When dragging around the bait site the man doing the dragging walks slightly to the side of the drag trail. Then two or three trackers and the PH (and probably the client hunter) gather at the base of the tree to sweep away the leaves and watch one guy scoot up the trunk and branches of the tree and wire it to a branch.

I have always wondered why that human scent from all that activity does not scare the leopard away. Why is that?

In my oppinion i think that the smell of guts might overpower the human sent. After a day of 'gut bucket' duty every thing smells like guts to me.

I don't really think the leopards care about the human smell.

I have seen people answering the call of nature a few yards from the bait tree.

The leopard still shows up.

Palmer,

I have to agree with Saeed that leopards are not particularly sensitive to human odor. This last year we drove up in a diesel Cruiser half way between the bait and blind, bailed out, the crew turned around and drove off. Within 10 minutes of us getting settled the leopard was in the tree. That whole area between the bait tree and blind (35 yards) had to be full of human odor and diesel exhaust.

Mark

A few years ago we had a bait in a tree which was hit.

We brought another bait to replenish it.

We got on top of an ant hill where we wanted to put our blind and surprised the leopard lying right there.

He ran when we were about 5 yards from him!

We put the blind up, and not long after shot him.

Interesting question. I don't think the bait smell is necessarily overpowering, although it may be under some circumstances. Pure speculation, but I tend to agree that leopards must not care about the presence of human scent.

Gut drag wins every time, no question in my mind.

Hunger wins every time.

leopards can be extremely cunning, and then again they can do dumb things. i often wonder about walking the drag myself, and came to the conclusion that the less scent the better

Leopards are opportunistic as when they approach a human settlement or a village to steal a goat or something, i know some leopards even approach skinning sheds in camp, I believe they are aware of the danger but the food source is too tempting, even though humans are probably involved.

I also once read in a book of the old timers, I believe it was a Jim Corbett's book that he mentioned that leopards don't have a good sense of smell, but of that I don't know.

No expert but I think it location, location location. In some places where they been hunted hard I do think the smell would drive them away. In others not so much. my experence 8 leopard hunts...

Human scent dissipates quite quickly. The drag leaves a powerful and long lasting smell.

Worst case scenario is contaminants in the back of the car. Get a bit of diesel on the bait and it will not be touched. Pissing around the bait site is another no no.

I had an appy hunter (now a fully licensed ph) tell me that when he was apprenticing for HHK he'd watch Lou Hallamore take a leak right near the base of the tree while they were setting the baits. Lou wasn't worried about it, and the appy said it never seemed to matter.

No one would dispute that Lou was and is a very successful leopard hunter.

A while back, I helped trap a jaguar in Paraguay. A cat had hit a tethered goat, and we put a leghold trap right next to the kill. We sprinkled sifted dirt over the trap after covering it with a piece of a filthy T-shirt worn by one of the Guarani cowboys who was helping us. I asked the cat man, a lifelong trapper, whether the scent from the shirt would make a difference. He said a coyote or a wolf would never come close to such a thing, but a jaguar would step right in it. Sure enough, that's what happened.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanna:
I had an appy hunter (now a fully licensed ph) tell me that when he was apprenticing for HHK he'd watch Lou Hallamore take a leak right near the base of the tree while they were setting the baits. Lou wasn't worried about it, and the appy said it never seemed to matter.

No one would dispute that Lou was and is a very successful leopard hunter.

Nope. Would not dispute that.

But of all the trees, in MMBA? Not if I'm paying the freight.

quote:

Originally posted by sandyhunter:
A while back, I helped trap a jaguar in Paraguay. A cat had hit a tethered goat, and we put a leghold trap right next to the kill. We sprinkled sifted dirt over the trap after covering it with a piece of a filthy T-shirt worn by one of the Guarani cowboys who was helping us. I asked the cat man, a lifelong trapper, whether the scent from the shirt would make a difference. He said a coyote or a wolf would never come close to such a thing, but a jaguar would step right in it. Sure enough, that's what happened.

