Ok, for those of you who have hunted Leopard I have a question that has been bugging me. I know that you usually will take 2 or 3 plainsgame to act as bait. Is the whole bait animal used or can the heads be removed before baiting and taken as a trophy as well?

Usually bait animals (Impala normally) are taken at a lower fee than trophy animals. In general the bait animal is hung by his horns. At least that has been my experience in Zimbabwe. I've only baited for about 50 or so but that's whats been done in most of those.

Yes, both outfits I have hunted Leopard with allow you to keep the hide and horns. If you keep the H&H they will charge you trophy fee vs bait fee. Last yr Vaughan allowed me to keep the Gemsbok skull and horns for European mount without trophy fee, but did charge trophy fee for Springbok which I kept the H&H.

If you want the headskin and horns there yours. Normally when you're baiting for leopard you will pop the 1st impala you run across regardless of size as all you want is meat in the tree as quickly as possible. If it's a big one great. Most places will charge a lesser fee for a bait-size animal...example might be $50 for a bait impala and the regular trophy fee for a nice one.

On my last trip I shot 6 or7 bait impala + 2 trophy rams and then we also used part of a warthog and part of a zebra to refresh baits.

Steven

Some PH's like to bait with impala and others will use just about anything. On my last hunt we used impala, kudu, zebra, and giraffe. We ended up killing a nice male on the zebra bait. Don't forget that you can take some of that meat and use it for yourself. Nothing like a fresh back strap cooked over an open fire for lunch.

Steven

In my experience Zim and Mozambique are the only places that actually advertise a lesser fee for bait animals. One guy in Zim gets $150 for up to 4 trophy impala but $75 for unlimited non trohy impala for leopard bait. Personally I've shot leopards off buffalo, hartebeest and warthog. I think if they are hungry they will come to many baits but impala and warthog are there natural food and also an easy package to hang for a bait. I don't think the leopard cares if the cape, horns or the whole skin is there for that matter.

Regards,

Mark

I just got back from Zimbabwe, where I shot a a very, very expensive leopard (in terms of bait).

To bait it, I shot nine impala and two zebra. The impala were charged as "bait" animals at $85 each. The zebra, however, were classified as "trophies" and were $850 each. Each was skinned for a rug in the field before quartering and hanging

I didn't want to shoot any more zebras (I already have a trophy room full of them), but the PH insisted that if I was "serious" about getting a leopard, then zebra was the ticket. BTW, I shot my leopard off the zebra.

Yes, you can bait with a trophy carcass after caping. However, most baiting is done with non-trophy impala.

Steven 30127,
For my Leopard hunt last season we hung parts of animales for bait(this was a daily task of checking baits). We had at one time 4 different baits up, active Leopard on 3 of them at one time. We used Zebra, Impala that I had taken and prior to my arrival the PH John Sharp used 2 cow Kudu. Was able to keep Zebra skin for rug, could have had the skins from Impala but did not want them. Took my Leopard from the Zebra bait.

I have used only trophy animals--meaning full fees paid--for leopard bait.

Impala, reedbuck and hartebeest.

3 years ago I shot a leopard off "Impala" bait. I could have taken the capes but desided to keep the skull/horns on all my baits. we collected the heads as we refreshed the baits. I was charged for bait impala ($75.00 each, not the $150.00 trophy fee) I ended up with 18 Impala skulls to hang around my home! My PH always looked for older rams or rams with ugly horns. Some of the rams measured 20 to 22 inches!!

This past safari, a week ago, we used Zebra for bait. The Zebra meat lasts much longer then the Impala this time of year and leopards love Zebra! I shot 2 for bait. If I didn't want the skins I would be charged $400.00 each, if I wanted the skins they were $700.00 each. I took the skins, doing some shoulder pedastal mounts on them.

oy - do I ever wish I had all the money back I paid for bait animals, it think it amounts to several grand. Hippo's, and buff. for lions, impala by the dozen and zebra for spots, even a donkey or 2. It all depends on what you want as trophy., Hippo's and buff and usually zebra are shot for bait and trophy and are usually charged as trophy. impala are usually just shot as bait. Big males make better bait than females, just because they have more meat on them. I've always found that if I want the head for a trophy I paid the trophy fee, otherwise it was a bait charge. I do find the outfits are charging more for bait animals now than they did a couple years ago (like the $85 for a pala from GHhunter vs about 40 a couple years ago). Thats all part of bleed the good old hunter scheme. I also find that zebra are by far the best leopard bait and hippo for liion. This all changes immediately upon finding the animals natural kill, which is by far the best - and the cheapest