Let's assume this will be a leopard and PG hunt.

What is a normal budget for leopard baits?

Realizing some of your potential PG trophies can be used as bait towards the later stage of the hunt. How much should be budgeted on the front end to get things started?

Do you budget a certain number of animals i.e. 10 impala, 2 zebra, etc., or do you budget a certain $$$ amount?

I realize this changes from one location to the next, as well as, time of year and the longevity of the baits, but I'm trying to determine a guestimation, ballpark figure.

Thanks,

It is hard to say. I have seen the first bait taken the first night. I have also had 10 or more baits out for 3 weeks in extreme heat where they had to be replaced often. It is also impacted by what is available. Impala are cheaper than zebra for example.

First leopard, three zebra @ $200 each and two impala @ $75 each.
Second leopard, two zebra @ $300 each and two impala at $75 each.
Third leopard, three zebra @ $250 each and three impala at $100 each.

All three of these hunts were in June or July, so the baits lasted several days. Also, the cats were shot on the third, eighth, and ninth days, so I was not baiting for more time than that.

Another consideration is that a zebra, for example, yields 4 big baits with one shot for $200 to $300. Four impala give you four baits, but it takes four shots and four stops, and the total cost will be in the $300 to $400 range.

A big advantage to impala is the ability to shoot one in short order, gut it, and get hung. I've been on a hunt where we needed to freshen a bait. We went to find an impala, shot him, gutted him, drove back, and hung him up. It literally took 20 minutes. You cannot work that fast with the big animals.

Most important factor on almost every cat hunt is bait! Never let the cost of bait get in the way. If you are worried about bait cost, wait to go until its not a worry. Good thing is, leopard are generally a little easier on the bait cost, than Lion!

Good Luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
Most important factor on almost every cat hunt is bait! Never let the cost of bait get in the way. If you are worried about bait cost, wait to go until its not a worry. Good thing is, leopard are generally a little easier on the bait cost, than Lion!

Good Luck.

Exactly my reason for the post. I don't want to worry about having enough, therefore, need to know what would be a safe amount to budget.

Graybird in what area/country are you hunting ? Zim do probably have the lowest bait fees. In Tanz and Zambia etc you need to pay full trophy fee if im not mistaken.

On one of my trips I hade 4 cattle bought, if the area holds few impala/zebra/hippo etc and you need bait fast as you need when you hunt cats this can be one alternative.

quote:

Originally posted by A.Dahlgren:
Graybird in what area/country are you hunting ? Zim do probably have the lowest bait fees. In Tanz and Zambia etc you need to pay full trophy fee if im not mistaken.

On one of my trips I hade 4 cattle bought, if the area holds few impala/zebra/hippo etc and you need bait fast as you need when you hunt cats this can be one alternative.

Likely the Save Valley in Zim. I'm thinking of a Leo and PG hunt. We have a couple guys thinking of going over just for PG. Another of us is thinking of Buff and PG; therefore, my initial thoughts are on the Save to serve all of our wants and needs.

Thanks,

My first was taken off a natural kill. I shot 1 impala to freshen it up.

I think my next 4 attempts yielded nothing. I shot a lot of stuff for bait. we at least partially used PG that we shot for trophies. That was so long ago ago that I can't remember the exact number of baits or the cost. However, I would say that I had well over $1,000 in baits out each trip.

My next successful attempt was in 06. We had a lot of baits out. Perhaps 10 or more. We used buff, hippo, sable, bush pig, warthog. None was shot just for bait.

In 07, I shot another leopard. We probably had 6 baits out. Most of what we used for bait was from things we would have shot anyway. Buff and various PG. We did shoot 4 impala solely for bait.

In 09, I had another failed attempt. It was extremely hot. Baits didn't last long. I shot quite a few animals just for bait. Zebra, impala, giraffe, cow buffalo, ext. I was also hunting lion. I would say that I had $$3,000 - $5,000 in baits alone.


All depends on your luck. On my first leopard, on the first day of the hunt, I found drag marks. We followed and found where the leopard hung the impala in a tree. We freshened it up and took the leopard the first night. I have had a few unsuccessful attempts. You never know.

