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Just received an email from a friend with this picture:

Wow!
He did not give any details, but the title read :"record leopard?" Sure is a big puddytat!
Thomas

WOW! Looks like a big cat!

Huge. Cattle country? jorge

It's a nice leopard, and would probably exceed the record book minimums, but it wouldn't make it to the top.

Nice cat though.

Isn't it odd for leopards to be shot in the middle of the day?

Not really, sometimes they come to bait in early morning and in some places, during the day. I had a client last year shoot one about 0500 and another the year before at about 0630. A buddy of mine had a client shoot one this year at 1500 hrs. - That was very unusual though.

A lot depends on the area and how dumb or educated the individual cat is.

Alternatively, it might have been hunted with dogs.

Sorry to disappoint shakari, but here are the facts as it was published in "Die Republikein" (Namibian newspaper).

The cat was shot in the Khomas Hochland of Namibia, on the farm of Ludi Engels (Cattle farm), by a US citizen, mr. Brad Smith, accompaned by Gerhard Erasmus who acted as PH.
The cat measured over 7 ft, weighed over 180 lbs, and the skull measured 18.25 inches, putting it in the top 10 (no. 8 to be exact) in SCI record books, and number 1 for Namibia.

Just goes to show you, there are some great cats here in Namibia. Congrats to the hunter and to Gerhard on such a fine cat!

Karl,

Like I said, it's a big cat and if what you say is true (and I certainly don't doubt your word), it still wouldn't make it to the top of the record books, which is exactly what I said. Top ten isn't a number one and number one for Namibia isn't number one for the record books, it's just number one for Namibia.

There's no doubt that Namibia does produce some big Leopards, but a look at my RW books (have to admit I don't have the most recent one) tells me that Namibia doesn't feature in the top 50 Leopards. The countries that feature most regularly (without actually counting) appear to be Tanzania and zimbabwe.

I appreciate that (assuming the measurement is accurate and not a 'wet' or inaccurate measurement), this one will make it into the top 5 or so of RW and I congratulate the hunter for that, but it still won't make it as a new world record. Incidentally, as I said, although I don't have the most recent RW book, according to the most recent one have, the world record was taken in Tanzania in the late 50s.

do you know how this one was taken?

I want to see Karl strangle that one!

shakari, we will just have to disagree on what top/ record means. Top of the record books IMO means within top 10. No.1 in Namibia WILL be nmber one in NAPHA's record books, but to each his own.
Anyway, I suspect this cat was taken with dogs. I will find out and post a reply soon. We hunt an area close by, and havehad great success with dogs and bait only hunts there. The problem is just that most cats in the region come eat after last light, which is of course after legal shooting time in Namibia for all trophy animals.

Karl,

I guess we will. To me, the words 'record leopard' mean a world record and nothing less. - It's like someone being 'slightly' pregnant. Either you are or you're not. But it's still a very fine leopard though.

I have to say, I'm not a fan of hunting them with dogs and indeed PHASA have a moritorium on it which I fully support, but it's not my business to criticise anyone else for thinking or doing otherwise. Either way, it'll be nice to see Namibia so high up in the RW book for Leopard.

Do you have any idea if the measurements were taken immediatly afterwards or after the required drying out period? - The reason I ask is that although it looks like a very big cat, I'm not entirely sure it looks like it would make the 18 1/4 inches stated in the paper. That said, pictures can be deceiving and I could easily be wrong........ I guess I don't ever entirely trust the press either!

shakari, we need to fill in measurements onto the hunting permit in Namibia before the trophy is dropped off at the taxidermist. The weight and the length are from these. I am not sure if the indicated skull measurement was taken from this permit, or if it was taken after the drying period. I presume if was done by a SCI master measurer for the claim to be made. As on the hunting with dogs issue, most people that critisize the hunting of leopard with dogs have never tried it. You are welcome to join us on such a hunt if you want to broaden your experience.
Here is a link to the article : http://www.republikein.com.na/politiek-en-nasionale/khomas-grote-haal-rekordboek.74015.php

Hatari, I am afraid that one would have strangled me...!

That is a great cat!

Karl,

We need to do the same thing in Tanzania but it's the game scout that has to do it there - and they're not always paticularly accurate. As to length and weight, I've never really understood the fascination people have with those as they mean nothing. As you know, cats stretch and weight depends on when they last fed and/or mated etc....... and I tend to only place faith in skull measurement and nothing else.

Thanks for the kind invitation to come hunt with dogs, but I can't see I'll have time to make it up there in the foreseeable future as we're just far too busy down here. - A very kind offer though and if I make it to the shot show in Jo'burg next year, I'll make a point of buying you a beer if you're there.

Karl,

Glad to see you are learning to pick your opponents more wisely these days.

I thinks everyone would enjoy safari more if they threw away the tape measure and the record books.

That is an awesome cat, and I hope the hunter does a full mount and enjoys it everyday for many years to come.

Great Cat,
I hope to be hunting Leopard next year in either Zim or Nambia.
I think hunting with dogs would be very interesting.

That cat would have dined on Mr. Engle's cows for years, if left alone.

Good day Gentlemen, my name is Gerard Erasmus, owner and Pro Hunter of Sumsare Safaris. I got invited to this forum to clear up some issues regarding the leopard we harvested earlier this season. To all involved here on this thread, here is my version and the correct version, newspapers can get carried away sometimes.

The owner, Mr Engels, contacted me in April to inform me that he has a problem leopard catching his heifers and that he lost close to 50 the last 36 months.
I was baiting this particular monster for 2 1/2 months, in this period he walked passed my bait 12 times. Anybody that has hunted problem cats in the past will know, that this is a sign that he was a clever cat and that he was probably caught in a leg trap or something previously. After trying every trick in the book, we decided to get hounds to take care of the problem and lots of frustration. We shot him @ 11h00 in a deep canyon, I knew he had a big track, but never thought they can get this big. I have hunted leopards the last 15 years of my career and this is by far the biggest one, body and skull wise that I have hunted successfully.
Officially from SCI this cat will be the new # 8 on SCI in all of Africa and will be the new record taken out of Namibia. Like somebody mentioned earlier, I also do not care about record books etc. but this was a "monster" in every aspect of the specie. Namibia has big cats, I just think none of us Namibian Pro Hunters ever cared about entering it into the SCI Record Book. This will soon change, trust me!

I am a Master Measurer and did measure it several times. The score ended up to be 18 4/16(dry), the body was not that long(7.2 feet), he weighed 185 pounds. Length and weight are irrelevant, because if he had a full stomach, he would have weighed over 200 pounds. Something very interesting I thought, was that his tail had a circumference at the base of 10 inches.

Hope this helped to clear out some concerns. Feel free to contact me personally if you have further questions. Take care and shoot straight!

Magnificent critter

Gerard,

Welcome to the forum and congratulations to both you and the client on a very nice Leopard. I'd also like to say how nice it is to have someone else (other than me) make the point that length and weight is irrelevent on cats. Most people seem to have this fixation (esp) about weight.

Hope the client is having a full mount done of such a good trophy?