10 April 2009, 15:48
Africa1Back from Namiba with my leopard
Shot this leopard north of Windhoek with Omujeve Safaris. He is 88 inches, skull 17 2/16 inches. After a very long day I shot him at 80 meters with an HS Precision .338wm, 250 grn. Sierra GK bullet.
Leopard 200910 April 2009, 15:51
HarrisBeautiful cat.
Now we need details of the hunt. :-)
10 April 2009, 17:28
daleWI love the blood on the shirt. It looks like you did battle with him and the leopard gnawed on your arm. There has to be more to the story...please post the details of the chase and shot.
Nice cat!
10 April 2009, 17:31
David HulmeSuper cat, congratulations! I see your tracker has a magnum eyebrow, was he helping you sight in your rifle?
Dave
10 April 2009, 17:39
Bob in TXGreat leopard! He looks "well fed"............
I'll look forward to the whole hunt report!
Congrats,
Bob
10 April 2009, 17:41
SGraves155Great pict! A monster. Congratulations.
10 April 2009, 17:53
PeglegMan, what a hog! Nice job.
10 April 2009, 17:57
Africa1Sorry, no battle with the leopard. The blood came from moving and carrying him.
Nic Kruger with Omujeve Safaris had been baiting for more than six weeks prior to my arrival. I was their first hunter of the season. The cat had gone off bait for 10 days just prior to my arrival.
He came back to bait the day before I arrived and we were lucky that he came to the bait the morning of my first hunting day. We got the dogs out and the chase was on. After a couple of hours walking and driving we were glassing to spot the dogs as the hounds were bellowing. We saw the cat in a tree about 150 meters away and the dogs were about 1 km off.
The cat saw us, jumped out of the tree, and took to the dense brush. The hounds arrived. He was big enough that he found 12 dogs just to be a bother and not a threat. The dogs got him to move, however, the brush was too dense for a shot. Finally I had a split second window as he was moving and shot over him. Now he was burried in the think stuff like a tick.
We waited for over three hours and he would not move. My neck and shoulders were stiff from standing with my rifle over the sticks. Then we decided to give the advantage to the cat. I switched rifles to my .458 double and went in with the PH to get a closer look. We got within 20 meters and could hear him growling at the dogs and still could not see him. Another tense hour passed. We moved out to 70 meters and looked for another shot. No luck after two hours and another gruelling stand over the sticks. We moved back in, and again got to about 20 meters and relived another tense hour of baying dogs and growling cat.
We decided to back off and pull the hounds. The cat took off and we put the hounds back onto him. Ten minutes later we spotted him under some thicket at 80 meters. I put the .338 to the sticks and shot him through the right shoulder. The bullet did not exit and fragmented killing the cat on the spot. In fact, all that is left of the bullet is the deformed copper sheath. This is a great leopard round, however, I would not use it on anything of size.
I highly recommend Omujeve. Their specialty is leopard, and while expensive, well worth the money. The prework, like any project or hunt is usually responsible for a majority of any success. I experienced equal, however, never better hunt preparation than Omujeve. By the way, the accommodations and service were what I would expect at a Four Seasons Resort, and the bed a Ritz Carlton.
Good hunting, Max
10 April 2009, 19:10
matt uvery nice Leopard,congratulations..well done
10 April 2009, 19:23
BlankCongrats on a great cat! It is such a rush to be in close to the pandemonium, as they go crazy. My son got to go on a couple hunts with them in 2005 and dig one out of a cave, and my trip in 2007 was similar to yours.
Nic and Corne have great success on them, and the dogs and handlers are the best in the business. Their new operation is lovely.
10 April 2009, 19:32
chilcotin hillbillyNice cat and good story as I am partial to hound hunting. If you have more pictures and maybe some with the hounds that would be great.
10 April 2009, 20:14
CaracalCongrats that's a nice big one. Did you weight him?
10 April 2009, 22:30
Africa1Yes, we did weigh him. He had nothing in his stomach and came in at 75.40 kilos. The shoulder measurement was 34 ionches.
11 April 2009, 09:21
Aaron RustI have heard of several big cats coming from Namibia this year... Lots of rain equals lots of game and food for leopards?
11 April 2009, 09:29
BlankSpent quite a bit of time with Nic, Corne, and Chamonix in Reno and talked about their leopard hunts. They are still using the same hounds as my trip. Do these look familiar?
The wife and I talked tonight with my hunting partner and his wife while at dinner, about returning to Omujeve next year. They won't make the Zim trip, but would love to return to Africa.
11 April 2009, 11:25
Kamo GariA beer bellied specimen! Nice!