During the last weeks this my much cherished African hunting site has been focusing on everything else than African hunting and it seems that god hunting reports are longer and longer between. Irritating me a great deal during the last days, I realize that I myself have done very little to share some of my own experiences. Until now I have made the excuse to myself that English is not my native language, and I ´m no writer and so on, but no more. As my last hunt (CAR) was more than a year ago a full hunting report would be out of place, but I think an incident from a trip to Zimbabwe in 2008 could be of interest. Here it goes.

For several years, my friend and Zimbabwean ph, Alex Kirkman comes to Denmark in January to participate in a Scandinavian hunting fair to sell hunts. As always he stays with me Copenhagen for a few days. Having a safari operator as your friend has among others the great advantage that you can pick some of his best hunts for yourself. But as many of you surly know, one of the main obstacles to hunting is getting the go from ones better half. So during Alex´s visit in 2008, not having had the courage to ask my wife for permission to take a couple of weeks in Zimbabwe, I would have to content my drive for Africa by talking and recollecting trips from previous years.

A few weeks after Alex´s return to Zimbabwe, my lovely wife seeing me suffering the African bug really bad suggested that I better make Alex a visit. Wasting no time I immediately called Alex. This being in 2008 the safari industry was still going on full steam so it turned out that everything of interest to me was already sold out. He still had Sable and other planes game left, but having shoot sable it was of no interest for me. Actually I have found that when you first have taken the step from plains game to DG safaris only the latter will do.

Finally after some pressure Alex admitted having a buffalo bull licenses left, but this was in his campfire area Muzarabani. He had never before bothered selling this hunt as it was in an area with no roads, so any hunting had to be done by backpacking. To make things even worse the terrain is very mountainous making it a very hard and difficult hunt. Further I was warned that yes there were buffalo, but not that many. A few mountains, sleeping in the bush and days and days of tracking is not stopping me so dates were agreed upon and tickets bought.

2 weeks before my departure Alex called and told me of a minor problem. He had forgotten the annual Tigerfish Tournament on Lake Kariba that unfortunately fell on the first 3 days of our planned backpack hunt. Now Alex loves fishing more than hunting so my protests were for deaf ears. Taking 3 days off our hunt would give us too little time to have any chance of finding buffalo on foot so a new plan was needed. I would depart as planned and participate in the Tiger Tournament, and postpone my return home with 4 days. This required my wife to extend my “leave” with the above 4 days. This of course had its price and thus her closet is now even more cramped than before.

The Tigerfish Tournament is worthy of its own rapport but the short version is that it consist of the official “catch the most tiger fish in 3 days” and the unofficial “who has the fastest boat”. We did very poorly in both as we caught only a few tigers and our boat, powered with two 70 hp outboards, was one of the slowest of aprox 150 boats. Another unofficial event was “who could party the most”. This event we won clearly, finishing off with an all night party in Harare.



The next day we started our hunt by being driven as far into the Muzarabani mountains as we could. From there we went on by foot. Our plan was to stay in the bush 3 days. With us we had 3 trackers and the council game scout. All provisions and camp equipment we carried in back packs.
At midday we had made a steep 400 m descent into a deep canyon.



The bottom was quit narrow with 100 meter on each side of a dry riverbed. Along the brinks of the river the vegetation was dry and scarce with a few patches of dead bamboo. Reaching the bottom I felt really miserable. The last days “fishing” had taken its toll. After a short rest we carried on walking parallel to the dry riverbed.


On the way down the Game Scout had asked me to shoot something smallish for him and the trackers to eat. We had not gone more than one or two kilometer when we saw a non trophy warthog. It was an easy 75- 100 meter shot but nevertheless I missed with my 416. Surprised I shot again and missed – and again with the same result. The warthog ran a few meters between each shot but did not run off as one would expect. The forth and last round hit him far back and with its hind leg useless it ran off. Saying I felt like a fool would be an understatement. I have never before in my life not participated in a follow up on a wounded animal. But on this occasion due to my hangover and embarrassment I just sat down and watched the trackers and Game Scout follow the warthog further up the riverbed. Alex said nothing, but sat down and started reading a book.
Some 10 – 15 minutes lather I gained my strength and regretted not going with the trackers. I got up and intended to go after them when I heard an animal scream. First I did not think it important, but as it continued it puzzled me. It came from down river were we had walked when we saw the warthog the first time. I asked Alex what it was but he was more interested in his book. So I began walking towards the sound. As I came closer it sounded just as a domestic pig squeaking. I thought it couldn’t be the wounded warthog as when seen last it was running in the opposite direction. The sound which now was becoming faint and long between, brought me down thru a patch of dried out giant bamboo.

Suddenly I saw something yellow and black between the bamboo stems. It took me a few seconds to understand that it was a leopard. But when I did the adrenalin rush was enormous. Although the distance was only 30 meters the vegetation blocked any chance of a shoot. I could see that the leopard was occupied with something on the ground under it. And while I could see its head was down I crept some 10 meters closer. Through the scope I now could see the leopard was lying on top of a warthog biting it. A few seconds later it released its bite and lifted its head and looked around. From the thick neck and the general form of the head it was apparent that it was a male. The cat was facing away from me quartering to the right. The bullet hit him just behind the ribcage and exited on the throat. His head fell down and the tail twitched a few times. The insurance shoot was unnecessary but I did anyway.
Walking very carefully up to the leopard ,I was startled as the warthog suddenly turned and got on his feet. I now saw that it was the warthog I had wounded 20 minutes earlier. I felt really sorry for him and ended his misery at once. A bad day in the bush for mr warthog!







