The African Twilight Blog

Trey Bloodworth talks about his 15 day leopard hunt safari with African Twilight Safaris.

Day 1 - Tuesday 7/12/11

After breakfast, we sighted in our rifles and then went to check baits and hang more baits. Jaco had already been baiting for weeks. I shot a springbok for bait, and we hung it at a place I cleverly call 'springbok bait'. There are leopard tracks around all the existing baits! After one day here I have seen more tracks from different leopards than I did on my first leopard hunt in South Africa. The van der Merwe farm averages a livestock loss to predators (leopard, hyena or cheetah) about once per week. They appear to be 'covered up' with leopards! They assure me that this still does not mean they are easy to hunt here. Still, just knowing that so many leopards are on this property is exciting. We have three separate trail cameras set on various baits, and plan to add two more for a total of five trail cameras.

Day 2 - Wednesday 7/13/11

I'm up at 5:45 to leave by 7:00. Caleb and Connie go with me – Dru, and Caroline sleep in. We go to check baits – we see steenbok and klipspringer. The sand river bait has tracks all over, large and small. We swap camera cards and go to the springbok bait. No activity, but we put up one of Pop's trail cameras. Walking to that bait I see kudu and Hartmann's mountain zebra – a first for me. We head back for lunch, seeing more klipspringer and steenbok.

At lunch, we checked the trail camera card from the sand river. A nice male came in just before 6:00 p.m. on Day 1; he came back at 9:00 p.m. as well. So, Jaco and I sat in the sand river blind until after 2:00 a.m. the night of Day 2 – no activity. The moon is two days from being full and the wind shifted against us and picked up. Jaco said he's never seen a leopard from a blind when it is windy.

Day 3 - Thursday 7/14/11

Just as I was starting to eat breakfast Jaco came in, with another trail camera card from further up in the mountains. Looking at it on his laptop, it had two cats coming to the bait, one before dark! This looks promising… We go to the sand river bait – the one we sat on last night. Jaco decided to move the blind to the other side of the river due to the wind. We added a new bait about 70 yards upstream and moved the old bait there, too. We checked the springbok bait and added a trail camera. Then we went to the windmill bait in the mountains, which had two cats on the camera card. It took 1½ hours to get there from the sand river bait. We added bait and scouted blind locations. There was no time to set up a blind there; we had to head straight to the sand river bait to get in the blind. We got in at 4:00 p.m. Tomorrow night's a full moon, so we aren't particularly hopeful.

Day 4 - Friday 7/15/11

We stayed in the blind until 10:35 last night with no activity. This relocated blind was much better; we had the wind in our faces all night. The moon was so bright last night that we decided not to sit in the blind tonight for the full moon.

We were up at 6:00 for breakfast, and found out that yesterday Mike shot a nice gemsbok bull. We went to set up the blind at the windmill bait; en route, had a good stalk on a steenbok and a duiker, but no luck. While the trackers set up the blind, we drove a bit and then went on a walk looking for kudu for Caleb. Saw a beautiful klipspringer perfectly silhouetted on a rock 50 yards away, but I already have one. While watching the klipspringer, we heard some kudu snort; we stalked them but never caught up. Glassed them at about 400 yards; the herd had two very nice bulls in it. We left to check another bait (one that I hadn't seen yet); it's a very rough, little-used road in the mountains. En route, I got a mountain zebra after a stalk that was only a few hundred yards. We left two trackers behind to skin the zebra, and went to drop off another bait. Got to camp after 5p.m. and discovered that Dru shot a great kudu this morning! We saw several more klipspringers later; the place is lousy with them.

Day 5 - Saturday 7/16/11

Today Mike shot a springbok, a steenbok, and a nice kudu. This morning, we went to move the sand river blind; the bait has had nothing eaten recently. We repositioned the camera so it wouldn't catch as many pictures of wind. One of the camera cards that we looked at yesterday from the 'first bait' had a beautiful cat on it three different times, including a picture in the morning light at 7:09 a.m. Maré set rocks in the water when he set up this bait so the leopard would have a place to sit while eating. It worked - we have photos of him perched on the rocks.

In the afternoon, Caleb went hunting with Pop and they saw a herd of 36 kudu, all cows and young bulls. Caroline and Connie went with us to the first bait to build the blind, and we sat on it from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., with no activity but a mongoose. The leopard fed for more than thirty minutes the night of Day 4, so it did not return.

Day 6 - Sunday 7/17/11

Pop shot a very nice steenbok, and Mike shot a hartebeest after a long stalk. I slept in for the day after getting back from the blind this morning. None of the baits were hit last night, so we will not sit tonight. It was only one day after the full moon and slightly windy.

