Namibian Leopard

RooseveltBrowning Hunt Club member Joey Hurst enjoyed a very successful safari in Namibia last year, including an exciting leopard hunt.  We join Joey’s hunt on the third day:

“At sunup we are out in force to look for this leopard: about ten trackers, three professional hunters (PHs), and three Texans (two of which acted like they were on a quail hunt back home, and got promptly sent back to the truck).  Leopard recovery is serious work and is to be taken as a life-and-death venture for everyone involved.  The trackers, knowing this, armed themselves with big knives, axe handles, and anything else that would work as a weapon.  The PHs had .375 H&H magnums and a good tracking dog.”

“By this time I'd come to believe that I did not have a good hit on this cat and that I might be wasting everyone’s time; however, they found blood and within another mile or so the trackers found where the cat had laid down at least four times.  Time after time the trail was lost and relocated…the cat was being pushed.”

“I'm told by one of the professional hunters to not shoot the cat while it is on top of someone.  At this time, on the front line with both PHs I realize just how serious and just how great this is.  I can see all the trackers and hunters and the dog and every nerve in me is wide awake.  This is playing for keeps and it has all my attention and focus absolutely razor sharp!  As the dog is coming back toward us I hear a roar that is deep and primitive and will raise every hair on your body telling you ‘get any closer and I will kill you’.”

“To my right one PH is swaying back and forth very fast, like a prize fighter trying for a knock out.  He fires into the unbelievably heavy cover and runs the bolt as quickly as possible, snapping another shot.  I see him and where he is shooting but I can't see the cat.  I squat down and still can't see the cat.  Now I see the PH taking a step back: his rifle was jammed and he was ready for assistance in this matter.  He yells that the cat is coming!”

“I think that as I start for him we are only ten or fifteen feet from the edge of the thick stuff, and it's going to be pretty tight if the cat clears cover and I have to take the shot.  I make it to him, stepping into the line of sight the PH has, and I see the leopard rolling back onto it's feet in a crouch getting ready for action.  I take the shot quickly, the range about 25 feet or less.  Through years of cowboy action shooting the lever is jacked and a cartridge is in the chamber while the spent case is still traveling overhead.  It was unneeded as the leopard had given up the ghost.  A leopard with an 1895 Winchester in .405 WCF.  Yes, you guessed it…IT'S BIG MEDICINE FOR LEOPARD TOO!”

On Safari With Club Member Joey Hurst