This is a story of a large male leopard shot in India in 1958.....I decided to share it here on African Hunting forum....

The location was Srivilliputhur in the Eastern Ghats of South India. Dad was the District Forest Officer. The Forest Department was building some staff housing for the local Field Forest Guards. The location was about 2 kilometers from the local village. There was plenty of game in the area including elephants, tiger, gaur, leopard, deer etc. A group of about 20 men & women were employed in the construction and they would walk to work in a single file in the forest track with some dogs for company & return home at 5 pm in a single file. A large male leopard in that territory would occasionally take livestock and dogs from the village. Since the construction workers were coming to the forest edge daily with the dogs, the leopard stared picking off dogs from this group. One day when the people were returning in the evening, the leopard picked a dog & cut across the line of villagers, creating panic among them. A group of people came & complained to dad and asked him to shoot the leopard.

Dad checked the area and saw a spot along the track that had a group of rocks & boulders about 10 feet high. He was accompanied by a local shikari who had a good record / reputation. They tied a dog as live bait and sat behind the rocks, taking into consideration the direction the leopard was expected from. By 5.30 pm it got dark and visibility was poor. Suddenly the dog sat up with neck hackles raised and growled. The leopard had arrived! Then the dog whimpered and & slunk back with its tail between its legs as the leopard came up and grabbed it with its paws and started to bite the throat. The shikari switched on the Winchester flash light and dad fired his 423 FN Mauser (10.75X68). The leopard grunted and collapsed DRT - shot through the heart. They heard the dog whining still. When dad walked up to the leopard he saw that the claws were still hooked on the shoulder and the dog was still in the leopard's jaws! When they released the dog, he suddenly got very brave and started barking & snapping at the dead leopard! The dog has some claw scratches on its shoulder but no teeth marks. A few swabs of iodine ensured that the dog lived!

The leopard measured between pegs at 7'6". It was mounted as a rug by Van Ingin's of Mysore & used to be on my Grand dad's wall for 20 years. Then it was with my uncle for another 25 years and he has now offered it back to me. I need to get the paperwork done to bring it into New Zealand!

That was a darn lucky dog! Great story.

Good story. If I was the dog I would have bit your dad in the ass for using me for bait.
Maybe Fairgame would agree to use dogs to hunt leopards as bait.

quote:

Originally posted by wetdog2084:
Good story. If I was the dog I would have bit your dad in the ass for using me for bait.

Great story!

good luck in getting the rug. that would be a trophy second to none

Wonderful story!! Thanks for sharing.

Great story Naki.
Make sure you get the paperwork done and get it here.
One of my regrets when emigrating to NZ is I left my Leopard skin with a very good friend back in U.K.

They should have used that dog as the founding sire of a great breed of leopard-hunting dogs!

Strewth...... be nice to see it in the 'naki!

Just a memoir to my dad ..... 13th Feb was his first anniversary!

A full life well lived with dignity.

Great story.

That is a great piece of history, Naki.

Thanks for sharing. Have you gotten the rug home yet?