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ARTICLES
Leopard Hunt with Hounds
By Morgan Silvers
I met Pete Fick at the Georgia Safari Club 2 years ago.
Pete hunts with Barrie Duckworth of Mokore Safaris in Zimbabwe.
Mokore Safaris do four leopard hunts a year with hounds.
They also do the standard blind hunts. The hounds perked
my interest and I booked the hunt.
I arrived in camp April 29, 2004 for a 14 day hunt for leopard
and plains game. They have great quality of plains game.
I took a 30 inch waterbuck, a 53 1/2 inch kudu and several
other trophies.
We did some bait hunting for zebra, while we were waiting
for the houndsman to arrive from another hunt. After we
set our approximately 11-12 baits, Gary Niles of South Africa’s
East Cape showed up in camp with the hounds.
Pete is pretty picky about the size of cat that we will
turn the dogs loose on. In addition to the size of the track,
he wants a stride of 39 inches or greater. My cat had a
stride of 43 inches. This is a good indication of the size
of the leopard.
 The first day we cut a nice 44 inch
cat. We turned the dogs loose. To the embarrassment of Gary
the dogs bayed a honey badger. That was the end of day one
leopard hunting. Pete says on the average it takes two days
to get your leopard.
The next day we got on the same leopard on a different bait.
We ran him 2 1/2 hours. However, he went over the boundary
and we had to break off pursuit.
The third day we checked bait. We did not see anything we
wanted. Of the 12 baits, leopards had hit eleven. Of course,
some were females and others young toms.
The fourth day we hit pay dirt. I almost told them to go
for a 40 inch cat, but Pete talked me out of it. Thank God
he did. On the very next bait a tom hit sporting a nice
43 inch stride. The guys let the two lead dogs go to work
it out. Soon they were hot on the track and the hunt was
on. After the two lead dogs are working hot together Gary
likes to let loose what he calls his two loose forwards
(Rugby term). We had one complication early in the chase.
The guys ran into elephants and there was a charge. Joraam
had to fire into the air to turn the elephant charge. Fortunately,
it worked. The two hound dogs came to the shot. When they
saw it was not the leopard, they immediately went right
back on the leopard track.
As the dogs pursued, we got into vehicles and drove roads
to cut the stalk down. Finally, we could begin hearing the
dogs. Joraam radioed and told Pete they had the cat bayed.
It was quite a little walk to get Joraam there. I will never
forget the sight of that magnificent leopard in a baobab
tree lying in an Eagle’s nest. Occasionally he would come
part way down the tree and swat at the dogs. He went to
the top and sat facing us. I made a nice heart shot and
it was over. What a rush! He was 7’8" and 180.4 pounds.
Nice!
I would highly recommend this hunt. The hunt was great,
trophy game in abundance and top of the line place to stay.
Gary Niles, the houndsman, hunts for safaris all over Southern
Africa. He tells me that Barrie’s concession is by far his
favorite for leopard.
If anyone is interested in this type of leopard hunt, feel
free to contact me or Mokore Safaris. Remember, they only
do four hound hunts a year. They have done these for only
four years. You may have to book early.
Mokore Safaris - Barrie Duckworth
7 Stable Close - Barrowdale Harare • Zimbabwe
Phone: 011-263-24-453 • Fax: 011-263-4883462
mailto:Mokore@mweb.co.zw
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