The hunting of Leopard can be split into a variety of methods - with dogs - night with lights and combine that with pre baiting - daylight etc

Normally you will have a 14 day limit to hunt/shoot your cat which can pass very quickly.

Considering the cost of this hunt which would be your preference and why? I have never tried dogs and am not really in favour of this pursuit nor have I ever shot a Leopard at night so my experience is limited to only daylight which is dictated by law in Zambia where I hunt.

This thread is not to determine what is right or wrong but rather to fathom the thoughts and practises of those who pursue this awesome cat.

An example would be that in Botswana the bushmen would track your Leopard and you would shoot a pissed off cat at close proximity. I on the other hand have hunted them from blinds and what I thought was a very cleverly presented bait having back tracked then to their lair.

Note I am very interested in producing a document possibly a short book on Leopard hunting so any input or story would be most welcome.

Cheers

Andrew,

I have shot quite a few leopards, all on bait.

That is because where I hunted them it was the only way to do it.

I have seen leopards during day time while walking, but non were shootable.

I will hunt them by any method permitted where I am hunting, either behind dogs or with spot light at night.

What Saeed said....

I plan to hunt them again and will use every legal trick in the book....

I would love to hunt them behind bushmen and will do so with Botswana opens up again.

I am not a "sit in the blind" guy but will try it for a good leopard.

Yes, I will shoot them at night too. Prefer the daytime but will shoot whenever the shot opportunity presents itself.

Yes, unlike bird hunting, I will shoot them on the ground.

Yes, I will shoot them with a dog chasing them.... That is great fun and hope to do it again.

I have only hunted leopard once (May of this year) over bait and it was at night - permitted where we hunted. It was a successful, but certainly not easy, hunt. In that area the leopards receive a fair amount of pressure and daylight hunts are very difficult. I am not opposed to any legal method and don't consider night hunting or dogs to be unsporting where leopards are concerned.

Would love too hunt leopard anyway I could. If I could have my choice I would love too dog them. Why? Because I'm a houndsmen and there's nothing like watching and listening to good dogs work. I would think you would probally have a higher success rate with dogs. You could probally be a little more selective by getting to tree a few different cats

I have only taken one large and very old leopard on the banks of the Zambezi River down river from Mawanga Camp in Chewore North. The animal was shot over bait at 4:00 in the afternoon after 10 days of watching females and young males on other bait sites. Night hunting was not permitted. One day we walked in to re bait one blind only find a 10' mamba on the cleared trail. That added some excitement since we normally walked in and out in the dark!! Our blinds were made of mopani and local brush. All natural including the rifle rest. A river island with rushing water concealed our final approach. The entire experience was just awesome. By the way it was my first safari! Hard to top this 14 day hunt so I doubt if I will ever shoot another leopard. Hunting buffalo after the leopard was down brought us face to face with elephant poachers. We ran them off after they shot at us with an AK. Hell of a first safari.

Andrew,

To be able to hunt leopards is a privilege and I have no problem with any legal method. having said that to outsmart a leopard and have him come to the bait is magical in my experience. Sitting in that blind just in that last 30 minutes of light is an amazing experience. You hear the baboons raucous alarm a little way down the river followed a few minuted later by the bushbuck's bark. You know he's on the way. Then all of a sudden all is deathly still. The francolin have stopped scratching around the blind and even the insects have stopped buzzing. Everybody is hyper alert in the blind as you know the cat is right there somewhere. Finally like a puff of smoke he's in the tree. There's nothing quite like it. The hair stood up on the back of my neck just writing this.

Mark

I have hunted leopard in the day time, at night and with dogs. I find all three sporting personally. That said, different strokes for different folks . . . in general I find cat hunting tedious and boring. Perhaps I have a latent case of ADD. Running baits, shooting baits, watching bait animals rot in a tree, riding around in a Cruiser with a rank bait bucket in the back, sitting in a blind in the heat while you provide a source of entertainment for teste flies and mopane bees, etc. . . . just not my cup of tea. I would much rather spend a long day in the heat tracking a buffalo or elephant.

