Leopard hunt with Nyamazana Safaris

Outfitter: Nyamazana Safaris – Wayne Van Den Bergh
PH: Allan Van Rensburg
Houndsman: Peter Dreyer
Ranch: Enthokozweni Safaris, Turk Mine District, North Matabeland, Zimbabwe
Dates: June 1-16th
Weapon: CZ550 375H&H; 300gr Federal Premium Trophy Bonded Bear Claw

In April, I saw Wayne’s posting for leopard hunt and after discussing with him the hunt and checking references decided to book the hunt. Originally we had discussed just doing a bait/blind hunt but with this being my second attempt to go after leopard, I elected to add Wayne’s houndsman, Peter Dreyer.

On arrival to Bulawayo and checking thru the temporary terminal (15 years and still going)

,
Allan and I drove to the ranch which is about an hour and half a way. There is nothing like playing “chicken” at 70mphs on a 1 lane road but we arrived safely.

Checked the rifle and went and reviewed the pre-bait locations and made a plan for the hunt. We started the hunt feeling that there were 2 – 3 leopards that we were hunting on this ranch. The next couple of days we would check baits and although none were hit, we did find tracks and put the hounds down to follow. We never caught up to the leopard. Having the dogs sound off and trail was very exciting and enjoyable to watch.

Peter informed Allan and I that he typically does not take a leopard until a zebra is killed for a bait. Not wanting to mess with his mojo, we took a zebra and added another impala as well.

Several days went by without any leopard tracks being found and none of the baits being hit. Although frustrating, no one was worried at this time since this is a 14 day hunt. We continued to check in the early morning the baits and look for tracks but we found no signs. On Day 8 we found male leopard tracks in the river bed near one of our baits, but still no hit on the actual bait. Not until Day 10 did we put the dogs down again. We found tracks in the road and were on the trail by 6:30am with the dogs. Cool morning and no wind, a great day to track. As we stayed on the tracks for a couple of hours, it looked like we were going to catch up to the cat. Unfortunately, we came to barbed wire fence and we could not follow thru on this property. I was disappointed, but I had to appreciate Allan’s optimism when he said he would not be worried until day 12 and Peter felt we had this leopard’s pattern down so we would get him in next couple of days. We repositioned some baits and re-dragged roads and all we needed was a little luck.

On Day 12, we finally found tracks around 7:00am on one of the roads we had just dragged for the first time. We put the dogs down and started tracking. About 20 minutes into it, we found a fresh kill from the leopard (donkey)

and everybody is getting very excited. After about 2 hours, the dogs had the leopard treed and we were able to take the leopard at 50 yards.

We did see other plains game (warthog, wildebeest, giraffe, duiker, steenbok, zebra, impala, kudu), but most of these I had previously taken. We tried for steenbok and duiker, and we did see several but just never were able to get a good shot on them. It was a successful hunt for me, and Wayne delivered on his description of the hunt and met my expectations. Allan did a great job and never gave up and I look forward to hunting with him again. Peter and his dogs were the key ingredient to the success of taking the the leopard and I look forward to hunting behind his hounds again. In 14 days of baiting not one time did a leopard feed on our baits.

Posts: 12 | Location: Houston,TX | Registered: 01 July 2013

Tim Herald

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