What is your success rate as a client hunting leopards?

[enysse]

Went in 2019, got mine in Zimbabwe with Wayne! Honestly, one of the best experiences of my life.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

When are you hunting? I am booked for 2025 with Nick Nolte as well.

I will be hunting with Nick the first half of July 2025. My non-hunting wife will be with me. After that, she'll head home and I'll head to the Caprivi for a buff hunt with Karl Stumpfe and @ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS. I was thinking about doing one hunt one year and the other the following year, but figured I could save on the air travel and do both hunts back to back.

 

[Green Chile]

I will be hunting with Nick the first half of July 2025. My non-hunting wife will be with me. After that, she'll head home and I'll head to the Caprivi for a buff hunt with Karl Stumpfe and @ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS. I was thinking about doing one hunt one year and the other the following year, but figured I could save on the air travel and do both hunts back to back.

That will be an awesome couple of trips back to back. 14 days and 7-10 days?

 

[LivingTheDream]

I will be hunting with Nick the first half of July 2025. My non-hunting wife will be with me. After that, she'll head home and I'll head to the Caprivi for a buff hunt with Karl Stumpfe and @ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS. I was thinking about doing one hunt one year and the other the following year, but figured I could save on the air travel and do both hunts back to back.

Brother, I will be there the 2nd half of July!

 

[ActionBob]

@Green Chile - it’s a good question and I’m interested in the responses you get, although it will only be a random sample and with many variables. For Me, a Leopard would be my number one priority in Africa but I hesitate for several reasons:
1). I’m picky and would not be satisfied with a small or borderline average cat, would rather “pass” as it sounds like You did on a small male. Therefore my own unrealistic expectations might add to my low chance for success or taking an animal I would not be happy with.
2). 14 days would be the minimum length hunt I would book (I don’t want to be rushed) and that’s a lot of time in a blind Day-Night that could be spent hunting other game with a higher chance of success. I would have to be willing to forgo many other animals for the “chance” at a Leopard…so I question my own patience & discipline??
3). I’ve made three (3) Mountain Lion Hunts in U.S and BC, all with top Outfitters with high success rates and large Cats — only my hunting partner took a Cat on our 2nd trip and that taught Me —- Hunt Cats alone, they’re aren’t enough good ones to expect to tree Two on one 10 day hunt. Therefore I expect Leopard to be an even lower success rate for a “good” Tom.

To answer some of your issues; In my case and I think a lot of Leopard hunters, I've taken most of the other game that would be available in a Leopard area. Yes book 14 days if at possible. In the area (near Rungwa in Tanzania) that @Just Gina took her cat, and @Wheels and @Royal27 also took Leopards. There were so many available that you had the option of passing on a cat. @Wheels did just that as he already had a nice Leopard, he wanted a bigger one! We did have 21 days as well but non of us were down to the wire on Leopard. So we successfully hunted 3 out of the same camp, with 3 PH's. Of course it was a huge area so we were each hunting our own areas but also co-operating and after Gina got hers our area was shared. In hindsight Gina and I should have bought an extra license instead of sharing and I do believe we woukd have gotten the extra Leopard and likely another lion.

In case you didn't catch it, Royal and I both took lions on day 2 and Gina took her Leopard day 4. We left camp on day 22 with 6 Leopard on bait and if I remember the 2 guys who came in after us took 2 more. Or at least one. I can't remember if the second guy wanted a Leopard. I believe one guy took a lion as well.

So in the right area, no problem hunting 2 Leopard at once but definitely with separate PH's. You need the bait if nothing else.

Now where I took my Leopard with dogs in Mozambique was a different story. The outfitter claimed to have 2 good cats on cameras. He had sold both earlier in the year. He had only 2 on quota. Both earlier hunts were bait/blind hunts. Different reasons for failure, one they burned the blind and while area down while burning grass. It was blamed on poachers setting fires.....The other i think the excuse was the client made noise in the blind or something?

In any case. He has two on quota to sell and tried to sell them as a buddy hunt conducted with the dogs so surely they would be successful. Nobody took the offer so then tried selling it to two strangers. Not a good plan! No takers and I made a deal to take 2 Leopard. Lots of confidence but the second trophy fee was a tad over half of the first, so a good deal. But with so much confidence expressed, I negotiated that in reverse. The lower trophy fee on the first cat. In other words, put you money where your mouth is!

Only got the one cat on day 4. About a week later we found a track of what the experts said would be a young immature male. The dog guy wanted to chase it simply because the dogs could use the run at that point. But I knew it was an unethical cat to shoot, and I didn't want a really small young cat. Just would not feel good about it. I was also concerned that there would be immence pressure to shoot it if we treed it and it was indeed a male, becauseof the trophy fee agreement. I discussed with Conraad and he agreed so we never pursued it. I actually stayed 18 days instead of 14. Having to re-arrange 6 flights to do that. But only found the one good Tom. I should mention that perhaps 10% of the 650,000 acres was accessible due to lack of road maintenance.

