Leopard Hunt - Bullet Safaris, PH Nathan Askew

[Bullet Safaris]

 

[Ridgewalker]

Now the excitement intensifies!!!
Did everything turn out OK?

 

[Bullet Safaris]

it did! turned out great and this was a nice cat.
But there were several things going on during that hunt that made it really unique...with several potential problems.

1- we had found a natural kill so the location wasn't my favorite set up, and thus the blind was decided upon due to wind and travel path. The problem was that the only usable tree was a mess IMO as you can see.

2- that big male leopard was mating with a female by the time we got everything set up. We listened to them and watched them for 2 days under the tree doing their thing. typically cats dont feed much when they mate. they mate often over 48 to 72 hour period and many times i have heard and seen this at our baits. I counted 24 mating sessions in one morning blind sit...it typically ends after a few seconds with a growl and a swat from the female.

3- a huge male lion walked under the bait and inspected it about 45 minutes before the leopard jumped in the tree and was shot. I actually think the male and female leopard ran away to hide from the lion, then the male leopard came back and had to jump in the tree to inspect the meat that he know was up there. That was his demise...

so basically i had to track this shot leopard that jumped out of the tree (i like to see them fall). His girlfriend was in one direction and a lion was in the other. There was no guarantee the cat was dead... needless to say there was a lot on my mind. The client hit the cat a little back but punctured both lungs and the leopard didn't go far.

Africa is an interesting place - Tanzania even more so - anyone want to go?!

 

[Firebird]

Awesome stuff, glad you made it there and the adventure has begun. Best of luck for the remainder of the season!-gorgeous cat, would love to have had all those experiences from the blind.

 

[R.M.C.]

Sounds incredible!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Thanks for the explanation! Very interesting. Yes I for one would love to hunt Tanzania! I just don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to go to Africa. So many plans...so little time!

 

[Ridge Runner]

Great video of a great hunt.
Thanks for the hunt report.
Congrats on getting a nice leopard.

 

[enysse]

Great video footage!