The Fall issue of the Dallas Safari Club magazine has a thriling account of a South African pro hunter and his two trackers who were attacked by an unwounded leopard as they cast about for spoor. (Tracks.)
One African was carrying a rifle, but was evidently unable to use it during the ensuing fight, which lasted about 30 seconds.
The leopard was hit with two 12 ga. slugs, which did significant damage. He then got the white guy down before he could reload, and he had trouble drawing a .45 auto pistol, because he wore it on the right, and the leopard had him by the right arm. He did draw and got off two shots, then the gun was torn from his grasp. He had one of the trackers find it and empty it into the body of the leopard.
The hunter was taken by ambulance to Kimberly, the nearest city with full emergency service, including a reconstructive surgeon. He had 1330 stitches, and still has only some 30% use of his right arm. Photos of the stitched areas are shown, and are impressive. The leopard was fast and busy.
The leopard weighed 253 pounds, as I recall. (Don't have the magazine at hand.) Any leopard over 175 pounds is big for the species.
Had the hunter not had the .45 auto, he probably would have died on the scene. He noted a few days after surgery that he didn't have as much bruising as he'd thought he would. The doc told him that bruising requires ample blood in the body, and most of his blood was in the ground where he was attacked!
Had the African tracker been a better marksman (he'd never before fired a pistol), fewer shots might have done the job. Fortunately, South Africa is the sole nation on that continent (I think) that allows civilian handgun carry to any extent.
Thought I'd post this to augment the bear thread. I know of a number of cases where a pistol or knife killed a bear that was mauling someone. It always baffles me when someone says authoratively that a handgun is useless aginst big game.
Lone Star
One African was carrying a rifle, but was evidently unable to use it during the ensuing fight, which lasted about 30 seconds.
The leopard was hit with two 12 ga. slugs, which did significant damage. He then got the white guy down before he could reload, and he had trouble drawing a .45 auto pistol, because he wore it on the right, and the leopard had him by the right arm. He did draw and got off two shots, then the gun was torn from his grasp. He had one of the trackers find it and empty it into the body of the leopard.
The hunter was taken by ambulance to Kimberly, the nearest city with full emergency service, including a reconstructive surgeon. He had 1330 stitches, and still has only some 30% use of his right arm. Photos of the stitched areas are shown, and are impressive. The leopard was fast and busy.
The leopard weighed 253 pounds, as I recall. (Don't have the magazine at hand.) Any leopard over 175 pounds is big for the species.
Had the hunter not had the .45 auto, he probably would have died on the scene. He noted a few days after surgery that he didn't have as much bruising as he'd thought he would. The doc told him that bruising requires ample blood in the body, and most of his blood was in the ground where he was attacked!
Had the African tracker been a better marksman (he'd never before fired a pistol), fewer shots might have done the job. Fortunately, South Africa is the sole nation on that continent (I think) that allows civilian handgun carry to any extent.
Thought I'd post this to augment the bear thread. I know of a number of cases where a pistol or knife killed a bear that was mauling someone. It always baffles me when someone says authoratively that a handgun is useless aginst big game.
Lone Star
