The Leopard 577 



It is best to wait till he is lying quietly on the victim drinking its blood, 

 offering a steady, certain shot. A fatal blow in the first instance is im- 

 portant, as a bad shot may bring on a charge. Another way is to find out 

 a cave where a leopard lies up in the heat of the day and to tie up a goat, 

 about three o'clock in the afternoon or at sunset, some distance below the 

 cave. The best hours to watch would be from three to about four, and 

 again at the sunset hour ; for, if the leopard has killed the goat between 

 those hours, the trail may be followed, or he will return to the carcase, if 

 left in the place where it was killed, at sunset. 



Leopards go to drink in the hot weather at dusk, and the hotter the 

 day has been, the earlier will they come to water ; the best time, therefore, 

 to watch a pool is the sunset hour, say from 5.30 to 6.30 p.m., or until it is 

 too dark to see. A long strip of white paper should be pasted down the 

 centre rib of the rifle, or other night-sights arranged. Another plan is to 

 sit at night in a strongly constructed thorn zereba with a loop-hole in it, 

 and this shelter should be roofed over with a close and compact interlacing 

 of thorn branches. A live goat may be tied a yard or two away up wind 

 in front of the loop-hole ; or, better still, the shelter may be made down 

 wind of the carcase of a sheep or goat which has been struck down during 

 the day. A carcase so found should be touched as little as possible. 



There is yet another way of hunting leopards which affords good sport 

 to an active man. This is to find the cave where a leopard lies up at 

 noon, either by following the trail of a carcase dragged away the night 

 before, or from native information, and then to sit and watch from the 

 rocks above the cave, posting sentries on prominent points so as to command 

 all the slopes. When the leopard comes out, which he may do at about 

 3 o'clock, a shot may be obtained at once, or an active man, by running 

 about, and springing from rock to rock, guided by the shouts and signs 

 of the sentries, may succeed in bagging his game. 



On this kind of hill, generally composed of huge boulders, the going is 

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