Leopard hunting is very time consuming, and expensive. I have wanted to do it ever since I was a small boy reading Jim Corbett stories. My financial means is not great, but I have managed to make a few trips over but knew I could only afford one leopard hunt.

I have only hunted leopard the one time (successfully), and that was in Namibia with the help of dogs and a wonderful team to support me. I still had to do all the running and physical exertion to keep up with them. I have seen them on three of my five safaris to Africa. We put out a lot of strike baits in order to get a good track impression in the dirt, and to know whether to turn out the dogs or not, and it took several tries to get it done. I do not know if I could have any luck baiting them to shoot, but I am extremely particular and careful hunting bears over bait and I am sure I would have a good time doing any cat. The PH's and trackers did nothing different than I do, and we had a lot of cats check things out.

Hi Andrew

Wish you all the best in your exercise. I am sure it will be successful and a very useful reference for other hunters.

I have never actually hunted leopard though I have tracked them in India.

May I suggest that you separate the wild leopards in hunting concessions from the highly educated cats around farms, villages and even cities.

There are many video clips on Youtube about urban leopards and human conflict in India.

I've only done two leopard hunts. First one was with a recurve bow and we hunted them at night over bait with a red light. I wouldn't do it again just because given the choice I would rather hunt them in what I consider classic fashion over bait in the daylight. My hunt with Thor was classic, grass blinds and daylight hunting only. In my younger years I had hounds and ran mountain lion and thought it would always be pretty cool to chase leopard with dogs.

Andrew, grab a bottle or two of Scotch and look up Lou Hallimore. Leopard hunting is his love, and he'd be a great source of information and experience on hunting Chui.
.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Andrew, grab a bottle or two of Scotch and look up Lou Hallimore. Leopard hunting is his love, and he'd be a great source of information and experience on hunting Chui.
.

. . . and he wrote a book on the subject.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
I have hunted leopard in the day time, at night and with dogs. I find all three sporting personally. That said, different strokes for different folks . . . in general I find cat hunting tedious and boring. Perhaps I have a latent case of ADD. Running baits, shooting baits, watching bait animals rot in a tree, riding around in a Cruiser with a rank bait bucket in the back, sitting in a blind in the heat while you provide a source of entertainment for teste flies and mopane bees, etc. . . . just not my cup of tea. I would much rather spend a long day in the heat tracking a buffalo or elephant.

After 2 unsuccessful hunts over bait, there was absolutely nothing tedious or boring about my Botswana hunt with dogs...

I've only hunted leopard twice, once by baiting and once with bushmen trackers in Botswana. Both were part of 24 day safaris, so I had plenty of time for a good chance at a mature Tom.

On the baiting hunt, we shot our own bait animals and put up four baits. Within a week, we had cats feeding in 2 of the trees. We built a blind at one of them and climbed in a couple hours after we finished it. I shot a 165 lb. cat about 2 hours later, just before dark. On the Kalahari hunt, we found a good track mid-morning of the first day. It was fascinating to watch the bushmen do their tracking and after about 3 hours of tracking, we caught up to a long, lean leopard. He was 7'4" but only weighed 140-145 pounds.

Two days, a grand total of about 5 hours sitting or tracking, 2 big leopards.

I might not be a good example of a typical leopard hunter.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Andrew, grab a bottle or two of Scotch and look up Lou Hallimore. Leopard hunting is his love, and he'd be a great source of information and experience on hunting Chui.
.

. . . and he wrote a book on the subject.

Indeed Lou is legendary and from my research the PH that has the highest success rate on monster Leopard seems to be Mike Fell at the moment. Theirry Labat also has outstanding success.

One of Mike's many tricks is to keep the bait low thus attracting hyenas. The Leopard is forced to feed in the daylight hours.

