Great thread, with that said I believe your opening statement to be a little "liberal" there are many that believe that they do know it all. (I believe that to be a better line, ;-) ;-) ;-)
Not looking to start an issue just being honest. I have had two incidents in what could be deemed as a very successful Leopard hunting career to date.
Both, in the Niassa Special Reserve.
The first we were driving along the Lugenda this river in some locations have several large "pans" (wet depressions almost like small marshes) a little way inland from the river. We were on our way to check baits (I did not have one in that area). When Joe (tracker) spotted, what he called a big Tom lying under a Sausage Tree (Kigelia Africana).
I was quite surprised as it was around 9:30 am, the day had started to warm up and most game movement had started to slow down already. On Joe's insistence continued past for around 200m, stopped the truck rifled up and started our way back along the road.
As we rounded the bend it was clear to see that this was truly a good, post prime cat he stood up and was now looking at us broadside with the "small" ears (age indicator) and dewlap clearly visible.
I splayed out the sticks and asked Heime to shoot, he made a perfect shot the cat leaped into the air growling and hit the ground 10 paces away. We were all in awe at how easily this had happened, this was day 2 of the safari and we had barely started hunting Leopard.
Needless to say, the day was spent celebrating this truly unique event.
The second Tom, I drove into a bait along a small tributary close to the Irangwe river, the last 25 meters we had to walk to the bank to get a visual of the bait on the opposite side as always when leaving the vehicle, we rifled up and as we approached the bank the Tom was standing in the tree feeding on the bait, I was fortunate enough to quickly identify the Tom as the one I had caught on trail Cam and the shot was taken off my shoulder at around 72 yards.
Another beautiful Tom in the salt. I would say that given the right conditions anything is possible, we do bump several cats a season either on foot or by vehicle, yet the opportunity to accurately age these cats often do not present itself.
I would argue that the higher density and lower hunting pressure of Leopard the better the odds of these chance encounters.
Daylight cat hunting on bait, depends on the two above, but also time of year and very importantly bait location, while there are exceptions to every rule there are always certain factors to consider that would increase the odds.
When opportunity knocks, I reckon we should go for it!!
Great thread! thanks for posting, I am a sucker for anything Leopard related.
My very best always.
www.africahunting.com
