Back from another trip to the dark continent. Booked a leopard hunt with Hunters Quest International way back in January of 2006. The hunt kicked off June 1, 2008. Arrived in Windhoek 4 days early to do the tourist thing with my father and son. Jimmy came along to hunt plainsgame again but I'll let him tell that story as we hunted 5 hours apart. Gracy travel did us another great job and we flew from Dallas to Frankfurt via Lufthansa then Air Namibia to Windhoek. No problems, no lost luggage, a pleasant experience as far as those things go. Rented a truck at the airport with help from Meliza at Gracy (thanks again). Drove to Etoshia looked at too many animals to count. Stayed in 2 different 1st class B&B's. Met with Vaughan at his office on Saturday May 31 to discuss the particulars of the hunt. Met Brian Bartlett (Fred's son) who was to be my PH. It was decided that a ranch hunt with a problem cat would be my best bet. So, off to Otavi we went. Sunday morning found us looking over a bait sight where a leopard had been previously unsuccessfully hunted earlier this year. Brian had been the PH on that hunt as well. It was his opinion that the cat had been scenting the hunters when they were in the blind as it only came to the bait when they were not there. Brian decided that we would have to hunt from a pit blind if we were going to get this cat. So we dug a shallow pit about 6'x6' and covered it with netting and then a layer of natural debris. We thought it would be wise to let the area settle for a day as we made a good bit of noise with the picks and shovels. Brian asked if my son Craig would be interested in setting at a waterhole that evening. Craig jumped at the chance. That evening Craig shot a 10 plus warthog with his 30-06 TC Encore. Perfect broadside shot, the pig didn't take a step. He is very proud as am I. Pictures were taken and back to the ranch house we went.



Wolfgang and his wife Juanita are great hosts and soon treated us as if we were old friends. The second evening found me in the blind waiting for a leopard to come to the bait. Just before dark the cat came to the tree. I could see the cat clearly through my Kahles scope but the way the bait was positioned in the tree the leopard was facing straight to me. The only shot I had was at the top of it's head. Not the optimum shot as far as I was concerned. We waited for what seemed like an hour (probably 10 minutes) for a shot but it never came, and the cat after eating it's fill left the tree. The next morning found us repositioning the bait in the tree and digging the pit deeper as to be more comfortable. That evening back in the blind, the cat came again. Instead of shooting the cat I decided to shoot the tree from under the cat (more sporting that way, at least that is the story I'm sticking with). I had a good sight picture was steady on my shooting sticks but somehow I didn't see the treelimb in front of and just below the leopard. If you think buck fever is bad, let me tell you, leopard fever is much worse. We thought I had made a good shot but couldn't be sure as when I fired that low to the ground the muzzle-blast threw a yard of dirt into the air. The next morning is when we discovered the wounded tree limb. The next several nights found us watching an empty tree. During this time the cat had reacquire a taste for young beef and killed a calf. We started thinking that this bait sight was no longer viable so we set another bait and continued to check the other baits that had been set previously. No hits on any of them. Meanwhile we continued to set the only bait that had seen action. A 14 day hunt seems like a long time but the days where starting to go by with no cat in the salt. During the days in between I was able to connect with a 4 Duiker and a 5 Steinbok.
After the halfway point in the hunt had come and gone I was starting to think that I had made a mistake wanting to hunt leopard. Brian on the other hand seemed unaffected. His comment was that we would get the cat, we just had to continue hunting hard, smart, and often. On the evening of day 12 we were again in the blind which by now was like our other camp. We had hunted hard for several days with little sleep on my part. Every time I would doze off Brian would punch me in the ribs and say Hey man you're snoring . Just like being at home, sort of. Anyway this night Brian was wore out also and just let me snore away. By now we were under a good moon for hunting leopard. We could see the tree and the bait in the moonlight. A little while after dark Brian was punching me in the ribs (again) but this time he was saying wake up man, the leopard is in the tree . Immediately I started shaking as I can't remember shaking ever before. I could see the cat in my binoculars, but I was shaking too much to make a good shot. I tried the old breathing trick but it didn't work. I didn't stop shaking until I got behind the gun. The cat was standing broadside facing to our left. I took my time and when I thought I was ready I pushed the safety forward. When I eased back on the trigger the gun went off and the cat fell out of or was knocked out of the tree. We radioed the truck to come and pick us up. It was a long a sleepless waiting for daylight to go a find out if I had done a good job. Once the sun had risen and breakfast was eaten we were off to see the kitty. At the tree we found no blood but a good deal of hair that wasn't there the day before. Wolfgang has several farm dogs but they are not trained to hunt. We turned them loose at the tree anyway just to see what they would do. His male dog ,Snoofy, hit the ground running. He went to the tree and took off at a run barking all the way. After he had gone perhaps 450 yards we could tell he was stationary. Within a minute or so he high tailed it back to the truck. We tried to get him to return to the spot where he had been but he would just run back to the truck. Brian and Wolfgang were pretty sure the cat was holed up in the thick patch. We entered the thick bush in a line. I don’t know about the other 2 guys but my butt was puckered pretty good. If the leopard had come for me I wouldn’t have a shot until it was literally at my feet. We were unable to locate the cat or any sign. Wolfgang suggested we call a friend of his who had a pack of trained leopard dogs. He made the call, arrangement were made and within an hour we had a pack of howling hounds at our disposal. Now I have hunted with dogs in Texas but something about hunting dogs in Africa just reminded me of Jeff Foxworthy’s “you might be a red-neck ifâ€. Yes they have red-necks in Namibia. The dogs were loosed and followed the same trail that Snoofy had followed earlier that morning. Within 30 minutes they had the cat treed. I got into position for a shot about 12 yards from the tree the cat was in and let fly with a 9.3x74R 286gr Norma Oryx. The leopard was dead when it hit the ground. After examining the cat it was learned that I had undershot the heart by less than 1/4 . There was severe damage and the cat would have no doubt died but I don’t think we would have recovered it without the help of the dogs. She was a meter from shoulder to rump and over 6 ½' from head to tail. A calf killer was in the salt and Wolfgang was very happy.

