The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting Leopard Perfect ShotGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Leopard Perfect Shot | Login/Join |
| One of Us |
Where should you aim on a leopard ideally? I have seen on some videos PHs prefer to aim for the shoulder and on other they ask the client to aim for the heart/lung area. | ||
|
| One of Us |
Depends on the angle, but so far aiming to break the off side shoulder has worked for me. | |||
|
| One of Us |
I have only shot one leopard. So, I'm no expert. The heart is a little farther back on the cats than on the antelopes. My PH told me to shoot behind the shoulders, midway up on a broadside shot. It worked; dead under the tree. You should follow the instructions of your PH because, after all, he will have to do the follow-up if you wound it. USMC Retired DSC Life Member SCI Life Member NRA Life Member | |||
|
One of Us |
My PH told me to shoot my Leopard on the shoulder. I did and it worked perfectly. NRA Endowment Life Member | |||
|
| One of Us |
I was told to aim at a spot and let er rip. LOL Just kidding. BH63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | |||
|
| Administrator |
Imagine a tennis size ball between his shoulders. Aim for it, regardless of angle. That is what I do, and all my leopards died with one shot. Look at my hunt report at the top of this forum. That is the leopard I shot last year. | |||
|
| One of Us |
The answer to your question is well-covered in my book The Perfect Shot and its revised edition PSII. The high shoulder/spinal shot will kill a leopard instantly if placed correctly with a quick-expnding type bullet in any calibre from 7 mm and upwards. With the right quick expanding or better still disintegrating type bullets the high heart/lung shot will sometimes also kill a leopard instantly due to a massive release of hydrodynamic energy with can 'switch off' the refined nervous system of these spotted felines. Use a better quality bullet for such shots and the leopard will run off while grunting - and this means you and the PH will have to go and find it. In low light / darkness having to look for a wounded or dead leopard is an extremely unpleasant experience. To prevent such situations, use the right bullet/caliber combination and shoot it through the shoulder blades. You'll then find it under the bait tree. The PS has detailed diagrams of where to place such a shot. | |||
|
| One of Us |
Welp.... You just got the answer from the authority and author of the perfect shot! Buy the book or the flash cards...to me it’s a must own (although Kevin I would honestly say some spots are too far forward simply because of margin for error left and right...but hey...it is called the Perfect shot) | |||
|
One of Us |
Right there.   ______________________ DRSS ______________________ Hunt Reports 2015 His & Her Leopards with Derek Littleton of Luwire Safaris - http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/2971090112 2015 Trophy Bull Elephant with CMS http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/1651069012 DIY Brooks Range Sheep Hunt 2013 - http://forums.accuratereloadin...901038191#9901038191 Zambia June/July 2012 with Andrew Baldry - Royal Kafue http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7971064771 Zambia Sept 2010- Muchinga Safaris http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4211096141 Namibia Sept 2010 - ARUB Safaris http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6781076141 | |||
|
| Administrator |
Make sure you hit a black spot! If you do not, you are going to have a terrible following game!  | |||
|
| one of us |
Both my leopards died quickly, but the last one did run about 20 feet and my PH found him behind a rock. Fulvio once told me he would rather look for a wounded leopard in the dark simply because their eyes light up when hit with light. I shot an African wildcat at night just because his eyes lit up, and once saw either a mountain lion or bobcat in the Grand Canyon when I was hiking well before dawn and checking for cats with my headlamp. It isn't rocket science; aim where Frostbit's wife is pointing and you won't have any issues. You will be shooting off a dead rest so you can't hardly miss unless the leopard moves right when you shoot. I would recommend checking your zero at exactly the distance you put your blind. I did that with lots of game I had to shoot at close distances but with precision. | |||
|
| one of us |
All good advice, for sure. If you can, be cool! Two guys that I know totally missed their leopards. Never mind putting the slug through their shoulders. Another person had guides shouting (quietly) shoot ! Shoot! Shoot! One was at a leopard facing the hunting party in a tree. Both cats were slightly wounded, refused to fight on the follow up, and while no one was hurt thank goodness, the hunter was broken hearted and out many thousands of dollars. I knew one guide that would advertise some things like … got 6 cats for 8 hunters last year. Meaning 6 got a shot but usually a couple or several were missed or wounded and not recovered. Good luck! Leopard hunting sure beats the hell out of whacking most of the cloven hoofed ilk .. IMO   | |||
|
| Administrator |
This is something I have always wondered about! How the hell can on miss a sitting animal at such a close distance?? One is normally sitting in a blind, with his rifle on a rest, has been sitting there resting for while, so no heavy breathing due to running etc. I suppose I should not say anything, as I have missed a hippo at less than 50 meters! Right in the open too!  | |||
|
| One of Us |
