It is widely accepted that most of the oversized Leopard coming out of Africa nowadays are from a few hotspots in Zimbabwe. Agreed Ethiopia does produce some monsters but very few and far between. In the past the Kenya highlands and Maasai territories could boast very substantial cats.

In Zambia you have the big finicky cats of the Kafue river basin but possibly the largest concentration is the Luangwa valley. Common but rarely exceeding 140lbs.

The largest cat I have ever come across was the famous (to those that sat for him) Chamakubi cat of Zambia's Lunga Luswishi concession. A monstrous beast that resembled the proportions of a lioness and one I was privileged to witness too late one evening. No one ever shot that clever beast and I presume he died of old age.

Here are a couple of pictures of a mature Leopard but by no means aged that is blessed with such genes. The daylight image shows my tracker and scout in comparison.







Awesome creatures.

The Chamakubi was home to the greatest lion I have ever been aware of as well Andrew! I hate that place - its appropriately named, and the tsetse's there are horrible too!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
The Chamakubi was home to the greatest lion I have ever been aware of as well Andrew! I hate that place - its appropriately named, and the tsetse's there are horrible too!!!

I remember him and that surreal place with its white crooked trees. A place that could be colder than a dead witches tit.

With so many leopards being shot these last years compared to years ago, I wonder if these leopards are not bred in some farm in SA and released in the wilds of Zim and elsewhere.It seems about 20yrs ago it was very difficult to shoot one.Now they are being shot everywhere and in daylight.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
With so many leopards being shot these last years compared to years ago, I wonder if these leopards are not bred in some farm in SA and released in the wilds of Zim and elsewhere.It seems about 20yrs ago it was very difficult to shoot one.Now they are being shot everywhere and in daylight.

I now believe that you just post random comments to stir the shit pot. It seems like every forum has one of these.

The Matobo Hills in South central Zimbabwe has always produced big cats. Read Wayne Grant's book "Into the Thorns" if you want to learn of the huge leopards taken there. Below is the trail camera photo of a leopard I took at Debshan Ranch a few years ago - Debshan is near the Matobo Hills in the Shangani region of Zimbabwe. My cat weighted 180 pounds on the farm scale there. Other big cats have been taken in recent years in the Bubye and Nuanetsi.

The luangwa valley is a hotspot for leopards all right, definitely would be surprised if you miss on a leopard there, the biggest leopards are consistently shot in the low veld of zimbabwe, but the most beautiful colored, oversized cats Ive seen came from the misty forest covered mountains of ethiopia and northern tanzania. Thanks for sharing those pictures Andrew, that is a fine looking cat.

Interesting comment about leopards being common now and in daylight.

The same is the case now in India. A lot more leopards are seen around cities in the last 5 or 10 years. Bombay city and the surrounding forest have the world's highest concentration of leopards in the world!!

By no means am I a biologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn. I venture higher numbers with increases in competition equals more daylight sightings. Being so adaptable to people is great way to survive these days.

Southpansberg mnts
Very big cats

I would like to one day again play chess with a big cat. Took a nice male in Zambia but I would like one of those Zim monsters one day.
Good topic on where those concentrations are.
As usual, George input some random nonsensical shite... Lol.

quote:

Here are a couple of pictures of a mature Leopard but by no means aged that is blessed with such genes.

Eight more years of college to pay for...

Maybe when that is done my kids will want to buy me a leopard hunt?

The South African Lowveld and the Limpopo Valley also host some nice cats. Where I spend a decent amount of time in the Hoedspruit area finding a 9,5cm to 10cm track is not uncommon. A leopard once hit one of my hyena baits there and literally ate a whole adult impala ram (gutted) in one sitting

I wonder how much is genetic and how much is environmental conditions? 30 miles from Hoedspruit in the mountains where there is very little game I haven't seen a track bigger than 7,5cm. On the other hand in the game rich Ohrigstad area, also in the mountains, I saw trailcam pics of a monster.

quote:

Originally posted by Balule:
The South African Lowveld and the Limpopo Valley also host some nice cats. Where I spend a decent amount of time in the Hoedspruit area finding a 9,5cm to 10cm track is not uncommon. A leopard once hit one of my hyena baits there and literally ate a whole adult impala ram (gutted) in one sitting

I wonder how much is genetic and how much is environmental conditions? 30 miles from Hoedspruit in the mountains where there is very little game I haven't seen a track bigger than 7,5cm. On the other hand in the game rich Ohrigstad area, also in the mountains, I saw trailcam pics of a monster.

Agreed and the Lowveld is another prime destination. It would be nice to get that trail cam pic?

There is a big tom leopard which hangs around the Wildlife College which has now killed all on his own two lone territorial wildebeest bulls. Have seen him a few times. The combined measurements of his front foot track - greatest vertical + horizontal width plus the width of his back pad is 10 ⅝ inches. Grant reckons that if this measurement equals 10 inches then its a super cat so this guy is special. We think he weighs about 90 kg's! He also killed and consumed in its entirety a big male cheetah recently!

Waterport
96 kg & 17&7/8

.

Andrew, You need to employ taller scouts and trackers i/o the little guys that you have !



.

Big cats are found in the Lowveld of Zimbabwe. This one just across the road from the Bubye. 180 lbs and 8 feet one inch from nose to tail. This one was shot off of his own kill-a female leopard. PH was John Hunt of Georgia Safaris.

