Sitting in a leopard blind in Zimbabwe as the sun went down, I started thinking about future opportunities to complete my “Big Five” of African dangerous game.
This hunt started when I arrived in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and was met by my PH, Garth Adams. For the next two hours, we talked about leopard hunting as we drove to Matetsi unit 5. Leopard hunting in Zimbabwe must be in natural light with no pre-baiting. Garth assured me that he had a perfect record on 51 leopard hunts. We caught a lucky break in that a departing hunting family had glimpsed a male leopard while stalking a zebra. I met my trackers, Lucky and Moyo, and Game Ranger Magada and settled into a nice but rustic camp with cabins.
We started out the morning of day one with four zebra quarters for bait and an idea for a bait site. We spotted a herd of impala and added a nice ram to our baits. We established five sites all using Garth’s criteria of a creek or road to separate the bait tree from potential blind locations. The bait tree needed a limb that was high enough to keep lions off the bait and open enough to silhouette a leopard. To keep track, we named each bait site - Austrian Bait (the family that spotted a leopard was from Austria), Lucky Tree, Shumba (lion) Tree, Kalala (River) Bait, and Camp Bait (closest to the camp). By lunch, we had all five sites baited and scented.
That night, a male leopard hit the Austrian Bait, so we built our first blind. Garth only uses all-natural blinds, which we made of Mopane tree poles and long grass (10 feet high) tied together with strips of palm fronds. We arrived at our blind at about 3:00 p.m. in the hot sun and sat until dark thirty. Just before dark, the leopard came in and laid in the bushes under the bait with just his ears visible. Did he know we were there, or was he just full from the morning feed? Maybe he had observed us building the blind. We will never know, but he did not get in the tree.
Every morning started the same with us checking the bait trees for activity and then hunting other animals. On day two, we had a female and a young leopard on the Camp Bait, and we fed them for the next 10 days. I soon added a very nice warthog and a second impala ram to our bag, so we had bait to replenish and establish more bait sites of Kalala II, Spring Bait, Denda (River) Bait, and finally, Last Chance Bait.
We had a hit on Spring Bait sometime during the first night and built a blind the next morning. That leopard never came back. On the 10th day, we spotted a zebra herd before they spotted us and I took a beautiful zebra and got four more quarters to refresh our bait sites. We saw many animals coming in at night – civet, hyenas, lions, and a female Leopard. In Africa, you never know what is around the next corner. The sun set at about 5:40 p.m. each day, and by 6:15 p.m., it was dark and then pitch black by 6:20. On our bait check the next to the last morning, a male leopard had hit the Last Chance bait, so we set about building another blind about 95 yards from the bait tree on the other side of the Denda River. That evening, we got into the blind at 3:30 p.m. and stayed until dark, but the leopard did not show.
For our final day, we decided to be in the blind at 3:30 a.m. and stay until daylight. Just before daylight, the leopard climbed into the tree, but I could not really make him out and could not see the crosshairs at all. I did not want to take the chance of wounding him or scaring him away with an inaccurate shot. He departed before the sun sent light over the horizon.
For the final hunt, we were back to where the story started. We arrived at the blind at about 3:30 p.m., and I said a prayer, asking God to make that leopard hungry. To pass time until dusk, Garth and I read from our electronic devices Robert Ruork’s “Horn of the Hunter,” perfect material while sitting in a leopard blind. Before the sun started to go down, we shut off any devices to avoid any visible light in the blind. At about 5:40 p.m., I was thinking that South Africa might issue tags again next year and maybe I would go to Mozambique or come back to Zimbabwe to get my leopard. I sure hated to be the first unlucky leopard hunter for Garth.
At 6:02 p.m., Garth started shaking my leg. As that was not one of our several prearranged hand signs, I looked at him and he whispered, “Get on your gun.” The most beautiful cat I have ever seen climbed up and started eating the bait. Garth said to shoot him, but just as my finger started to tighten, he whispered, “Wait.” The cat was huge, but Garth needed to confirm that it was a male. The big cat lay down on the branch to eat. For five minutes through my scope, I watched him eat, lying 95 yards away. All I could think was please do not let a lion roar nearby or an elephant herd tromp through the long grass near the river because the leopard would be gone in a flash.
At 6:07 p.m., the cat stood up and Garth gave the all good. At the shot, the leopard fell out of the tree. We had about eight minutes of light left in a 14-day hunt. The guys had heard the shot and the whomp of the hit, and they were very excited. We drove across the river and prepared our retrieval. This would be the dangerous part of the hunt. We carefully approached the bait tree, looking all around in the grass and brush. Finally, we looked directly under the bait and found a pool of blood and a strong trail leading away. Garth cautioned us as a wounded leopard does not give any warning, no growl or roar like a lion, just a lighting fast charge, which can cause damage requiring 100 stitches for every second he is on you. That will keep you alert and wary! It took us 30 minutes to cover 50 yards, following the trail until we reached the long grass along the river. We decided to follow the edge rather than enter the difficult long grass. Suddenly, Garth jerked around and pointed his gun with the flashlight. There lay the magnificent leopard. A couple of rocks were tossed his way and then the celebration began.
Lucky, Moyo, and Magada started singing joyfully. Even though I could not understand a word of their song, it was very special. They sang loudly all the way back to camp where everyone walked out to see our leopard. It had a huge head and weighed approximately 170 pounds. I had completed my African Big Five in a thrilling fashion.
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