I bought a used book called "THE TRUTH ABOUT HUNTING IN TODAY'S AFRICA AND HOW TO GO ON SAFARI FOR $690.00" written by George Leonard Herter and Jacques P. Herter. Published in 1963.



excerpt:

"....READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO GET A LEOPARD FOR SURE ON YOUR AFRICAN SAFARI"



"..As I have written previously in this book a live goat hung in a wooden cage in a tree will quickly get a leopard to come to a dead antelope hung in the same tree for bait. An electronic phonograph with a record of a goat calling will also bring them to your bait.



Do not let any white hunter or guide just hang antelope or baboons up in trees for leopard bait. This is the old safari trick simply to kill time. Your chances of getting a leopard using such methods is practically zero and the white hunters well know this. They simply do not want to spend the money to use live bait the way they know it should be done. As the saying goes among African guides, "We wget the rich hunters and the only thing we hunt is their money." Before you make a down payment with any safari company demand a written guarantee that they will use live bait or an electronic caller for all leopard and lion hunting. If you do not you are being conned into being taken as a "sucker."



A live dog is one of the best leopard baits. Buy a small dog at an African village. Put the dog in a wooden cage and hang the cage up in a tree. Hang an antelope up in the tree for bait. The barking dog will get a leopard on the bait in short order. As usual as soon as the leopard begins to feed on the bait watch the bait from a good blind at daybreak and dusk. It will not take you long to get a decent leopard using a live dog."



Wow! Doesn't this sound sporting? < !--color-->

Jeff,

I was wondering how these guys hunt leopards with dogs; leave it to George Herter to have the inside knowledge.

jim

Wow, I didn't know Carmelo wrote a book in 1963!

What total crap.

"Your chances of getting a leopard using such methods is practically zero and the white hunters well know this."

Right.

Its strange of hunting ethics change. Hunting leopard or tiger from a Machan (treestand)using a live bait was always considered usual in Indiainto the late 1950's. Even doing it at night with the aid of a spotlamp was allowed and acceptable in a lot of states. If you switch to Africa, the use of live bait was not and is not nearly so common, and taking a lion from a tree stand or even ground blind is often looked down on.

What strikes me about the quote at the start of the thread is simply the attitude of the guys writting it never mind their obvious lack of knowledge n the subject. Definately two people I would not want to share a hunt with...

Regards,

Pete

P.T.Barnum said that there was a sucker born every minute -and two to take him. Just as a thought - wouldn't a leopard think it a little odd that he was hearing a dog barking - up in a tree - and don't leopards know that dogs don't climb trees? Only the people who buy the books by such writers are that stupid.

gerald,

Apparently Spots considers fido a real delicacy and will snatch village curs from outside huts under the cover of darkness with no problems. Fido in a cage, in a tree, might be a different matter though!

Regards,

Pete

I have heard of this practice before, maybe we should ease off a bit. The person has clearly never tried to hunt with dead bait, BUT I have reliable authority that live bait is devilishy efficient if you have a problem animal. Now I don't know if it is less sporting that useing a pack of trained hounds or anything else, but I do know that a goat or donkey will bring in lion/leopard. I have also heard of tying a can with a rock in it to the dog's collar so it makes more noise, although this was claimed by an Indian man, so I don't know if this was ever done in Africa.

P.S. Didn't someone on this forum recently use live sheep/goats in Namibia?