Having been involved in two leopard hunts, the second being my wifes baited hunt in Tanzania with an incredible number of cats on bait. The younger resident PH simply did his best to keep baits up all season. There were 6 leopard on bait when we arrived and after our group took 3, 6 were still on bait when we left and the next hunter took one. But that area has a LOT of leopard, lion and hyena. And was a large area next to National Park in real wild Africa. Like I assume this is. Plenty of Plains game and buffalo as well. Not condensed like in South Africa. But very healthy natural populations. Leopard hunting can be monotonous and a risk.in Tanzania we took 17 critters including that leopard and a lion.
My personal leopard hunt was much farther North in Mozambique in an area with mostly sable and baboons, zero buffalo. Never saw a zebra. Saw a few reedbuck and eland. That hunt was with dogs, Conraad Shepers with the late Tinus Botha's dogs really saved the hunt. I actually had the option on that hunt to take two leopard and got a very nice mature male on day 4 after about a 12 kilometer chase. Had the cat bayed once in between on top of a big koppie but it ran again before I could get up a shot. Very exciting hunt!
If you use dogs, you still need to bait because you must start with a fresh track and you need to get that somehow
If i did this hunt I would want to discuss with the PH but having g allready taken a nice cat, my preference woukd be to start fresh, no pre-baiting. Be in on the entire experience! But I would also inquire about adding days if needed. Probably book flights with a good agent i could contact from the bush and reschedule the return if needed. At $850/day on a wilderness area (I'm saying that is econical), i would stay extra days if the PH and Outfitter could accommodate that and if we had things happening but had not gotten the cat yet.
Most definitely add the buffalo. That is a lot of leopard bait.
If you are concerned about success and the money, pay the $2000 for pre baiting
that is a good investment to hopefully have cats on bait when you get there or at least be that many days ahead in the process. If you want the best likely hood of success for the lowest overall cost, pay for the pre-baiting.
Again I'd personally likely not choose pre baiting but rather add a few days on if needed. I'd want the full experience.
And I would at least inquire about getting dogs in. The first time was because the Outfitter was having problems getting a leopard but had trail camera photos. I really enjoyed the proactive approach and excitement of hunting with dogs. And I just like dogs
That of course gets expensive but it is one of those get what you pay for things
I assume you will encounter elephants. Probably lots. Possibly rhino. Possibly lion. This should be a fantastic hunt. In fact if I had the time to do it, I'd be talking directly about booking instead of typing this... haha
