This article regarding a leopard hunt in Namibia was originally published in SCI's Safari Magazine's May/June 2003 edition.

Spots on the Rocks

It was the morning of the last day of the hunt and the odds for harvesting a leopard on this hunt were getting short. It was my first hunt for a leopard and I was well aware that leopard hunts do not have a high probability of success. Several friends of mine have experienced unsuccessful hunts for leopard; including one who had required 73 days and 5 different hunts before taking one.

 This hunt was taking place on a private farm with nearly 35,000 acres, called Westfalenhof, located in the mountains about 100 miles to the northwest of Windhoek, Namibia. Westfalenhof is owned and operated by Friedrich and Uta Redecker and it has been in the Redecker family for four generations. Friedrich is a licensed Professional Hunter in Namibia and was serving as the PH for this hunt.

 Friedrich and Uta’s hunting operation is one of a group of 5 Namibia farms that have formed a hunting organization called Die Keiler. These 5 farms are located in central and northern Namibia and, as a group, provide a large variety of species which can be hunted. Most of the hunts offered by the Die Keiler group are for free ranging game and each of the farms tends to specialize in hunts for species that are prevalent in their area. The Redecker’s farm is the only one of the Die Keiler group that offers leopard hunts.

 I had booked this leopard hunt with the Redeckers as the result of a recommendation from a friend of mine, Bob Thomsen, who had successfully hunted leopard with them two years earlier. He had assured me that there where a lot of leopard in the area and that my chances for actually getting one should be quite good.  In the instance of Bob’s hunt, on the third day, they had actually seen the leopard eating at one of their baits at 11:00 in the morning. He had taken his shot at the leopard at 190 yards and it had died within 30 yards of the bait tree.

 Although his shot had been a whole lot further than I planned to shot at any leopard and I didn’t really anticipate seeing a leopard roaming around during the day that Bob had gotten lucky after only three hunting days was encouraging. At the very least, it was a good indication that there were leopards in the area.

 The trip to Africa was as long, tiring and as basically uneventful as usual. I was met at the Windhoek airport by another member of the Die Keiler group as Friedrich was tied up with a doctor’s appointment in Windhoek. After meeting up with Friedrich and Uta in Windhoek, we drove in their Kombi to their farm. On the way, we had an encounter with a spitting cobra that sprayed one of the vehicle’s tires as we passed it. Fortunately, that was the only cobra that was seen on this trip.

After a night’s sleep to shake off some of the jet lag and then sighting in my rifle, it was off to check a zebra calf that had been set several days earlier and then to set some more baits. We found the tracks of 2 large leopards and shot a kudu calf for bait, finding nothing had eaten on the zebra. Before the morning was done, Friedrich started feeling ill and we had to return to his house. Since Friedrich had been having some reoccurring bouts of illness for the last several months, it was decided that it would be best if Uta took him into Windhoek for some more thorough tests. Under the circumstances, continuing with my leopard hunt was becoming questionable.

 That afternoon, I went out with Gernot – one of their sons who was home on school break - to set some more baits. We set up two more baits – another kudu calf and a large baboon – at water holes where there were recent tracks of leopards. That evening, Uta called to say that Friedrich was going to have to stay in Windhoek for a couple of days and that they were arranging that I move to a neighboring farm to continue my hunt. Uta indicated that the owner of this farm was also a licensed PH and there were quite a few leopards on the farm. Gernot was to continue checking the baits on the Redecker’s farm and if a good leopard started feeding, I would be brought back to hunt it. Under the circumstances, it appeared to be as reasonable an approach as any.

 Gernot and I went out the next morning to see if we had drawn any interest in the baits. Although two of the baits had had leopards pass near them in the night, neither of them had been fed on. After lunch, I was introduced to Gerhard Liedtke who had driven down from his farm and who was to be my new PH.

 It turned out that although the border of the Liedtke’s farm is only some 5 miles from the northern end of Friedrich’s farm, the drive to it was nearly 40 miles. We had to go around a mountain range in order to get there. Gerhard’s farm is called Okondura Nord and is also quite large with nearly 25,000 acres. Their central compound includes newly constructed guest facilities that are akin to a good motel.  Martina, Gerhard’s wife, had placed in my room a rug mount from a large leopard that was recently taken on their farm and was awaiting shipment to their client. It certainly didn’t look like I was going to be “roughing” it and the leopard rug in my room was definitely encouraging!

 After dinner with his family, Gerhard brought out a bottle of his home brewed cactus schnapps. Expedited by the schnapps, our conversation ranged over stories of spitting cobras, gaboon vipers and “stalked” leopards. Now, I had never heard of anyone successfully stalking a leopard and was quite skeptical that it was possible.  Gerhard was insistent that he had successfully done it twice. Both times, he had spotted a leopard resting on a rock while driving around and the hunter and he had been able to stalk within shooting range. Once, they had been able to get within 20 yards before the leopard saw them and growled. At which point, Gerhard told the hunter to shoot the thing before he attacked them.