How can a leopard hunt if it weighs 180lbs?

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
How can a leopard hunt if it weighs 180lbs?

The same way a "hunter" hunts that weighs 300 pounds!!! Slowly and looking for an easy target!!!

Boarkiller's cat is a monster!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
How can a leopard hunt if it weighs 180lbs?

A 180lb Leopard is not as fast as a 100lb female, but it is STILL REALLY FAST!

Furthermore, a huge male like that is able to kill bigger prey that a smaller Leopard might not be able to handle, such as an adult bull Wildebeest or a big stallion Zebra.

Or cattle

Those must be farm fed leopards or something like that-unless they live in a really wild area with large populations of plains game like Makuti.

Surely you mean cattle-killing leopards from areas around ranching/wild game country? Farm fed sounds domesticated, which leopards are not...

That cat is looking for the Chinese lady who got in a fight with her husband at a tiger park/sanctuary in China, got out of the car and got grabbed and killed by the tiger. The video is a bit real - she gets out and gets nabbed...

These leopards are looking for that opportunity....

Mine was nowhere near any cattle ranches
Killed on female's own kill
We were gonna try to kill the female , which according to tracker was good size.
Well, male popped in with her

I Being A outfitter always try and not get into pissing matches on the internet but I must agree some of Shootaway posts are very strange indeed... help me out here so we in South Africa breed these big leopards and then transport then across the border for our Nabors in Zimbabwe?? surely you are joking right???

quote:

Originally posted by INTREPID SAFARIS:
I Being A outfitter always try and not get into pissing matches on the internet but I must agree some of Shootaway posts are very strange indeed... help me out here so we in South Africa breed these big leopards and then transport then across the border for our Nabors in Zimbabwe?? surely you are joking right???

If I believed you guys were so honest I would not think these things up.Zebras and other plains game are captured elsewhere and released in Zims wild areas so why not leopard?

You are reaching George
You know, you can't keep leopard put anywhere

Mine was actually a rogue leopard killing leopard. According to Ivan DuPlessis, this cat had apparently killed other leopard besides the dead female that I shot him over. The area was full of kopjies, with wild zebra, kudu, impala, honey badger, wildebeest, grysbok, giraffe, hyena, civet, klipspringer, steenbok, genet, etc, etc, etc. Ivan had some cattle in the area.

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
Mine was nowhere near any cattle ranches
Killed on female's own kill
We were gonna try to kill the female , which according to tracker was good size.
Well, male popped in with her

You were targeting a female leopard? Where is that allowed? But instead you got a 97kg monster! That's a very big leopard indeed!

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by INTREPID SAFARIS:
I Being A outfitter always try and not get into pissing matches on the internet but I must agree some of Shootaway posts are very strange indeed... help me out here so we in South Africa breed these big leopards and then transport then across the border for our Nabors in Zimbabwe?? surely you are joking right???

If I believed you guys were so honest I would not think these things up.Zebras and other plains game are captured elsewhere and released in Zims wild areas so why not leopard?

It's not possible to do that with big cats.

If you read up on leopard ecology/biology you can see why

Guys,

From what I know at this time the best chance to kill a leopard and only do one hunt is along the Luangwa in Zambia and in the best areas of the Selous. If you a want a true giant you need to hunt the lowveld of Zimbabwe. There of course are other great areas but in my experience these areas hold the best chance.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Leopardtrack:

It's not possible to do that with big cats.

If you read up on leopard ecology/biology you can see why

I don't think it's possible with leopards, but it has happened with lions in various countries.

quote:

Originally posted by BushPeter:

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
Mine was nowhere near any cattle ranches
Killed on female's own kill
We were gonna try to kill the female , which according to tracker was good size.
Well, male popped in with her

You were targeting a female leopard? Where is that allowed? But instead you got a 97kg monster! That's a very big leopard indeed!

I think, in SA, you could kill female few years back as what I was told
We hunted few males and just struck out and day before I was leaving we ran into this one female kill
Honestly, big female is leopard too as is good size female mountain lion here in Montana and its legal

quote:

Originally posted by INTREPID SAFARIS:
I Being A outfitter always try and not get into pissing matches on the internet but I must agree some of Shootaway posts are very strange indeed... help me out here so we in South Africa breed these big leopards and then transport then across the border for our Nabors in Zimbabwe?? surely you are joking right???

Phillip,
That's damned neighborly of you to raise leopards just to haul them to Zimbabwe. Sure would like to see the videos of when you round them up. Do you have leopard drives like the cattle drives of the Old West?

Must get real exciting...

170lbs - Makuti area this past November 2015

Saw a large female as well.. Lots of cat sign all over the area...

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
How can a leopard hunt if it weighs 180lbs?

The same way a much bigger lion can hunt

quote:

help me out here so we in South Africa breed these big leopards and then transport then across the border for our Nabors in Zimbabwe?

Not really necessary to breed but nothing stopping anyone fom trapping them in areas where they are making a nuisance of themselves, e.g. ranches with livestock and "sneaking" them into Zim through the back door.

Ever wonder how or where some of those Zim "leopard over hounds" outfitters have a steady supply of large cats available yet still able to maintain a "healthy quota"