I completely missed a honey badger - from a blind, at only 40 yards?! But at least it wasn't a hippo!  | |||
|
One of Us |
Yes you did....  In all fairness Aaron , Lions are a slightly bigger target also ...  | |||
|
| one of us |
I never tell the PH about horrendous misses that I have made in my life - until the safari is over and the guy is driving me back to the airport. I suspect that it is easier on their nerves. | |||
|
| One of Us |
Ya, but I did get 2 porcupines with 1 shot Jan! | |||
|
| one of us |
I am sure I have told this story before, but it is worthy of mentioning again. On my very first safari in Namibia we crawled to about 80 yards of some gemsbok in a pan. I was lying prone; as I got into position I took my safety off the Rem 700 I was using. Unbeknownst to me at the time, if you adjust the trigger on a 700 too light and take the safety off with your finger on the trigger (not pulling, just touching) the rifle will go off, which is exactly what happened. Dust flew a good 10 yards in front of the gemsbok and they all took off running. The look on the PH's face said, "This is going to be a long safari..." I explained what happened, but I am not sure he believed me. I redeemed myself by hitting a running jackal less than an hour later and things went well after that, but I will never forget the look on that PH's face. | |||
|
| One of Us |
My wife Vicki shot a beautiful cat just two weeks ago in Dande North with Buzz. We personally watched his near-fanatical attention to details when setting up the blind and prepping her for the shot. Everything was done to ensure a perfect broadside presentation, with a good background and noiseless pre-shot preparation. He also did a great job of talking her through the shot. I think that most of the problems with misses or poor shots are due to overly eager hunters who see their dream trophy for the first time, and either rush the shot or focus on the animal, not the crosshairs. Buzz' success rate on good leopards over the last 20 years speaks for itself. | |||
|
| One of Us |
A hippo at 50? From the man who dropped an eland at 500 yards in front of a friend of mine.  I missed an arse shot on a running impala at 30, because the bloody PH was screaming SHOOT, SHOOT at the tops of his lungs, the lunatic | |||
|
| One of Us |
Another friend who has shot over 20 leopards for control purposes swears by the 8X68 with the RWS H-Mantle load. He's says it has never failed him. | |||
|
| One of Us |
With a record of having fired one shot at one leopard I applied the same shot I do on all four legged animals. Centre shoulder shot on side on animal. Otherwise it'd be an angle to break the offside shoulder. | |||
|
| One of Us |
John - I could tell you stories as a guide for 25 yrs that you would NEVER BELIEVE! | |||
|
| Administrator |
No one can beat Walter in having an absolutely unique hunt. He loves to shoot zebras and pigs. My wife brought a zebra blanket with her to Zimbabwe. We made a frame, and put the blanket on it next to a water hole one morning. She also brought stage blood! We took WALTER to that waterhole in the afternoon, and ROY did a grand job of guiding him to the zebra. He shot it twice! And I ran over and put blood on the bullet holes! | |||
|
| One of Us |
Like the time you used a white truck tailgate as a Pronghorn decoy?  ______________________ DRSS ______________________ Hunt Reports 2015 His & Her Leopards with Derek Littleton of Luwire Safaris - http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/2971090112 2015 Trophy Bull Elephant with CMS http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/1651069012 DIY Brooks Range Sheep Hunt 2013 - http://forums.accuratereloadin...901038191#9901038191 Zambia June/July 2012 with Andrew Baldry - Royal Kafue http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7971064771 Zambia Sept 2010- Muchinga Safaris http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4211096141 Namibia Sept 2010 - ARUB Safaris http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6781076141 | |||
|
| One of Us |
Not much experience with leopard, but like 'em like everything else. Quartering to. Hit anything other than an elephant at the point of the near shoulder with 400 grains and they die quickly. Broadside on leopard and it's too easy to hit too far back (as I did once; still dead within 30 feet) or too far forward, either of which could be bad. JMHO. Listen to Doctari. | |||
|
One of Us |
It’s a big target. A third to halfway up from the brisket, and anywhere from the middle of the shoulder to a third of the way back equals dead cat right there. Mike Wilderness is my cathedral, and hunting is my prayer. | |||
|
| One of Us |
I executed a perfect heart, lung, brain shot on one in Namibia. Guess at the last second it turned it's neck to look behind and the 260 grain pass-through smacked it in the noggin. Killed it so dead it didn't even slide off the branch for (what seemed like) a couple of minutes. So wait for that presentation... | |||
|
One of Us |
Pass the bullet thru chest case closed, nothing fancy. Mike | |||
|
One of Us |
I would agree and the shoulder shot does not allow margin for error. Double lung a cat and in the centre of his vitals is my way. ROYAL KAFUE LTD Email - kafueroyal@gmail.com Tel/Whatsapp (00260) 975315144 Instagram - kafueroyal | |||
|
| One of Us |
Thank you all for your replies. I am waiting right now at the Madrid airport for my flight to Africa. Very excited. | |||
|
| Administrator |
Have a great time, come home safe, and tell us all about it. | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia