quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Fulvio,

I doubt I'll publish a hunt report and I don't know how to post pictures. But I'll tell on myself on the leopard. I was hunting with Michel, and we've known each other a long time. After we got the lion, we tried to convert what was a lion bait to a leopard bait because we already had a hit from a male leopard on that bait. Blind was already built. Range something over 100 don't remember exactly now but think it was closer to 125. We raised the bait and added a "branch" (between two trees) for him to stand on -- actually two, side by side. Problem is, the cat would be quartering to. We knew that, but shot was a chip shot for my rifle -- only problem is my scope only has less than a 30mm objective and is only max of six power. We knew the constraints going in. Shouldn't be a problem. Made similar shots before.

Sit the cat in the morning. He's already there as soon as it starts to get light, but he's laying on that new branch we set up and the second one, toward us, curves up protecting his chest. Watched him for over 30 minutes waiting for him to stand. I should have just shot him in the head or throat, but I waited for him to stand up. When he did, he was quartering to alright and I shot and thought it looked good. Michel said did he move? I didn't see it, but he obviously did right as I shot.

We went down there and found blood. Cat crossed a korongo. It was real thick on the other side. As we approached the korongo, he growled. Not a good sign.

Michel told me he was leaving me on this side of the korongo and I said that wasn't going to happen. He didn't respond, but we've known each other a long time and I was there when we crossed it. It was slow going. We had two trackers with the game scout bringing up the rear with his AK.

We got to a point where he went down into a korongo and went down it for some distance. Not good because he'd be above us. He came out of that and we got to a place on the high ground where two korongos came to a confluence just ahead of us. Picture a triangle formed by the korongos and we are approaching the point.

We paused to re-asses the situation and the game scout had lagged a bit behind us. Don't blame him. About that time a troop of monkeys in the trees right ahead started screaming bloody murder. They obviously could see the cat so we knew he was there and that he'd come. We started to move ahead and in his time he came. He targeted the game scout in our rear. Michel stopped him at six yards.

I had a clear shot and tried to get on him.
I'd heard how fast they are, but nothing truly prepares you until you see it. I couldn't catch up with that cat and never got off a shot. Michel did a great job and nobody needed any stitches.

I don't want a repeat of that and that's why I've re-thought my leopard rifle/scope combination.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Fulvio,
I'd heard how fast they are, but nothing truly prepares you until you see it.

I don't want a repeat of that and that's why I've re-thought my leopard rifle/scope combination.

quote:

A few years later he was attacked by a lioness, his wounds became septic, and he died of a heart attack.

quote:

I don't need to keep shooting leopard with a .416. It has sparked one argument with a PH, but now I'm convinced. A .300 Win and a bigger scope is better.

quote:

Originally posted by Trigger Mike:
I have a Gunwerks Magnus chambered in 7mm Remington Magnum. It has a
22” barrel and the optic is Leupold Mark 5 3x18-44.
I am really pleased with this rifle. Accuracy is as advertised.
The stock design is what really sets it apart. Recoil is
a gentle straight back push. It is easy to
spot your impacts especially with a suppressor (Dead Air Nomad 30)
I had mine setup with Gunwerks ammo utilizing 168gr Berger bullets.
Gunwerks offers Berger or Hammer bullets.
Without getting too far in the weeds I do not plan on using either
of those bullets in Africa. The Berger’s go in and blow up and the copper
Hammer bullets shed their petals. Both options do not retain weight and are not
what I am looking for in a Plains Game hunt. I want to use a good penetrating bullet
for my plains game hunt next year, currently working with Sciroccos,
Federal Terminal Ascent, and Barnes ttsx. Once I get my penetrating bullet
load all figured out I will have Leupold cut a new turret.

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

A few years later he was attacked by a lioness, his wounds became septic, and he died of a heart attack.

I remember the lioness attack as I was called in to take over his camp and conclude the few remaining booked hunts he had pending.

A sad and unexpected end to a good man.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Fulvio,

I doubt I'll publish a hunt report and I don't know how to post pictures. But I'll tell on myself on the leopard. I was hunting with Michel, and we've known each other a long time. After we got the lion, we tried to convert what was a lion bait to a leopard bait because we already had a hit from a male leopard on that bait. Blind was already built. Range something over 100 don't remember exactly now but think it was closer to 125. We raised the bait and added a "branch" (between two trees) for him to stand on -- actually two, side by side. Problem is, the cat would be quartering to. We knew that, but shot was a chip shot for my rifle -- only problem is my scope only has less than a 30mm objective and is only max of six power. We knew the constraints going in. Shouldn't be a problem. Made similar shots before.

Sit the cat in the morning. He's already there as soon as it starts to get light, but he's laying on that new branch we set up and the second one, toward us, curves up protecting his chest. Watched him for over 30 minutes waiting for him to stand. I should have just shot him in the head or throat, but I waited for him to stand up. When he did, he was quartering to alright and I shot and thought it looked good. Michel said did he move? I didn't see it, but he obviously did right as I shot.

We went down there and found blood. Cat crossed a korongo. It was real thick on the other side. As we approached the korongo, he growled. Not a good sign.

Michel told me he was leaving me on this side of the korongo and I said that wasn't going to happen. He didn't respond, but we've known each other a long time and I was there when we crossed it. It was slow going. We had two trackers with the game scout bringing up the rear with his AK.

We got to a point where he went down into a korongo and went down it for some distance. Not good because he'd be above us. He came out of that and we got to a place on the high ground where two korongos came to a confluence just ahead of us. Picture a triangle formed by the korongos and we are approaching the point.

We paused to re-asses the situation and the game scout had lagged a bit behind us. Don't blame him. About that time a troop of monkeys in the trees right ahead started screaming bloody murder. They obviously could see the cat so we knew he was there and that he'd come. We started to move ahead and in his time he came. He targeted the game scout in our rear. Michel stopped him at six yards.

I had a clear shot and tried to get on him.
I'd heard how fast they are, but nothing truly prepares you until you see it. I couldn't catch up with that cat and never got off a shot. Michel did a great job and nobody needed any stitches.

I don't want a repeat of that and that's why I've re-thought my leopard rifle/scope combination.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Fulvio,

I doubt I'll publish a hunt report and I don't know how to post pictures. But I'll tell on myself on the leopard. I was hunting with Michel, and we've known each other a long time. After we got the lion, we tried to convert what was a lion bait to a leopard bait because we already had a hit from a male leopard on that bait. Blind was already built. Range something over 100 don't remember exactly now but think it was closer to 125. We raised the bait and added a "branch" (between two trees) for him to stand on -- actually two, side by side. Problem is, the cat would be quartering to. We knew that, but shot was a chip shot for my rifle -- only problem is my scope only has less than a 30mm objective and is only max of six power. We knew the constraints going in. Shouldn't be a problem. Made similar shots before.

Sit the cat in the morning. He's already there as soon as it starts to get light, but he's laying on that new branch we set up and the second one, toward us, curves up protecting his chest. Watched him for over 30 minutes waiting for him to stand. I should have just shot him in the head or throat, but I waited for him to stand up. When he did, he was quartering to alright and I shot and thought it looked good. Michel said did he move? I didn't see it, but he obviously did right as I shot.

We went down there and found blood. Cat crossed a korongo. It was real thick on the other side. As we approached the korongo, he growled. Not a good sign.

Michel told me he was leaving me on this side of the korongo and I said that wasn't going to happen. He didn't respond, but we've known each other a long time and I was there when we crossed it. It was slow going. We had two trackers with the game scout bringing up the rear with his AK.

We got to a point where he went down into a korongo and went down it for some distance. Not good because he'd be above us. He came out of that and we got to a place on the high ground where two korongos came to a confluence just ahead of us. Picture a triangle formed by the korongos and we are approaching the point.

We paused to re-asses the situation and the game scout had lagged a bit behind us. Don't blame him. About that time a troop of monkeys in the trees right ahead started screaming bloody murder. They obviously could see the cat so we knew he was there and that he'd come. We started to move ahead and in his time he came. He targeted the game scout in our rear. Michel stopped him at six yards.

I had a clear shot and tried to get on him.
I'd heard how fast they are, but nothing truly prepares you until you see it. I couldn't catch up with that cat and never got off a shot. Michel did a great job and nobody needed any stitches.

I don't want a repeat of that and that's why I've re-thought my leopard rifle/scope combination.

Great story. Similar with lion and Jamie Trout in Nambia. Three hits with a 9.3x62 and two with a .458 WM convinced me that more is better....

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Fulvio,

I doubt I'll publish a hunt report and I don't know how to post pictures. But I'll tell on myself on the leopard. I was hunting with Michel, and we've known each other a long time. After we got the lion, we tried to convert what was a lion bait to a leopard bait because we already had a hit from a male leopard on that bait. Blind was already built. Range something over 100 don't remember exactly now but think it was closer to 125. We raised the bait and added a "branch" (between two trees) for him to stand on -- actually two, side by side. Problem is, the cat would be quartering to. We knew that, but shot was a chip shot for my rifle -- only problem is my scope only has less than a 30mm objective and is only max of six power. We knew the constraints going in. Shouldn't be a problem. Made similar shots before.

Sit the cat in the morning. He's already there as soon as it starts to get light, but he's laying on that new branch we set up and the second one, toward us, curves up protecting his chest. Watched him for over 30 minutes waiting for him to stand. I should have just shot him in the head or throat, but I waited for him to stand up. When he did, he was quartering to alright and I shot and thought it looked good. Michel said did he move? I didn't see it, but he obviously did right as I shot.

We went down there and found blood. Cat crossed a korongo. It was real thick on the other side. As we approached the korongo, he growled. Not a good sign.

Michel told me he was leaving me on this side of the korongo and I said that wasn't going to happen. He didn't respond, but we've known each other a long time and I was there when we crossed it. It was slow going. We had two trackers with the game scout bringing up the rear with his AK.

