13 August 2015, 19:27
bobgrowLeopard Hunt with Intrepid Safaris
LEOPARD HUNT-INTREPID SAFARISJULY 6-21, 2015
South Africa, Limpopo Province, Gravelotte Area
Outfitter/PH…Harry Fourie in conjunction with Phillip du Plessis of Intrepid Safaris (AR member).
Rifle….Model 76 330 Dakota, 250 gr Swift AFrame, Trijicon 1-6X green dot scope.
This hunt started eight years ago with a discussion between Harry and Phillip during one of my prior visits to Intrepid. A Leoprd hunt had always been on my must do thinking, but the timing and availability a permit never came together. Having read about the difficulty in outsmarting a Tom that has adapted to the South African people environment, I was skeptical until Harry and Phillip showed me the amount of tracks and natural kills in their concession areas.
Early this year the stars aligned and both Harry and an Intrepid concession owner won the lottery.
We set the hunt towards early July to capture much of a positive lunar cycle.
I did the Delta Atlanta-Jo’burg trip without event, along with a nice overnight at AfricaSky….BUT with Delta’s subsequent “social correctness” ban on trophy shipment, I have put them on my “no fly” list, for ALL air travel. This might but a mere token, but I see no reason to do business with any firm that responds to the la-la world of social media.
After a short flight next morning to the Gravelotte airstrip and a two hour ride to the main ranch house, things were underway.
Harry had started prebaiting during the preceding week, so it was no surprise staring at trailcam photos…two baits had been hit earlier with one showing a good size Tom, the second a smaller cat that appeared to be a female.
We headed out to quickly get a blind finished that had been roughed out in the morning, plus to get my rifle checked out. The scope needed a few clicks to zero out at 50 yds.
We decided to let the area rest that night after the blind work. Subsequently the trailcam revealed the cat had returned almost at dawn.
That morning we checked baits, tracks, and all the cameras. That revealed a total of three different cats had been traveling including the one we had on the trailcam. Harry and Phillip were elated with that much fresh track.
So at 3:30pm we were in blind starting the watch at our hot bait…and wait we did until 11:15…no cats.
That night a cold front moved in and it rained.
Well, as other leopard hunters know, a change like that usually destroys the best of plans.
It did….the next 6 days were blanks… no fresh tracks; no bait hits; not even other critters on the cameras. So the routine set in, check for tracks, check and change out baits ( we used both Impala and Zebra).
We squeezed in some other hunting well away from the previously active cat areas…pics at the end of the report.
Finally early on the eight day, Harry set the tone…this was a make or break day. The weather had settled back to normal, the cats should be looking for food, lets see if we could find new tracks.
We had freshened the bait on our original hot spot, and a fresh hit was evident. We quickly left the site and well removed from the area, we checked the trailcam. There he was at 6:30 that morning working the impala.
That great wave of enthusiasm struck as we planned for entry into the blind later that day.
At 3:30, well before dusk we were in the blind. At roughly last light, near 5:30, the cat came. Harry quickly determined it was a male, and as the cat settled in to feed, the crosshairs found the right shoulder and the shot was made. I lost sight of the cat during the recoil, but Harry was already celebrating since he saw the cat simply slump and roll over at the shot.
The party got well underway as our trackers and the truck rolled up.
A really great male leopard that weighed in at 155 lbs.
Back to the camp, lots of photos and measurements were taken to be collected by the SA Conservation folks the next morning.
As noted earlier this was a leopard hunt, but Phillip’s concessions hold some outstanding plainsgame opportunities…look at these little guys…
57” Kudu
56” Kudu
Beautifully marked Nyala bull
Great way to fill in those empty days when no cat tracks-no bait hits occurred.
I want to thank Harry and Phillip and the trackers for another memorable hunt….they are world class folks with several outstanding properties.
