Posting for BigBBear





It was a great hunt with John Greeff. I had hunted with John for a week or so in Tanzania when he was between his own safaris. He joined us for those days and was great to have along so we had struck up a friendship then. Anyway, John and his family have taken over what is know as Riverside Ranch near Vic Falls. I think in the past it was operated by HHK. This is their first year and John felt confident he had some great cats and that was an understatement. We had 7 male leopard working either tracks or on bait. We shot this guy on the 4th sitting and 5th day. I will probably write up a story but the interesting two pieces of this were that the day we shot the leopard as we were driving there to finish the blind we found a 13ft python on the road that had been recently killed by the leopard. He was bitten in the neck about 2 feet back and his neck was broken. Otherwise he was unharmed. We had a Zebra hanging in a tree about 150 meters away. Then that evening not only does this male show up but he has a girlfriend and they proceed to mate 4 times in the next hour. Quite a show that was. Finally he went up to the tree, started to feed and we sealed the deal. At least he had a smile on his face. Other parts of the Safari were great. We spent most of the rest of the time chasing ele but could just not find the right one in the right place. Having shot 3 before my priority was the leopard so I was more than happy. If any of you know John or would like to take your wife or family to a nice safe camp you should give them a look. I have all the contact information if you want to call him. He heads to Tanzania end of this month but his younger brother Nick and his wife Sara are running the place. Lots of leopard and lions there. Also shot some small cats, giraffe to bait lions, and guinea fowl. Thanks for all the nice comments.

Larry

Larry,

Great Leopard, sorry about your Elephant...

Very nice cat. Congratulations.

Very nice BigBBear. I'm green with envy.

Mike

Forget the ele, congrats on a super leopard. The ele will be there next year.

quote:

Originally posted by safari-lawyer:
Very nice cat. Congratulations.

+1

Nice Leopard!congratulations!

Outstanding leopard! Congratulations!

Larry;

Congratulations...he looks like a monster!!!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Well done Larry! John Greeff is one nice guy and a great PH to boot... congrats.

Wow! Great cat!

Congrats!!! He's a Beauty!!!

Great leopard. Congratulations.

COngrats - Beautiful Cat!!!

Concur with all the kudos...but would enjoy reading the story behind the photo as well.

Well done in any case.

Thanks Anton for posting picture. Sorry I am a little backward with having someone post and then telling the story. Bottom line it was a great hunt with John Greeff. I had hunted with John for a week or so in Tanzania when he was between his own safaris. He joined us for those days and was great to have along so we had struck up a friendship then. Anyway, John and his family have taken over what is know as Riverside Ranch near Vic Falls. I think in the past it was operated by HHK. This is their first year and John felt confident he had some great cats and that was an understatement. We had 7 male leopard working either tracks or on bait. We shot this guy on the 4th sitting and 5th day. I will probably write up a story but the interesting two pieces of this were that the day we shot the leopard as we were driving there to finish the blind we found a 13ft python on the road that had been recently killed by the leopard. He was bitten in the neck about 2 feet back and his neck was broken. Otherwise he was unharmed. We had a Zebra hanging in a tree about 150 meters away. Then that evening not only does this male show up but he has a girlfriend and they proceed to mate 4 times in the next hour. Quite a show that was. Finally he went up to the tree, started to feed and we sealed the deal. At least he had a smile on his face. Other parts of the Safari were great. We spent most of the rest of the time chasing ele but could just not find the right one in the right place. Having shot 3 before my priority was the leopard so I was more than happy. If any of you know John or would like to take your wife or family to a nice safe camp you should give them a look. I have all the contact information if you want to call him. He heads to Tanzania end of this month but his younger brother Nick and his wife Sara are running the place. Lots of leopard and lions there. Will send somone a picture of the python if they can add to post. Very interesting. Also shot some small cats, giraffe to bait lions, and guinea fowl. Thanks for all the nice comments.

