I've hunted caracal with hounds in the Eastern Cape. Got a nice caracal, but I wouldn't rush to do it again.
The problem is that caracal can move quickly and elude the dogs, so even if there is a track, you aren't called until the dogs are well on it and the handler has virtually seen the caracal. You then drop whatever you're doing and try to get to the general area as quickly as possible. When I got there - and this is the norm I was told - the caracal was already treed. So you look up, shoot, and assuming you don't screw it up, you're done. Frankly, not terribly exciting, and I'd say of more interest to those who are just looking to add a species to a list. It is always possible that the caracal will get out of the tree and the hounds will start to chase again, but that's pretty unlikely when there's a bunch of them at the bottom of the tree making an ungodly noise.
Note that I've hunted mountain lion and while the ultimate result is similar - you shoot a cat out of a tree - I was involved in the hunt from finding the kill to setting the dogs loose and having a virtual heart attack chasing after them in snow racing from an inch to a foot. The cat even changed trees to a more comfortable one when it saw us. It was real work. But still not leopard with hounds.
I've also taken caracal on an opportunistic basis, while hunting night critters. I probably spent less time on the actual hunt - from seeing the eyes to identification to the shot was probably less than 5 seconds - but it wasn't a great shot and though it would have been fatal in short order, I had to chase him with a flashlight for a bit to seal the deal. I was more proud of that than I was of shooting a caracal out of a tree.