 

[Foxi]

a good friend of mine shot his leo on the third (leo)safari-
It was the 30th day of hunting on this cat.
All was over in 10 seconds.

the pictures here are amazing,but
I find it boring to sit around and spend 30,000.- dollars on it.
I enjoy my next buffalo hunt.

 

[ActionBob]

I have toyed with it from time to time. Mine was a young animal that had killed a calf. We could have hunted it or let the rancher lace it with strychnine. We did the right thing, and I am very happy with him. That said, if I went back it would be to hunt a cat with Nick Nolte again. We have become close to he and Isabel over the years and that would be the reason regardless of the cat's size.

Joe you should go after another. Why not? You earned your money, don't participate too heavily in that Wealth Transfer you wrote about in another thread

You know where you'd go and who with so let them make arrangements for the best time to get a monster cat.

Besides your getting to that age I always said I would hunt leopard, even though I failed at that... my thoughts were that hunting out of a blind is not to strenuous so can easily be done at an older age. And if it all goes bad most leopard attacks are not fatal but can leave some nasty scars. My logic was that if I got scratched at an old age, I wouldn't have to live with the scars as long! LOL

Seriously, my experience so far has been that the sitting in a blind takes a lot longer for honey badger than it does for leopard Leopard are much more active at twilight. And easily patterned with good trail cameras.

 

[ActionBob]

That last sentence is what has kept me from using dogs for leopard..."you might not bag it yourself"...the idea of someone shooting it instead of me just doesn't feel right. Yea it charged and we all shot but the guy on the right killed it. I get it but don't like it. I have NO problem if someone else kills a wounded cat on follow-up with me...that's just common sense...but I want to hit the cat first. That's my job.

By the way, nothing wrong with a single shot rifle for leopard. You only get ONE shot. We aren't talking follow up on a wounded cat but the first shot over bait.

I messaged Conraad yesterday to ask about the comments regarding a client not shooting his own cat with dogs. I'll paste the response here.

Morning Uncle Bob. Hope my response isn't too late. Your message arrived close to midnight so I am just seeing it now.

I have hunted about 100 leopards successfully from track. I would say our success rate is around 90% over the years. Average of 4days to catch a leopard on a hunt. So that is Average some we catch the first day some the last day.

Someone else shooting the leopard with dog hunts is bulshit. Out of all the hunts I have done I shot 4leopards that was wounded and the client was to scared to go in to finish himself. And I had one serious charge where the cat got on me and it was shot on top of me.

The dog hunts that is a shitshow is Botswana. They guarantee leopards but its in my opinion not hunting they get shot mostly from a vehicle, mostly charging so everyone with a rifle is shooting. But for everywhere else the dogs track it, bay or tree it. And the client can take his shot in a controlled setup.

 

[Red Leg]

Joe you should go after another. Why not? You earned your money, don't participate too heavily in that Wealth Transfer you wrote about in another thread

You know where you'd go and who with so let them make arrangements for the best time to get a monster cat.

Besides your getting to that age I always said I would hunt leopard, even though I failed at that... my thoughts were that hunting out of a blind is not to strenuous so can easily be done at an older age. And if it all goes bad most leopard attacks are not fatal but can leave some nasty scars. My logic was that if I got scratched at an old age, I wouldn't have to live with the scars as long! LOL

Seriously, my experience so far has been that the sitting in a blind takes a lot longer for honey badger than it does for leopard Leopard are much more active at twilight. And easily patterned with good trail cameras.

With the right PH in the right area, I totally agree (and I plan my last check plans to go to the undertaker). I have as absolute a certainty as anything I know with respect to hunting, that two weeks with Nolte would produce an opportunity at a big cat. I just haven't been able to work up a real desire to do so even though I truly enjoy time spent with Nick and Isabel.

I also don't believe it is a case of being an invalid just yet. I'll be walking the fields of Hungary in the spring for Roe deer, the vast plains of La Pampa for red stag and water buffalo the following February, and then Croatia for roe again the following April.

I am also looking at something in our backyard that you should check out as well. Scimitar oryx can be taken on lots of Texas game ranches typically with a difficulty roughly analogous to going shopping. A free-range scimitar hunt out by Alpine, Texas looks both pretty challenging and fun. I have seen some of the herds out that way while trying to run down blue quail and snipe an aoudad.

 

[ActionBob]

With the right PH in the right area, I totally agree (and I plan my last check plans to go to the undertaker). I have as absolute a certainty as anything I know with respect to hunting, that two weeks with Nolte would produce an opportunity at a big cat. I just haven't been able to work up a real desire to do so even though I truly enjoy time spent with Nick and Isabel.

