03 December 2013, 14:59
MANDLAZIMNuanetsi Buff/Leopard
Hunters – Jack Henry & Curtis Albers PH – Brent Lees May
Trackers – Pesanayi, Alfred and Matsika
Arms /Ammo – camp rifles being a .375 Ruger shooting the .300gr Horandy DGX & 300 Ruger shooting the 165 gr Hornady GMX
Area – Nuanetsi (Zimbabwe) 21.7.13-30.7.13
Booked through Safaris Classics/Chifuti Safaris
This hunt was essentially 5 buddies that would be hunting with 3 PH’s (being Mark Vallaro, Keith Wall and myself) – each hunter had at least one DG species at the top of their “wish-list”. Jack was after a Leopard/Buff and Curtis a Buff….
As is standard practice, we paid the shooting range a visit to check the zero on the camp rifles and although both gentlemen shot well, Jack didn’t really like the fit of the .375 but was instantly attached to the .300 Ruger which he handled & shot damn well with.
Leopard hunting can be extremely time consuming, however, it provides a bunch of fun shooting baits to tie up in likely spots. In the first couple days, it was business as usual with Leopard hunting and the boys made some good shots on Impala & Zebra to get the baiting game started
This first night in camp, while enjoying the warmth of the “bush television”, I was chatting to Curtis and he mentioned that he would really like to try and take a Honey Badger, should the opportunity arise – he didn’t have to wait long for his opportunity, as the very next day while riding back to camp with a Zebra in the back of the truck, we were startled by the “RRRR RRRR RRRR” made by a Honey Badger - stopped the car and Curtis executed a fine shot on a nocturnal animal during the mid afternoon!
Mid morning on the third day while on our ‘bait-run’ we saw a lone Dagga Boy run off from a very well used watering hole called Muzinda but unfortunatley the powder like dust surrounding the pan made judging the horns on the fast departing bull pretty difficult, however, I got enough of a glimpse to confirm that this bull was worth following.
We were keen to stretch our legs anyway, so picked up where the bull disappeared into the thick Mopane scrub which had visibility down to just 20 yards in most places. We had hardly made any progress when Alfred whistled quietly and pointed to the ground – a bright red spot of blood next to the Dagga Boy’s track, this Bull was wounded!!! Not the perfect scenario but we quietly carried on until the wind was blowing in such a manner that no self-respecting Buffalo would hang around! Knowing we would never catch-up to this bull because he had the wind advantage, we abandoned the chase to complete the bait run which only yielded female and young male Leopard on bait. “Let’s go back and pick-up where we left that Dagga Boy this morning” the trackers suggested? Problem was that Muzinda Pan was almost an hour drive away and it was late afternoon but it was worth it!
With not much light left, the trackers picked up where we left off earlier and with the wind having died down somewhat and now blowing from the south east like it should be, we walked silently through the scrub glancing at the blood spoor, wondering how bad the wound was, knowing it would govern the bull’s temperament.
We had tracked just over a kilometer when we saw the bull lying down broadside to us but with his back to us, I knew we had the advantage but had to move quick because the bull had looped on his track and was somewhat downwind of us. “It’s a damn difficult shot, Jack, do you think you can make it?” Jack had agreed with Curtis that he would take this bull if the shot opportunity arose. Approx 2 yards before the Dagga Boy was a short branch which had been broken by Elephant and looking from our position, I explained to Jack who was trying to make out where exactly the vitals where “if you shoot at the tip of that branch, your bullet will smack him in the boiler room”. Without a second invitation, Jack let loose and drove his .375 projectile perfectly into the old bull, which was up in a flash and went down just as quick 20 yards away. High fives all round – Jack was stoked with this old Bull which we found to have a festering wound on this back leg.