Day 7 - Monday 7/18/11

We went to the 'plains' to hunt while the trackers were out checking baits. At one time, while sitting in the truck, I could see 40+ hartebeest, 20+ gemsbok, 12+ zebra, 12+ springbok, and one kudu bull. Caleb shot a nice kudu bull later in the morning. The trackers radioed us that the windmill bait got hit last night, so we will sit there tonight. We have had at least four separate male leopards hit various baits: the sand river bait, the windmill bait, the first bait, and the fountain bait. We have trail camera photos of all the hits but the fountain bait. En route to the leopard blind this afternoon, I turned down a really nice kudu. When leopard hunting, you must concentrate on the cat, though it is awfully tempting to get distracted.

Day 8 - Tuesday 7/19/11

We spent last night on the windmill bait, but had no leopard activity. This morning, I shot a honey badger off of that bait after daylight. No other baits were hit last night, so we're not sitting tonight.

Day 9 - Wednesday 7/20/11

Today I shot a very nice steenbok ram and a duiker. The springbok bait was taken by a huge leopard and carried 150+ yards downstream. He then dragged it up an enormous rock cliff and ate it. The trackers recovered the spine and head and carried it back to the bait site where we added more bait. We will sit on this springbok bait tonight.

Day 10 - Thursday 7/21/11

We spent all last night at the springbok bait with no activity. It was quite windy. The trackers took more bait to the windmill bait since the honey badgers and genets have been hitting it hard. When they got back with the camera card, we found out that there was a cat there at 6:15 a.m! However, by the time we found out, it was too late to move the blind equipment and make it all the way to the windmill bait, so we'll sit at the springbok bait again tonight. On the way to the bait, we saw a beautiful herd of kudu less than 50 yards away with two very nice bulls - one that was close to 55 inches. Sadly, we couldn't stop because we had to get to the blind. We sat there until about 9:30 p.m, then the wind shifted, blowing from us to the bait, so we left.

Day 11 - Friday 7/22/11

I shot a nice hartebeest this morning. No baits were hit last night, so we won't sit tonight.

Day 12 - Saturday 7/23/11

The boys went rock dassie hunting today, and I shot a nice springbok. Again, no baits were hit; so we have gone from four active baits to zero. While driving through the mountains past the fountain bait at 10:00 a.m., we actually saw a leopard at about 100 yards as it ran over a ridge. We got out to track it, but don't see it again. It is amazing to be in a place where leopards are out in broad daylight (even if it is a rarity).

Day 13 - Sunday 7/24/11

The male leopard hit the windmill bait last night, so we'll sit there tonight.

Day 14 - Monday 7/25/11

We were in the blind last night from 2:00 p.m. till just after 7:00 a.m. with no leopard activity. Since I got my first leopard on day 13, I thought it would be poetic to get one last night, but it wasn't meant to be. We went back to the lodge to eat, took a quick nap, got up for lunch and then left for the blind. It was quite cold last night, with ice actually forming in some of the puddles. Tonight I plan to wear my long underwear!

Day 15 - Tuesday 7/26/11

We got the leopard! We were settled in the blind before 4:00 p.m. Things were uneventful until we heard some kudu barking off to our left. I dozed off, but quickly awoke with Jaco tapping my knee. This was the prearranged signal that we had a leopard on the bait. He whispered to "get ready, the cat is on the bait"! I was instantly awake, and got on the rifle. I slid my right glove off and then slid the safety off, looked over the scope at the bait, and told Jaco all was ready. I saw the cat sitting and feeding on the bait with his back to us. I looked through the scope, centered the Trijicon triangle post on the cat's spine at heart level, and shot him. The entire time, from waking up to shooting the cat was only 10-12 seconds. It was completely surreal. We sat there for a few minutes, watching the cat and almost afraid to believe it was real. The cat had come to the bait even though it was windy. This gave us an advantage because he couldn't hear as well in the wind. We packed up from the blind and literally climbed down the rocks to get to the bait site. He was an old cat and very lean, with a bottom canine tooth broken off and worn smooth. Many of his bottom teeth were significantly worn down. He had tattered ears and scars on his head from fighting – Jaco estimated that he was 16 years old. He was beautiful! What a hunt!

Hunting a leopard from a blind isn't for the impatient or for those who want to be 'guaranteed' a trophy. However, if you understand the realistic odds of success and want to hunt the stealthiest and most challenging predator on the planet, African Twilight Safaris is the place to go!