Leopard Quota in SA for 2018

[npm352]

They may say they are aging the leopards at 7 years from some trail cam pics and looking at them in a spotlight, but I won't buy it. Aging a mountain lion (a similar animal) is not easy when they are ten feet away and I am throwing snowballs to get them to hiss so I can see their teeth. (Cant do that to a leopard even with hounds We turn in a tooth to fish and game on harvested cats and get results that are often close, but it is not the same with a leopard on a trail cam or a glance at him in a tree 50 yards away in a spotlight....maybe I am just clueless, but I dont buy it....I think the reality is that it looks better to antis and some mature toms will be shot...maybe even some 7 year olds, but I think whoever the authority on aging them will say they are all 7 regardless. But I am glad something has opened there....big ranch cats. Hope to see some of the success pucs on AH.

 

[npm352]

Leopards aren't pride animals where past prime male hunting is important to the overall population. Scientifically and behaviorally I am not seeing the reason for 7 year old+ only anyway. With even a halfway decent cat density, females will get covered if there are even just a small number of mature toms around.

 

[Philip Glass]

Meanwhile problem leopards are killed wholesale. Only exportable trophy leopards get this scrutiny. There are tons of leopards all over RSA. I was just hunting near Jeffrey’s Bay, a farming area where one would t think any leopards would be, and there are leopards in the hills there. At least there is a quota