Bullet Safaris - Tanzania - Wilderness Hunting Safaris - Dangerous Game Hunting Since 2003

full



Leopard Hunt and a Broken Arm

Chuck had not come to Tanzania to hunt leopard, he had came to hunt a lion. His lion was in the salt on day 14 of his 21 day safari. Chuck had remained focused and was rewarded with a great lion. That focus produced a few sideways looks in my direction when I asked him to lower his gun on three different and beautiful male lions. They were close to 5 years and not old enough according to the current regulations. The hunting of any lion under 6 years of age was forbidden even though these males were on their own and absolutely huge. Ecologically, ethically and population wise these lions would have been excellent animals to hunt. However we had to wait for an older one in order to call the shot.

Lions aside, this story is about a leopard. On day 10, on one of our long drives back to camp a male leopard was spotted in the road ahead of us. It was dusk and Chuck was amazed that this leopard refused to give way to our bigger, louder, human occupied Land Cruiser pickup. The cat just stared through him.

Chuck was the kind of man that you couldn't stare at for an extended period of time and expect no reaction. He questioned me on why that leopard wasn't scared of him and why it didnt run off. It was like he took it personally. I informed him that leopards aren't really 'scared' of anything and most of the time they choose to blend in rather than make a big commotion running away. I followed that up with a comment about them eating meat and that he was part of the food chain on this safari. That seemed to be the right answer as we moved on to leopard hunting soon after the lion was down.

We easily transitioned into our next cat hunt due to the large number of baits out. We eventually found the right male leopard on one of our recommissioned lion baits. We were running out of time that day so I divided my crew in order to get the most out of the daylight remaining. Two of my men stayed behind to construct a blind to be built out of grass sticks and rope. My driver and 1 tracker rode with me in order to find more meat (this leopard had polished off the hartebeest leg we placed for him). We quickly headed off in the direction of one of our old lion baits. As luck would have it, and just as I had hoped, we bumped a group of impala rams about half way there. I lined Chuck up on a suitable male and told him to shoot.

He missed. That was uncommon for Chuck and It meant that we were not hunting the leopard this evening. It also meant we had to check the zero on chuck's rifle and continue driving further down the road to collect an old bait to relocate to our ambush site.

We had a quiet ride to the old bait site where I divided my forces yet again. I asked my driver and Chuck test the rifle while my tracker and I proceeded to drop and load the old bait. This bait was a quarter of a Cape Buffalo hanging approximately 14 feet in a tree and tied with a 1 inch rope. My tracker was in the tree before I got done giving orders to the shooting team. I was watching him untie the rope when I heard the 1st test shot go off. The next thing I heard sounded like a gunshot but it came from up in the tree. It was followed by the dull thud of the meat hitting the ground and the sharp scream of my tracker.

I instinctively looked up toward the sound and saw two distinct sheared off bones sticking out of my trackers arm. The bones protruded out 3 inches and were bright white. His wrist and hand hung down in a most unnatural way, attached only by the skin.

He had manage to loop the rope around his wrist at the same time the bait fell from the tree. This resulted in a double compound fracture of his wrist.

I ran to my truck and immediately threw everyone and everything out and spun it around directly underneath my injured friend. My driver climbed the tree and held him in place. By this time he was in shock. I stood on the hunting rack and my driver handed him down to me by his belt. I lowered him into the bed of the truck.

I pulled his arm in line and with the help of Chuck's wife we splinted and wrapped it. I gave him some pain pills and cigarettes and rushed him out of the area. Headed in the exact wrong direction from my guys I had left hours before building a blind in the wilderness next to a hungry leopard.

The areas were hunt are complete wilderness and huge. I was worried that he was going to lose his arm so I drove like hell. We arrived at the village and my game ranger called ahead to the local police and they were ready for us at the main road. We were escorted to a catholic hospital in the closest town. Amazingly we found a British educated Doc and a surgeon with a digital x-ray machine on site. I threw some Americanese on them and got my guy to the front of the line. He was prepared for surgery and I left him with some money, food and a boy to look after him.

