ZIMBABWE: Leopard & Buffalo With Mbalabala Safaris

[gillettehunter]

Sounds like your getting a real old fashioned hunt. I'm starting to get nervous about your leopard.
Bruce

 

[Riksa]

Sounds like your getting a real old fashioned hunt. I'm starting to get nervous about your leopard.
Bruce

I was nervous so maybe others should also be nervous. At this point I had hunted African cats (Leopard + Cheetah) for 27 days without success and without even getting a shot at one. There was confidence in me still and I believed hard work pays off. So, you keep on going. Until you are successful...

 

[MMAL]

Awesome. Please continue very much enjoying the write up.

 

[Riksa]

Wednesday 25.10 (day 6)

Morning spent on checking baits, 6 baits checked, 1 was hit with a female feeding in it. So the baits seemed OK to feed at this stage. We found a fresh track of a large male Leopard about 3 kilometers from another bait. He was heading towards one of our baits so we replaced that bait and put some extra smell to the drag (dropped from the car). Old baits were used to build Hyena bait to a new location (old riverbed).

We spent the afternoon driving and searching for any game. Also checked additional 2 baits when we were driving by them. No hits. Saw 3 male Kudus (one shooter) and tried to get into position, but Kudus left without any sign.

When returning to camp one of the trackers spotted something besides the road. We drove back and turned off the road and saw a Leopard. The Leopard slowly jogged away with a rabbit in its mouth. This all happened in a full day light so the Leopards were clearly moving also during daylight. The raising moon made us a little concerned and we were thinking that there would be around 3-4 days left for prime time Leopard hunting. When the moon is up, the probability for the Leopard to catch its’ own food increases rapidly. So hopefully something starts happening soon. Anyway, I take it as a good sign that we already saw a Leopard.


Thursday 26.10 (day 7)

Early morning on the way to first bait we saw group of Zebras and went after them. They saw us before we saw them and off they went. We continued tracking and found them after walking some 200-300 meters. Pierre set up the sticks and tried to find a shooting hole through the bushes. I got on the sticks, but there was no chance to shoot. Way too many branches on the way. Then the Zebras left for good. Distance to them was maybe 80 meters, but what can you do. I have taken this kind of shot in the past and learned that the risk is too high. That time everything ended nicely, but that was pure luck.

Rest of morning we spent on checking 3 baits. One of the baits was the one we replaced the day before. No hits on any of the baits. We concluded that the Leopard that we hoped to get on bait had probably turned and never walked all the way to our bait. So we continued with our plan to check 6 baits today.

We found fresh poacher tracks and informed national park scouts about them. They dispatched a team to search. There were vultures circling close by so there was a good chance that the poachers had gotten an elephant or two. Later we also saw a herd of wild dogs.

Afternoon we continued checking baits at Jack’s road. The first bait we were going to check was the location where Pierre had gotten his previous Leopard earlier 2017. That bait had been hit. Or almost hit. Or would have been hit in case Crocodiles could climb trees. There were 2 Crocs in the nearby pond and they had walked all the way to our bait tree following the beautiful smell of our drag and bait. Well, good to know that we can hunt Crocs at Leopard bait in case Leopards are not cooperating.

Jack’s road had also a second bait that we were going to check next. That bait is the closest to the camp. It’s only 15 minutes drive from camp. So the probability of that bait being hit has to be less than 1% (one out of twelve minus close distance to camp). Right?

We arrived to the scene and we could notice that the leaves had fallen off from the branches protecting our bait. What had caused that? Crocs? No, they still can’t climb… When checking the baits we tried to stay away from the baits to minimize the human smell. Trackers were pulling the drag and spreading our magic sauce to the surroundings. So I was just exploring the bait with binoculars from a distance and jumping into conclusions. I was eagerly waiting for the team to come back to our bakkie. Once they came, we had good news. The bait was hit by a male leopard. Only concern was that the bait was badly rotten and the Leopard had not eaten too much. Weird part was that the Leopard had eaten the rotten part and left better meat untouched. Had the meat been too rotten? Or had the Leopard only found the bait just before sunrise and eaten little with intention to get back tonight? This bait had been hanging since day 1 so we were concerned.