There are many who are absolutely clueless about the sport and just thought it might be quite interesting to produce some material that educates the hunter.

For example the Jaguar is called with what can be best described as a single string guitar in South America and the dominant male responds to it. However they are shot at night mostly over moonlight. I am quite keen to get my hand on one of those instruments.

In addition I have come across PH's that do not drag and others that are positively anal about car or human scent around a bait site. Some use walk in screens or a series of and some set ups are extremely close and others seemingly very far. There is the subject of free spooling described by Lou etc etc

Though I have yet to hunt leopard I have no problem using any legal means. Years ago I ran dogs for a while where I live for both blackbears and Cougars.

If I had to pick a particular method for my first leopard hunt it would be baiting them. Day would be great and night if legal. Baiting for me is like a big chess game, first attracting then keeping the desired animal on the bait. To the uninitiated it seems easy - it's far from it. It's very selective by allowing time to size up a particular animal. It also puts you one on one with a very stealthy animal who's senses must be defeated to be successful. I used to also bait black bears where I live. Getting one to the bait isn't too hard. Getting a big one that's wise to what's going on is another story.

Good luck with your hunts, I would love to do it someday!

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:
Though I have yet to hunt leopard I have no problem using any legal means. Years ago I ran dogs for a while where I live for both repeatedly and Cougars.

If I had to pick a particular method for my first leopard hunt it would be baiting them. Day would be great and night if legal. Baiting for me is like a big chess game, first attracting then keeping the desired animal on the bait. To the uninitiated it seems easy - it's far from it. It's also very selective by allowing time to size up a particular animal. It also puts you one on one with a very stealthy animal who's senses must be defeated to be successful. I used to also bait black bears where I live. Getting one to the bait isn't too hard. Getting a big one that's wise to what's going on is another story.

Good luck with your hunts, I would love to do it someday!

Interesting that some remote villages in the area we were hunting recently now has no dogs due to persistent Leopard predation. And I have heard of some who have baited with live specimens for both Leopard and Croc.

I suspect the use of hunting dogs/hounds in Africa is outside of the tsetse areas or they would succumb to sleeping sickness.

I must admit that I do not like sitting in blinds and limit this activity by getting the Leopard comfortable with his surrounds. Trail cameras are invaluable and they accurately record the cats comings and goings.

I have a resident female that my skinner feeds now and again and she often visits the kitchen and the camera shows she watches us going to bed before she starts her nocturnal activities around camp.

As Mark Young repeatedly states the Luangwa valley has the highest concentration of Leopard anywhere in Africa and most hunts here are concluded within a week. However the genes are such that they rarely exceed 140lbs and I just wonder if this is not attributed to the concentration?

The cats are bigger in other parts of the country but not so common and can be very finicky which is possibly due to the high populations of plains game. The high plateau cats can get to monstrous proportions and I have pursued a couple in the Kafue without success. Just were not interested in any bait however well you presented it.

I'm 0 for 1 on leopard, my hunt being in Matetsi where it's daylight only. Over bait and we fed at least 1 big male for several days. But he only came at night, and so...

My wife is 1 for 4, all over bait. 2 of those were in day shooting only. No joy there. Of the other 2, saw leopard both times. In South Africa things got twisted up by the ranch owner's son insisting on coming along. A grown man, he was still a nuisance and spooked the leopard twice. On hunt #4 in Namibia, she got one on the eighth night in the second blind setup.

There is nothing easy about leopards, over bait, with dogs of whatever. Luck, yes. Easy and predictable hunt, no.

Regardless of the hunting method, my personal criteria for killing big leopards were:

1. Area (including whether or not you can shoot at night)
2. Time of year
3. Moonphase
4. PH

Apologies to the professional hunters, but the key to shooting big cats is hunting where they are, at the right time of year, and around the clock, day and night, if legal and required for success. A good PH will make the difference on an uncooperative cat, but he cannot produce a big leopard in an area where they do not exist.

