Leopard Hunts in Africa

Legendary African Safaris is pleased to offer high quality hunts for trophy leopard in many of Africa's top producing areas. With hunting concessions available in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia, we have access to multiple excellent areas.

For many hunters, a large male leopard is the trophy of a lifetime. Along with being an incredibly beautiful cat, leopards also have a unique appeal given their reputation to get nasty when wounded. With razor sharp claws, vicious jaws, lightning quick speed and a serious temper, leopards are known for cutting up hunters at a rate of 200 stiches for every five seconds of an attack. With front claws, back claws and teeth all cutting at once, it's amazing how few hunters are actually killed by wounded leopards. But if a leopard isn't hit well and anchored in its place, it immediately becomes a dangerous situation. While it can seem exciting to go into these situations, most professional hunters in Africa will confess that this is their most feared enemy when heading into deep brush. As a result, any hunters interested in booking a leopard hunt are encouraged to be very precise with their shooting, and fully understand the anatomy of the animal before making the shot.

Leopard Hunting Tactics

While leopards are hunted with both baiting and the use of dogs, at Legendary African Safaris we focus our efforts entirely with the use of baits. Leopards are incredibly intelligent cats, and can be very difficult to hunt if you don't pay attention to small details along the way. Along with being largely nocturnal, leopards also possess extremely good hearing and an excellent sense of smell. As a result, hunters must be willing to sit completely still and in complete silence for hours on end while in the blind, as the slightest movement may scare away a leopard approaching the bait.

While sitting in a freshly constructed grass blind, hunters will often see other game animals visiting the bait site and checking out the new food source. Vultures, hyenas, and even lions may approach the bait site depending on the location and whatever predators may be in the immediate area. This can add some often needed entertainment in the blind, as sometimes hours will go by without seeing a thing. Any hunter who has harvested a large trophy leopard will tell you though that patience is the name of the game, and that success is well worth the time put into the blind. When that large leopard finally appears out of nowhere and jumps into the baited tree, every previous second of boredom will be completely behind you. Then it's just up to you to make the shot.

Leopard Hunting Details

As with many game species in Africa, there is a large misunderstanding among the non-hunting community about leopard populations and management of the species. In many parts of Africa, leopards are actually quite abundant. Government organizations throughout Africa carefully monitor leopard populations to ensure the survival and sustainability of the species, and local communities have also become very involved in the regulation. With a clear understanding that sport hunting brings in significant revenue and food supplies for local villages and communities, local residents have become volunteer game managers, and have become very active in the prevention and monitoring of poaching within their areas. They understand that if there are no more leopards (or Elephant, Sable, etc.) that there will be no more sport hunting, and these revenue sources (and local food sources from the game) will disappear forever. This has made a noticeable impact over the last number of years as local residents, government organizations and professional hunters all work together.

Having said that, even in areas with a very healthy number of leopards, the local governments have become very strict with issuing permits and tags are very limited in supply. This is excellent news for not only the local populations, but also for hunters interested in shooting a real trophy cat. With very limited hunting pressure, hunters do not need to feel rushed to shoot the first leopard that appears on a bait site. Instead, providing there is sufficient time on their safari and multiple cats in an area, hunters and outfitters can carefully review tracks around bait sites as well as trail camera photos to really evaluate a cat before moving in to set up a blind. At the end of the hunt, if it is successful, the hunters will normally leave their safari with a true trophy leopard.

Leopard hunts may be conducted in many parts of Africa and in our multiple concessions including:

• Namibia
• Zimbabwe
• South Africa
• Mozambique

Please contact Legendary African Safaris today for more information about leopard hunting opportunities in Africa. We'll look forward to speaking with you.