After 18 days of leopard hunting, I had two days left. Mid afternoon, we arrived at the bait location with the blind. We had sat there the prior day and nothing hit the bait. We’re hoping today is the day.
Nick and I got settled into the tent blind and so began the four plus hour sit, while being absolutely quiet. My rifle had a round chambered and ready for action.
To pass the time, I started scrolling through the photos on my phone and deleting duplicate and bad photos. After a couple of hours, Nick nudged me and pointed at the bait. I looked at the bait, and it looked the same. But a few seconds later, the Tom appeared and was soon on the bait. I was a bit startled because I anticipated the cat to appear at last light. It was a good hour before sunset and here Mr Spots was. Two taps on the leg was the signal to shoot and Nick had just done that. Switching the safety off and making a slight adjustment to the rifle to put the crosshairs on the cat, I fired and the cat dropped. However, it clearly wasn’t dead, so I had to take a follow up. Probably not the best shooting I’ve ever done, but I at least had a leopard!
I’m sitting in the Windhoek airport lounge and WIFI is terribly slow. Will post more pictures and add more info when I get home. Thanks for all the positive comments! It was a long, long hunt, but it had a happy ending!
@375 Ruger Fan it was a pleasure to share camp with you!! There was a big Yes yelled in the airport when I heard the news!!! So happy for you!! Congratulations!
Never give up. Hunt to the absolute last minute because you just never know when it’s gonna all come together. Congrats on a fine leopard and even better story.
Congratulations! You certainly earned that leopard. I hunted the same general area (Omaruru and the Erongo Mts) back in April. The tall grass was quite a change compared to my previous trips to the area. I’m not sure which conditions pose the most challenge. Drought conditions means there’s lots of dead animals laying around to scavenge, and there are fewer water holes for the game, making it easier for leopards to ambush them. On the other hand, tall grass gives the leopards plenty of cover for concealment. You persevered, however, and have a beautiful trophy to show for it. Well done!
Jake, Sorry to bug you again. I was wondering if you could share a. couple actual pics of this crossbow with me?
Xpedition Archery USED Scrapeline390X Sniper Gray Crossbow XACW1001 - Light Wear - Needs Bolt/Arrow Guide Spring UA5689
If it is in a decent shape, would you be willing to sell it for $100 shipped? IS it missing the retention spring that goes over the bolt?
Thank you Ferenc
Good morning John, I just read your setup procedure for the northstar duplicator ator. I found it very hand and I did learn some things. I have the same machine and I am having a problem i can not figure out and was hoping you could shed some light on the subject.
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