While checking baits the morning of the fourth day, Mark Vallaro and Jason (who were also hunting Leopard), radioed to say they had 2 good male Leopard on bait. “We’ll be sitting on the bigger of the 2 cats but you welcome to try for the other cat if you keen, he’s also a shooter but also has a female feeding with him?” asked Mark, “Hell yeh!!” replied Jack, so we quickly adjusted our plans for the morning and set off to build our blind. Not far down the road, we spied a Warthog lying in the shade of a Knobthorn tree. A short stalk ensued and Curtis made a fine shot which anchored the pig in his bed.
We set-up our blind over Mark & Jason’s bait and settled in about 5pm – all was quiet until shortly after dusk when we heard the very deep raspy grunting of a big Leopard a couple hundred yards behind our blind. Exciting yet disappointing, good that he was coming in but bad in that he was coming from behind us as he might pick up our scent! We sat quietly and heard him call twice more, both times closer, then the deathly silence that one only appreciates in the confines of a blind.
Just after 8pm an animal walked up from behind our blind but off to the left about 5 yards – “too clumsy to be a Leopard, must be a Hyena” I thought to myself, the animal paused for a few seconds obviously unsure of the new obstacle (our blind) then carried onto towards the bait, luckily it hadn’t smelt us. Moments later the unmistakable sound of an animal tearing at the bait, a sound that sends adrenaline into the blood system!! As I strained my eyes through my Swarovski binos in the low light, I was pleasantly surprised to see the pale form a Leopard beginning it’s evening meal. I motioned Jack into position and hit the red spotlight, the Leopard instantly froze and stared at the light while I tried to sex the Cat, in hindsight the decision was an easy one but I was reluctant to make a mistake and ultimately took a second too long to judge as the big Leopard turned and slipped away into the night. “Don’t worry Jack, he’ll be back, just sit tight” I was wrong as he never returned.
The one that got away..
While checking baits, targets of opportunity are often the order of the day.
The fifth day we had a nice male Leopard hit one of our baits which got us really excited as the set-up was near perfect in a secluded spot along the Musugwi river which we named the big Leopard after – “Musugwi Cat”. All we had show up at the bait that night were a pair of the nosiest feeding Civets I have ever heard! Several times I hit the light expecting to see a big a Leopard but instead the huge Civets continued to feast! Pulled out the blind just before midnight.
View of the blind from the bait on the Musugwi river
The Noisy Civets
Steve and Greg had taken a couple good Dagga boys with Keith and very kindly offered to take Curtis to try for a Buffalo on the sixth morning as Jack’s Leopard hunting was eating into the hunting time for the “other” species and Curtis just wasn’t getting much hunting in although he never uttered a single complaint.
More bait for replenishment
Morning of the eighth day found us looking at a nice Duiker while on the bait run, which had been taking us most of the day to complete, “Have we got time to shoot him , Brent?” Jack asked, “Ya, no problem, let’s try for him”. Off the shooting sticks at about 140 yards, Jack made what looked like fatal shot on the Duiker as it made off very uneasily into the scrub after receiving the 165gr GMX from the .300. We casually made our way over to “collect” the Duiker, “He won’t be far, Jack” as we followed the impressive blood trail. A frustrating sixty minutes and about 2 kilometers later (and me missing the little guy with my .500!!!), Jack finally killed him – first shot was through the paunch. Who said Duiker weren’t tough!!
Now chasing my tail to make up time on the bait run, we finally checked the Musugwi bait last which was shortly after 2pm and found that the Musugwi cat had visited at 4.30am according to the trail cam.
The bait on the Musugwi
The late (or early) feeder
Although Jack enjoyed the Leopard hunting, he also wanted to enjoy the evenings catching up with his buddies in camp so I suggested to Jack “Let’s go back to my house and get what we need to spend the entire night in the blind (cushions etc) and get this cat in the salt, so you have at least a couple nights back in camp?” “Whatever you say man, let’s do it” Jack replied – problem was that the return trip to my house was a 3 hour return trip and we still had to take the chairs out and put the cushions down in order for us to lie down for the night. Basically this would mean we would have to drive up to the blind instead of walking in from 500 yards away, as we had done previously – our options were slim so we did as planned.
