Want to book group hunt for leopard, cape buffalo, plains game

I am putting together a group hunt for 5 to 7 hunters and 2 or 3 observers. Two or three of the hunters are after leopard, and one is after cape buffalo. The other hunters will be after plains game. The leopard and buffalo hunters will, also, be interested in plains game secondary to their main quarry. 2 X 1 is fine where that is appropriate. Schedules limit us to 8 days in the field at most, so it will probably be necessary to pre-bait the leopards. Everyone has African experience but this will be the first DG hunt for two people. Fair chase only. We are looking for good likelihood of success for a reasonable price. Anyone interested?

Thanks in advance

Any of the fine PH's here will prebait, for a fee. I can't imagine where you are going to find this many cats on a fair chase. Someone, or someones, needs to decide to drop a leopard or split into two groups and go to different areas. Even for plains game you have a big group, and they are easy.

Welcome to AH James.

Wow, What is the rush?

8 days, Three Leopard!? "Probably necessary to pre-bait"???
This looks like a recipe for dissatisfaction to me. IMHO.

See if someone you know can lend you guys a copy of Into the Thorns
Interesting insight into Leopard hunting in Zimbabwe.

Good luck.

Why am I skeptical?

Originally Posted by Cliffy

Why am I skeptical?

Why?

Up tp three leopards in less than eight days in the daylight, not to mention a buffalo........

No way I would book leopard for less than 12 to 14 days to have a reasonable chance of success in the daylight.

Hi James
Welcome to AH.
That is a steep order! The group would have to split to get the optimum in such a short time! I doubt if it will be possible to get so many Leopard.
One or may be 2 if you are very lucky. Buffalo should be ok.
When are you thinking of doing the hunt?
Margie

Won t be easy James, but I m sure some of the professionals here will think of a solution.

I agree with everyone else. You are going to have to split up and hunt different areas to be successful. And you are going to have to add days to the hunt too. The shorter the stay....the less likely odds of you getting the real hunt you want.

Wow - lots of response in just a day. Thanks to everyone for the input.

I should have said that we know the leopard hunters will have to be split up. We are just hoping to book everything through one outfitter. There are obvious advantages to doing that if we can find the right one. There isn稚 anything we can do about the short duration. Our schedules just don稚 permit 3 weeks out of the country right now. If we can稚 make the time frame work we will have to pass on the leopard.

I have some response from outfitters who say it can be done with the right prep BUT If those of you with experience think it is really pointless to try for leopard in 8 days even with pre-baiting please let me know. I would rather re-think the whole idea than blow the effort and money.

If it looks like something is firming up I would like to ask for your input on the outfitters, as well. I don稚 want to shoot myself in the foot, as it were.

Thanks,
James

James, welcome to AH...

5 to 7 hunters and 2 to 3 observers will fill up most camps that i know of. Tent or cabin sharing will be a high priority.

What you are looking for is a real canned hunt.

3 cats in 8 days in one area will be almost impossible to do. Most cat hunts that i know of are at a minimum of 14 days...pre baiting could help but i do not see 3 cats on one large group.

James welcome to AH.

This is a tough one for sure and I must admit I agree with all that has been said, your reasons for wanting to book a hunt of this magnitude is also quite understandable yet, I have to give you a heads up on the following, no matter were you book a Leopard whether it be in Limpopo SA or Zambezi valley or Tanzania, they are all fair chase (unless taking a Leopard with a light 30 min after sunset is considered not to be a fair chase hunt??) on all areas in that fall under parks, ie all the matetsi units and some others taking a cat 30 min after sunset is not considered leagal, I hardly believe that taking a Leopard at night can be considered not fair chase.

Even in SA 99% of all Leopard are fair chase hunts yet they are taken after dark as in many other areas in Africa, I doubt whether you will get any serious offers on this safari as it is virtually impossible to present your group with a successfull hunt.

With Leopard being a priority I do not believe that a group hunt is the way to go about it (as mentioned I understand the group discount angle) but many hunters have toyed with the idea of Leopard hunting and many have paid the price for this with many return trips to get old spots (one client up to 100 days of hunting).

Reality is while you might get a couple 000 $ of on such a safari it will end up costing you or 1 or 2 of your group members much more in the long run,

I know that in SA there are one or two operations in the Kalahari that do offer such Leopard hunts, but they are develishly expensive due to the guarantee factor involved and I am unsure as to whether this is what you would want from you Leopard safari. (I know it would not be my kind of hunt).

To agree with Mr. Grage I would opt for a minimum 14 (days of hunting) 16 total, and go for Leopard, with an 8 day safari you will be selling yourself short on experience (hunting) and also on success.

I have to apologize if all that you are receiving is negativity but do understand that it is with your best interest in mind.

My personal advice would be to go back to the drawing board and set priorities of what you would like from your safari, and with this in mind know one thing, that if it sounds to good to be true it most probably is.

I hope that you find what you are looking for and have a succsesfull hunt.

My very best always.

James Welcome to AH! I have to agree with the others if it were me and I only had 8 days to hunt then I would ditch the Leopard and make the Buffalo my #1 choice along with some plains game much more doable with such a large group. Good luck on your research.

Just a quick note to say "Thanks" to everyone for the input, both the encouragement and the cautions. I've passed eveyrthing along to the group. We shall see where it goes.

I thought Jaco's advice was very helpful. A lot of wisdom!

Jaco's advice was helpful, indeed - well considered, articulate, and straight from the shoulder. Much appreciated, and the leopard hunters in the group are listening and thinking hard about everything. (I'm the buffalo guy).

As for that, everyone's input has been helpful.

It will be 3 - 5 years before any of us can be away for long enough for a 2 - 3 week hunt, so we might have to scrap the whole idea for a long while but that is better than launching a futile enterprise. The bad part is that my wife is one of the leopard hunters. No leopard means no buffalo, and no more DG hunts until after retirement. But, plains game is better than nothing, and I still need a sable.

We shall see how it all works out.

Originally Posted by james in TX

Jaco's advice was helpful, indeed - well considered, articulate, and straight from the shoulder. Much appreciated, and the leopard hunters in the group are listening and thinking hard about everything. (I'm the buffalo guy).

As for that, everyone's input has been helpful.

It will be 3 - 5 years before any of us can be away for long enough for a 2 - 3 week hunt, so we might have to scrap the whole idea for a long while but that is better than launching a futile enterprise. The bad part is that my wife is one of the leopard hunters. No leopard means no buffalo, and no more DG hunts until after retirement. But, plains game is better than nothing, and I still need a sable.

We shall see how it all works out.

I'm not saying dump your buddies but the wifes leopard is very Important and chances are a Daggaboy could be found and you can go for the sable in 5 years with your buddies. The Wife is the one you have to live with LOL.