African Hunter Published Books Campfire Tales Volume 2 of 20 | Page 10

Shooting My Leopard
By Daniel Scott

Shooting a leopard has been my dream ever since I
arrived in Africa a year and a half ago. During the
short time I have been on the continent I have been
fortunate enough to shoot three blue wildebeest, two
Lichtenstein’s hartebeest, three warthog, ten impala,
two Grant’s gazelle, three reedbuck, two tsessebe, three
kudu and three duiker. Growing up in southern Georgia
(USA), hunting was always a big part of my life, but
nothing like the hunting I have been able to do here.

I

n October I made a trip to Lake Kariba in Northern Zimbabwe
with some friends. Sunday morning as I was walking in
Nyamunga Township, I noticed some baboons in a dry river
bed and threw some rocks at them to scare them away. I began
walking toward an outcropping of rocks, but something suddenly
told me to stop in my tracks.
As I stood there I noticed some people about six metres away
throwing rocks toward the same group of baboons, and I thought
that was rather funny since I had been doing it earlier. Suddenly I
realized that they weren’t throwing rocks at the baboons. I caught
a glimpse of a leopard as he ran down into the dry riverbed!
Had I kept walking, the timing would have been perfect and

Page 10

African Hunter Magazine - Campfire Tales, Volume Two