Double bull pop-up blinds are a tad ‘cozy’ when 2 blokes lie down in them, however, we lay awkwardly in anticipation of the Musugwi cat. At about 8.30pm I heard an animal feeding noisily and thought to myself “the duo of Civets are back again for their free chow!!”, the feeding continued until shortly after 9pm when I heard one bone crack so loud I thought it’d be impossible for a Civet to achieve. “Jack, get ready, I’m turning on the light”. In a fluid movement, Jack was up and settled on the .300 – the gentle red beam lit up the bait tree instantly revealing a large Leopard “Shoot..BOOM!!” The crack of the .300 was so quick after I said shoot, I wasn’t sure if it was possible for Jack’s shot to be true as I had barely had enough time to see the Cat’s form sitting under the hanging bait, let alone pick out a rosette on his it’s shoulder to hit.
Shortly before Jack shot
As Jack shot....
We sat silently for a few seconds as the echo’s of the deafening shot rolled away into the night and the dust that the muzzle blast had kicked up, slowly drifted away. The Leopard was gone so quickly I wasn’t sure what to think as my eye’s were still adjusting to the light and I had not heard any sounds of a crashing Leopard. “Did you hit it, Jack??” I curiously questioned. “Yeh, why??” Jack answered nervously answered “geez you shot too quickly Jack, you sure you made a good shot??”. “mmm, I did shoot kinda quick, I think I hit it good!”. “Where do you think it’s hit??” – Jack lent over and pressed his index finger in the middle of my shoulder and asked “Brent, what do you want me to do on the follow-up?”, I replied “just sit in the truck when it arrives and I’ll go see what I can find”
Alfred, Matsika and myself prepared ourselves for the follow-up and walked up to the bait, immediately we found huge gouge marks in the ground which the big Leopard made as he tore off into the surrounding thicket, raising the torch beam along the tracks I saw a huge amount of blood splashed against the base of a tree and knew instantly that Jack’s shot was true. As we began following the good blood trail, a very loud deep Leopard call was heard from about 300 yards away, obviously another big Leopard in the area. Just sixty yards from the bait, we found the magnificent ‘Musugwi Cat’ but we couldn’t allow Jack the satisfaction of scoring such a magnificent Leopard just yet!
With droopy shoulders and bleak faces we returned to an eager Jack awaiting our findings – “Well, what did you find Brent” Jack asked with a worried look. “Sh*t man, I told you that you shot too quick, Jack”- “No-ways!!” Jack replied almost desperately, still searching for answers from my face.”Didn’t you hear him calling (referring to the other male that had called while we were tracking), you’ve missed him and that was him calling while leaving!!”.Jack ripped the cap from his head and slammed it onto the Landcruiser dash with impressive force, absolutely disgusted with himself! All the guys in camp had been giving each other a hard time (in good humour, obviously) from the beginning of the hunt and this time Jack took it hook, line & sinker!!!
“Jack, we found where the Leopard had run and tracked it for sixty yards till we found your Leopard” I exclaimed – Jack stared at me for a second before the penny dropped!! (Jack actually put his knee out trying to kick my butt!) We were obviously all elated with this fine Zimbabwean Lowveld Leopard which Jack had hit absolutely perfectly on the shoulder.
On checking the trail camera the following morning, I was surprised to see that the “Musugwi cat” had been feeding the entire time I thought it was the Civets – about 35 minutes in total! Damn lucky he stayed around long enough!
We spent a couple days looking for a big Bull Giraffe and found the perfect bull which Jack hammered perfectly with the .375!
This Porcupine had been raiding the staff’s vegetable garden and was finally caught red handed!
Curtis went on to bag some fantastic trophies with Keith, Greg & Steve (but their total tally on Baboons was rather poor after all the threatening we heard! ) Jack, thanks again for an awesome Safari – look forward to a repeat!
Cheers
Brent
Thanks for sharing.