Leopard Hunting in Zimbabwe

This area lies in south eastern Zimbabwe.

A famous area in terms of its conservation history, the Save Valley Conservancy formally a large network of cattle ranches and now one of Africa's premier wildlife areas.

Good Numbers of plains and dangerous game roam freely within the 350,000 hectare area, a true success for the conservation of hunting, our area of about 10 000 ha lies along the Msias River which acts as the lifeblood of the area throughout the year.

THE HUNTING

Leopards here are primarily hunted two different ways.

Traditional hunts from a blind, over bait remain one of the best ways to target large, trophy cats. Baits are hung in trees within shooting distance of freshly built natural blinds. This method allows the hunter time to assess the size and quality of the cat which hits the bait, and with well placed bait, it can also help place the cat in an excellent position for a well placed shot.

In these areas we also offer Leopard with Hounds. This method is a popular method in the U.S. for hunting mountain lion and black bear. These hunts can be very fast paced, and require you to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. Very different from the more traditional blind method, but extremely exciting.

This area also offers an incredible array of plains game, as well as Cape Buffalo, all of which can be combined with the leopard hunt. Elephant and Lion hunts are also available depending upon quota availability.

With a large area to cover, this concession is best hunted on foot, hunters will start out by moving to likely areas where the guides believe the intended species will be, from here playing to the wind the hunters will slowly move in an effort to find something to put a stalk on, for this to go well everything has to be right so patience is key.

In the midday heat lone bulls of various species if spotted can be approached successfully if the wind plays ball - slow periods can be spent in treestands/ambush positions where game movement is likely (this will not be done over an artificial food source or artificial water point)