Do you believe that is simply out of boldness by the cats or because they lack a good sense of smell?

quote:

Do you believe that is simply out of boldness by the cats or because they lack a good sense of smell?

I'm fairly certain their noses aren't as good as those of canines, especially when it comes to "cold" scent. In contrast to scent left behind, fresh human scent is a big problem when trying to hunt cats. Cats won't feed on a bait if the wind shifts and they smell the hunters in the blind.

quote:

I'm fairly certain their noses aren't as good as those of canines, especially when it comes to "cold" scent. In contrast to scent left behind, fresh human scent is a big problem when trying to hunt cats. Cats won't feed on a bait if the wind shifts and they smell the hunters in the blind.

Cannot say for certainty but I do know that a Leopard will smell a bait from quite a distance if the wind carries in his direction.

Fresh human scent in the close vicinity of the bait will alert him and in most cases he will pinpoint the source and your blind is compromised for keeps.

If this happens you could actually find the spot where he lay downwind of the blind and waited until the hunters quit and left before going on to feed.

I bet leopards are no different than us humans.

We have the intelligent ones and those who are completely bonkers.

Last year, Alan had a client shoot a leopard from a particular tree in a dry river bed.

The client missed with his first shot, the leopard just stood there. The client clobbered him a few seconds later.

As if that leopard wasn't stupid enough.

We put a bait there and it got eaten. It was a warthog.

We put another bait there, an impala, but left the warty there too.

We arrived early in the morning, the leopard was asleep in the bait tree. He stood up, looked our way, then went back to sleep!

A while later, he got up and started feeding on the warthog. Completely ignoring the impala.

But, he was hidden from me, so I could not shoot him.

Eventually he was walking off the tree, and I shot him.

I am hoping to get another leopard off the same tree this year too.

Sounds like you shot an "Obama" leopard - looks around for a hand out and then goes to sleep.

I personally think that there is so much human activity , with the hunting and staking through the bush for plainsgame, buff etc and many tribal Africans wondering around, collecting fire wood, setting snares etc that the leopards are just used to the smell as a given.They have rather large territories and must come upon human scent everywhere .

Uh oh Dogcat. You are going to have "big brother" watching your tax return now.

not to mention tapping his phone and checking his web browser

Leopards are vy smart ..... But they know they did not putbthe meat in the tree. I do not even do drags and will have leopard on bait in 3 - 4 days in any case . Human scent burn off pretty quick .

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I don't really think the leopards care about the human smell.

I have seen people answering the call of nature a few yards from the bait tree.

The leopard still shows up.

My Namibian outfitter wont allow you for relieve near the bait.also the bait is hanged then if nite camera pick up the leopard the blind will be put up during the next morning and only later the afternoon it will be occupied.Then the non smoking non coughing silent wait! Not a story telling time lol.Anyway that is the way he does it and have huge trophies to show.

Also what I was told and what I saw and smelled at the bait sites (he has normally several sites all year around to give some protection to his calves) is that the bait is left and according to him they like the bait rotten.So maybe that smell is overwhelming.He just add new bait once it is depleted.unborn calves is mostly used for bait.
Some pictures to enjoy:

http://s1345.photobucket.com/u....png.html?sort=3&o=0

Ruark used to write about sitting smoking in the blind as long as you didn't make any noise ...

Now I would be able to smell him - how a leopard wouldn't, I don't know.

quote:

Originally posted by Bren7X64:
Ruark used to write about sitting smoking in the blind as long as you didn't make any noise ...

Now I would be able to smell him - how a leopard wouldn't, I don't know.

Simple logic - if he approaches between the blind and the bait its curtains whether you smoke or not and in most cases the blind is compromised.

The determining factor is to first establish his approach to the bait then build the blind; it would also be wise to first confirm the wind direction during the evening hours as it may veer by a few degrees between day and night and can make a difference.