SA.

@ Ozondjahe. I did bait the leopards, and i had 3 hits within one night which to me seems alot on a 2000ha farm. That is why i would like to take pictures of them so that i can see their size. We have shot one leopard a coiple of years back and it was a hudge leopard. Where in south africa did u buy the cameras? Thanks for your help

Oliver, the Cuddeback mentioned by Jerome is a good unit. There are a number of others as well that do a good job. I have used several different models at bait sites for black bear, as many bears do not come in until after dark and the end of legal shooting light.

With bears another important item in selecting a trail cam is the availability of a cage to protect the unit. Bears will demolish them if they notice the cameras presence. Needless to say I have no experience using them with leopard. Jerome have you had any problems with the wildlife trashing your cameras?

Kelly, not so far. We usually do not leave the cameras in the bush for extended period of time and we place them well off the ground for most animals to have access to them. Baboons love to trash and destroy things, but so far I guess we just got lucky...

Really like the trail cam pics in the photo gallery of the Leopards, it's like looking into their secret world.

Finally had a leopard come in front of my trail cam. It was a whole family with two cubs. Also had a brown hyena and 3 bushpigs come. Check out the pics in my gallery

Very nice. Did you put out some bait to attract them ?

Yes i did. I have more pictures, but not with me right now. I will post them asap. They have come to this baiting sight for the past 2 weeks.

Oliver,
I saw a TV show with MOJO outdooors. They were in africa. They called in and shot plenty of jackels and called in leopard too. It seem they used the same stuff they use on coyotes back in the states. Look them up on the web maybe you can find something out.

As far as trail cameras go. i would recomend the (scout guard 550) i have one and another on the way. It takes color pictures and videos during the day and uses infared at night time. very small and compact and reasonably priced for around $220.00 U.S.