Buckshot & Leopard- Fact Or Fiction?

[archer36]

In “Under Kilimanjaro,” Hemingway writes about going in after a wounded leopard with a Winchester 12-gauge pump shotgun and No. 8 birdshot: “At close range a charge of fine bird shot from a full-choked shotgun is as solid as a ball.” He writes further of firing about a dozen shells at the wounded leopard, which he couldn’t see well in all the brush, before being sure it was dead.

The use of birdshot is to blind the animal, not kill it. The animal cannot eat what it cannot see. In other posts regarding buckshot at charging bears, it's meant to be head shot, not vitals. Shot to the vitals does not kill instantly. Shots to the nervous system do

 

[Sarg]

This is a funny thread, I wonder how many saying Buckshot is the way to go have actually shot any thing with Buckshot let alone a Leopard, I know that if they shot a Lion they would not be here to post any thing unless some one saved them, too much reading books & repeating internet story's I think ?

I have a photo of a smaller leopard I helped out with & it took two charges of Buckshot & several handgun rounds to no effect before it was shot with a 30/06 which stopped it straight away .

Ill look for the pic of the hand full of balls & bullets the boys pulled out of it .

Must say haven't tried the Hevi Shot Buckshot but Hevi Shot does up grade the small gauge Shotgun loads

 

[Deleted member 40394]

I would guess it all depends on the choke and the shell. Me shooting buckshot out my patternmaster is not that same as someone shooting buckshot out of a modified choke. At 10 yards, in a deer. 00 buck out my old patternmaster choke looks like I shot it with a very large caliber rifle.

 

[IvW]

View attachment 307874 .... lies on the freshly removed skin , still red at the edge....

Tiger seems as surprised as I am....wide open eyes and mouth and red felt all around...freshly removed skin? Haha

 

[Bapu]

I know someone in India who used a .22 LR BRNO semi automatic rifle to harvest 63 leopard in the 1960s !

Interesting who would this gentleman be as I am from India. Just to mention here I have taken a full size maneater leopard on a full charge with Eley Alphamax with very satisfying results. Dead drop. Distance 10 feet. I fired both the barrels.

 

[Bapu]

Interesting who would this gentleman be as I am from India. Just to mention here I have taken a full size maneater leopard on a full charge with Eley Alphamax with very satisfying results. Dead drop. Distance 10 feet. I fired both the barrels.

LGs of course.

 

[Bapu]

Shotguns are often used when following up wounded leopard and not as the combination for the initial shot.
It must also be understood that many old time hunters had to use what they had and had to make do with what they had.

They issue with any buckshot is that you are shooting round balls, which have very bad sectional density, which in turn relates to very poor penetration. They may be successful but ONLY if used at extreme short range. Very few can hold there nerve under these circumstance. A leopard charge is the fastest and closest range charge from any of the DG animals. You have one shot in most cases to stop the charge.

When stopping a charge from any DG animal the most important is SHOT PLACEMENT the next almost as important is PENETRATION, which can only be achieved by using the right bullet for the task at hand. For leopard and shotguns, buckshot is not that combination but rather a premium grade slug, of which I found the Original Brenneke to be the best.

Nowadays it would be a very bad idea to use buckshot, the best to use is an Original Brenneke Slug.

Furthermore, if a shotgun is used a double SXS shorter in the barrels(24") and fitted with two triggers is the way to go.

+1

 

[degoins]

Tiger seems as surprised as I am....wide open eyes and mouth and red felt all around...freshly removed skin?

I was thinking the same thing.......

 

[Bapu]

That is where some serious issues could arise, making conclusions from paper ballistics....especially when we are talking about the fastest charging DG animal of them all, we are not talking about a feral pig...

After a wounded leopard follow up ended in my Zim tracker nearly being turned into mince meat by a Leopard a client had wounded the day before I came to the sudden and real conclusion that any form of buck shot had no place as a cartridge for use as a follow up for wounded leopard.

This was early in my career and they only DG rifle I had was a Brno ZKK 602 375 H&H, I had superb confidence in this combination but, I can assure you it is not the best choice for wounded leopard follow up.

I was asked to assist with the follow up as the other PH was convinced that the leopard was only lightly wounded and I had the best tracker anybody had ever had the privilege of hunting with and he had a lot of DG experience(the whole story is for another post). The other PH had 12ga shotgun loaded with LG buckshot(the biggest we get), I had my 375 H&H.

We picked up the track which went up into and over a small koppie. As we crested the Koppie, the area flattened out and a gully was evident that went down to our right hand side. My head tracker stopped and no words were needed. The area had been burnt not to long before and was devoid of any long grass or brush. However the gully which was soft soil compared to the rest of the rocky area we had just crested. In front of us where a whole lot of warthog holes. With no cover to speak of the leopard could well be in one of these. The Zim tracker was motioned into a Marula tree that was close by. He climbed up and with hand signals we motioned to him to check the holes from the top. After some considerable time he shook his head and came down. My head tracker and myself where still convinced the leopard was there, experience?sixth sense? who knows but we knew....