Larry

That is not a very good leopard - it is a bloody beauty.

That cat is a beauty, very well done!

Beautiful cat. Congratulations.

Very nice leopard. I would venture to say that few get to see a snake like that. I would have paid to see the leopard kill the snake!

I visited Ivory Coast some years ago and went out with some local "hunters" for python..Cool snakes

Larry, a tremendous cat. Nice old tom.


Mike

Thanks guys, thought you would find the python pictues interesting. This area is teeming with game and especially the cats and elephant.

John is now posting so you guys should consider making a connection with him.

All the best,

Larry

Hi Larry,

Is Riverside Ranch a safari area, communal area, or forestry controlled

A better question might be, can you hunt at night with a light?

Either way, it worked for you. That is exactly what I visualize when thinking of Leopard. Congratulations!

Thanks

Adrian

BigBear: Nice cat and perfect shot. Did he drop straight down from the tree? (And didn't you feel just a little bad shooting right after he did his business with the Mrs.?)

Adrian, it is considered as private land so it is legal for artificial light in Zim. Riverside ranch itself is also private but different than the exact spot we were hunting. Riverside itself was built by Bill Bedford and Andy Schultz years ago and in total is about 25k acres under high fence. Main reason for high fence is to keep the buffalo herd in and the elephant out. Cats go in and out of the fence with ease. My leopard was actually pretty far from the fenced area itself eventhough we baited inside the fence and I would have had no issue at all shooting a leopard there or even lion for that matter. I think many of the Zim PH's that post here know Riverside well and know it is still very great hunting both inside and outside. The rest of Johns area borders the Deka safari area and this border area was where we were doing most of our baiting. There are lots of cats there.

Mark (ST), while he was literally dead in the air and fell like he was stone dead, he still mananged to get up and run about 40 yards where we heard him die in the grass. We still waited for the guys with more lights before we did the real follow up. I did let him breed 4 times before we ended his night so no I do not feel too bad. I guess if someone was to take me out I would hope for such a performance and at least he passed on some good genes. I am going to write up the story because it has lot of interesting moments in the Safari. More to come.

larry

Congratulations, huge leopard.

Oscar.

Congrats for the super Leopard.
I had the pleasure of spend an evening in camp with John and found him a true gentleman.
Is that the Ranch that Andy Schultz built with perfection?

Nice leopard

Beautiful Tom and nice timing.

Just a marvelous cat. Thank you for posting.

There are lots and lots of hefalumps. There are not many tom leopards like that.

Big,blocky and wonderful! Congrats. Jim

Oz Hunter, yes this is the same camp that Andy Schultz built. Quite a feat. It is a great place.

I assume you have heard about Johns recent tragedy. I am sure a lot of the rest of his summer will be spent continuing to improve it once he has began recovery.

quote:

Originally posted by mauser93:
Just a marvelous cat. There are not many tom leopards like that.

That truly is one fantastic tom. Congratulations Larry. I was distressed to hear of John's mauling, I hope he is okay now.

Cheers, David

Soon as John is recovered enough, I shall give him a piece of my mind for killing you a much nicer Leopard than mine!
Jeex, can't believe after this pic that you gave me a POS about being ugly!

Come on Tom, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When John is over I will need to come South for therapy anyway and we can discuss who is more ugly.

Larry

Sign me up for that!

An all-AR fugly contest!! Can we shoot big rifles and barbecue that weekend?

Rich

Larry:

An important goal for hunters is to ensure that the biggest and best of a species be allowed to pass on its genes before being taken as a trophy. You may be the only hunter I know that can vouch for having taken that goal to its ultimate conclusion: Доверяй, но проверяй ("trust but verify").

Well done!

If John does indeed make it to Reno and then Wes Hixon's Open House, he will spend at least a night with me.
We can offer Southern therapy, adult beverages, red meat and a fugly contest!

great leopard congratulations ,by the way does your PH uses a shotgun for folow ups on injured leopards.