Ok, just look at www.zambezihunters.com and their prices for baits. I have hunted there in October and in that heat the baits does not last long. With that said leopards eats about everything and Ive seen baits 3 weeks old been hit. I have had around 10-12 baits out on each of my 3 trips for spots.

quote:

Good thing is, leopard are generally a little easier on the bait cost, than Lion!

+1, we fed 4 seperate groups of lions 6 giraffes on my lion hunt.

In certain areas, like Tanzania, you have no choice but pay full trophy fees for the animals you shoot for bait.

So remember this if you going to hunt leoprad in Tanzania.

Graybird,

You can use almost any plains game for leopard bait or buffalo, hippo etc. If I was trying to plan for the worst case scenario I'd budget an extra $1,000 for baits. That should equal about 10 impala on the Save.

Mark

Well there you go. I never thought you had to pay for bait. I assumed that it would be included in the cost of the hunt.

Does anyone do, or had anyone done a spot and stalk leopard hunt?

You should try donkeys and goats. Usually much cheaper than plains game, can be bought before your arrival and you don't kill them before you need them. Leave them for a tip to the camp staff or the PH's wife!! A bit unsporting to shoot so you have the skinner wack them with a ax. Freddie Kruger would be proud and thats one less damm donkey and goat in africa.

quote:

Does anyone do, or had anyone done a spot and stalk leopard hunt?

Stay tuned.

quote:

Originally posted by Bakes:
Well there you go. I never thought you had to pay for bait. I assumed that it would be included in the cost of the hunt.

Does anyone do, or had anyone done a spot and stalk leopard hunt?

is this a joke or just a trick question?

quote:

Originally posted by gunny:
You should try donkeys and goats. Usually much cheaper than plains game, can be bought before your arrival and you don't kill them before you need them. Leave them for a tip to the camp staff or the PH's wife!! A bit unsporting to shoot so you have the skinner wack them with a ax. Freddie Kruger would be proud and thats one less damm donkey and goat in africa.

i have a feeling that PH/outfitters don't encourage this as they make more money on bait prices than they would ever make on a $5 goat or a $15 donkey. leopards are not that picky when it comes to a free meal-nyama is nayama to a cat,( witness the numerous stories of leopards feeding on baits so infested with maggots the stench was awful) although they obviously may prefer 1 thing over another. if you are on a plainsgame hunt in a decent area, you should have the makings of at LEAST 1-2 baits on the first day. a better question is whether you want to pay for "pre-baiting", which can be a damn good idea.

quote:

Originally posted by Bakes:
Well there you go. I never thought you had to pay for bait. I assumed that it would be included in the cost of the hunt.

I guess that may just depend upon who you are or who you are hunting with. On one leopard hunt I did, I got to use baits from a previous hunter with no charge, on another leopard hunt, I was charged full trophy fee for the animals I shot for bait. On one hunt, the animals I shot were used for bait for the hunter that was coming in after me; no charge to him as I understood it.

There used to be cats hunted by tracking in Botswana.

i am pretty sure the tracking hunts were for lions in the Kalahari, not leopards.

I have thought about this as I am hunting with Zambezi hunters next year. There are 2 of us for Leopard buff and plainsgame and one other friend for just buff and plainsgame. I am going to have them prebait for us with a zebra each and get things rolling. I might whack one other zebra for bait and then I imagine if all goes well after a few days we should have a few other animals down between the 3 of us to get more baits out and to use for freshning up. This is what I hope for but I also realise with the price of the hunt I will shoot whatever bait I will need and not worry about it.

One question I had thought about is what number of baits a guy puts up. To me I figure the more the merrier if you can check them all. If baits are quite spaced out and you don't get that many out then you also won't need as much bait.

I think for a feeding leopard, especially where there might be small toms or females, I would plan on 6-10 full size animals. $1K-2K would be appropriate for fees. On my leopard hunt with dogs in Namibia, we used one quarter of a warthog per bait. We hung them in dry washes and riverine brush, just to get a track to turn out on. They never lasted more than one evening.