 Although Gerhard assured me that it was quite possible for us to spot a leopard and then stalk it, I really couldn’t give the technique much chance of success. Combining the low probability of so much as seeing a leopard during daylight with the low probability of it being in a position where it could be stalked and shot had to put the odds for such an event happening at lower than winning a lottery – possible but nothing that I would care to put my money on.

 The next morning, we drove around Gerhard’s farm looking for recent leopard tracks in locations suitable for baiting. We also spent some time scanning the rocky hills with our binoculars – just in case we got lucky. Finding several locations with tracks of medium to large leopards, we returned for lunch. Martina reported that Uta had called to say that a brown hyena had been feeding on one of the baits but none had been hit by a leopard.

 The afternoon and the next morning were spent setting baits. Most of the baits we set used horsemeat. Gerhard had decided to use one of his horses which had a nasty temperament and which he didn’t care much about for leopard bait. When we were finished, we had set out 8 leopard baits. All of them were placed near recent tracks of different medium to large leopards, probably males.

 As we drove around, a likely reason for the large number of leopards in the area became evident. There were dead kudu scattered all over the farm. Apparently, they were dying from some kind of a rabies that had reappeared after being absent for over 20 years. We found several adult kudu that had been fed upon by leopard. For the leopards, there were “free” lunches all over the place. Coming back in the evening we came upon a young kudu bull that must have been in the later stages of the disease. It was attacking a cattle fence and, when we got close, it started to attack our vehicle’s radiator. The kudu must have had some sense left because when Gerhard grabbed his rifle, it broke off and jumping the fence, disappeared into the night.

 The next morning, the results on our baits indicated that the leopards may have preferred the easily available kudu to horse meat. None of our baits had been hit and a large leopard had just walked by one of them without eating. Coming in for lunch, we heard that Uta had reported that a large leopard had fed on the zebra calf and that Friedrich was OK and returning from Windhoek. So it was pack up and head back to the Redecker’s.

 We were met back at Westfalenhof by a busy scene. Friedrich was back and collecting the gear needed for the evening’s stand. His guys had already loaded up the panels for his knock-down blind and were just about ready to roll. Ten minutes after arriving, we were driving out to the bait.

 Although the leopard had had a good meal from the zebra calf, there was more than enough of it left for bait. The blind was set up, camouflaged with brush and grass and our silent wait began. Long after dark, we gave up and radioed the vehicle. No leopard had come in.

 Nearing the bait the next morning, we came on the tracks and fresh droppings of the leopard. He had come after we had left, dragged the zebra to some nearby rocks and spent the rest of the night leisurely eating the rest of the calf. Based on the freshness of his droppings, he probably hadn’t departed the area until shortly before sunrise.

 Checking the rest of the baits, we found that it had been a busy night on the farm. A leopard had dragged a kudu calf higher in the bait tree and partly eaten it. This was the same tree that Bob had shot his leopard out of 2 years earlier. The hyena had finished off the kudu calf which we replaced with a kudu cow. A pair of leopards had had a few snacks from the baboon while, judging from their tracks, apparently performing mating rituals around the carcass. The tracks of the pair were so fresh that we suspected they might have been spooked by our driving up.

 Since it was only mid-morning, we set up a quick stand near the baboon bait and sent away the Land Rover in the hopes that the pair might return. Of course they didn’t. Giving it a few hours, we decided that our best bet might be to try again for the large male that had been on the zebra last night.

 The remains of the zebra calf were dragged back to were they could be seen from our blind which had been left where it was the previous night. We topped off the bait with another kudu calf, staked down both baits and began our wait. This time we gave it until several hours after dark before radioing the vehicle. Nothing!

 Checking the next morning, we found that nothing had come into the zebra bait but that the leopards had been back to the baboon bait after we had left. Unfortunately, we also found their tracks heading into the southern end of the mountains and out of the area in which we were hunting. The leopard had dragged the kudu calf bait out of the tree and into some rocks. Nothing had visited the kudu cow bait.

 Since the leopard that had dragged the kudu calf out the tree was the only active bait, we set up a blind for it. Waiting until long after dark, it was another fruitless night.

 The next morning was a bust as nothing had come into any of the baits we had out. The only fresh tracks which we found were of two leopards – probably a male and female – who were also heading out of our hunting area. Deciding to increase the number of baits, we shot a young gemsbok and set it in a previously unbaited location along a creek bed that leopard liked to travel. Trying to shoot at a kudu calf to rebait “Bob’s” tree, I learned once again why it is not a good idea to shoot through brush. I took a shot at the calf from about 40 yards and the bullet impacted the dirt 10 yards short of the animal. The bullet had clipped the bottom of an unseen branch resulting in a major deflection.