We got to a point where he went down into a korongo and went down it for some distance. Not good because he'd be above us. He came out of that and we got to a place on the high ground where two korongos came to a confluence just ahead of us. Picture a triangle formed by the korongos and we are approaching the point.

We paused to re-asses the situation and the game scout had lagged a bit behind us. Don't blame him. About that time a troop of monkeys in the trees right ahead started screaming bloody murder. They obviously could see the cat so we knew he was there and that he'd come. We started to move ahead and in his time he came. He targeted the game scout in our rear. Michel stopped him at six yards.

I had a clear shot and tried to get on him.
I'd heard how fast they are, but nothing truly prepares you until you see it. I couldn't catch up with that cat and never got off a shot. Michel did a great job and nobody needed any stitches.

I don't want a repeat of that and that's why I've re-thought my leopard rifle/scope combination.

Great story. Similar with lion and Jamie Trout in Nambia. Three hits with a 9.3x62 and two with a .458 WM convinced me that more is better....

You can hit them with as many rounds as you wish, from as big a caliber as you wish.

In the wrong place, and it won’t work.

One bullet is all it takes, in the right place.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Fulvio,

Yes, he used the Benelli. Some pellets cut brush, but four hit him right above and below the left eye. The pellets above the eye didn't penetrate the skull, but the ones that went in below went into the orbit and penetrated the thin part of the skull. It flattened the cat pronto. Yes! Cudos to the monkeys! We didn't know if the cat was in the korongo on the left or on the right, but we knew he was right there.

Andrew, Mark and Saeed:

The reason for the distance, and contrary to my memory, my notes indicate it was closer to 100 rather than 125, was because this bait was hung for lion and we didn't switch to leopard until we had shot the lion elsewhere. A closer blind wasn't possible on this bait site and we already had this leopard on this bait.

Nor was it necessary as that .416 is a tack driver. The scope wasn't ideal as I'd have preferred more magnification and a bigger objective, but a 100 yard shot should be no problem.

The real problem was me. I waited for the cat to stand up and shot as soon as I could after the cat stood up, which was pretty quick, but I failed to read the cat's body language and anticipate that he only got up with the intent of vacating the tree -- right as I shot. The bad shot is totally on me. The bullet went where it was aimed -- the cat just wasn't there anymore. I know the cat moved and I didn't see it because the entrance wound very high in the groin area of the inside of the off rear leg wasn't even visible when I touched off the shot. (He was quartering to and about at the same elevation as we were because the blind was on an anthill). Looking back, I should have taken a neck or head shot while he was lying down (I thought about it). A higher magnification scope would have made that shot easier.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Marius,

While I wish I'd have shot better and avoided it entirely, I'm glad I was along when it happened. That said, I totally agree that anyone who wants a charge is a fool. One, I never want any animal to suffer and for the hunters, there are just too many variables and the last thing I want is for anyone to get hurt, especially the folks who didn't cause this problem (which includes the trackers, PH, and game scout; everybody but me).

Not that I was thinking about it at the time, but any medical bills would have been on me.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Marius,

While I wish I'd have shot better and avoided it entirely, I'm glad I was along when it happened. That said, I totally agree that anyone who wants a charge is a fool. One, I never want any animal to suffer and for the hunters, there are just too many variables and the last thing I want is for anyone to get hurt, especially the folks who didn't cause this problem (which includes the trackers, PH, and game scout; everybody but me).

Not that I was thinking about it at the time, but any medical bills would have been on me.

I have a downloaded copy of a wounded Leopard charge video, a 'Hunting with the Pros" one.
One of the PH's got badly bitten on the chest and wrist (broken) by the cat after several hunters and PH's with guns failed to stop the charge and the cat took down the PH. According to the video narrative the leopard had been wounded the night before and they were tracking it down the next day. The shoulder wound supposedly slowed it's charge a little however as it charged the party through the low grass it was still blindingly quick and realistically only someone crouched down with a shotgun would have stopped it.
The cat was shot off the PH as he lay on the ground trying to kick the cat off himself and keep it away from his stomach, an extremely dangerous situation where the PH was lucky not to have been shot let alone suffered more serious wounds from the leopard.
An excellent quite graphic video, a lesson perhaps to all leopard hunters.

quote:

I had a good shot, but waited for a perfect shot and then misread the cat's body language.

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

I had a good shot, but waited for a perfect shot and then misread the cat's body language.

You said it yourself .... therefore no real need for a new rifle or scope

More often than not patience can be a virtue and considering the cat had been at ease for 30+ minutes, you could have waited just a wee while longer and had that perfect shot.

Something suggests you were afraid of losing the opportunity, took a hasty decision and am chiding your guide for not coaching you through the process like saying: "wait ... wait ... NOW"

quote:

Now we are married we can’t do that any more.

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

Now we are married we can’t do that any more.

You can have 4 to my one.