I just returned from my second hunt with Charlton McCallum Safaris of Zimbabwe. I hunted with PH Rich Tabor in the Makuti Safari Area on the Zambezi Escarpment.

I was more than a bit out of shape for the mountains and long grass of Makuti but thankfully, Elephant hunting in this concession is done by spotting rather than all day tracking. My son Garrett accompanied me on this trip and the "joke of the day" became our comments about how the "Elephant is Endangered" in Africa. I lost count of the sheer number of Elephant we saw and it seemed like the vehicle stopped every 10 to 15 minutes or so to check out the next herd of the grey giants.

This was primarily a Leopard hunt and as such, we were focused on obtaining baits in the beginning. Makuti is a bit of a catch 22 for cat hunting in that there is not a lot of plains game for bait. But once bait is hung and found by a Leopard, he is very likely to continue coming back to it because there is not a lot of plains game around!

As such, we struggled a bit in the beginning, but Garrett took a nice Zebra toward the end of day 2. With this, we had 5 baits swinging in the wind by the end of day 3. A couple of female Leopard was the result.



I managed to take my tuskless on day 6. We were hoping for a "confrontational" type of frontal brain shot but the dry long grass made it next to impossible to get close enough without being detected. As such, I took a rather long 40 yard side brain shot with my 500 NE dropping her in her tracks. Watching Rich and the guys roll that Elephant down the hill with the aid of his land cruiser was entertaining to say the least.



http://i1093.photobucket.com/a...6/aahogpilot/684.jpg

A large portion of the tuskless was taken for sharing with the local inhabitants but due to the need for bait, 6 portions were hung in the trees. Although not the "best" bait for cats, we did get a couple more female Leopard hits.

Day 10 revealed a male Leopard had fed in addition to a female at one of the bait sites. We erected a blind for the first time. As you can imagine, we were all a bit nervous at this point concerning success. Due to the wind direction, we opted to sit the following morning. The cat leaped into the tree right at daylight, revealing nothing more than a silhouette against the morning sky. Watching it feed, it appeared to be a small male as it struggled to pull the Zebra leg on top of the branch. Later, checking its tracks, and the trail camera, Rich determined it to be a young male with oversized tracks.

Later in the day, Garrett took a nice Buffalo Cow with which we replenished some of the more mature baits. In total, we had 11 baits strung out over 96 Kilometers.



We sat the following morning on another bait that indicated a male hit but to no avail. At noon on day 12 we had checked all but 1 bait site and had no shootable male Leopards feeding. Rich and his team continued working without hesitation. We hung our last new bait at 13:00 on day 12!!

Heading back to camp, we walked into the last bait to be checked, the one where we observed the small male the previous morning. Our intention was to take down the bait and blind. Arriving at the tree, the bait was smashed with tracks of a large cat present at the base of the tree. Checking the trail camera revealed what we had been looking for all this time.



Going from the low of low's with no options to the highest of high's with this new cat now feeding so late in the 14 day hunt, my heart sank when Rich announced that the wind was wrong again to sit this afternoon. We would have to wait for this cat tomorrow morning. Rich made the right decision but it still was not easy to accept. I'm sure it wasn't easy for him to make either. Camp was full of tension that evening as we all knew time was running out. The plan was to leave at 3:00 am in order to be in the blind well before daylight, and give the area time to calm down after our arrival before shooting light.

Shortly after getting into the blind, in total darkness, we heard the Leopard grunt 3 times at the base of the tree. The bait was 34 yards away. From time to time, we could hear the cat tearing flesh from the Buffalo leg and repositioning it on the branch. We could only hope he would continue to feed until the sky lightened.

We were lucky to have one of those perfect limbs that are back-lit against the morning sky. It seemed like he was in the tree for hours before we finally made out his silhouette. Watching his aggressiveness with the heavy bait left no doubt which cat was feeding. Approximately 30 seconds after official shooting light, the amber dot on my Trijicon scope found the crease just behind the shoulder. I saw flames in the scope and heard a thud like a sack of flour hitting the ground. Three grunts at the base of the tree and then all was silent.

Waiting for better light, we went back to the truck and had some hot tea. The suspense was palatable but there was no hurry now as we knew where he was. A quick follow up found him dead at the base of the tree.



