BOB MICHALEK

Bob Michalek wrote :

There I was – back in Africa for my fourth hunt; this time to Mozambique in pursuit of the leopard, also known as “CHUI”

Hunting the leopard with dogs is truly an experience of a lifetime. The excitement of the dogs and the chase is exhilarating. Stumbling through the bush at 2:30 am is insane as you pursue the dogs, but it’s all part of the experience. I would do it again – IN A HEARTBEAT!

The leopard was the main trophy on my list, so from day one it was looking for spoor and hanging and checking bait.

On the second day we crossed a fair set of tracks and the PH indicated the tracks were made last night and might be too cold for the dogs but we would try anyway. The dogs had some difficulty sorting out the tracks but after a short time off on the spoor. As morning wore on the dew dried and the dogs could no longer pick up the scent. The rest of the afternoon we hunted plains game and checked bait.

We decided to start out at 4:00 am on the third morning to take advantage of the dampness of the night. We picked up a set of tracks in the sand at daybreak and saw them leading towards a bait that had been placed earlier. The dogs were released and very shortly were off on the tracks. The chase lasted several hours and we finally gave up as the sun dried up the ground. While hunting the rest of the day we kept finding leopard tracks in the sandy paths made by the Safari vehicle. The PH kept stopping and measuring the size of the spoor and also the stride between the tracks. His comment was, “This is one huge leopard!” We went back to camp and picked up two buffalo hindquarters and placed them along the route the leopard was working. At dinner that night the PH said he believed the leopard was patrolling his territory and we had our baits along his route. It was early to bed because the next morning was to be a 2 am start.

A tracker was seated on the front of the vehicle with a good light (or torch as they referred to it). We then slowly drove to where the baits were hung, looking for fresh signs. We were within a quarter of a mile of a buffalo quarter we had placed the night before when the tracker seated on the front of the vehicle instructed us to stop. The PH checked the track and said, “This is our boy, one huge cat, the largest track I have ever seen”. We followed the track down the vehicle’s path until we were close to the bait. We then proceeded on foot to where the bait was hung to see if the leopard had fed on it. To our delight about a third of the hindquarter had been devoured. The PH said we probably chased him off the bait as we approached. He also indicated that with the amount that had been eaten his stomach was full and he probably wouldn’t go very far. He went back to the vehicle and got the dogs. As soon as the dogs were released from their enclosure they were off in vocal hot pursuit. The PH said, “Let’s just wait here and listen to the dogs, I don’t believe the leopard has gone very far on a full stomach.” Within 5 minutes the baying of the dogs came from a fixed location. We then slowly moved to where the dogs were.

The dogs were circled around a huge tree. It was only 2:45 am and only moonlight and torches to aid us in trying to locate the cat in the tree. The foliage was quite heavy and the surrounding cover made it most difficult to find him in the tree. As we kept searching the tree to find him, he jumped out of that tree and the chase was on again. He didn’t go very far with the dogs in hot pursuit and treed again. We again had difficulty finding the cat in the heavy foliage. The dogs were frantic as were we, but just could not see him up in the tree. The torches flashing through the tree again caused the cat to leap to the ground and return to the original tree. We talked about waiting for the first light to find him. We waited an hour and the dogs became overly excited, as the cat must have changed his location in the tree. We decided to try the torches again. The PH said to be ready when the torches were turned on. The PH spotted the cat and concentrated the light on the cat and I fired. There was a big thud as the cat left the tree. The PH said, “You missed, the cat jumped down!” The dogs were going crazy just a short distance from the tree. The leopard could be heard snarling as the dogs circled it. As we approached with the lights we could see the cat couldn’t move so the last shot was placed to end a great pursuit.