I have had a male leopard kill and eat a female leopard at my bait. I have also seen leopards feed on leopards that have been shot and not found. Having been left out overnight it is fairly common to have a younger male and/or a female drag the dead one a short way and feed on it.

This happened a lot in Matetsi (we also would lose leopards to hyena) and eventually made me learn how to follow wounded cats at night, a good plan with the right team.

JTH: Yes, I had heard of Hyena feeding on downed leopard, but had never heard of a big male killing a female and eating her. Thanks for your information and experiences. By the way, did you shoot the male that had killed the female and had eaten her at your bait site?

Use enough Gun good question re. that leopard. After killing and largely eating that female the big male never returned to the bait, as if he knew he'd done something bad.

Also an interesting observation is how often such happens with cats. Many many times if you shoot a lion on bait but out of a pride, the rest of the pride will feed on the bait after you have gone(even with picture sessions and lots of noise) but will leave the bait the next morning and never return.

Back to the original thread - John Hunt is a first class chap as is Rhodie Tourle. I don't kknow Brendan Parks well enough to comment but anyone is safe booking with John or Rhodie.

I actually was the very first PH to hunt leopard on John's home Ranch - Georgia Ranch. This was when John was first looking at going into the hunting business and would have been in the late eighties I guess. He and Debbie are some of the nicest people you will ever meet and I am glad he is doing so well and getting such a good reputation.

And yes he can shoot his FN very very well indeed.

I will be seeing John and Debbie this month. I will mention you and your experience with leopard killing leopards. Thanks again for the information.

Its heartwarming to hear the beautiful comments about John Hunt. He is truly a gentleman and a beautiful person, as is his wife Debbie.

If only John hunted Tanzania, or better yet, had a famous gunwriter kissing his ass, he would get the notoriety he deserves and be published like some of the other PH's out there. Insted he plugs along with 10 or so safaris a year and barely makes ends meet. I have a special place in my heart for the Hunts and I always try my best to book a few hunts a year for them....and besides, you cannot get a better hunt for your money and John will get you your Leopard!

Amen, Frankie. And he has some of the best trackers in Africa in Ben and Ndlovu.

I have some great pictures of Ben and Ndlovu from my hunt at Bishopstone, if I can just figure out how to post them! I also killed a 17&1/2" Bushbuck there....John said was the biggest one ever taken by a client. Ben spotted him for me in a tangle of bush.

Please post a pic!

hope someone have saved the cape and the skull from the eated female...
This is the only case I can understand a shoulder mount from a leopard!

Yes, both the remaining hide and skull were saved. The remaining hide was salted and dried, and the skull boiled, and both were given to Ivan DuPlessis, the owner of Jonsyl Farm. I would like to have had them to mount with the big tom, but I was told that I couldn't keep them.

UEG,
I asked John what they did with the female skull andhe told me that Ivan did have it. You could have taken it home, but you would have had to pay the trophy fee (Zim rules!) and get a second CITES permit.
What a shame as that would have been a great addition to your mount....by the way, did you get the leopard mounted yet? Who did it, and let's see some photo's now!

Frank

No, I am still waiting on the Zimbabwe Cites permit. Once John gets it, the cat will go to Life Form Taxidermy in South Africa to be full body mounted. I can't wait! It's too bad about the requirement for paying another trophy fee, as I would have paid for a second Cites permit for the female. It would have made a very interesting mount for sure.