NAMIBIA: Leopard Hunt In Namibia

[Mnovak]

Congrats on a beautiful leopard!

 

[Scott CWO]

The day of the leopard…..

We had a bait that a large Tom was hitting every day. The trail cam photos showed him arriving about 4am and leaving just about sunrise. So we built a blind and came back at around 2am to sit him out.

Around 3am, another leopard was sawing behind us. Werner said he didn’t think it was our cat. It is sure an eerie feeling knowing an apex predator is nearby in the dark.

Like clockwork our Tom arrived at the bait at 4am and started to feed. He fed and lied down alternately for the next hour or so. He made a big mistake not leaving before legal shooting time. I was amazed how big he was. We had hung the bait about neck high. When he stood, his head was above the top of the bait. I waited for him to stand on all fours and shot him high on the scapula. He dropped to the shot.

He weighed 150 lbs on the farm scale and was 6’ 8” in length, nose to tail tip.

As you would imagine, I’m one happy hunter.

A proper leopard, Sir! Congratulations on one of the trickiest to get trophies in the world. It will make a beautiful mount.

 

[7mmFan]

Congrats on a great safari! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Altitude sickness]

Beautiful cat congrats !

 

[Frederik]

Thanks for sharing guys what a TOM well done and great hunt.

 

[Troubleshooter]

Congratulations on a great leopard. Weidmannsheil indeed! It appears that you have harvested several other nice animals as well. I very much like the Hartmann's Mountain Zebra.

Probably could find a good beer without trying too hard.

A good beer, maybe. But he really needs to transit Bavaria to find ein richiges Bier! Perhaps next time, try routing via Munich.

Namibia had their best rainfall in years and the grass was 2 ft tall, it made hunting the small antelopes quit a challenge. Hunted for a steenbok first and spent the day spotting their horns sticking above the grass only to have the vanish upon approach. As the sun was getting close to setting an old springbok ram step out into a clearing in front of me, the PH threw up the sticks and I quickly positioned my rifle. “Click” rather then bang was the noise my gun made, I had not chambered a round. I had just enough time to work the bolt and sent a round through the front of the brown stripe as Werner had suggested. Back in camp that night my first springbok had been named “Click.

Good recovery; I'm sure it made the Springbok taste just that much better!

 

[Jeff505]

The following day I set out for another chance at a Steenbok, the PH commented that It looked like I had enough gun for this creature. I brought one rifle a Winchester model 70 in 375 HH, I was shooting Barnes 300gr TSX which should not open on a small antelope and should just make a whole straight through. I told the PH that the last thing I wanted to do was follow a wounded steenbok into the long grass. Was able to get both a steenbok and Duiker that day.

 

[CAustin]

Dougs leopard.


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Congratulations on a beautiful leopard.

 

[Nyati]

That is a great leopard !

Congrats to both of you on your hunt

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Congrats gents on a nice mix of PG, but especially to Doug on the leopard!

 

[BJH65]

Congratulations! Well done, awesome leopard!

 

[Doug3006]

Thanks everyone for the kind words of congratulations! I’m sitting in the lounge at Frankfort for a few hours before boarding the final leg back to St. Louis. Here are a few more photos from my hunt.

 

[Doug3006]

Some final thoughts:

Immenhof Hunting Safaris is a first class operation, and the owner, Werner Von Seydlitz, is an outstanding hunter! Werner’s leopard tags were spoken for this season. But he arranged my leopard hunt on a neighboring property that had tags available and Dirk, the property owner/PH is a friend of his. Werner was at our side throughout and his knowledge of leopard hunting is phenomenal!

Namibia is the best plains game option for any hunter, especially the first timer. Plentiful game, nice lodging options (from family farms to the most elaborate lodges), and first-world infrastructure like their great road system. These are ranch hunts to be sure, but what ranches! BIG properties that hunt even bigger due to the terrain and flora. This year, they were blessed by torrential rains, so the trees and grass were green and beautiful.

Namibia is also full of other activities once the hunt is over. Werner’s sister Charissa operates a tour company (called Immenhof Safaris) and she took us to Swakopmund for a couple of days of trinket shopping, shark fishing and a Namib desert tour. I highly recommend a side trip to Swakopmund!

There was a remarkable difference in the scenery versus what we saw during our first trip in 2009. Back then, Immenhof, like most other properties, had a lot of really thick scrub. Mostly invasive Acacia. Today, much of the scrub has been thinned allowing native grass to flourish. The game changer has been commercial charcoal production. Where before, Acacia was costly to remove, today it has become a cash crop. The result is a win for the rancher and the environment. Very unlike the threat caused by charcoal production in other countries and wonderful to see. By the way, the charcoal they produce in their area is sold at Sam’s in the US. Buy some and help Namibia restore its grasslands!

Travel turned out to be flawless. Shawn at Gracy handled the arrangements. We flew Lufthansa Business Class from St. Louis to Frankfurt and then Discover (a Lufthansa company) from Frankfurt to Windhoek. Two, 9-hour flights each way. A 14 hour layover on the outbound flight and a 5 hour layover on the return leg. The food was lousy. The Business Class seats were adequate, but nothing to write home about. The big advantages were having just one plane change and not having to touch our rifles or checked bags until we arrived in Windhoek.

AirTags work! Our luggage made it both ways, but it was nice having the peace of mind that our bags were on the plane! If a bag had gone missing it would have been easy for Gracy to find it and get it on the next flight.

I got tremendously lucky and killed my leopard a few hours into my first sit on the third day in country. My experience is not the norm, but from what I saw, Namibia should be on your list if you want a big cat!

 

[503]

Awesome trip bro, nice shooting!

Cheers

503