ZIMBABWE: Elephant & Leopard In Zimbabwe - Cancellation Hunt Report

[PARA45]

My God, that Eland is as big if not bigger than a Brahman bull.

What are you going to do with the ele?

 

[Green Chile]

Ele ears and skin were taken for tanning. I need some ideas on artistic applications for the ears. Any recommendations? Paperwork will be filed for import of ivory. Plan on talking to Conservation Force for their assistance.

 

[Rare Breed]

Ele ears and skin were taken for tanning. I need some ideas on artistic applications for the ears. Any recommendations? Paperwork will be filed for import of ivory. Plan on talking to Conservation Force for their assistance.

I am having a map of Africa on one of mine. Got the idea from @Tanks

 

[Green Chile]

Leopard for days and days

Well, this whole 14 day hunt was leopard focused…start to finish…from day 1 to day 14. Leopard are tough. Sometimes they are taken quickly or easily and I almost feel sorry for those hunters. Luck is always good to have but leopard are not easily taken by most who pursue them. I think Craig Boddington spent over 80 nights in a leopard blind over many safaris before he took one. My first African hunt almost 20 years ago was supposed to be a leopard hunt with Dries Visser in South Africa. The permits didn’t come through so you might say my first attempt for leopard was a bust. I’ve always wanted to check that box and have that experience.

On my first trip to Africa about 17 years ago, I was hunting with CMS Safaris for tuskless at a tented camp in Makuti. One night, I heard something walking quietly on the sand path beside my tent. It wasn’t human…it wasn’t hard hooves…it was something with soft padded feet. It was measured careful walking…it was intelligent. Some may doubt it but I know I heard it come up to the tent next to the bed and I heard it distinctly sniffing…smelling the air. In the morning, I came to breakfast before sunup and said hey, call me crazy but I heard something strange last night walking beside my tent. The tracker went over to look and said a female leopard had paid us a call in the night and had walked right up to my bed side of the tent. That female leopard brought in 2 or 3 big males after our hunt and CMS clients shot 2 of them. Leopard are just special. To my eyes, no predator is more beautiful than a big spotted cat.

Cattle killing leopard are huge and the cattle are certainly being killed on this ranch by them, even while I was there. Here are some examples of cattle ranch leopard taken over the years by my PH for other clients...

 

[Green Chile]

Prep for leopard hunting…

Leopard hunting is a real art and I feel like it falls into a few main subject areas at a practical level once you hit the ground; finding spoor, baiting strategies, and blind setups. I will share a few thoughts on each subject going forward just about my own learning.

I was fortunate to hunt with two real leopard specialists on this hunt. Between the two PHs, they have taken over 230 leopards and their trackers are highly experienced as well. I felt like this was a graduate level exercise in solving the leopard riddle. I'm a problem solver by profession so I was thrilled to participate and was like a sponge, soaking up everything and taking a lot of notes along the way.

Mental prep…

One of the things I think is important to success in any hunting endeavor is to feel prepared myself. There is equipment prep, shooting prep, etc but I want to educate myself in any way possible. To that end, I did a lot of reading over the years to learn anything and everything I could about leopard hunting. There aren’t a ton of resources but there are some books and DVDs. They might take some looking and some spending to get there but I felt like these particular resources were great investments in mental prep to having a good leopard experience. Reading leopard stories is one thing but finding practical leopard hunting wisdom and strategy is a different need. These are the resources I have found that help in that regard that I would recommend to others.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Is there one or two of those books you would mark at the top

 

[Green Chile]

Is there one or two of those books you would mark at the top

Assuming you have The Perfect Shot already for general Africa use, Chui is very good. I would also recommend the Leopard DVD. The Boddington book is nice but expensive as is Into the Thorns, which is very hard to find. So I would recommend the Boddington DVD and Chui above the others. The DVD is the easiest to find of all of it.

 

[Red Leg]

Leopard for days and days

Well, this whole 14 day hunt was leopard focused…start to finish…from day 1 to day 14. Leopard are tough. Sometimes they are taken quickly or easily and I almost feel sorry for those hunters. Luck is always good to have but leopard are not easily taken by most who pursue them. I think Craig Boddington spent over 80 nights in a leopard blind over many safaris before he took one. My first African hunt almost 20 years ago was supposed to be a leopard hunt with Dries Visser in South Africa. The permits didn’t come through so you might say my first attempt for leopard was a bust. I’ve always wanted to check that box and have that experience.

