Howdy!

I just got back from a great hunt in SA, leopard was my main game and I got one!

I´d like to make a long story short but that might be hard, on the other hand we were extremely lucky on getting the spotted cat...

We started baiting on a Wednesday about 30km south of Musina -we baited at a game ranch that is plaqued by cats!

We returned to the baits on Saturday and at that point we had spoor of three diffrent cats. Tino was pretty sure that he recognized the one spoor as belonging to a big mail that he´d hunted before and that NEVER has taken bait. Spoor 2 was from a medium sized male or a big female and nr 3 was defintely from a nice sized male.

BUT my time was limited and we made the decision to take the first cat that showed as long as there were no sighns of cubs or pregnancy -that was my decision as this was -maybe- a chance of a lifetime.

Well it turned out that we had two cats eating on Saturday and we decided to sit at the impala bait...

And we did.

We went into the blind at 1700 and we expected to be there all night.

At last light, and as we were still settling in, Tino whispered: "It´s here".

I got onto my rifle and saw a leopard on the big branch of our bait tree! My pulse jumped to 200 bps and i settled the crosshairs on the shoulder.

That´s when the cat hit the ground.

Aftewr awhile the cat got back to eating and I placed the sight on the shoulder, shot, lost the cat inte the recoil (9.3x64, 320gr Woodleigh going 725m/s) but saw it run off to the left.

"Good shot" said Tino.

"F-ck" said I as I thought the shot would flatten a cat.

Awhile later we heard the death growls.

"In the salt" I thought.

"We´ll wait 10 min" said Tino.

That´s when some seriopus growling started AND something was prowling around our blind AND thunder and lightning started (just like a H-wood movie).

So we sat still and waited.

More growling.

"Did you hit it hard?" asks Tino.
"Think so, maybe a bit high"

Twenty min later the growling dies down and we do a careful stalk to the bait: Lots of blood and pieces of lung.

We follow the spoor 10 meters and we get growling and heavy breathing.'

I´m not afraid to say that I was a "bit concerned".

"To dangerous" says Tino. "We´ll come back in the morning"

At this point I wasn´t arguing as our visibilty was about 3m do to long grass.

In camp I got a bit drunk and I analyzed my shot 20 000 times.

Or more.

Next morning we found my cat dead about 20 m from the bait -a big female- with both lungs shot out.

And we found the spoor of a big male that was pissed at us shooting his gal...it was he who kept us on our toes that night

So I got my cat, had the hunt of my life and I must say that Tino is a master at baiting and hunting leopard.

Now it´s up to Boha to post some pics.

Cewe

PS Shot a nice jackal and a big warthog + bait animals. Boha`s pigs are bigger...I know that.

Holy Cow. Congrats, sounded exciting to say the least.

Looking forward to the pictures.

Keith

WOW ... that'd certainly get you hard focused!

Congratulations on a successful hunt. Looking forward to the pictures.

Congrats. I do not think I would have been able to sleep much not knowing the outcome. Would hate to have to leave the the leopard to be chewed on by something. But I guess that beats getting chewed on by the leopard.

WTG cewe. Glad you were successful. Looking forward to some pics.
Cheers,
David

Cewe,

Congrats and welcome home... Most definately looking for pics and more story...


Mike

Wow, what a story... congrats on your cat! Ol' spots can be hard to come by, glad you got yours!

Great hunt. When my time comes, I hope the hunt is as exciting as yours. Congratualtions.

Great job. The "pucker" factor must have been something!


"master at baiting" just sounds wrong.

congrats on your cat.
Sounds like a great hunt.

Congrats and great story. Not meaning to take away from your success....but why the female? Did you and the PH discuss gender at all? Again, do not mean to stir things up but I just think/thought that trophy hunters always went for a male........ (please note that I have never hunted leopard)

Am looking forward to the pics. . . .

No picture of the master baiter?

Hey !wery nice cat! hope to do the same in 09 also in the Mussina districkt!where did you hunt?

Thanks for the congrats!

The "pucker factor" was very, very, big But I´d do anything to get back into the bush and do it all over.

On gender (and this will be my first and only comment): Tino does not like to shoot females as that usually makes males in the area disappear BUT he recognized the fact that time was limited and we opted to take the first cat that showed. AND it´s hard telling the difference between a young male and a large female in the last light. I gave this a lot of thought and compared taking a female leopard with hunting a female bear, a female gemsbok etc and I had no problem with taking a female.

My next leopard -God willing- will be a male though.

I actually don´t know where I hunted exactly, the farm owners name was Giel...didn´t seem important at the time

It was a great trip -they always are, but this one was special.

Very fine cat, congratulations, I got the impression that you did hunt at Inqwe safaris, did you?
The reason that I ask is because that I`m a salesagent for a company i Norway (Safarimanagement)and we also have Inqwe safaris on our program.

Norwegianhunter: Ingwe is venda for leopard, I hunted with TG Safaris.

quote:

Originally posted by cewe:
Norwegianhunter: Ingwe is venda for leopard, I hunted with TG Safaris.

Sorry, I tought you have been to Inqwe.

I should have noticed the link too tgsafari.

NH: No problem! We drove by Ingwe Safaris a bit North of Louis Trichardt, looked nice situated in the mountains and all.

Cewe

Sniper: I wish I was coming with you...but I´ll have to wait till June -09 before I go back.

What will you be hunting this year?

That piece of wood the cat is on would make a nice base for chui...

Mike

Sniper: Nyala would be a sound choice, red hartebeest might be ab alternative. It took me three years to get a decent waterbuck...

Retreever: Mrs Cewe said "No stuffed leopards" and this time she was veeeeery serious so it´ll be a flat skin on felt and a skull.