When an American TV Crewmember asked him for his name some 20 years ago he replied jokingly: “I AM the Great White Hunter of Africa!” This “title” stuck with him ever since…which is appropriate in a way as the Great White is more than a good hunter… he is indeed an interesting character in every sense of the word... With 74 Leopards under his belt he has built a reputation for himself as a “Cat Man” and several other Outfitters – myself included – hire him for his “expertise” (as he refers to it) when we have clients for leopard. And with his very keen sense of humour, there is of course never a dull moment – whether that be in the hunting field or next to the campfire.

Now leopard hunting is about more than just hunting… it is almost like a game of chess.. . even an “art” of some sorts… Knowing where and how to look for sign of these cats, hanging bait in the appropriate place, picking the location for your blind, building it, etc. is something that only years of experience can teach you. And “experience” is something that “The Great White” has plenty of…

So… one evening not so long ago I return home from a hunt finding the Great White’s truck in my driveway and his apprentice on my veranda… Turns out the leopard that my client and I had seen tracks of two days before had taken the bait and the Great White was in the blind with another PH and a client waiting for the cat. Well, after offering the appy something to drink and while my client takes a shower, I take care of some business on the internet…

I’m sitting in the garden, scanning through emails when I hear a shot ring out. That must be the end of the cat I think – slightly envious that it was not one of my clients in the blind… I was after all the one who first saw sigh of the cat two days ago! I walk back into the house and say to the appy: “Sounds like the Great White has struck again” at which time more or less the telephone rings… it’s the Great White’s raspy voice on the other side of the line: “Chris, please send the appy here and tell him to be quick”. I don’t ask questions and he doesn’t elaborate so the appy grabs a rifle and off he goes…

The Great White walks through my door with words: “Appy, get me a Gin and make it a double!” The appy scurries off in the direction of the bar… “How did it go?” I ask, “did you get the cat?” “Yes, we got a cat…” he says… “Appy, where’s that doggone Gin?!”

With his drink finally in hand we excitedly gather around the Great White – kind of like what kids do when they get ready to listen to a Christmas story… Instead of opening a book or Bible though, the Great White gulps down his drink, orders another and only then does he settle down to tell us a tale of a different nature…

In the Great White’s words:

So, we’d been sitting in the blind for less than an hour… and the cat comes in. I look at it through the night sights and see an enormous set of testicles so I know that this is our cat and it’s the BIG one. But when the landowner freshened the bait that morning he hung the whole hind quarter of a horse on that darn tree limb so the cat can’t get it lifted up to start feeding and is sitting there pawing the huge piece of meat. I am worried that the cat’s going to give it up so I tell the client to shoot. “No,” says the client, “let’s wait for it to settle in first – like they say in the book.” “SHOOT” I say; “it’s going to get out of that tree.” “No, let’s wait” says the client and his words aren’t cold yet when the cat jumps out of the tree…

I drop my face into my hands… Three years! I’m thinking. Three years that I’ve battled getting this cat onto bait and what happens when I do? The client doesn’t take the shot!

I’m still sitting with my hands cupping my face when the client touches my shoulder. “The cat’s back,” he says. I look through the night sights but I see nothing, I look through my binos but I still see nothing. “Do you see it?” asks the client. “No,” I reply – “where is it?” “Right there on the tree limb”, says the client. “Are you sure you’re seeing the leopard?” I ask. “Yes,” says the client. “Does it have spots?” I ask again. “Of course it has spots!” comes the reply. “Well, I can’t see it but if it’s the leopard shoot it” and… BOOM!… I didn’t hear a hit, nor did I hear anything fall out of the tree. “Did you hit it?” I ask the client. “I think so, I saw it fall” he says.

“Well, let’s go have a look” I say to the PH after a while….

We leave the client in the blind and get out on high alert. Rifles at the ready, flashlights in hand and off we go stalking towards the bait... I was walking slowly, treading lightly and thinking fast…

I didn’t see anything at first– not a drop of blood or piece of skin. But then, I almost stepped onto the cat and stood there in disbelief…

“What are you seeing?” the client shouted from the blind, “Did you find it?”
“Yes, I found it,” I said …
“And? Is it dead?” the client asked, “
Yes, it is quite dead,” I said, “but you shot the wrong one.”
“What do you mean it’s the wrong one? Is it a female?”
“Nope,” I said, “the gender is right….”
“Well then what do you mean it’s the wrong one? EXPLAIN!!!”
“Well, the gender is right… but the SPECIES is not...”

By now the client had gotten out of the blind and was walking up to where I was standing.

“I didn’t realize there’s more than one species of leopard around here!” said the client.
“There’s not”, I said, but the species that you’ve just killed is not a leopard, I laughed… as I looked at the Genet that was lying at my feet…

“Can you believe it?” The Great White said as his appy handed him another G&T. “Seventy Four Leopards I’ve killed… “SEVENTY FOUR!”

“And after tonight… I can add ONE Genet to my list!!!”

When I saw the Great White a few days later and asked him how things were going he grimaced and said: “You know, news sure travels fast… “ “Not on Christmas Day… not over New Years… Not even on my BIRTHDAY… have I received as many phone calls as on that ONE day… after that Genet was shot!” “Everyone wants to know how the Great White ends up shooting a Genet instead of a Leopard!”

“Uh… Great White,” I said,
“about that Elephant hunt I booked in your area for next month…?”
“Yes, what about it?” he replied.
“Well, I just want to be sure about one thing…” I said,
“Yeah what?” he replied – knowing this was going somewhere…
“Well… just to make things clear… it is an ELEPHANT my *client wants… not a **Hyrax…”

THE END

** It is believed that the “Dassie” or “Rock Hyrax” is the closest living relative to the Elephant.
*And to give credit to the Great White: His client did shoot a leopard a couple of days after the Genet incident; my client did get his elephant and not a Hyrax… And after only one hour in the blind on Day two of the hunt MY Client shot a beautiful Tom - not a Genet…

So... If you are interested in hunting a leopard (or a genet) do check out Leopard Hunt Offer as advertised in the Hunts Offered forum.

Regards,

Thanks for sharing that great story.

+1

Great story, I loved every word and can just about see his face when he saw the Genet at the base of the tree!

What a great story. It reminds me of the talks around the campfire with my PH earlier this year. He said that one of the most difficult parts of his job is when he tells a client to shoot and the client is looking through his binoculars or argues whether the animal is a trophy. What he liked about my hunting partner and myself was when he said shoot, the gun fired. It's a trust issue, really.

I really enjoyed that story. Thanks.

Great story, Chris!

Awesome story

Very well told! Good one.

Thanks folks. Glad you enjoyed it.

The funniest thing of all is... every word is true!

good story