We rested the remainder of the day and on the evening of the fourteenth day I shot a very nice old warthog. I’m sorry I’m not a very good story teller and that I have a red-neck spell-check. I want to thank Wendell Reich at Hunters Quest International, Meliza Soliz at Gracy Travel, Vaughan Fulton and his wife Patricia at Classic Safaris, also Paula at Classic Safaris, Brian Bartlett, Wolfgang and Juanita Faulk at Onjondjo B&B and farm. It was a great hunt and lifelong memories and friendships were the result.

Brain1, congratulations on getting the cat. Good pix. Thanks for sharing.

Nice trophies- the steenbok looks huge! Nice leopard, persistence pays off.

Congratulations on the leopard. Wolfgang seems to be a bit plagued by them. He had one get a couple of calves while I was there hunting eland last year. The Faulks are great people.

Congrats again and thanks for the report.

George

Nice trophies, great experience with your son, Namibia was the first place I took my son hunting in Africa four years ago. Thanks for sharing.

Dirk

leopard in Nam. no easy task. your son will remember this trip long after your gone. What a lucky fellow he is to have a father like you take him to Africa.
Congrats

Brain 1, the hell with you but tell your son good shooting and I want to know when he is going back to Africa...

Mike

Hell of a hunt, Brian! Congratulations!

Congratulations Brian!!

COngrats - Great story...way to hang in there...

Good hunt, and good move taking your son - he, and you, will remember the trip forever.

TerryR

Loved the report, thanks

Why do some many guys look pissed off in their trophy photos? I don't know about you but I have an ear to ear grin in every one of mine.

I am smiling, my mustache is hiding it.

Great job! I hunted on Wolfgang and Juanita's place last year and took very nice warthog and eland with Vaughan. We saw fresh leopard tracks just about every day I was there. Wolfgang had trail camera pictures of it and it looked huge. (I'm pretty sure it was a male.)

Great hunt! You should be proud of your son. Thanks for sharing and congrats with the leopard..
Hunted with Brian one day in 2004.. My hunt was actually with Boet Nel, but he had to go away one day and Brian stepped in.. Such a nice, calm man!

Congrats! An awesome story! While I live and hunt in Alaska, I LONG to be back in Namibia! Like Anders, I shared camp (BOET NEL) with Brian in 05 and 07 and he is a class act and doesn't get rattled. Is he PH'ing for Vaughn all season?

Seems like he is mostly a free agent hunting for whomever can keep him busy. At the moment it's Vaughan.

Nice pics and congratulations on your hunt.