On my first trip to Africa about 17 years ago, I was hunting with CMS Safaris for tuskless at a tented camp in Makuti. One night, I heard something walking quietly on the sand path beside my tent. It wasn’t human…it wasn’t hard hooves…it was something with soft padded feet. It was measured careful walking…it was intelligent. Some may doubt it but I know I heard it come up to the tent next to the bed and I heard it distinctly sniffing…smelling the air. In the morning, I came to breakfast before sunup and said hey, call me crazy but I heard something strange last night walking beside my tent. The tracker went over to look and said a female leopard had paid us a call in the night and had walked right up to my bed side of the tent. That female leopard brought in 2 or 3 big males after our hunt and CMS clients shot 2 of them. Leopard are just special. To my eyes, no predator is more beautiful than a big spotted cat.

Cattle killing leopard are huge and the cattle are certainly being killed on this ranch by them, even while I was there. Here are some examples of cattle ranch leopard taken over the years by my PH for other clients...

View attachment 561856

View attachment 561857

View attachment 561858

On the second evening of my leopard hunt, we were sitting in a ground blind consisting of a canvas/nylon popup additionally hidden by cut branches in front. It was pitch black with no moon, and I had the same sensation. The slightest sounds beyond the tent wall by my knee, and suddenly Nick Nolte's hand silently pressing against my other. I could feel the animal's presence - and then I couldn't. We waited about an hour and headed in. Nick's only comment was "the professor, I'll show you in the morning." Sure enough, a huge set of tracts walked up to the front left corner of the blind around the back and then to the right front corner of the blind and moved off. His nose had to be inches from my right side. Apparently this particular cat had perfected this technique. Amazing creatures.

 

[Green Chile]

Shooting prep…

We all prep differently for hunts but one of the things I intentionally did for this leopard hunt is to get a single shot rifle ready. It was very strategic for me to mentally limit myself to one shot only. I could have picked any number of rifles, like most of us here. I started by saying...wake up...I only have ONE shot. What caliber you pick...what load you like...there are many options. In a very broad sense, pick a favorite deer rifle and put a good soft bullet in it and you're done.

Remember, most of the shooting on a leopard rifle is going to be used in getting the bait animals for the leopard. In many cases, that will be impala, warthog or whatever is easily found. You will need a lot of bait for most leopard hunts. Sometimes you can do a buffalo, hippo, etc but where I was hunting it would be impala mostly to draw the cat in and then we would get a zebra to try and hold the cat on the bait for several nights. I shot 12 impala and 1 zebra on this hunt for bait use. That's a lot of practice with the exact setup you will be using for leopard and helps a lot with confidence. It's one thing to practice back home and a very different thing to see bait animals dropping quickly on your hunt. There's no substitute for confidence based on facts!

I do think the optics for a leopard rifle are a VERY specialized application in Africa. For me, the only answer was a lighted reticle. If you don't have one, then get one! I just don't think we should have the excuse that I couldn't see my reticle or the light was bad...but I shot anyway! I just can't think that way so I made sure I had the optics really nailed down. For me, it's a Swaro Z8i and in this case, was the 1-8x.

 

[Green Chile]

On the second evening of my leopard hunt, we were sitting in a ground blind consisting of a canvas/nylon popup additionally hidden by cut branches in front. It was pitch black with no moon, and I had the same sensation. The slightest sounds beyond the tent wall by my knee, and suddenly Nick Nolte's hand silently pressing against my other. I could feel the animal's presence - and then I couldn't. We waited about an hour and headed in. Nick's only comment was "the professor, I'll show you in the morning." Sure enough, a huge set of tracts walked up to the front left corner of the blind around the back and then to the right front corner of the blind and moved off. His nose had to be inches from my right side. Apparently this particular cat had perfected this technique. Amazing creatures.

What a fantastic memory. These cats are special.

