Leopard Kill Blind

Bowhunting.net

2008
Leopard Kill Blind
By Brandon Jeffress
Jun 30, 2008 - 6:20:02 AM

The adjacent Namibia property that Dries Visser and Riaan Alberts guide on is known as Kanona East and is known for Springbok, Impala and Gemsbok. The property that we were hunting this day is a different 12,000 acre ranch that is 30 minutes to the north from the Kanona West property where I had shot my mountain zebra. Up until now we had hunted sunken ground blinds and I was ready for a little variety.

I asked my PH, Wentzel if there were any blinds that were off the ground. He said there was an old one that we could use, but it needed to be repaired with new canvas. Years ago a previous owner had constructed an elevated blind near a river bed that was known to be a leopard corridor. The blinds frame was built out of sturdy steel and thick treated poles. Wentzel and I spent two hours on Sunday morning repairing the blind by putting new canvas around it and cutting shooting windows. The blind stood about 12 feet off the ground over looking an open area in between the dried riverbed and three large hills of brush.

We gave it one full day of rest and went back the following day at 1:00 PM to hunt the evening. This area is known for the large kudu bull that a leopard and dragged down and ate on site. It’s unusual for a leopard to kill such a large animal. Because of its size the leopard wasn’t able to climb a tree with it and consumed it where it fell. I also knew that the bone pile was exactly 20 yards from the left shooting window.

After climbing up into the blind we ate lunch and began the waiting period that we expected to take 3-4 hours. We really had to wait until the wind switched in the afternoon because we were now hunting from an open-air blind compared to the sealed ground blinds that dominated the property. Dozing off from the heat of the sun was a little dangerous as I sat in my chair, which was next to the entry hole in the floor of the blind.

We saw a monster warthog come in and he drank from the water hole in front of us, but because I had already taken one, I just observed him and left my bow lying on the plywood floor of the blind.

At 4:30 PM, I noticed a group of Impala moving along the ridgeline about 300 yards away. They slowly walked but we could not see a single ram in the group of 15. Wentzel said to get ready as he really felt they were going to work their way to the water hole. He also said there had to be at least one ram in the group this time of year even though we had not seen him.

What seemed to take an hour was more like 20 minutes as the “African Deer” came down to the left of the water hole. At this point we were relying on Nullo and the slow quartering windto keep them from smelling us.

Having no clue we were there they drifted away from the water and moved towards the wooded river bed. Finally a ram showed himself and my PH said, “You need to take him if he offers you a shot.” With my bow in my hand and standing so that I could watch through both the windows I soon became concerned that they were not going to offer me a shot. The ram moved from female to female at about 50 yards smelling each one of them. As they slowly moved to our left it was clear they were not going to hit the water hole.

At 37 yards I attached my Scott release and tightened my grip on my flat shooting Bear Truth II. It was a feeling that I had felt hundreds of times when a whitetail was closing the distance. I felt my heart rate rise. I knew the reflexes on these animals was lightning fast and I needed the ram to be inside of 30 yards to avoid him jumping the string. I had missed a lightening fast monster impala just that very morning on a spot and stock at 40 yards. Camera footage later showed that the animal moved so quick that he completely ducked a perfectly placed shot.

At 31 yards the animals locked up as something got them extremely nervous. Wentzel told me to draw. I drew back my bow and the ram moved to the back side of another impala continuing his constant checking of the females. Finally I knew he was at 25 yards just past the bone pile and he offered me a quartering away shot.

I released the arrow heard it hit. It was a grim day for the Impala ram. I had watched the Grim Reaper Mythbuster DVD that Wade had given me before I left my home in Indiana and knew that the 100 grain Razortip had just opened as promised in the impala’s chest. The Impala exploded off into the grassy hill. I was elated at what had just happened. “That was hunting… just the way you want it”, I said to Wentzel. Wentzel was blocked from seeing my shot and could not see the placement but did hear the hit.

I showed him through the window right where he was standing.

We climbed down and searched for 10 minutes. There was no blood and no arrow. I insisted that knew that I hit him right where I was aiming. Finally we found my arrow that was covered in blood, but we found no blood on the ground. We decided to search the side of the hill they ran up. Seventy-five yards away, laid this beautiful creature:

What a fantastic experience and realization of a long time goal and dream!