We turned back into the bush. I had to gather up the people and pieces I had left scattered about Africa. Luckily my SAT phone connected with my office and they radioed my camp and they dispatched another vehicle to pick up my crew at the blind.

The next morning we had to find another bait to move to this leopard as the lions and hyenas ate the entire buffalo that had broke Stanley's arm. They also ripped apart the cooler box, chewed up my chairs and destroyed the gut bucket that I had thrown out of the vehicle... Regardless, we were back to hunting. I was confident the cat return and we would be waiting.

As Stanley was smoking cigarettes and getting his Radius and Ulna wired back together, we were busy settling into our blind under the cover of darkness.

I'd hunted a leopard very close to this same spot a year prior, it was a very old male and he was active in the morning. This area was known for its many lions and care had to be taken moving in-and-out of this blind in the dark.

Cats see great at night, and are very confident - we can't see shit at night and your average persons confidence is directly proportional to the distance away from the lion...That's something you think about when your sitting for hours, in a grass Teepee, in the dark, in Africa, two hours away from your camp, that's three times that far away from anything else.

I was amazed at how quietly myself, Chuck, Deedee, Chuck's hunting buddy and a cameraman all settled into their chairs. 5 people hunting a leopard?... I was hesitant about this to say the least. It was like stadium seating in the blind! Luckily I knew the terain well and it was perfectly suited to the situation.

The approach of the cat was from the river on the far side of the bait.
The road which ran parallel to the river was easily modified to get us quickly into the blind.
The blind was on the opposite side of the road behind a massive wall of thick green bushes.
The wind blew from the river to the road.
The bait was in a depression of an old #saltlick and the limb the leopard should appear on was just high enough that the leopard would be in full view only after he climbed the tree, no sooner.

Most leopard hunts are foiled from the start and the guides don't even know they did it. They usually affect the cat in one way or another and the hunter never knows that they are causing the animal to react and thus unwittingly avoid a bullet.

As we waited a hyena and this leopard got into a brawl in front of our blind. That was proof to everyone that man nor beast was going to push this cat away from his meat, The sound was dark and ferocious as the 2 animals tore into each other mere meters from our blind...

It is typical for a hyena to pressure a young cat into making a mistake and dropping his me to the ground where he can steal it. Another tactic is for a group of hyena to harass a leopard so badly that it is unable to climb a tree with the carcass i.e. find a secure safe place to feed.

This meat was in the tree securely, this leopard was not inexperienced, this leopard was not scared. He chose to fight the hyena immediately upon its approach. I heard the hyena run to our left after a few seconds of intense growling and crying; a few minutes later the celebratory sawing grunt of our leopard returning to his tree.

It was around 8am when the cat came into view. I checked it was the right one and gave Chuck the signal to shoot. He settled in and fired his rifle. The cat fell out of sight. I radioed my truck and my other tracker, Martin, climbed off the rolling land cruiser as Mbasha was turning the rig around. He met me at the front of the blind and without a word we walked a few meters towards the tree while the others kept watch from the highervantage point. The outcome was the same as with the lion, it was over in a split second, the leopard was dead near the base of the tree. Martin let out a yell that was immediately answered by the Africans at the truck. The celebrations began and lasted into the night.

full


full


full


full
 
Buffalo Hunt Tanzania

Buffalo Hunt Tanzania by Bullet Safaris posted Jun 11, 2020 at 1:23 AM
 
Leopard hunt with Bullet Safaris - close up cat footage

Leopard hunt with Bullet Safaris by Bullet Safaris posted Jun 22, 2020 at 11:58 AM

we use trail cameras extensively for scouting - all phases of scouting. Then for assessing age and trophy quality. Then we use them to time the cat we want... After that I tend to play around with the cameras to get interesting footage like this!
 