 

[Daisy]

On the second evening of my leopard hunt, we were sitting in a ground blind consisting of a canvas/nylon popup additionally hidden by cut branches in front. It was pitch black with no moon, and I had the same sensation. The slightest sounds beyond the tent wall by my knee, and suddenly Nick Nolte's hand silently pressing against my other. I could feel the animal's presence - and then I couldn't. We waited about an hour and headed in. Nick's only comment was "the professor, I'll show you in the morning." Sure enough, a huge set of tracts walked up to the front left corner of the blind around the back and then to the right front corner of the blind and moved off. His nose had to be inches from my right side. Apparently this particular cat had perfected this technique. Amazing creatures.

I laugh every time I read Nick Nolte. Can’t help but to think this….

 

[Red Leg]

That is unfortunate. I think of friends. This is Dirk De Bod and Nick Nolte when we were all a bit younger.

 

[Green Chile]

Finding spoor…

Once you're prepped and on the ground, you have to go find leopard spoor/tracks/activity. I think it's ok to hang a bait in an area that has produced leopards in the past but usually, you want to hang your baits where the sign is current not old. We covered a lot of miles in this 50 sq mile region early in the hunt. Lots of driving around with everyone looking down into the dirt. Occasionally an impala would pop up and we would take it. Then we would return to looking for sign. It was common to have 2 or 3 baits in the truck and we weren't hanging any of them. Where do you spend your precious, limited baits? That is the most important question in the first few days of leopard hunting. There will be many discussions and many miles spent answering that question.

You also would prefer to hang your baits on adult male spoor, not female or young male activity. That gets a little into strategy but we were covering every road and backwater path we could find to see where leopard activity crossed. One thing to keep in mind with leopards is that they are lazy walkers. They don't want to take the hard way. Their feet are soft and while they can go anywhere, they prefer easy walking. So you can get a lot of info by checking the roads. Many times you will find their tracks walking down the same road you are driving on.

While the PHs are very good with spoor and ultimately make the final decisions, the trackers have a way of blowing your mind. You're driving in the dark and they are standing in the back of the truck watching the road go by at 10, 20, 30 mph and then you hear tapping on the roof. They want to back up and look at something...or they see something ahead on the road. You get down and no, that's a hyena track...or often, it's a leopard track and they want to look at it. They might even tell you it's a female track before getting out of the truck but they want to see it anyway. How they do that in the dark while moving at speed is a total mystery to me. Wonderful but crazy!

 

[Green Chile]

That is unfortunate. I think of friends. This is Dirk De Bod and Nick Nolte when we were all a bit younger.

Two giants in the industry. Big respect to those 2 pros.

 

[PARA45]

I am having a map of Africa on one of mine. Got the idea from @Tanks

If you have the space, this!

 

[Green Chile]

If you have the space, this!

I am having a map of Africa on one of mine. Got the idea from @Tanks

Any photos y'all could share? There's some cool stuff out there.

 

[Green Chile]

One early morning, while looking for spoor, we drove past a cattle kraal and noticed a calf lying strangely on its own in the hot sunshine. We called over to a herder and asked what had happened. A leopard had attacked it during the night and before it could be dragged out of the kraal, the momma cow chased it off. Unfortunately, the calf did not survive…and yes, after checking the spoor, this was the same alpha tom we had been looking for!

 

[CAustin]

Elephant day

Elephant was always going to be secondary on this leopard hunt but sometimes the hunt gives you something special and you take it! We had seen a lot of elephant tracks while looking for leopard spoor. One morning, at first light, we decided to look for the elephant we heard in camp behind us at night...feeding, breaking branches and pushing over trees all night. We saw a large elephant bull and his 5 askari young bulls right after they had crossed the boundary from our side. They were going uphill away from us and we had just missed them by literally about one minute. The old bull, of about 40 pounds ivory and much larger bodied than the young bulls, was slowly taking his time and the askaris were running uphill to catch up to him…a beautiful sight to see. I would have loved to have that on film to share with you. We just sat there soaking it in and it's burned into my memory. Elephants are magical to me. I never tire of watching them.

This CAMPFIRE area is primarily known for elephant bulls coming out of Hwange Park and also for having large ranch leopards that eat cattle. We saw good ellie tracks every day and a few times, we drove past some in the bush. A few nights we had them in camp, breaking trees just behind us in the night. I find the sounds of elephant feeding to be interesting and relaxing. You hear the swish of their ears and tail…the loud CRAAACK of a tree being pushed over…the rumble of their low frequency communication….wonderful sounds.

