Day Three

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Morning!!! Tracker Isaac roused us at 4 a.m. and he sounded enthusiastic, as always. It took me a few seconds to orientate myself and then I was wide awake and dressing. It is not very difficult to get myself going on a hunting day.

Coffee was gulped by the cupful and 30 minutes later we were on the road. Obviously, our primary objective remains Rick’s leopard, and we were determined to put in the hours this morning. The plan remained basically as it was the previous day – Rick and Pete would work the Humani side of the river, whilst the other two trucks worked Bedford. The Captain’s team was to cover the top end of Bedford, and Nico’s team would concentrate on the area between the drift and the Save River. The Turgwe is effectively baited on both sides for a long stretch – we are looking for another large river leopard like Captain Bob’s fine specimen.

As with the previous day, we didn’t come upon anything promising enough to even contemplate following. Until about 7.30 that is, when a gamescout reported a leopard spoor sighting. All converged on the loc-stat as fast as possible, to assess the situation. We were already running late – it gets hot early at this time of the year. The spoor appeared promising and the strike dogs were put down. Various handlers, trackers and PH’s spent a good hour scouting about the vicinity, trying to make sense of the erratic jumble of spoor – that of the leopard and that of many, many other animals. As the team set about their work, Roger Whittall arrived on the scene. He had decided to take time out and join us for the day’s hunting. Needless to say, his input was invaluable. In time, it was realized that the scenario was a long shot and last ditch efforts were made to pick up a fresh trail leading from the river. Eventually it was determined that the tracks were not as fresh as initially assumed and Nico called the operation off. All were confused – dogs and people and it is never a good idea to try and follow up when uncertainty prevails. What is needed is a definite point from where the dogs can confidently progress, and that point could not be located in this instance. All was not lost, however, as a gamescout reported seeing two dagga boy buffalo bulls, when scouting about upstream for leopard tracks. Roger joined the Captain’s team and they headed off to investigate the buff sighting, whilst Rick’s crew went in search of a zebra, to replenish our baits and provide a rug for Rick’s home. Leopards cannot resist zebra meat and zebra hides make fine rugs. Though the buffalo hunters lucked out in dense lantana thorn scrub and shifting wind, Rick connected with a zebra, or two.

Rick, Pete, Isaac, Rindai and I made our way towards the top end of Bedford, across the main road and up to the Mokore River. This is a good plainsgame area and is usually teeming with zebra and wildebeest. Of course, since we were looking for zebra, it was only teeming with wildebeest on today! Such is hunting. Rick took a bait impala ram with a fine shot (through stick whilst seated on the ground), but two hours later we were still doing the zebra rounds and running out of steam. It was midday and hot by the time we spotted zebra far off through the trees. Isaac drove the vehicle away and we began an approach, cutting an angle and trying to work with the wind. The zebra spooked and cantered off deeper into the bush. We plugged away, picking up their tracks and moving on those tracks at pace. After a couple of kilometers, we sort of gave up but decided to walk a different route back, hoping to bump another herd along the way. Not fifteen minutes later, this is exactly what happened and we found ourselves in a favorable position with a small herd walking obliviously across our front at about 60 yards. Though the zebra were behind bush, they were headed towards a small clearing and Rick prepared himself for action. First to step out into the clearing was a stallion and Pete gave Rick the go ahead. Bobbing its head jerkily, the stallion walked out into the clearing and stopped, presenting a perfect opportunity. Rick’s .270 Winchester talked and the stallion buckled, before galloping off into cover. There were a number of zebra bomb-shelling in different directions, and from the small thicket that the stallion disappeared into, exited another zebra at full tilt. All of us assumed it was the stallion – the timing and angle were all perfect. Rick once again employed the Texas heart shot exquisitely and the target nosedived in a large puff of dust. There was back-slapping and laughter until we realized that the dead zebra was a mare, and that the stallion lay stone dead about 20 metres off. Then there was even more back-slapping and laughter! A double duba (zebra) for Rick! Sure, a little mistake has been made, but it is certainly not an issue. We have thousands of zebras here and now Rick has two rugs!

Later in the afternoon, we replenished baits and kept our eyes open for exceptional plainsgame trophies. We kept our eyes open, but it is obvious that nobody is going to think of much else until we get a leopard for Rick. There was much positive talk over dinner about tomorrow morning. We know we are going to connect with another large leopard soon – there are many leopards in this area and it’s only a matter of time. We don’t want to hang about waiting though – conditions are ideal and leopard hunting can be extremely difficult when they are not. Ask me, I have accompanied many leopard hunts in my time, with dogs and otherwise. I have seen great cats procured and I have seen failure and disappointment. There is a fine line between good and bad leopard hunting conditions and we want to get Rick’s leopard down whilst we are running hot, early on in this hunt. We retire early. We need to be fresh and alert in the morning.