Chest af the warthog with bite marks






The following had apparently happened; after being wounded the warthog had run in an huge circle ending up more or less were it was shoot at the first time. Once there its bad luck continued as it was hit by the leopard. Usually a leopard will bite it’s pray in the throat partly to suffocate it but also to stop any noises that could attract other predators. It was obvious not the case here as the warthog kept squeaking for several minutes. On inspecting the warthog there were no bite marks on the throat, but on the front of the chest. These were not very deep. This puzzle was revealed when opening the leopard’s mouth and seeing that both upper canine teeth were severely infected. This has made biting painful for the leopard and probably the reason for the unsuccessful killing bite.
When Alex came down he was initially speak less, but then he said; never tell this story to anybody – because nobody will ever believe you.

Well here it was anyway. I hope you enjoined it.

Good hunting
Carl Frederik

Cool ! And good reading

Wow. One in a million.

thanks carl, exellent read

best

peter

Right place at the right time, great story, must have been much better in person!

quote:

This required my wife to extend my “leave” with the above 4 days. This of course had its price and thus her closet is now even more cramped than before.

I feel your pain!

Seriously, I really appreciate the time you took to detail your hunt and you did an excellent job! That is a unique way to bait a leopard.

The true value in AR hunt reports is that the readers here get a chance to see first hand how an operators area, wildlife populations and accommodations actually exist. They also get a feel for the representative size of trophies and success rates. From time to time there may be a little braggadocio in these reports... heck I am guilty but most of it is "on the ground" intel that is important for those looking to book with certain safari outfits or in certain areas.

So thanks for your contribution and by the way... you also owe us one on the CAR!

Well done!

A backpack DG hunt? How cool is that!

Combining two of my favorite things. Congrats!!

Nice report and pics!

Thanks for sharing your story, a unique one to be sure. And let me assure you that my Dutch is a whole lot worse than your English. Well told.

Definitely a unique story. Congratulations. A hell of a lot of people here pray for an experience like that!

A refreshing story. Thanks

A very engaging account and much enjoyed.

Great story & that is true hunting like it used to be! I wish you would post pictures of your camps as well.

Isn't hunting great? A tale worth telling! Jim

Very cool. Thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by Nakihunter:
Great story & that is true hunting like it used to be! I wish you would post pictures of your camps as well.

Here pictures af two of our camps. As you see they are very basic.

Thanks for those picture. I just love those basic trail camps. I used to hunt like that some times in India in the 70's & 80's. I also hunt like that in New Zealand but no dangerous game or snakes here!!

Very unique, thanks!

Excellent story ad it was well written. Did you have any luck with the buffalo? Would love to hear more about the hunt.

Congrads!!!

That's one hell of a story.....congratulations

quote:

Originally posted by Carl Frederik Nagell:
(....)

Well here it was anyway. I hope you enjoined it.

Good hunting
Carl Frederik

Sure I did
Thanks for sharing it!

Congrats on your Hunt!!!!!!

Thanks for the pics. What are the chances of that happening?

Great story and congratulations on the Leopard. Was Leopard hunting discussed prior to this incident, did your PH had a tag available which you intended to utilize or was it just a split second decision? will also love to hear about the buffalo hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by Ahmed Sultan:
Great story and congratulations on the Leopard. Was Leopard hunting discussed prior to this incident, did your PH had a tag available which you intended to utilize or was it just a split second decision? will also love to hear about the buffalo hunt.

Yes leopard was on the menu. Our plan was to try for the buffalo and continue with a classic leopard hunt if time permitted. As you can see from the photos it is not by any standard a large tom, but still I am very pleased with it.
We never did contact with the buffalo bull. This area has water all year, so the buffalo proved to be impossible to locate. When on foot you can only cover a fraction of the terrene you can if you use a truck. 2 -3 days prior to our arrival, Alex had sent out some scouts to try and locate buffalo. They did not. We found old spoor but nothing worth following. The total bag of this hunt was the leopard, two zebra, a god bushpig and a duiker.
Carl Frederik

Once in a lifetime story. I have stalked a leopard once but was unable to finish the deal. The trackers must have got off the trail of the warthog for you to find it first.

Never have I heard of back pack hunt in Africa for DG. That is so "COOL". Hey a spotted cat on a kill, and you stalked it, what a hunt.

Very well written! You captured the excitement. A few minor spelling errors did not detract from the tale, but rather reminded the reader that our common language is the love of hunting and being in the wild. Nationality doesn't matter.

Well done -- very well told --Thanks for sharing
G

Great read Carl, I have hunted with Alex quite a few times and would like to again.
Is Corbus and Johan still working for him?
Could I ask you for his email address? the one I had doesn`t work anymore.
If you speak to him give my regards to him, Kathy and the children.(John Marcus ex U.K)

That was a great report, especially for a non-native English speaker. I enjoyed it very much, thanks for taking the time and making the effort.

That is a very cool hunt! Thanks for sharing. I love the sleep in the dirt and basic backpack type hunting. Nice job!

Carl Frederik:

Fantastisk historie. Selv om leoparden var ikke stor, det er jagten der tæller. Og din jagt var højdepunktet i en jagt karriere. Godt klaret!

good real adventure ,i love your camp ,this is real hunting.

Great story. Glad to see you were there at the right time.
Thanks for sharing, have done a bunch of back packing hunts for deer n elk.
Don't be embarrassed by your English, you did a whole lot better with it than many folks raised on it.
George

Awesome story - thanks for sharing!

Thanks for posting

A Tale To Be Told....Well done!!!
Congratulations on your adventure!!!

That sounds like a unique type of African hunting. AND you got to experience a true leopard hunt that caught his own "bait"
Congratulations.