Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Leopard medicine

I really like the .300 magnums for leopard. I use a .300 WSM as my main light rifle on safari, and it flat out hammers cats, too. No need to specialize - as Allen and others have said, shot placement counts above all else, as leopards are fairly soft. But note, a cat chased with hounds can take more killing than one shot off bait.

I shot a cat that measured 8'1" and weighed 176 pounds on the camp scales this season. The dogs bayed it in the long grass and it charged, so I put a 180-grain tipped trophy bonded bullet through the center of its chest (the grass was tall enough and there were so many dogs darting to and fro that it was the only shot I had). That turned it, but the damn thing still ran about 25 yards and jumped up a tree. I am sure the first shot would have killed it soon enough, but I stuck another through its shoulders to encourage it to get out of the tree.

My hunting partner and several of my other hound hunting clients have had similar experiences. There are no absolutes, but I've seen more bam-flops from cats shot off baits over the years.

NC this is an old thread, so Allenday is still missing in action. I want to see him back soon also.

which camp does that fall in, "big and slow" or "light and fast"?

I have no experience with leopard, but I wonder if Mt Lion to Leopard is a valid comparison. I remember years ago, a number of treed Mt Lions being shot with 22 magnums (rimfire). I've never read anyone advocating a rimfire for leopard.

Norm

I have hunted neither, but the gossip twenty years ago was that the 22 mag would not knock them out of the tree into the dogs, rather they would bleed to death and not drop until dead.

sounded hinkey to me but as I said never hunted any big cats.

Randy

Frank, thanks for the confidence, but I really hope my leopard wrestling days are over....

This is a very interesting topic, my reccommendation is simple, the gun that YOU feel confident in using is the right one, especially since accuracy is THE most important consideration.

Some more thoughts- how many of you will gladly use a .260 Rem with a 120gr Barnes TSX bullet on a impala or a blesbok, heck even on hartebeest and gemsbok? Now why would that same bullet and caliber not be an excellent choice for Mr. Spots? (Simmelar size and weight as an impala and blesbok.)
From a blind, I would gladly use my .243 with Hornady A-Max bullets. For a dog hunt or a follow up, I would prefer something with a low power scope or no scope at all, so my personal choices would be my 8x57, 9.3x64 or my .450, not because of the calibers, but because of the glass (or lack thereof) that they wear.

Karl,

I'd feel comfortable with a .260, but there is one reason I'd use something bigger.....leopard bite. impalas don't!

Anything .257 and up will do the job quite well, until you muff a shot. If you muff a shot, you'll take a whole lot more wind out of their sails if you muff it with a large round. I think I'd take a 9.3x62 with a 286 grain Nosler Partition which shold give me great expansion and plenty of penetration. Okay, that's what I could afford.

Now if it was up to me, it would be a .450 BPE (LBT cast bullet) out of a Damascus barreled best double, preferably a hammer gun.

I've never had the pleasure of letting the air out of a cat (leopard I should say...<g>), but if I did go I'd most likely be in the lighter and faster hy shock and wreck a lot of tissue camp.

So count me in for the 257 Wby and or better yet my 06 Improved )aka the .270).

Lastly, tis my personal opinion that when it comes to muffing shots I'd rather do it with a high shock high speed bullet than a slower more controlled one....may not be a popular opinon but that's my stance for most all critters.

Dober

Mark...why not use the 110 TTSX out of your 06 Improved. You should be able to get 3300 to 3350. It has more frontal area than the 25. I am going to use it on my next trip to RSA. PS I have used your 06 Imp on lot of game with various 130's. I can't think of a reason for more until you get into 375 territory..

RinB-I totally concur on the 110 TSX I feel it'd be about model perfect. But then again I can't thing of much that I wouldn't use my 06 Improved on...<g>

And you're totally right if I need more gun the 375 is really the way to go.

Dober

Not since Bob Lily has anybody taken the shear number of cats with dogs as Wade Lemmon of Utah.Wade and his hounds have been in on scores of kills of cougars,jaguars,and leopards.

I talked to him not long ago about the right gun for cats of this size. Without hesitation,he said that a 270 is ideal. It kills them instantly with good shot placement.There is nothing any better according to Wade.

Smart man!

Dober

I was in Zambia in August and was sucessful for Leopard,

I used a custom Winchester M/70 in 7mm Rem. Mag. with 160 gr Swift A-Frames,

If I was able to go back tomorrow, I would use the same thing.

Just my 2 cents worth........

Leopards and Mt. Lions are about the same body structure, but they are two different animals mentally. The Leopard will tear you a new one and a Lion will just cow or run, except in California where they made pets out of them over the years and they lost their fear of man and now they eat liberal far left children, such is the shame and proves again the road to hell is paved with good intentions..

I have seen my dad kill Mt. Lions in a trap with a claw hammer, but he would not go near a Bobcat and I saw why, the Lion would act tough but cow at the lat minute and draw back his paws and a Bobcat will jump right in your face and slash with both hind feet as he eats your nose off, and so will a Leopard..

My favorite Leopard gun, by reason of being my favorite light rifle is my old 300 H&H with 180 or 200 gr. Noslers, albiet I have shot more Leopards with the 30-06 and 150 gr. Corelokts than anything else..

Today I'm not much of a cat hunter, it's just not my thing, I love to hunt the Cape Buffalo more than any other animal..That is my THANG!

Atkinson:

I absolutely agree with your post. From what I understand, both the Leopard and Jaguar have a well deserved reputation for revenge. But structurally, all three of these large cats are light boned, & have the same �quick twitch� muscle structure.

However, if you hit either a Mt Lion, or Leopard with any of the calibers suggested here, and hit them where it counts, the cat is going to die, and right soon!

I'm absolutely certain had I shot a Leopard with the .41, and hit it in the same spot, it would have died just as quick. Taking out the vitals & pelvis at the same time will ruin any cats day.

While it may have wanted pay back, sending a bullet thru the body of a large cat, from breast to ass, then out into the forest someplace just doesn't leave it time for anything but a quick death!

Richard