Leopard at the house

[skeetshot]

I had recently gone to my house near Nainital, on the lower Himalayas.

I arrived on Sunday 28 Oct and was greeted by a lot of hullaballoo from my staff.

The leopard had struck again, and this time had killed my pair of valuable oxen two days prior.

The cattle would normally go out to graze and return by sunset.

That evening, only the old, retired ox returned.

Next day, the staff found both oxen killed by the throat and the leopard had fed on one as can be seen.

The fact that it had fed from the hind quarters suggested a bigger cat, but also the fact that it had killed both oxen, one after the other suggested it was not a tiger, who would only normally kill one animal.

That night, at about 8:35 pm the leopard called about 100 meters from my house. The whole mountainside reverberated by its call, and it called repeatedly for about two minutes. It then called again at about 8:45 pm, only by then it had come about 20 meters from the staff quarters where my Driver was retiring for the night, giving the poor fellow a bit of a fright. It then called at about 9:15 pm but this time near the kill.

When it called, all the dogs went silent and the low murmurings one normally hears from the staff houses stopped.

I dont believe my staff were that scared, but that reverberating call as if to announce who owned that jungle was awesome to hear, and all of us heard it !!

The next day, I climbed up to the kill and discovered that this was a female leopard with two cubs, as their pug prints were clearly visible at several places.

We have claimed for compensation with the forest department, but are not hopeful of getting anything. As of this writing, no one has visited from the forest department to record or confirm anything.

The two oxen, called Ram and Shyam were hard working, docile animals much in demand during the sowing season because on the hlils with its small terraces, the old system of ploughing beats hands down all modern tiller machines.

I was able to manage the loss, and hold no grudge against the leopard, but the for the average villager, this loss would be almost unbearable.

A difficult situation, because with the oppressive population growth in India, these man-animal conflicts will only cause more concern for our wild life who are unable to bear the pressure we are creating on them.

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[Dom]

Quite interesting Skeetshot, a shame the Forestry Department is not responsive, you should request the status on your claim just to make sure it's not lost in space. I see that happening more and more nowadays, and am constantly checking on things after a period of time goes by and no info or update provided.

Are you going to get a couple more Oxen? Good luck and thanks for sharing, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[dinsdale]

Thanks for posting; interesting for sure.

Hard to get perspective with a cushy way of life that the loss of a draft animal could be a worse case scenario for others in the world. Let alone that someone has to live in proximity to dangerous game.

Hope the cat moves on and the outcome is a good one for all involved, but thats easy to say when it's not effecting your families survival.

[thechamp]

I bet that was a neat sound to hear the leopard that close. Have to wonder though why the leopard would have killed the young ones and not the old one. Only thing I can think of is the young ones might have wandered further away from the house area where the older one may have stayed closer to home.

Can you hunt the leopards at all or are the all protected now?

The new Foxpro call I have has some mountain lion calls on it. They will get your attention! Tried it on the house cats the other day and they decided to vacate when the big kitty meowed....

[skeetshot]

Quite interesting Skeetshot, . . . .

Are you going to get a couple more Oxen? Good luck and thanks for sharing, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

The terrain on my mountains is steep and so the land is terraced. Most of these terraces are rather small, with, a large one being 1/4 acre. Oxen are the preferred power for tilling. Slow, but also eco friendly and definitely cheaper than a small tractor.

For now, no replacement, but later, we may need to do so.

That cat seems to be a cattle killer, and just yesterday killed a cow about 2 kms below me. Not a good situation, because leopards normally pick up goats and dogs, and they get consumed in one or two sittings. With cattle, because of their size, the leopard will come back again and again, and the aggravated villagers will then poison the kill and destroy the leopard.

[skeetshot]

I bet that was a neat sound to hear the leopard that close. Have to wonder though why the leopard would have killed the young ones and not the old one. Only thing I can think of is the young ones might have wandered further away from the house area where the older one may have stayed closer to home.

Can you hunt the leopards at all or are the all protected now?

The new Foxpro call I have has some mountain lion calls on it. They will get your attention! Tried it on the house cats the other day and they decided to vacate when the big kitty meowed....

No, Champ, the leopard is very strictly protected these days, and with modern methods of darting and trapping available, hunting is not encouraged, although I am a registered shikari for the forest department.

I have no experience with the Foxpro, and I understand it is a fascinating device. I have often had leopards come in when I used to use a mouth caller for jackals. Its certainly interesting when the hunter becomes the hunted

[dinsdale]

Shame about the cat ending up that way, but human conflict is what it is.

The guy who does my taxidermy hunts in Zimbabwe with a PH that has made his reputation on hunting down cattle killers that are habitual killers of stock and very weary of humans. Often avoiding clumsy local attempts at poisoning.

You two could swap some good stories I bet.

He has a good book on his techniques; half how to and half stories of clients and such;

https://www.trophyroombooks.com/otherpu ... thorns.htm

Good read if you spot a copy. (...Leopards...SPOT a copy. )

[skeetshot]

Shame about the cat ending up that way, but human conflict is what it is.

The guy who does my taxidermy hunts in Zimbabwe with a PH that has made his reputation on hunting down cattle killers that are habitual killers of stock and very weary of humans. Often avoiding clumsy local attempts at poisoning.

You two could swap some good stories I bet.

He has a good book on his techniques; half how to and half stories of clients and such;

https://www.trophyroombooks.com/otherpu ... thorns.htm

Good read if you spot a copy. (...Leopards...SPOT a copy. )

Dinsdale, thanks for the link.

During my childhood, we generally considered the leopard as a pest, a thief and a bounder.The Tiger was and is considered a Gentleman.

I shot my first leopard at the age of 12 with a single shot BSA 22 while out at night with a 3 cell torch hunting rabbits, and no one thought too much of it.

Today, we realise the value of this beautiful cat.

Unfortunately at my place, its rather difficult to photograph this animal, the terrain is too steep, the jungle thick and it travels from one mountain to another just as you would walk from one room to another, but anytime you feel like it, please come and have a go and try to spot SPOTS

Waiting for Corjack to come here, knowing his luck he would probably go out for a small stroll with his video camera and come back with some great footage

[Corjack]

I would bring in some sort of wild cattle, like a corriente or something that might be a little hard on the leopard. They might go back to the goats and dogs then. That or send Leopards to Australia to thin out the kangaroos.

[Olsen]

Maybe my bow and my cutt off´s would be a good choise to get the cat away

Sorry to see your cattle that way

[skeetshot]

Maybe my bow and my cutt off´s would be a good choise to get the cat away

Sorry to see your cattle that way

Hey Olsen,

These are Indian cats.

If they see you in those cut-offs, they may ALL come running for you

[Olsen]

No problem, I have a lot of arrows

[dinsdale]

No problem, I have a lot of arrows

Judging by that leg hit on that 50 meter deer you may need to nock them damn fast too!

[thechamp]

No problem, I have a lot of arrows

Well if all else fails save an arrow for yourself. Probably be better than getting eaten or humped by a leopard!

[Olsen]

No problem, I have a lot of arrows

Judging by that leg hit on that 50 meter deer you may need to nock them damn fast too!

Ever heard about speed nockers