Unknown to us the leopard was indeed in one of the holes but only lying low in the entrance of one....he had been watching the tracker in the tree all along and had singled him out....

Just as we moved forward the leopard launched his attack....Barnabas the tracker was in the lead, with a scream he took off, the other PH had the leopard come right past him, his first shot was quartering frontal had no effect the second shot was more broadside and also had no effect. I stepped past him but at this time it was Barnabas leading the race in front with the leopard on his heels.....I could not take a shot for fear of hitting Barnabas....my head tracker Alec Ndlovu was shouting to Barnabas to duck left or right, which he eventually did and I squeezed of killing the leopard. Barnabas only returned 45 minutes later, we had no idea how far he had run....

I could not understand how the leopard had not gotten hold of him, upon inspection we found that the leopard had been shot in the right front wrist which slowed him down. Further we found that some pellets were in the fur just into the skin. Back at the skinning shed and during skinning we found that not one pellet had entered the muscle mass of this large leopard male.....

The hardness of an attacking large male leopards muscles are something to behold...

I realized a rifle is not the tool for the job, I needed a double, I could not afford one...

During my search for the best leopard charge stopping rifle I came to the conclusion that only a double would be acceptable, enter the poor mans double...a slug loaded shotgun and specifically loaded with original Brenneke slugs.

Extensive testing followed and after hunting, many many bush pigs, warthogs, blue wildebeest, gems buck, impala, kudu etc. it became very evident that buckshot was not up to the task and only the mentioned original Brenneke slugs would suffice.

My 24" ghost ring sight fitted, Brno side lock sxs 12ga 2 3/4" loaded with Original Brenneke slugs became my leopard back up rig and has never let me down.

Yes paper ballistics are a starting point but field testing and results have to be the final decision maker of what does and what does not work...especially when dealing with DG.

Yes I still use buck shot but mainly when hunting bush pigs in corn at night without hounds, just by sound, when I will load one barrel with LG and the other with a Brenneke slug.

When hunting them over hounds we prefer Spanish or other slugs as the Brenneke seems to over penetrate and could hit one of the hounds.

Sir

 

[Bapu]

That is where some serious issues could arise, making conclusions from paper ballistics....especially when we are talking about the fastest charging DG animal of them all, we are not talking about a feral pig...

After a wounded leopard follow up ended in my Zim tracker nearly being turned into mince meat by a Leopard a client had wounded the day before I came to the sudden and real conclusion that any form of buck shot had no place as a cartridge for use as a follow up for wounded leopard.

This was early in my career and they only DG rifle I had was a Brno ZKK 602 375 H&H, I had superb confidence in this combination but, I can assure you it is not the best choice for wounded leopard follow up.

I was asked to assist with the follow up as the other PH was convinced that the leopard was only lightly wounded and I had the best tracker anybody had ever had the privilege of hunting with and he had a lot of DG experience(the whole story is for another post). The other PH had 12ga shotgun loaded with LG buckshot(the biggest we get), I had my 375 H&H.

We picked up the track which went up into and over a small koppie. As we crested the Koppie, the area flattened out and a gully was evident that went down to our right hand side. My head tracker stopped and no words were needed. The area had been burnt not to long before and was devoid of any long grass or brush. However the gully which was soft soil compared to the rest of the rocky area we had just crested. In front of us where a whole lot of warthog holes. With no cover to speak of the leopard could well be in one of these. The Zim tracker was motioned into a Marula tree that was close by. He climbed up and with hand signals we motioned to him to check the holes from the top. After some considerable time he shook his head and came down. My head tracker and myself where still convinced the leopard was there, experience?sixth sense? who knows but we knew....

Unknown to us the leopard was indeed in one of the holes but only lying low in the entrance of one....he had been watching the tracker in the tree all along and had singled him out....

Just as we moved forward the leopard launched his attack....Barnabas the tracker was in the lead, with a scream he took off, the other PH had the leopard come right past him, his first shot was quartering frontal had no effect the second shot was more broadside and also had no effect. I stepped past him but at this time it was Barnabas leading the race in front with the leopard on his heels.....I could not take a shot for fear of hitting Barnabas....my head tracker Alec Ndlovu was shouting to Barnabas to duck left or right, which he eventually did and I squeezed of killing the leopard. Barnabas only returned 45 minutes later, we had no idea how far he had run....

I could not understand how the leopard had not gotten hold of him, upon inspection we found that the leopard had been shot in the right front wrist which slowed him down. Further we found that some pellets were in the fur just into the skin. Back at the skinning shed and during skinning we found that not one pellet had entered the muscle mass of this large leopard male.....