One morning while checking for leopard spoor on the far side of the concession, we stopped to talk to a local cattle rancher. He said I’ve got elephant everywhere…you must come and take one! Normally, you hear all kinds of promises from locals hoping for a small reward for the info or to get lucky with some meat. This guy said I will take you to them! He was motivated so we said we’re here, let’s go see what he’s talking about. He jumped into the truck and we drove back into a very interesting area. It was like an elephant bedroom back in the trees. The damage was intense with lots of broken acacia trees and shattered green thorn bushes. Elephant spoor and dung was everywhere. We pulled the big guns out and started working through the wind and cover. Hey you know it's serious if the game scout decides to load his AK...hah. Within about 1 hour and a couple of miles we found them.

As commonly happens, we heard them before we saw them. Trees were cracking and falling but otherwise, it was eerily silent. Of course, elephant walk almost silently on those big padded feet, so we checked the wind and eased into them. Out of all the hunting I’ve done, working through elephants is my favorite thing and I will never be tired of it. We stood quietly on the edge of this group of trees, about 15 yards away and watched 12-15 bulls feeding in front of us. We had no idea what was in this group of bulls but we had the wind in our favor so we just stood very still and quiet to see them move around and get a sense of the size of them. Most of them were askaris…young bulls of 20 pounds with a few 30's. There was one larger bull among them of about 40 pounds per side…but wait! There was a larger bodied bull than all of them with thick, dark ivory behind them all. This bull pushed on a large acacia tree and it came crashing down about 40 yards in front of us. I’m not good at estimating ivory but that’s the PH’s job. Funny thing is we didn’t even discuss it. It was a special moment as the air kind of went out of us...and the PHs, tracker and myself just all turned at the same time to focus on this bull. When you see a big one, you just know!

The problem with this bull was he was at the BACK of the herd. We observed them feed for a few minutes and watched as the order shuffled around. The larger bull stayed at the back and so we decided to shift sideways just enough to catch a shooting angle. For a brief moment, the wind started to shift and in my mind, I thought this won’t last long. I got on the sticks and the distance was about 40-45 yards…much further than you would like on elephant but we were pressing our luck already with this many eyes, ears and trunks right in front of us. I asked the PH to back me up on the shot as we were very close to the boundary. Being 40 plus yards distance to the bull in the back, it wasn’t time for anything fancy so I looked for a good broadside angle and took a heart shot. At the shot, the bull visibly buckled and turned to run. The PH shot once on the turning ele from his 470 double (as requested) and the whole herd pivoted and moved down wind in a big cloud of dust as only ele can do. We stood still and within seconds, heard the loud crash of the bull falling in his run. He had gone less than 50 yards. We carefully approached and I paid the insurance.

The closer we got to this bull, the bigger he got! He has the large body genetics of Botswana bulls (and could easily be from Botswana) and his head was very large, making his ivory seem smaller. I was amazed at this bull after having an expectation of around 40 pounds ivory. He’s bigger than that…more to come later.

View attachment 561397

View attachment 561396

View attachment 561402
View attachment 561398

View attachment 561399

View attachment 561400

View attachment 561401

Great Bull congratulations

 

[CAustin]

Yes I’m hunting with D&Y

Excellent choice.

 

[Green Chile]

Baiting strategies…

Anyone can find spoor eventually but then what do you do? I think this is one of the most critical aspects of solving the leopard riddle; what do you do after you find leopard activity? If you find female tracks, you have to consider whether or not you want to act on that.

There is sound strategy in using a big female cat to bring in a big male. We did some of that on this hunt and I fully agreed with the strategy. I would do it all over again and for those going for leopard, you should consider using this same strategy.

We had a boundary area next to a fantastic property that we didn’t have access to. They have incredible game densities on the other side due to good management, good water and great anti-poaching programs. We saw a lot of nice PG on their side of the fence. When we found great female leopard spoor on our side of the boundary, we decided to roll the dice and use some bait to see if we could keep the female active on our bait, hoping she would draw in a big tom…maybe from the other side. Leopards move around wherever they want. Sometimes here...sometimes there.

We worked that angle as ONE option for about 10 days. It didn’t pay off but we got some beautiful photos of the tabby cat. She was a large female but they aren’t legal. Want to see her? No problem…

I love that last photo of her yawning. Good looking cat!