That said, I've shot four in four attempts. The first one took five sits while the next three took five sits combined. Pretty good success rate incorporating the four criteria, above.

Shooting them by moonlight is often overlooked. You get very mixed reports from PHs about the moon phase and what it does to cat activity. Some believe it is a neutral factor and others think it is a cardinal sin to book the hunt over a full moon. Personally, having shot two by moonlight (and a lion), I believe the full moon is the ultimate tool to use to your benefit if you see well enough and shoot well enough to hunt at night.

The night hunting also incorporates the various night sounds and activities of the bush. There's nothing quite as hair raising as an encounter with elephants in the black of night or lions, for that matter.

For hunting in the daylight, its perfectly effective, far superior for sexing and sizing cats before a shot is fired, and typically involves less time in the blind because you hunt a few hours in the morning and evening. The daylight offers the greatest chance of failure since the cat often comes at night and you miss him or bump him as you come and go. If I have one more leopard hunt, it will be a daylight hunt.

The dog hunt is equally effective for sizing up and sexing cats before a shot is fired, but is likely the most dangerous hunt BEFORE a shot is fired. That an angry leopard might jump off the branch and come at the hunting party is possible or likely when the cat is angry and bayed, and very highly unlikely under the traditional hunting methods. That said, I've never met someone who was disappointed in a dog hunt for leopard. I'll probably not do a leopard dog hunt, but I may try to dart a jaguar over dogs at some later date.

I have heard so many stories of what is the best way to shoot a leopard.

In my own experience, the only fail save method is for a big Tom to come to the bait when one is in the blind.

BANG!

Works every time, take my word for it!

Everything else is old wive's tails - or professional hunters' drems

quote:

There are many who are absolutely clueless about the sport and just thought it might be quite interesting to produce some material that educates the hunter.

Andrew,

You are absolutely correct. I've talked to many folks that have no interest in leopard hunting because they envision sitting for endless hours watching a a piece of meat rot in a randomly picked tree. They don't understand that you sit for a cat that's already feeding and the tree and location are carefully chosen for the leopard's comfort.

A leopard hunt does not have to be a tedious affair. I've been on 4 leopard hunts and all have been successful with a total of 8 sits in the blind none of which lasted more than 2-3 hours. I don't think I'm especially lucky but I hunted all wild areas where the cats had not been persecuted as vermin and therefore were quite unsophisticated. This point is key! Also the PH's knew how to bait leopards which every PH does not. This is also key!

Mark

i've done a fair amount of leopard hunting (took 54 days on the 1st one) never did the dog thing - don't want to either - yes sitting in a blind all night can be dull, but also it can be quite exciting. there is all sorts of animals out at night to see that you don't during the day. interactions between cats and hyenas for instance, or honey badgers etc. never did get a shot at night. came close once, but the cat made its own kill on the way into the bait. what i found out in success rates is #1 - there have to be a quantity of cats in the area. #2 your PH has to know what he is doing (most really don't) #3 you get to shoot a hellovalot of bait animals (in my case i think i shot somewhere around 75 impala for bait) #4 - you will gain a great deal of respect for mr spots. the longer you hunt him the more you will realize that he is a very intelligent and cunning soul that deserves every bit of respect you can give him

I've only hunted leopards twice. First time, unsuccessfully by baiting. Interesting but boring. Second time with dogs. Shot him at 5 yards, dead at my feet. Exciting and fun.

Dave

Not trying too pass judgement but the people who are opposed too hunting with dogs, what's the reason. Not just for leopard but hound hunting in general.

I remember one time George Angelides attracted a very shy leopard by running fishing mono line from the bait to the blind and twitching the bait just slightly. The leopard scampered up the tree and boom! One dead chui.

I've only shot two leopards, both over baits from a blind. One after dark, one daylight.

I have been very lucky and glad that I was!!!!!