It was already late in the afternoon and there was no time to build blind. We quickly changed the bait to a fresh one and put a trail cam up to find out what kind of cat was feeding at the bait and when it comes in and leaves. The new bait came from the Buffalo we got on day 3. Old bait was taken to the Hyena bait (where the old baits were partially eaten and there were a lot of Hyena tracks on the ground. Full of hopes we returned to the camp for a rest.

 

[cpr0312]

How cool to see a pack of wild dogs!

 

[cpr0312]

Anxiously awaiting more of the report

 

[LivingTheDream]

Really enjoying this report, the anticipation is building!!

 

[Riksa]

Friday 27.10 (day 8)

When you are full of anticipation, do you sleep well? Well, I did It’s good to sleep when the accommodation is good.

We woke up the normal time and headed out at as usual. We were not in a hurry. In case the Leopard is feeding early, we don’t want to spook him. We loaded blind equipment + extra Zebra bait (Thank you Tom for shooting the bait for us!) to the bakkie and headed to Jack’s road. Wishful thinking? Maybe, but it would be stupid to head out without the gear you expect to need.

This time we drove directly to bait. The road goes within meters of the tree and there is a spring directly under the bait tree. This was the bait we put up last on the first day of hunting. There is already a frame for the blind, shooting lane is cut and this is the closest bait to the camp so in case the bait is hit, I definitely will have no complains.

Bakkie next to the bait tree

You can see the blind location up the hill on 2-3 o’clock from the bakkie.

Arriving there was interesting. You’re full of expectations, but still don’t want to get disappointed. Well, it’s safe to say I was focusing on the expectations part. Luckily this time, I did not get disappointed. The Leopard had come in and it had fed. Second night in a row and now it knew there was fresh meat available. Next we need to check the pictures from the trail camera. When did it come in? Is it a male, is it an old male that we can take?

Pierre borrowed my camera to check the pictures from the trail cam. And there were plenty of them. The cat had arrived shortly after dusk and it had stayed there for a long time. At some point it had probably growled to Hyenas. There were plenty of nice pictures and we could for a certainty identify him as a mature male that would be OK to harvest. He missed a small piece of one ear so that would also be a way to identity him later. We put up the Zebra bait to accompany the Buffalo bait. Zebra is best meat for the Leopard so we hoped the cat would have a feast on it. Then we started building the blind.

The blind was on a hill and there was not much vegetation or bushes on the way so I asked from Pierre whether I could take the shot from a prone position. I was a little nervous after the shots on Buffalo and wanted to minimize the chance of bad shot. Pierre replied that I would be shooting from standing position. I got the third (major) WTF???? moment of the trip. Well, I would not be exactly shooting from standing position without support. The idea was that the gun would be set on standing height, well supported and with support for my right (trigger) hand on elbow. The major benefit of this position compared to typical “sitting in the chair” position is that you are sitting on the ground and covered fully with the blind. So your movement and all the other weird things you do are not visible through the shooting hole. Additionally you can pretty much relax and lay down on the ground while waiting for the cat to make its’ appearance. Even I could see the benefit of this set up. But I still questioned a little my shooting ability on this position compared to other options.

The shooting distance would be 67 meters and I know I can hit a circle of 3” from that distance even from shooting sticks so I thought this would be OK. And now I would have my own rifle.

View from the blind to the bait tree

Cleaning the path to the blind

We installed a microphone to the tree close to the bait to alert us when the cat comes in. Pierre set up his headphones to the blind so that he could listen the sounds while sitting in the blind. After the blind was ready we returned to the camp. I had plenty of time to (over)think what is coming. We discussed shot placement and Pierre instructed me to shoot the Leopard directly on the shoulder if the cat is broadside and aim to the opposite shoulder in case of quartering away shot. This according to Pierre’s experience is the best shot allowing some margin for error. High shoulder shot was definitely not an option. So I spent the afternoon browsing through Perfect shot book, wishing for the best and trying to get some rest. Pierre was saying a few times during the safari “don’t overthink it”. This was probably one of the times and he was definitely right. I am good at overthinking things.

