I've just been wandering through some old posts today and it struck me how many different ways we seem to have to size Mr Spots in the field. I'm not talking about record books here, just an easy way for hunters to discuss sizes.

Some people talk weight in pounds or kilos, others tale about length either between the pegs, round the curves or tip of nose to root of tail and some use the RW measurement method of skull measurement....... it must be awfully confusing (esp) for those who are newer to African hunting.

so if we were to try to find just one way to size our spotty friend (in the field not for record book entry), which would you choose?

My vote would be either round the curves or between the pegs. I don't like weighing them as it's sometimes difficult to find scales that can cope and of course their last meal can have a great deal of bearing on their weight......

So what do you think?

Steve,
I can sure understand the difficulty in weighing a leopard in the bush. But, by knowing an approximate weight, I'm much more able to visualize the size, girth and mass of a leopard. I can't "see" a difference between a 7' and a 7'2" leopard, but I can between a 160 and a 200 pound leopard.

I'm not familiar with the "round the curves" method. Can you explain?

I believe it came originally from India and as I understand it, the animal is laid on its side and the body allowed to relax.....ie. It's not stretched out. The measurment begins at the tip of the nose and follows the curves of the head & body and ends at the tip of the tail. I reckon it's a good way to measure them as it takes more into account. The other measurement of between the pegs allows the animal to be stretched a little which to my mind can allow the unscrupulous measurer a little too much leeway.

It has always seemed to me that bears and cats are the toughest animals to accurately "score". I shot a male leopard that was cosidered a good one. He was 7'6" nose to tail. He weighed 170 pounds on accurate scales and his skull scored 16". He had just come to the bait tree and had not yet fed. If I waited 20 minutes, he would have weighed 185 pounds. I saw a leopard that had a skull measurement of 16 7/8" that was much smaller than mine in body size and length. I guess a mature male is all the score one really needs. I really question the validity of the measurements used now. I guess we need to devlop a strain of leopards with horns!