I also don't believe it is a case of being an invalid just yet. I'll be walking the fields of Hungary in the spring for Roe deer, the vast plains of La Pampa for red stag and water buffalo the following February, and then Croatia for roe again the following April.

I am also looking at something in our backyard that you should check out as well. Scimitar oryx can be taken on lots of Texas game ranches typically with a difficulty roughly analogous to going shopping. A free-range scimitar hunt out by Alpine, Texas looks both pretty challenging and fun. I have seen some of the herds out that way while trying to run down blue quail and snipe an aoudad.

Haha I know you are far from an invalid Joe Just ribbing about age as I've seen you post that you don't care to do too many more mountain hunts. I'm sure you have many years left to work up a desire to hunt that big Leopard

Yea not to thrilled about most of the shooting they call hunting in Texas. We are enjoying just having the mobile yard art around. And actually hope to turn a profit on some exotics in the future. Although I fear it is a bit of a pyramid scheme. We do have opportunities for varmint control And we need to cull whitetail... but yea not hunting.

Free range scimitar does sound fun, and good eating! As does free range aoudad.

 

[Philip Glass]

This question isn't directed to the outfitters and PHs on the forum but you can answer of course. I'm asking this of the regular forum member who is a client in Africa. If you have hunted leopard, how many times have you gone and what is your success rate? There are many factors but primary would be going to a good area with an experienced cat PH.

So far, this is the one species that has eluded me in several ways. 20 odd years ago, there were permits in RSA for leopards. I booked a hunt and the permit never came through. So old Spots skunked me before I even got on the plane! Most recently, I did a 2 week hunt last year (cancellation hunt actually) in Zim for a cattle killing leopard specifically. Hunt report was posted here...we found him but couldn't keep him on bait...passed up on female cat obviously and also a young adult male. So I'm zero on success even though I have hunted with experienced PHs. Curious about the rest of you? I know some are successful very early in their leopard hunting but there are many stories of multiple attempts to take 1 leopard...and some of you have taken multiple leopards.

I am 2 out of 4 on leopard. It can be VERY frustrating and injurious to the pocketbook.
I too went after the cattle killing leopards one time but in Namibia. That didn't work!
Last year, y'all may know, that I hunted with York Mare for leopard. He has a very high success rate and has one client that has shot something like 8 and never one past day 3 or something ridiculous like that. Mine was a bit of a struggle with several issues out of our control on that hunt but I was confident to the end. It turned out to be a great hunt with great skills displayed by York and the team.
The one thing that I know is that a cheap leopard hunt will very likely be an expensive PG hunt. Be cautious and do your home work. There are some things going on with leopard hunting these days that is, well let's just say, less than legal. Ask questions and know what you are getting in to.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

That will be an awesome couple of trips back to back. 14 days and 7-10 days?

Brother, I will be there the 2nd half of July!

It's funny how plans fall together. I had seen several posts from @Red Leg giving strong recommendations for leopard with Nick Nolte. Then I read @Manny R hunt report on the successful leopard hunt he did with Nick. The stars were definitely aligning. I talked with Manny and we agreed to meet for lunch one day at DSC earlier this year. Prior to that, my plan was to bring my wife to Kay Cotton's fur coat booth and spring for a coat (happy wife, happy life). My wife is actually quite petite, so I contacted Kay prior to DSC to make sure she had some smaller sizes. We get to Kay's booth and my wife tries on a coat and she really, really likes it. As if planned, @Red Leg walks by and we greet each other and he compliments how nice the coat looks on my wife. She's happy, I'm happy.

We go meet Manny and have lunch. Manny offers to go with us to Nick Nolte's booth and do the introductions. My wife sits down with Nick's wife, Isabelle, and together they go over the brochures, videos, photo albums, etc. Nick, Manny and I make small talk and after awhile, my wife informs me this is where we are going. Who am I to argue?

 

[Philip Glass]

@Green Chile - it’s a good question and I’m interested in the responses you get, although it will only be a random sample and with many variables. For Me, a Leopard would be my number one priority in Africa but I hesitate for several reasons:
1). I’m picky and would not be satisfied with a small or borderline average cat, would rather “pass” as it sounds like You did on a small male. Therefore my own unrealistic expectations might add to my low chance for success or taking an animal I would not be happy with.
2). 14 days would be the minimum length hunt I would book (I don’t want to be rushed) and that’s a lot of time in a blind Day-Night that could be spent hunting other game with a higher chance of success. I would have to be willing to forgo many other animals for the “chance” at a Leopard…so I question my own patience & discipline??
3). I’ve made three (3) Mountain Lion Hunts in U.S and BC, all with top Outfitters with high success rates and large Cats — only my hunting partner took a Cat on our 2nd trip and that taught Me —- Hunt Cats alone, they’re aren’t enough good ones to expect to tree Two on one 10 day hunt. Therefore I expect Leopard to be an even lower success rate for a “good” Tom.

