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My client has shot his elephant early in his hunt, and we went back to Windhoek for some plains game hunting. He took a few PG animals, and was ready to fly home. His last morning in camp started like most last mornings in camp, but this time, there was a slight twist…

On the way to the airport, my cook told me that she saw a cheetah next to the road. I reversed, tried to see something, but could not see anything. Then my client alerted me to a leopard that ran across the road about 150 yards in front of us. Thinking that it may have been this leopard that my cook saw (remember, in Afrikaans they call a leopard a tier (tiger), and a cheetah a jagluiperd, (literally a hunting leopard)), I got out of the car to go and look for tracks (without a gun, first mistake). We found a young female leopard lying under a nearby (25 yards) bush, about 60 yards from the car. My client took this picture, and we decided to retreat. One of my trackers, moved about 10 yards to the left, presumably to get a better view. I called him back, telling him that the cat will feel cornered, and that we should really get the hell out of there. He sneaked another look, and I called him again. When he started to move back, the cat charged, and about every one ran for the vehicles. I thought that if I stood my ground, the cat would maybe turn. I reckoned that if I turned and ran as well, that the cat will catch one or more of us before we reach the vehicle. In these split seconds, it is amazing how much time I seem to have had to think! My next thought was to bend down and try and pick up some of the bigger rocks lying around, to maybe throw it at the cat, but my head told me that it will be a bad idea to loose eye contact with the oncoming cat. When she came at me, I kicked her, and with this, she got a hold of my leg with her front claws, and bit me where my buttocks and my leg come together. I went down on her, struggling to wrestle her into a pin down position. Luckily for me, her left back leg was pinned underneath her body when I took her down. I grabbed hold of her right rear leg, and received a few nice scratches for my trouble. I pinned her neck with my left fore-arm, and grabbed first one front leg and then the other with my left hand. I leaned all of my weight into her neck area, trying to suffocate her. This pissed her off tremendously, and made me glad that I had a weight advantage! One of my trackers shouted “Het die baas hom gevang?” (Did you catch it?) from the vehicle, to which I replied something like “Yes, F#@K, come and help me!!!” When 2 of them came to help me, the cat was luckily already dying, but to make sure, I asked one to keep the head down for me, and we ran a knife into the heart of the cat. I got up, virtually in one piece, (I had 27 scratch and bite marks in a fight that lasted less than 1 second), and sighed a big sigh of relief. Luckily the client was a doctor, and he could patch me up out of my emergency kit. I went for tetanus and rabies shots as well, and I am still swallowing my antibiotics.

A few lessons were learned:
1) When in dangerous game territory, carry some kind of fire-arm, in this case I think a revolver would have been adequate. (We were on the way to the airport, the clients guns was in his case; my .450 was behind the seat.)
2) Even though the cat was a small one (about the size of a big Staffordshire terrier), never underestimate them, and NEVER corner them.
3) Always have a well equipped emergency kit handy.
4) Wash all wounds with lots of water, this dilutes the amount of bacteria that stays in the wound, and gives you a better chance to not get infections.

Here is a pic of the cat just before she charged:

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Karl Stumpfe
Ndumo Hunting Safaris (Pty) Ltd.
karl@huntingsafaris.net
www.huntingsafaris.net
+264 811 285 416