The hardness of an attacking large male leopards muscles are something to behold...

I realized a rifle is not the tool for the job, I needed a double, I could not afford one...

During my search for the best leopard charge stopping rifle I came to the conclusion that only a double would be acceptable, enter the poor mans double...a slug loaded shotgun and specifically loaded with original Brenneke slugs.

Extensive testing followed and after hunting, many many bush pigs, warthogs, blue wildebeest, gems buck, impala, kudu etc. it became very evident that buckshot was not up to the task and only the mentioned original Brenneke slugs would suffice.

My 24" ghost ring sight fitted, Brno side lock sxs 12ga 2 3/4" loaded with Original Brenneke slugs became my leopard back up rig and has never let me down.

Yes paper ballistics are a starting point but field testing and results have to be the final decision maker of what does and what does not work...especially when dealing with DG.

Yes I still use buck shot but mainly when hunting bush pigs in corn at night without hounds, just by sound, when I will load one barrel with LG and the other with a Brenneke slug.

When hunting them over hounds we prefer Spanish or other slugs as the Brenneke seems to over penetrate and could hit one of the hounds.

Sir what chokes are on the Brno shotgun you use as you mentioned. Thank you.

 

[IvW]

Sir what chokes are on the Brno shotgun you use as you mentioned. Thank you.

None I cut the barrels down to 24 inches and fitted front sight and Ghost ring at the back

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I‘ve killed the first two of my three man eating Royal Bengal tigers with a shotgun (a Pakistani single barrel 12 gauge Sikender with a fully choked barrel) in 1981 and 1988. I was using Eley Alphamax L.G shells. Both tigers were shot only once. Here is the photo of the second tiger. I have the photo of the first one in my album and will eventually take a photo of that one too.

Here is the shotgun I used (on the right side of my Churchill 7x57mm Mauser)

Here is the shells that I used (left side of the Remington Nitro Magnum box)

Let me be very very frank: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS ANYBODY TO TRY TO GO AFTER A TIGER OR EVEN A LEOPARD WITH BUCKSHOT. I did it because I was stupid enough to listen to a fibbing forest guard who worked for me at the time (who claimed to have killed several Royal Bengal tigers with L.G buckshot) and I believed him. The first one nearly killed me.

I detailed the incidents in my book. But in short order, here is the basic gist of it:

Man Eater #1: I’m inside a security guard’s hut in a fish farm. With me is one forest guard, holding a six cell torchlight. Tiger killed and partially fed on a bullock and we know that he will come back to his natural kill (to resume feeding). Tiger comes at 8:30 PM (give or take), forest guard turns on torchlight. I see the two glowing eyes and fire. Range can’t be more than 20 yards. Tiger takes the hit and gets out of our line of sight. We can’t see the striped bastard but we can hear him growling. At around 9, rain starts. We get scared, because we can’t hear him now. In the morning, my other officers come. We find a blood trail and eventually find the animal dead. Based on how far he had gone and his rate of decomposition, a postmortem suggested that he succumbed to the gunshot wound SEVEN FULL HOURS after I shot him. All eight L.G pellets had hit the tiger. Six in the base of the chest … ALL of which flattened out like clay putty without managing to reach the heart. Two tore into the throat. And that was what eventually did him in. He measured 9 feet 9 inches.

Man Eater # 2: I’m on a macchan in a cattle farm. With me is a forest guard, holding a six cell torchlight. Tiger killed and partially fed on a bullock. So we’re waiting for him to return to his natural kill. Tiger comes at 10PM (give or take), forest guard turns on torchlight. I see the two glowing eyes and fire. Range can’t be more than 22-25 yards. Tiger takes the hit and disappears. In the morning, my officers come and we do a search. We find him after spooring blood trail. Dead. Based on what the postmortem suggested, he succumbed to the gunshot wound no less than FOUR HOURS after I shot him. 7 L.G pellets had hit the tiger in the base of the frontal chest area. MOST of them had flattened out on the rock hard muscle under the skin. ONE had managed to make it a little deeper. But still didn’t reach the heart, properly. The tiger died from blood loss. He measured 9 feet 7 inches. I got myself a proper rifle after that incident (my Churchill Gunmakers Model Deluxe 7x57mm Mauser). I used it to kill the final man eater in 1989. Male tigers in this region average 310 pounds. So lighter (but faster and more aggressive) than the Royal Bengal tigers found in India and Nepal’s Terrai region.

On the subject of African leopard, I’ve personally seen Remington 3“ Magnum OOO Buck fail to penetrate the skull and shoulder muscles of a large male at four meters. The pattern was tight enough to be covered by my palm. An African white hunter who guided me told me a story of how he once shot a charging female leopard in the head with a Remington 11-87 that was loaded with South African Swartklip L.G shells (which hold eight pellets). Leopard kept going and was fortunately floored with a 300Gr Nosler Partition fired from a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum (a pre ‘64 Winchester Model 70). A postmortem revealed that none of the L.G pellets had managed to get through the skull bone (though the skull bone did get cracked and dented). Range was so close that even the plastic wad was found lodged in the leopard’s skin.