Leopard Hunt Tanzania

Leopard Hunt Tanzania by Bullet Safaris posted Jun 24, 2020 at 10:59 AM

If you're in the right cat country, the right cat area, and the right cat set up, then there is no rush to shoot the cat...more on this video in the meeting tonight and why we waited so long to squeeze the trigger on this one...
 
Anything Africa Part 1

Nathan Askew of Bullet Safaris presents the second Zoom meeting in his online Zoom Safaris. This meeting is about anything Africa. Professional hunter Nathan Askew covers topics from what boot to wear, what countries have the best guides, and even how to plan your first African safari.

Our website www.bulletsafaris.com is another unique resource for your hunting safari. You will find information on Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa as well as lion, leopard, kudu, buffalo, crocodile, elephant, warthog, and any other African animal.

Please feel free to contact us for more information.

 
Anything Africa Part 2

Nathan Askew of Bullet Safaris presents the second Zoom meeting in his online Zoom Safaris. This meeting is about anything Africa. Professional hunter Nathan Askew covers topics from what boot to wear, what countries have the best guides, and even how to plan your first African safari.


 
Anything Africa Part 3

Nathan Askew of Bullet Safaris presents the second Zoom meeting in his online Zoom Safaris. This meeting is about anything Africa. Professional hunter Nathan Askew covers topics from what boot to wear, what countries have the best guides, and even how to plan your first African safari.

 
Leopard Hunting Part 1 Bullet Safaris

Professional Hunter Nathan Askew of Bullet Safaris describes leopard hunting In this instructional meeting.
The hunting of Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Crocodile and many other African animals contributes to their conservation and pays millions of dollars towards habitat preservation. This type of hunting is vital to the survival of wild populations of key species in Africa.
If you are interested in more information about hunting Africa please visit our website www.bulletsafaris.com, here you will find detailed information about the important role that hunters play in conserving Africa's wildlife.

 
Leopard Hunting Part 2 Bullet Safaris

Professional Hunter Nathan Askew of Bullet Safaris describes leopard hunting in this instructional meeting.

The hunting of Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Crocodile and many other African animals contributes to their conservation and pays millions of dollars towards habitat preservation. This type of hunting is vital to the survival of wild populations of key species in Africa.
If you are interested in more information about hunting Africa please visit our website www.bulletsafaris.com, here you will find detailed information about the important role that hunters play in conserving Africa's wildlife.

 
Despite all the covid issues and airline swapping and shutdowns we had a great 2020!
100% successful, safe and fun for all.
Had a hell of a good time and we are ready for 2021!
 
Hi AH folks - marketing season was great even though Covid had the show attendance a little suppressed (we only do DSC and couldn't have talked anymore hunters if 1Million people were on the show floor)!

We have some new stuff and areas and hunts coming up! Most people think of us for cats and that is great - we went 100% again in 2021 - that alone keeps me busy! We have a wealth of other species and specialty safaris.

I have a few dates/quota/hunts left and i appreciate all the support from the AH community.

if a hunter is flexible on dates and if you are ready to go 2022:

I have room for 1x key plains game hunt in TZ (lesser kudu, gerenuk, grants).
I have a great Sitatunga hunt with other key species.
I have Croc and Hippo and 2 Buffalo.
I have 1 Elephant and that will be around 60k all in.

I am in the office this week and can be reached by Phone 5735871234 .

Thanks to all that stopped in to talk to me and as I said above we really appreciate your support!

leopard mount.jpg
 

Forum statistics

Threads
53,632
Messages
1,131,586
Members
92,706
Latest member
noah8899
 

 

 

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

Early morning Impala hunt, previous link was wrong video

Headshot on jackal this morning

Mature Eland Bull taken in Tanzania, at 100 yards, with 375 H&H, 300gr, Federal Premium Expanding bullet.

20231012_145809~2.jpg
 
Top