In the afternoon we left camp at 15:00 and had the 15 minute drive to the bait. We left the car some 500 meters from the blind and continued by foot. It was hot and I could feel that the heat was not the only thing increasing my heart rate. This would be my first time in a blind when the cat is actually feeding on a bait. I had read so many stories about people spending days in the blind so would that also be what I needed to do? I had spent time in blind before, but then it was just our only option and the cat really was not feeding. So how would it be? We had many days (and nights) still to get the cat and I was prepared to sit in the blind as much as needed.

When walking to the blind I adjusted the scope red dot on a very dim setting and hoped it would be right at dusk. This was one of the things I had not practiced before. What is the right setting at dusk? You don’t want to be on too dim setting because then you need to adjust the scope and that causes extra movement. Too bright setting is even worse, you are blinded by the light and still the adjustment is needed. So how can you assure the setting is right? This was one of the things that should have been tried in advance during the previous days. Another lesson learnt.

We carried with us some cushions to make our blind experience more comfortable. Pierre carried his cushion and I carried mine. The cushions had Zebra stripes as pattern and we held them on the side covering our bodies partially. We walked in a line with a total of 4 legs so that made me thinking that this had to be the worst imitation of a zebra in the history of mankind. A Leopard would never take us as a Zebra…

Anyway, back to hunting. We were in the blind at 15:40. We set the rifle on the sticks with the safety off. We took our shoes off as standing up with the shoes on would make too much noise. Then the waiting game began. I sat on my cushion, without shoes and went deep into my thoughts. Pierre was next to me reading his book. Yes, bringing a book had probably been a smart move. Luckily I had my phone so I started to play Carcassonne. That kept me entertained while waiting for the time to pass by.

Pierre had his headphones close by and he lit a cigarette to check the direction of the wind. Wind was in our favor so we continued waiting. Around 16:40 I could hear a growl. Was that a Leopard? I had not heard Leopard to growl so I looked Pierre’s reaction. There was none so I thought that it could have been anything. Around 17:00 Pierre put the headphones on his ears. I thought that this is the usual process. Sun would set at 18:00 and we would have shooting time until 18:30. Then it would be game over for this evening.

I had read from many stories that when the Leopard arrives, the nature turns totally silent. Our surroundings were not silent. Crickets were making all sorts of noises as were the birds. So I continued waiting. Maybe Pierre had MP3 player connected to the headphones and was enjoying some music.

At 18:00 and upon the surrounding getting darker I could somehow feel the things to tense. There was some weird feeling that things were progressing. I thought that this was the result of the darkness slowly creeping in. I adjusted my position slowly and made sure I was ready to stand up. I checked where all the blind support structures were and memorized where the gun was. The last thing I would need was to stand up and knock the rifle down. So I checked where to put my hand and how to stand up. And then I waited. Pierre was still concentrated on the “music” from the headphones. I adjusted my position just slightly and Pierre turned to me making a sign to stop. He showed that there was something in the tree. I completely froze.

Then there was a loud noise of something moving branches. Dry leaves make surprisingly loud sounds in a quiet environment. The sound of the first bite on the bait was even louder. I will always remember to crunching noise of the cat feeding. We let it feed a while and then Pierre took his headphones off and stood up. He whispered me to get up and behind the rifle. He also reminded not to take a shot before he has made sure that the cat is a mature male. I stood up, put my shoulder behind the rifle, rested my cheek on the gun and took a look through my scope. The sight took my breath away. Pierre commented later that he could hear my breathing change. Well, it was not only my breathing. My heart rate went up too. All the anticipation of 30 days of hunting African cats and now seeing one through my scope was a feeling I had (obviously) never had before.

But there was something weird in what I saw. There was a Leopard feeding on the bait, but the position of the cat was wrong. We had expected it to stand on the tree trunk broadside to us but it had decided to feed in an awkward position and was facing us in a weird angle. Well, I stayed on him trying to figure out where to aim for my perfect shot. My heart was still racing so the task was not easy. Leopard in an awkward position and the reticle jumping all over the place. Not exactly the ideal starting point for squeezing the trigger. And I still remembered what happened with my Buffalo.