Shooting your cat on day 13 of 14 really maximizes the hunt experience but at a cost! I can't say enough good things about Rich and his crew, and the entire Charlton McCallum Safaris Staff. They are a first class outfit and first class people. I highly recommend a hunt with them and Rich Tabor has to be one of the best cat hunters around.

congrats on a great hunt, now let's see some pics....

Congratulations.Rich is a very hard worker.Was Blake with you? See any lions?

Congrats Todd. I know you had a great trip with Rich, and glad it all worked out as it did. Thanks for delivering my package to the CM guys...

Congrats! Thats the way leopard hunting usually goes!

Well done Todd,
Makuti is a great area and they dont come any more professional than Richie.
If it makes you feel any better I got my leopard at Makuti on the 17th day of an 18 day hunt - great fun isn't it. Looking back, that nervous tension taking it to the wire actually adds to the whole experience.
Roughly where at Makuti did you shoot the leopard ?
Regards
Rob

Congratulations...photos, photos, photos.

I took my leopard on the 8th day of my hunt in Makuti!!!! I totally understand you angst!

Well done, D. Nelson

Hey guys, My internet is running soooo sloooow today and I'm struggling a bit with the picture uploads. Please bare with me, they are on the way.

Tim, my pleasure taking the DVD's. Very professional package!

Yes Blake was with us on the entire trip. Is he a great guy or what?! Justin was busy filming another client up in Dande so Blake and my son Garrett filmed the hunt. They did an excellent job by the way.

We took the Leopard about 5 miles toward Kariba from the Makuti Township on a small sand river that ran through a large area of long grass. Probably the least likely of all of our bait sites. Go figure.

OK guys, the pics are up and on the original post.

Shootaway, we did see lions. We made a Hyena bait on the ground out of the Elephant carcass. We had several Hyena feeding but not in daylight, that is until the Lions took it over. I got several nice shots of 3 Lionesses, 1 young Lion, and 1 real nice black and cinnamon maned Lion. We were able to get quite a bit of video of him as well. I'll try to post the video once I get it rendered and edited.

Weapons used on this hunt:
Leopard and Zebra: Ruger No. 1, Craig Boddington Limited Edition in 300 H&H; Trijicon 3X9 with Amber dot; Barnes Tipped TSX in 180gr loaded at 3050 fps
Buffalo Cow: Winchester M70 Synthetic/Stainless in 375 H&H; Leupold Vari-X VII 1.5 X 6 Heavy Duplex; Barnes TSX 300gr at 2650 fps
Elephant Cow: Merkel 140.2.2 in 500 3" NE, Open Sights; Barnes Banded Solids in 570gr at 2150 fps

Congrats on a great hunt.

That's a great cat and well earned. I have been to Makuti twice and have seen four leopards during daylight. I believe CM Safaris might be at 100% success on their Leopard hunts in Makuti?

Todd, welcome to AR and a super hunt with son and outstanding cat. Good shooting.

Mike

BigBoreCore,

CM is very close to 100% in Makuti but have had a small number miss the mark as would be expected in any fair chase situation. That said, their PH's know the area well and have a never give up attitude that has paid off well.

This was my second Leopard so for now, I'm satiated on spotted tree cats. For now!! If I get the fever again however, they will be my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice of outfitter for another go at it.

I'm planning on improving on my Bull Ele and Lion sometime in the near future. Rich and I have already started making plans for a return trip.

Thanks again for all the positive comments.

Cheers,

Todd

Nicely done. Tabor keeps racking up the satisfied clients.

Well done and super cat... nice to see a father and son hunt! Congratulations!

This could be our hunt with Rich last year in all respects. My wife was the hunter, her second leopard. The hot tea is a great idea versus walking up on a "hot cat".

Congratulations to you and your son. Beautiful leopard.

quote:

Originally posted by armorer:
This could be our hunt with Rich last year in all respects. My wife was the hunter, her second leopard. The hot tea is a great idea versus walking up on a "hot cat".

I hear you on that one!

Beautiful leopard! I'd say well worth the wait.

Great hunt and leopard!

Congratulations on a great hunt. That is a wonderful cat.