I shot 8-10 warthogs for free, hung 32 baits with about 6 cats hitting them, and killed two more big pigs as trophies.

jdollar:

I have seen video of the leopard hunts.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
i am pretty sure the tracking hunts were for lions in the Kalahari, not leopards.

Both lions and leopards actually. Other than on private ranches leopard hunting of any kind is finished in Bots. For that matter the same is true for all animals except Elephant.

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
Most important factor on almost every cat hunt is bait! Never let the cost of bait get in the way. If you are worried about bait cost, wait to go until its not a worry.

With that, do you mean we can not dream or hope of hunting leopard?

quote:

Originally posted by white north:
Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
Most important factor on almost every cat hunt is bait! Never let the cost of bait get in the way. If you are worried about bait cost, wait to go until its not a worry.

With that, do you mean we can not dream or hope of hunting leopard?

Of course not! It just means be prepared to spend what it takes to get the bait that's needed. Sometimes that's a little, sometimes, that's alot.

So, if a guy was to budget $1500-2000 for bait, he should be safe, provided he secures a few additional trophy animals thru the course of the safari.

Then, if the leopard comes early, he has additional trophy fee money.

Additionally, he can hopefully use other animals taken by other members of his hunting group.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
So, if a guy was to budget $1500-2000 for bait, he should be safe, provided he secures a few additional trophy animals thru the course of the safari.

Then, if the leopard comes early, he has additional trophy fee money.

Additionally, he can hopefully use other animals taken by other members of his hunting group.

All of that seems about right!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
In certain areas, like Tanzania, you have no choice but pay full trophy fees for the animals you shoot for bait.

So remember this if you going to hunt leoprad in Tanzania.

And Mozambique.
Location is way to important not to note as places like parts of Zim have well priced Bait T Fees where as places like Niassa Reserve, Moz have trophy fees as well as Government Fees.

I think Saeed makes a good point about hunting in Tanz. Not only do you have to pay a trophy fee for the bait but you have to stay within quota. If you can take two impala then when those are gone you have to go to another animal like hartebeest so you will have bait. It's not like in the Zambezi Valley where if your baits go off you just whack another impala for bait, you may have to hunt what ever is left on quota to be able to continue to bait. I've had to use kudu and eland to keep fresh baits up and it complicates things enormously. MMP

My recommendation is assume it will take what it takes, and bait is not the place to worry about cost. In Namibia a few years back I probably shot 8 Warthogs, sat over a Leopard killed goat, shot an extra Gemsbok just for bait and also used the meat from a very large trophy Warthog (14") my PH shot after I elected not to shoot in spite of his urging. That wasn't a cost avoidance issue, I just didn't think I wanted a Warthog trophy - might decide differently about who shot the Warthog today. That was a hot February hunt and bait was spoiling rather quickly.

On a June 2010 Zimbabwe hunt I think I shot 7 Impala, and know I shot two Zebra for bait in the 16 days it took to get my Leopard. In retrospect, there is no way I'd trade that drawn out hunt for a first night, one bait, success. Looking forward to next July in Zim, and the one thing I won't worry about is bait cost. Keep in mind, the bait hunting can be exciting in it's own right and seems to me those animals get damn scarce and skiddish when you need one...

Good luck,
Emory

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
i am pretty sure the tracking hunts were for lions in the Kalahari, not leopards.

I actually shot my 2nd leopard on a tracking hunt ih the Kalahari. The very first morning of a 24 day safari, we found a nice track and my PH asked me if I wanted to shoot my leopard on the first day. I was thinking "Yeah, right", but he assured me that if I wanted this cat, he'd be in the truck before we went back to camp that evening. He was right... It took about 4 or 5 hours of tracking, but we caught up to that cat, and it was a very nice tom that went 7'4" between the pegs, and was a very interesting hunt.

On that same safari, I took my only lion on the 22nd day after tracking him on foot for perhaps 3-4 miles up near the Kwando River. The lion hunt seemed a lot more sporting, as there was no truck involved. On the leopard hunt, we followed the Bushman trackers by truck.

Hunt Leopard with dogs. The meat is cheap and you can buy a pack of them for a few dollars.