I have been meaning to provide my insight on this topic for quite some time , but something or another always kept me preoccupied. I used be be a professional shikaree in Allwyn Copper Limited from 1961 to 1970 , which used to be the largest shikar outfitters in India until 1972 ( my outfitters was based in Nagpur ) . I have killed 20 leopards in my life ( which we Central Indian and South Indian shikarees know as panther . ) and seen over 60 leopards shot by my very eyes by my clients or other professional shikarees . I have also killed 1 dozen royal Bengal tigers in my career , 11 of which were wounded by clients and had charged our shikar party .
While there are many other experienced gentlemen than l , on these forums ... l feel that l can provide my insight on this matter. I am speaking only about Indian leopards . However , l hope that the information that l provide will be useful .
To start with , 1 should not make an assumption that all leopards are the same .
Even within leopards there are vast differences in size , weight and strength . In India , for example there are 2 variations of leopard :
1) Spotted Leopard ( which we know as , “ Village Panther “ )
2) Hunting Leopard ( Which we know as " Forest Panther " )
A spotted Leopard lurks around the villages does not fear human beings , and steals goats and chickens . It typically weighs anywhere from 60 pounds to 130 pounds . A hunting Leopard typically avoids human beings ( except man eaters ) , lives on cheetal deer , 4 horned buck , black buck , hog deer , swamp deer and chinkara , and can weigh up to 200 pounds . I have killed both varieties of leopards and seen both varieties killed by clients or other professional shikarees before my very eyes .
On an unsuspecting spotted leopard weighing 60 to 80 pounds which is taken over bait , a charge of copper plated LG or SG at point blank range , to the area where the neck meets the shoulder , will kill it.
On charging SPOTTED leopards weighing 60 to 80 pounds ( but not more ) , copper plated LG and SG cartridges ( but certainly no size smaller ) will kill them , but ONLY IF :
1) The shot is taken at less than 4 paces ( 7.5 feet ) and the buck shot pellets are concentrated.
2) The shot charge does not have a chance to spread more than a couple of inches apart .
3) You get the leopard in the head with the whole shot charge . Because hitting the brain of the leopard is the only way to instantly stop a charge .
On charging spotted leopards weighing over 100 pounds , or HUNTING leopards using shot of any size is an extremely irrational idea. . Hunting Leopards , in particular have a far thicker skull than spotted leopards and even copper plated LG and SG pellets will more often than not , fail to penetrate into their skull . For these , you should only use spherical ball or better yet , Brenekke Black Magic Slugs ( which weigh 602 grains ) if you are using a shot gun .
A .30 calibre rifle would be even better , like a .30-06 Springfield calibre rifle and 220 grain Winchester Silvertip soft point cartridges.
Personally , l always used my 12 calibre double barreled Belgian side by side shotgun , which has 3 inch chambers , extractors and 28 inch barrels ( Left barrel is fully choked . Right barrel is modified choke . ) loaded with 3 inch Eley Gas Tight " High Brass " cartridges. These , l hand loaded with 16 calibre lead spherical balls , so that the 16 calibre ball can easily pass through the full choked 12 calibre barrel of my shot gun easily , without harming the choke . They were extremely effective on leopards , even of the largest size , out to 30 yards. My preferred point of aim was in the region between the 2 eyes .
Here is my old Belgian shot gun and some leopards which l killed .
I only used buck shot once in my life . It was in 1965 , when l attempted to shoot my very 1st leopard . I shot at it using an Eley 2.75 inch Alphamax LG cartridge ( Which held 8 pellets in the cartridge. ) When l fired at the leopard , l accidentally ended up killing the goat which l was using as live bait . 3 pellets had hit the goat , while 5 had hit the leopard. After an extremely lengthy follow up , my maternal grandfather , Sepoy Jalaluddin Khan finally dispatched the leopard with his .405 Winchester calibre Model 1895 lever rifle and a 300 grain ICI Kynoch soft point cartridge .
Upon doing a post mortem of the leopard , we found the 5 LG pellets lodged in it's shoulder muscles , it's neck and it's head. Not even 1 had reached s vital organ . That was the very 1st and last time in my life that l ever used a buck shot cartridge in my shot gun . I used Triple A cartridges for Muntjac deer , 4 horned buck and black buck . For anything larger , l always used my hand loaded spherical ball cartridges .
Even on leopards weighing less than 100 pounds , l always used spherical ball cartridges and never LG cartridges.
I personally do not believe that modern developments in buck shot has really made them any more suitable for the heavier leopards than they used to be during the time when l was a professional shikaree .
Here is a hunting associate of
@Captain Nwz , who was injured during the hunt for a man eating leopard in 2017 . Captain Newaz was killed 81 Indian leopards in his life till now ( 69 of which were killed in the Syedabaad tea gardens in Siliguri , India from 1963 to 1970 . He has also killed 12 man eating leopards irregularly in Bangladesh since 1972 which occasionally attack locals living in villages near the Sundarban forest . )
The gentleman you see in the photograph is a local hunter who was part of
@Captain Nwz 's shikar party in 2017 when they went after a man eating hunting leopard in an area known as " Nizzura Deap " . He was armed with a 12 calibre Browning A 5 semi automatic shot gun with multi chokes and a 3.5 inch chamber . The shot gun was loaded with Winchester copper plated 3.5 inch SG cartridges ( otherwise known as 00 buck shot to you American gentlemen .) Each cartridge held 18 pellets of copper plated SG . When they went after the leopard into the thickets , the leopard charged the shikar party and the man fired at it's head at a distance of less than 10 feet . Despite being hit , the leopard pounced on him . Fortunately , the leopard was only able to maul him for 3-4 seconds , before Newaz shot it off the man , by using his .338 Winchester magnum calibre FN Mauser action custom bolt rifle and a 250 grain Remington Core Lokt soft point bullet .
The man eventually recovered . However , a post mortem of the leopard showed that no less than 13 copper plated SG pellets had lodged themselves against the leopard's skull , but not even 1 had reached the brain . The leopard weighed 196 pounds .