Luckily Pierre was still checking the cat and trying to decide whether it’s a shooter. The cat was facing us so there was no way to tell for sure whether it’s a male or not. The cat was feeding with passion. He clearly enjoyed our Zebra surprise. The something surprising happened. I didn’t understand it then, but the cat took too big bite of Zebra and started choking. It turned broadside and started to cough to get the meat out of its’ throat. That gave Pierre a nice view on the cat and I could hear him saying the magic words. Take him!

Cat continued coughing a while and it was moving continuously. Then the piece of meat flew out of its’ mouth and the cat stood still to catch breath. That give me all the needed time to put the crosshairs directly on the shoulder a little lower than the center of the body. It felt like I was operating on an autopilot. The shot rang out. I remember getting a glimpse of the cat through the scope when it was falling from the tree. Then we heard a loud thump like a sack of potatoes would have been dropped from the tree. Pierre disconnected the headphones and from a small loudspeaker we could hear the cat to move a little on the ground. Then everything went completely silent. It was 18:20.

We needed to let things calm down and wait. Pierre called the truck to come to us so that we could ride to the bait tree with the bakkie. Then we talked what had just happened. The Leopard had actually arrived at the bait already at 17:00. That’s when Pierre put the headphones on. He could hear the cat breathing as it patiently waited under the tree to make sure the route to the bait was clear. At 18:00 it climbed the tree but still waited for close to 20 minutes before it actually started feeding. We discussed the cat’s reaction after the shot and especially the sound it made after if fell from the tree. The cats always land on their feet if they are OK. And this cat definitely had not landed on its’ feet. So hopes were up when the bakkie arrived.

I put my shoes on, climbed to the bakkie and took flashlight from my backpack. At this time it was already dark. It’s surprising how fast darkness comes in Africa. We slowly drove to the tree and Pierre had his .458 ready in case the Leopard would just be wounded and make an attack. Closing in on the tree was an intensive moment. We could not see the spring as it was way lower than the tree. So you just try to look everything around you to identify potential places where a wounded cat might be hiding and planning its’ revenge. The bakkie drove slowly closer and I started getting concerned. Where is the Leopard? Then I could see it. It was not moving and was laying directly under the bait. What a great feeling to finally succeed. And what a beautiful Leopard he is.

I’m over 6 feet to give more perspective on the size of the cat. The size is typical to cats in Chewore. But most importantly it’s a mature old cat. It had fresh battle scars in its’ fur. It’s lip was split and it had several wound in its’ legs and body. And it was perfect!

The shot was dead center to the shoulder so no wonder the cat had died instantly. I used Norma Oryx 230 grain cartridges for the Leopard since my normal Swift A-Frame bullet is really not designed for thin skinned cats. Norma Oryx is opening a lot faster and performed well in this case.

We took some quick pictures with the idea to take better ones the following morning. Then we loaded the cat and our party to the bakkie and started the drive to the camp. Upon our arrival Pierre asked me to shoot three times to the air before we drive to the camp. I happily obliged. It was great to honour the Leopard with this nice salute. When we arrived to the parking lot, there was a large fire and all people in the camp singing and dancing around it.

The night of celebrations ended long after the generator had stopped.

 

[billc]

Congrats on a great cat and great hunt. Glad it all worked out in the end for you.

 

[Riksa]

Thanks Bill!

 

[cpr0312]

Very nice cat!!! Congrats

 

[rinehart0050]

Congrats! Awesome story. Well deserved trophy Tom!

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Fantastic! I could sense the tension in your writing, well done!

 

[gillettehunter]

Congrats and well done. I was getting worried about the lack of activity on baits especially with so many up. Looks like a great cat. Something you will always remember.
Bruce

 

[Riksa]

Thank you all for your kind comments. It surely was a moment that I will remember

 

[LivingTheDream]

Awesome!! That is so cool! Man you did a great job describing it! I was in the zone reading it! Congratulations!!!!

 

[Brent in Az]

Great hunt! Having a celebration after taking a fine Buff & Leopard must be a great feeling.

 

[Royal27]

Well done!

"Tense " and "progressing," those are under statements!

Chewore is indeed a special place....

 

[Riksa]

"Tense " and "progressing," those are under statements!

 

[Pheroze]

Great shot! And I have to say the party at the end is a great tradition, that must be fun