 With no baits active, waiting at a waterhole seemed to offer as reasonable a chance as any so we set up a blind at the waterhole where the baboon bait had been. Although no leopard came in, it turned out to be an active waterhole and we got some good videos of a baboon troop, and of groups of kudu and gemsbok.  While we waited at the waterhole, Gernot shot a zebra calf and rebaited “Bob’s” tree.

 The next morning was another bust with nothing having visited any of the baits. Fred’s guys had found the track of one male leopard near the kudu cow. However, the leopard hadn’t touched the bait and they lost its tracks in the grass. Since the leopard had traveled near the kudu cow, we set up in a blind covering a both a waterhole and the bait.

 Again no leopard and again we took some great videos of zebra, warthog and kudu including the biggest kudu bull I have seen alive. If I hadn’t taken a good kudu on a previous trip to Africa, I would have been more than happy to pay Friedrich his trophy fee for that one.

 It was now the last day of the hunt and the next morning I had to leave Namibia to fly back to South Africa for some other commitments. The first baits we checked were untouched. We were heading to the waterhole were we had spent the previous evening when Friedrich said “there’s a leopard on that hill”. A quick look to my left confirmed Fred’s sighting, a couple hundred yards off was a leopard laying on a rock near the top of a kopje. It head was raised and sky lighted.

 I cranked the 10 power scope up to its maximum and looked at the leopard. It was looking straight at me and it definitely was an adult leopard. There was no way that we were going to be able to sneak up on this leopard. My only chance was to take a shot from where we were before it decided that it had more important things to do elsewhere.

 Being from Wisconsin, where 100 yards is a long shot, it looked like an awful long way to where that leopard lay. Additionally, as it was laying down almost directly facing us, it present only a small target.

 I had left my laser range finder in the front of the Land Rover so I asked Gernot to range it. He did and called it 206 yards to the rock. That made me a lot more comfortable since with the 100 yard sight-in, my 300 Win Mag hand-loaded Barnes X coated boat tail bullet would be only 2.5” low at 200 yards. With the leopard 200+ feet above us, no elevation hold over was needed. The wind was blowing from our left so I gave it a couple inches windage, held on the point of its shoulder, settled in a good rest and fired.

 Coming down from recoil, I saw the leopard falling backward off the rock with its feet splayed out. Friedrich kept repeating “unbelievable” with a big smile on his face. Friedrich and Gernot had been watching through binoculars when I fired. At the shot, the leopard had leaped up and then kind of “flopped” off the rock. It definitely wasn’t a typical “cat like” maneuver off the rock. We all agreed that we had a “hit” leopard but whether it was dead or not remained to be seen.

 Since we hadn’t anticipated that we might be following up on a wounded leopard when we left that morning, we had to go back to the ranch house for shotguns, heavy jackets, dogs and additional helpers. The scene of the leopard coming off the rock was engraved on my mind as we drove back. I was well aware of the dangers involved in following up on a wounded leopard and fervently hoped that no one was going to get hurt in this adventure. While the shot had “felt” good, the distance had been just too long for me to be sure that I had hit the leopard where I had wanted.

 The tension was high as we started up the kopje to look for the leopard. Friedrich and Gernot led the way keeping the dogs in front of them, carefully checking each of the rocks and bushes as we got closer. Both of them wore heavy jackets and carried shotguns chambered with buckshot. The half dozen of Friedrich’s farm hands accompanying us were armed with everything from axes to clubs.

 Getting within 50 yards of the rock the leopard had been on; Friedrich positioned me to cover them while they moved in. As he left, he asked me to “please not shoot him if the leopard got on him”. Evidently, he wasn’t any more confident of the leopard being dead than I was.

 Throwing rocks and encouraging the dogs to search each possible hiding place, they slowly moved toward the rock. Getting within 10 feet, one of the trackers moved ahead of everyone, including the dogs, and pointed down. The leopard was dead lying at the foot of the rock. The 150 grain X bullet had hit it at the point of its shoulder, sliced the skin behind its shoulder, cut its spine and ended up in its rear. Probably it had died before the sound of the shot reached it.

 With the congratulations over, pictures taken and the leopard in the back of the Land Rover; we drove the remaining mile to the waterhole where we had waited the previous evening. Yes – the leopard had fed on the kudu cow after we left and had probably also drunk at the water trough. With a full stomach, it had gone to the nearest kopje to rest and to observe its territory. Unfortunately for the leopard, it had picked a rock to lay on which sky lighted it.

 Later, while we were celebrating the hunt, Friedrich told me how lucky I had been. In 25 years of hunting leopard on his ranch, only 5 times has he seen leopard during day light. On three of those occasions, the leopard was taken. Mine had been the third one taken in day light in 25 years. There may be some truth to the old hunter’s saying; “I would rather be lucky than good”.