I agree with Mike 100% on this:

quote:

That said, different strokes for different folks . . . in general I find cat hunting tedious and boring. Perhaps I have a latent case of ADD. Running baits, shooting baits, watching bait animals rot in a tree, riding around in a Cruiser with a rank bait bucket in the back, sitting in a blind in the heat while you provide a source of entertainment for teste flies and mopane bees, etc. . . . just not my cup of tea. I would much rather spend a long day in the heat tracking a buffalo or elephant.

And I got so sick of smelling the damn gut bucket I didn't even want to eat!!!!!!

Ya'll can have the leopards, leave me the Buffalo!


.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
The hunting of Leopard can be split into a variety of methods - with dogs - night with lights and combine that with pre baiting - daylight etc

Normally you will have a 14 day limit to hunt/shoot your cat which can pass very quickly.

Considering the cost of this hunt which would be your preference and why? I have never tried dogs and am not really in favour of this pursuit nor have I ever shot a Leopard at night so my experience is limited to only daylight which is dictated by law in Zambia where I hunt.

This thread is not to determine what is right or wrong but rather to fathom the thoughts and practises of those who pursue this awesome cat.

An example would be that in Botswana the bushmen would track your Leopard and you would shoot a pissed off cat at close proximity. I on the other hand have hunted them from blinds and what I thought was a very cleverly presented bait having back tracked then to their lair.

Note I am very interested in producing a document possibly a short book on Leopard hunting so any input or story would be most welcome.

Cheers

I'll probably never be able to afford to hunt leopard, but my answer would be to hunt in the most challenging way possible. For a once-in-a-lifetime animal, I'd like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I have hunted leopard 7 times and have been successful twice in Namibia. The first two times the outfitter was ill prepared. This outfitter is no longer in business.
The last 5 times I believe the outfitter was well prepared. Leopards in Namibian farm country are hard to get on bait! Cats will walk right past a bait. Sometimes more than once. Many times if they do hit a bait it is only once. Not sure if they walk around the bait and scented us or not. I understand some type of barrier would lessen the chance of that happening. But,that is not always possible.
Wish Namibia would reopen with dogs. I doubt if I would be 2 for 7 with hounds!

Andrew this is really interesting. Over 40 years ago a friend of my dads showed us a tiger call he used. It was an earthen pot with a skin across the mouth. In the middle he had a long stick or peacock feather. All he did was to pull his fingers along the long stick and you could hear the long moaning roar sound.

A leopard call is of course a "sawing" sound of up and down scales rather than the single long moan of a tiger or lion that are repeated. I wonder if 2 pots with a string in the skin with a series of knots could be made to imitate a leopard call.



Fairgame said

quote:

For example the Jaguar is called with what can be best described as a single string guitar in South America and the dominant male responds to it. However they are shot at night mostly over moonlight. I am quite keen to get my hand on one of those instruments.

I've hunted leopard roughly 12 times, give or take - both at night and during the day. Never hunted leopard with dogs to be frank, although I have hunted mountain lion with dogs numerous times. I'd happily give it a go, just never have had the opportunity to do so.

Still, based on my experience with hunting mtn lions too - if I were to only do one more leopard hunt I would prefer a "baited" daylight hunt. I love the strategy / planning, and the anticipation of hoping the cat will show. Nothing like it IMO.

Killing leopards is easy.

Go to the place with the highest concentration of toms with the least amount of pressure and hunt with the best leopard PH you can find.

Then send me 1/2 the difference between the costs of 4 cheap unsuccessful leopard hunts and the one "expensive" successful one. You'll come out way ahead, and I'll be well on my way to my next set of trophy fees.

Only way to make it more fun would be a pack of good hounds. But follow the advice above and you won't need hounds or prebaiting or a $3k Schmidt & Bender scope or anything else ....

quote:

Originally posted by Dahav:
I remember one time George Angelides attracted a very shy leopard by running fishing mono line from the bait to the blind and twitching the bait just slightly. The leopard scampered up the tree and boom! One dead chui.