Makuti is beautiful but can be challenging. Looks like it treated you right.

Man, that was cutting it close. Two weeks of that kind of tension is not a vacation!

A sod of a leopard and the tuskless looks good size too. Glad it was you and not me humping up the hills in Makuti and facing the Dreaded Dreadful. Congratulations.

Well done, and thanks for the report and photos. I hunted tuskless at Makuti in 2009, and in spite of spotting, the stalks were still long and arduous. It's a beautiful place.
Another great Makuti hunt!

Well done, Sounds like Makuti might be a thing of the past with CMS.

Great stuff and well done on the Leopard.

Nice cat. Can't wait till August when I get a chance at one. These hunt reports get a guy pumped!!

Excellent leopard, he's a toad!

Reading that post now, I realize how few details I put in it. As mentioned elsewhere, this was my very first post and I just didn't know the drill at that point.

I'll try to flesh out the future reports. This was a great hunt however and unfortunately, it does look like CMS will not have Makuti going forward. It's a seriously tough place to hunt but is absolutely beautiful.

I also stand by my comments concerning CMS and Rich Tabor. They are first class all the way. Unfortunately, Rich is no longer hunting. He is trying his hand at mining now and living in Zambia, the last I heard from him. I wish him well in his endeavors but hope to hunt with him again some day.

Congrats on a job well done. There is nothing else like the thrill of being on track for ele and working for a chance at Chui.

Being in the Zambezi Valley at the time of your hunt report last June, I missed it. Let me now offer you my belated congratulations on a very successful hunt! Nice cat!

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
Reading that post now, I realize how few details I put in it. As mentioned elsewhere, this was my very first post and I just didn't know the drill at that point.

I'll try to flesh out the future reports. This was a great hunt however and unfortunately, it does look like CMS will not have Makuti going forward. It's a seriously tough place to hunt but is absolutely beautiful.

I also stand by my comments concerning CMS and Rich Tabor. They are first class all the way. Unfortunately, Rich is no longer hunting. He is trying his hand at mining now and living in Zambia, the last I heard from him. I wish him well in his endeavors but hope to hunt with him again some day.

congratulation(belatedly)!! as a point of interest, i know several Zim PH's that are trying their hand at gold mining, at least in the off season. with gold at $1650/ounce, there is apparently money to be made working old abandoned mines in Zim.

Congrats on a great cat!

Very well done. A hearty congrats on Spots. Seems like the harder you work, the luckier you get and it paid off for you.

quote:

Originally posted by Blank:
Very well done. A hearty congrats on Spots. Seems like the harder you work, the luckier you get and it paid off for you.

Yes it did pay off and in a big way. I've never seen anyone work as hard as Rich Tabor and all the members of his staff did on this hunt. What still amazes me was their never quit attitude in putting up new baits all the way until the end. The preparation made it all come together when good luck finally shined on us.

It's hard to believe that hunt was a year ago now. Seems like yesterday. A few days ago, my son Garrett, sent me a text message saying he wishes he was back on the cruiser's high rack smelling the gut bucket! It just drove home how special of an event it is to take your family on Safari Sharing that hunt with Garrett will always be one of the highlights of my life. I hope it will remain one of his as well!

+1 to all that has already been said. Super leopard, exciting hunt. Obviously frustrating at the time, but I reckon you will always rank this hunt/trophy highly Todd. Also so fine that you were able to share the experience with your son.

Rich obviously had a sleepless night because he is fast asleep in the trophy photo

Great hunt and a super cat to boot. Well Done...

quote:

Originally posted by David Hulme:
+1 to all that has already been said. Super leopard, exciting hunt. Obviously frustrating at the time, but I reckon you will always rank this hunt/trophy highly Todd. Also so fine that you were able to share the experience with your son.

Rich obviously had a sleepless night because he is fast asleep in the trophy photo

Yea, he does look asleep in that photo doesn't he! Here's another picture of that cat:



The Blind:



A nice Lion on the Hyena bait:



And my favorite picture of the trip:

I just read this - missed it somehow the first time around.

Just fantastic - my heart was thumping and i was waiting for shooting light right along side of you there...

The best part, of course, was being there with your son.