Is a short duration group African Leopard Hunt possible?
July 9th, 2010
The information below is an answer for a Client requesting a short duration group Leopard Hunting Safari. Our GSS Hunting Consultant Africa Specialist, Bob Anderson, wrote the following response.
Based on your conversation with Rick yesterday concerning a short leopard hunt for three to four hunters, let me give you my perspective on this.
Most, if not all, leopard hunts are a minimum of 14 days in length and are conducted one on one. To have 3 to 4 hunters in one camp that all want leopard at the same time will be virtually impossible – so somebody would go home empty handed. One of my best outfitters has a success on leopard that runs around 85% on 14 day hunts – cut that time in half and the odds of being successful go way down. The outfitters set the length of these safaris based on the amount of time reasonably necessary to take the targeted species.
That is not to say that you couldn’t book a 14 day leopard hunt with the caveat that your group would, by necessity, have to be split up so that your hunts are not competing against one another and if you were all successful in less than 14 days, then you could leave once you had collected your cats. You can also increase your odds of success by pre-baiting where the outfitter sets approximately 15 different baits per hunter in the hopes that one or more baits will be active upon your arrival. Most outfitters will not charge you extra to pre-bait other than the bait fees themselves which run $100/animal for bait impala. I have attached a photo of a leopard that was just taken on the first day of the hunt by using the pre-baiting approach, but this is the exception, not the rule and you are still running the risk that one of you will come home empty handed (when talking four hunters). The outfitters will not even consider a shorter hunt as leopard is in fairly high demand and they can sell the hunt to someone else for the full 14 days and these hunters will likely take trophy plains game species as well.
The best time to hunt baited leopard in April until mid May so you have missed the best time this year and this outfitter has already sold all of his leopard hunts for 2010 anyway, so we would be looking at 2011 at the earliest. I have an enquiry into another one of our outfitters in Zimbabwe to see if he has any openings left for this year, but it is highly unlikely at this late date – particularly for three or four hunters.
Insofar as hunting with dogs, there are very few good houndsmen available, they are typically all booked well in advance, and to try and bay four mature male leopards in five to seven days is also virtually impossible. Hunting must be done very early in the morning while the spoor is still fresh and it becomes increasingly difficult as the morning progresses to find fresh spoor that can be tracked by the dogs – so this is hit or miss, takes time, and is not something that is conducive to a group hunt in a short period of time either. Just being honest!
Now, there is another alternative that fits right into your hunting plans and that is lion hunting in South Africa. These are captive raised lions that are behind fences in pastures that are thousands of acres in size. There is no baiting involved, you are not trying to lure lions to a bait placed outside of a national park - the lions are there, they know how big they are, and it is fair chase hunting in that you will track the lions on foot until the lion is located and a shot presents itself and it can be dangerous. Following is an excerpt I received from my outfitter in South Africa this morning:
“I had 2 clients last year who hunted lion. The 1st client from New Jersey hunted a lioness. The 2nd client from Austria hunted a male lion. We hunted in the North West province near the border of Botswana. The owners have a property of 30,000 acres and the area where the lions are is about 11,000 acres. This was one of the most exiting hunts I have ever done. The PH who went with us was very professional. The area is very sandy. The evening before the day of the hunt, just before dark, they broom the roads. Early in the morning of the hunt we drive on the roads and search for tracks. Once we found the tracks we have to walk from there on. We follow the tracks on foot till we find the lions and then we hunt them. This is a fair chase and very exciting. It is really a fantastic adrenaline rush because the lion can at any time be behind any bush. Our 2 hunts were very successful and the hunters shot well.”
The outfitter advises that he can arrange lion hunting for three to four hunters at the same time. The trophy fee on a male lion would run between $30,000 and $50,000 depending on the size of the mane. I have attached pictures of a male lion in the $35,000 price range. The daily rate of $450/day per hunter is not included in the price and he currently has openings this year as follows: June 1-10, July 5-15, September 2-14, or anytime in October.
If you would prefer to take a lioness (just as exciting, but no “MGM” manes), the trophy fee would be $9,500 and she would be hunted under the same conditions. The normal plains game would also be available on the hunt at the published trophy fee rate.
If you have a group that wants to hunt the big cats and only have a limited amount of time – this will be about the best that I can do.
Let me know if you have any questions or require any additional information in this regard.
Sincerely,
Bob Anderson
Certified Wildlife Biologist
Hunting Consultant & Africa Program Director
Global Sporting Safaris, Inc.
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