The mono actually has a dual purpose: firstly as you have just stated and secondly as in fishing when you feel the bite.
George also got pretty badly mauled and hospitalized by what he thought was at first a dead Leopard; the late Farouk was called in the next day to clean up the mess and he too joined George in the adjacent hospital bed.
The wily Nicky Blunt proved that Third time lucky has some truth to the saying.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny reb:
Not trying too pass judgement but the people who are opposed too hunting with dogs, what's the reason. Not just for leopard but hound hunting in general.

I don't think anyone here said they were opposed to hound hunting, instead many merely expressed their preference for something else.

Like I said earlier my preference would be to sit on a bait but having some experience with both hounds and baiting other animals they both are interesting in different ways. For me sitting quietly observing nature is never boring.

quote:

I don't think anyone here said they were opposed to hound hunting

I'm just personally opposed, but if anybody likes to hunt that way, that's their business.

I have never hunted leopard, but it is on my bucket list.

I understand that when using hounds, a leopard when bayed, will totally ignore the dogs if it spot a human and make a streak for the human.

Sounds pretty exciting. I knew a PH, whom as part of his "animal control" duties, used dogs to hunt lions in sugar cane. The way he explained it to me, is the dogs (Irish terriers) zoomed in on where the lions had lain up, and then harrassed them until the lions charged the dogs.

The dogs then beat feet directly to their owner (the PH), and he then had to shoot the lions who would charge him on sight. With more than one lion coming in at different angles (trying to cut off the dogs), it was not for the fainthearted.

BH63

quote:

Killing leopards is easy.Go to the place with the highest concentration of toms with the least amount of pressure and hunt with the best leopard PH you can find. Then send me 1/2 the difference between the costs of 4 cheap unsuccessful leopard hunts and the one "expensive" successful one. You'll come out way ahead, and I'll be well on my way to my next set of trophy fees. Only way to make it more fun would be a pack of good hounds. But follow the advice above and you won't need hounds or prebaiting or a $3k Schmidt & Bender scope or anything else

No truer words were ever spoken. I've been told many times "I can't pay $xxxxx for a leopard" and then you find out the poor guy has been on multiple hunts and never even seen a leopard in the tree. One guy I spoke to finally did get his leopard on an inexpensive hunt on his 7th try. Up until that time he literally had not even seen a leopard. Guys do the math. 7 inexpensive hunts amounts to a huge chunk of money compare to one expensive hunt.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

Originally posted by Dahav:
I remember one time George Angelides attracted a very shy leopard by running fishing mono line from the bait to the blind and twitching the bait just slightly. The leopard scampered up the tree and boom! One dead chui.

The mono actually has a dual purpose: firstly as you have just stated and secondly as in fishing when you feel the bite.
George also got pretty badly mauled and hospitalized by what he thought was at first a dead Leopard; the late Farouk was called in the next day to clean up the mess and he too joined George in the adjacent hospital bed.
The wily Nicky Blunt proved that Third time lucky has some truth to the saying.

Yes, I remember that story as well!

I believe that incident took place a couple of years after I shot my one and only leopard with Nicky many years ago. Hunting with him was certainly a treat, privilege, honor or however else one can describe it. I have no PH and/or techniques to compare but hunting a leopard with Nicky was like watching a fine surgeon at work. I'm just glad I was part of the process.

About twenty years ago I took my 15 year old son on a leopard hunt with Lou Hallamore's 21 year old son. He was and certainly still is .. I am sure ... a very nice man. Sadly, at that time I do not think that he had read his dad's famous book ...

One issue with dogs: there are/were some pretty strong rumors circulating in Namibia (back when they allowed dogs) that operators were box trapping leopards and then releasing them. Definitely not interested in that even being a possibility.

That said, I find checking the baits, sitting in the blind pretty exciting.

Finally, ditto on the cost: go to a great area, hunt with a PH experienced with leopards, and you will be money ahead.