I think you are a little too worried about an abundance of immature cats. If you are in a good area there will be a reasonable number of mature males and with 14 days you should have a chance at one. I think you just need to find the right PH with a high success rate for your leopard hunt. I hope you do go and get a big one!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I am 2 out of 4 on leopard.

As I recall from one of your hunts, "and lived to tell about it," is not an exaggeration.

 

[AZDAVE]

My outfitter started pre-baiting about a week before we got there. (Namibia). I was successful on the Third night second sit. Posted a hunt report in Aug 2021.

 

[towserthemouser]

I'm one for one. Went on a plains game hunt with Nick Nolte in Namibia WAY back in 2003. Nick got a call from a rancher about a leopard that had killed a cow. We agreed to go try for him. We wired the carcass up in a tree at the base of a kopje, built a blind, and sat for him that afternoon. He came to the bait just before dark and I had my leopard. Not planned in advance: total serendipity. One sit in the blind and got a nice big stock-killing male leopard. I had no idea at the time how lucky I was, and that it's almost never that easy. And I think that was early in Nick's career, before he had attained the fabulous reputation he has earned. Although from the beginning he was clearly very skilled and very knowledgeable, and a great pleasure to hunt with. He knew EXACTLY how to set up for that cat. A great memory of the hunt was sitting in the Cruiser on the way home after hunting with his awesome Jack Russell Terrier "Mauser" snuggling in my lap. That was when I fell in love with JRT's, and they later played a wonderful role in our lives and our home.

 

[abnhog]

I’m one for three. My first hunt was with dogs in Zimbabwe in 2008. My buddy was also hunting leopard with dogs (we each had our own PH) and he got his on the third day. I on the other hand, only saw two females treed. Though, I felt like I had an awesome experience. My next hunt was in Namibia for a baited hunt in 2018. A couple months before the hunt the outfitter called and said his area was experiencing a terrible drought and asked if I could postpone my hunt for a year. He thought less than a 10% chance to get a leopard. So I postponed and arrived in 2019. I was able to get my Dik-DIK but never had a cat on bait. The Namibian outfitter invited me back but COVID messed up plans and I was not able to go back until 2022. On the 4th sit, the cat was on the bait and after 34 days of leopard hunting I had my cat. This is the only wild male leopard I have ever seen and within seconds of it being on bait was dead right next to the bait (no hyenas or lions in the area so bait was on the ground fastened to a tree). I’m definitely thinking about another leopard hunt. I mostly likely would like a baited hunt. Would love to see a leopard in a tree on bait.

 

[Green Chile]

I’m one for three. My first hunt was with dogs in Zimbabwe in 2008. My buddy was also hunting leopard with dogs (we each had our own PH) and he got his on the third day. I on the other hand, only saw two females treed. Though, I felt like I had an awesome experience. My next hunt was in Namibia for a baited hunt in 2018. A couple months before the hunt the outfitter called and said his area was experiencing a terrible drought and asked if I could postpone my hunt for a year. He thought less than a 10% chance to get a leopard. So I postponed and arrived in 2019. I was able to get my Dik-DIK but never had a cat on bait. The Namibian outfitter invited me back but COVID messed up plans and I was not able to go back until 2022. On the 4th sit, the cat was on the bait and after 34 days of leopard hunting I had my cat. This is the only wild male leopard I have ever seen and within seconds of it being on bait was dead right next to the bait (no hyenas or lions in the area so bait was on the ground fastened to a tree). I’m definitely thinking about another leopard hunt. I mostly likely would like a baited hunt. Would love to see a leopard in a tree on bait.

Way to stick with it. 34 days of hunting and 1 male seen...and cleanly taken! Curious who you might book with next time. Clearly, you aren't burned out looking for cats. Love it.

 

[abnhog]

Way to stick with it. 34 days of hunting and 1 male seen...and cleanly taken! Curious who you might book with next time. Clearly, you aren't burned out looking for cats. Love it.

On my third attempt I thought if it does not happen it’s just not meant to be. Lot of emotion when I walked up on the cat. I’m not sure yet on who I’m going to book with. I had a great time in the Omay with Dalton and York and they would definitely be at the top of the list. Though I have heard Zambia is a special place to hunt leopard ( I have never been ). I really enjoy watching/assisting/learning the whole process leopard hunting.

 

[Philip Glass]

As I recall from one of your hunts, "and lived to tell about it," is not an exaggeration.

Yes sir!