I’ve personally killed one male leopard with Federal 3” Magnum copper plated OOO Buck (during a charge when we followed him up after he got wounded). Shotgun was my white hunter’s Valmet Model 412 O/U. The first shot took failed to stop him at 10 meters. Second barrel stopped him at four meters. Postmortem revealed that even ”Premium” copper plated OOO Buck pellets would flatten upon hitting leopard skull. We found a grand total of 12 pellets in him from the two shots (a Federal Premium 3” Magnum OOO Buck shell holds ten, so it’s anybody’s guess how many pellets were from the first shot and how many pellets were from the second shot). The ones from the second shot tore through his heart.

My conclusion is that unplated buckshot (regardless of size) will not work on big cats (unless it’s a fluke, which is what happened to me). Copper plated OOO buckshot won’t be effective at ten meters, but MAY be effective under five (for leopard, that is).

Be smart. When going after a wounded leopard, use:
Option 1: A fast handling double rifle in either 9.3x74mm R or .375 Holland & Holland Magnum or .450/400 Nitro Express or .500/416 Nitro Express (using fast expanding bullets like Nosler Partitions)
or
Option 2: A shotgun loaded with 3” Brenneke Black Magic slugs

 

[Hunter-Habib]

LGs of course.

Hi, @Bapu . So lovely to make your acquaintance. Were you using the paper cased Eley Alphamax or the plastic cased one? And what make of shotgun was it (and chokes). Any shotgun shell containing pellets larger than 4.8mm were banned in India in 1980. So was this incident before 1980? How much did the leopard weigh? Was it a head shot or a chest shot?

For my first two tigers, I used these.

 

[Bapu]

Hi, @Bapu . So lovely to make your acquaintance. Were you using the paper cased Eley Alphamax or the plastic cased one? And what make of shotgun was it (and chokes). Any shotgun shell containing pellets larger than 4.8mm were banned in India in 1980. So was this incident before 1980? How much did the leopard weigh? Was it a head shot or a chest shot?

For my first two tigers, I used these.
View attachment 482576

 

[Bapu]

Hello Habib Saheb, This leopard was taken in Southern Gujarat in the 2003. They were plastic shells and the shotgun was a CZ Brno with IMC both barrels 28” barrel length. Leopard was not injured but we were tracking him for last 5 hours on foot and finally took the shot at around 6pm. He charged from a distance of about 30 yards and by the time I realised that he is coming for me he was there in flick of a second. Luckily I was warned by a tribal boy who on seeing the leopard much before I reached the point was on top of his hut in fear. Eventually when I fired both my barrels he was barely ten feet away. I just pointed the barrel below his chin and fired. The pattern opened into his head and he dropped dead on his back with all four legs on top in the air. He did growl very loudly when he charged. It was a lucky day. Do PM me your details I will call. Thank you.

 

[PerH]

Hunter Habib has very much experience wih a lot of various shotgun ammo and any kind of terrains and weathers. So he has seen and done the most, if he say something about a gun or cartridge its true,tested and verified.

 

[Bapu]

I would post the picture here but will have to learn how to do it.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Hello Habib Saheb, This leopard was taken in Southern Gujarat in the 2003. They were plastic shells and the shotgun was a CZ Brno with IMC both barrels 28” barrel length. Leopard was not injured but we were tracking him for last 5 hours on foot and finally took the shot at around 6pm. He charged from a distance of about 30 yards and by the time I realised that he is coming for me he was there in flick of a second. Luckily I was warned by a tribal boy who on seeing the leopard much before I reached the point was on top of his hut in fear. Eventually when I fired both my barrels he was barely ten feet away. I just pointed the barrel below his chin and fired. The pattern opened into his head and he dropped dead on his back with all four legs on top in the air. He did growl very loudly when he charged. It was a lucky day. Do PM me your details I will call. Thank you.

Absolutely thrilling, thank you, Bapu. Sound like you used a BRNO ZP-49. Good solid guns, my friend. Although the ejectors are often problematic when using shells loaded with shot weights above 32 grams. You have confirmed my assessment. A headshot with L.G shells will not penetrate a leopard’s skull. But a throat shot (like yours and the kind I used to take the first tiger) is feasible.

Were you issued the L.G shells by the forest department? Because L.G shells (and buckshot, in general) was banned for civi possession in India in 1980.

Your friend,
Habib

 

[Bapu]

My last maneater. Last December.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

My last maneater. Last December.

Fantastic, my friend. What make and caliber of rifle is that? I’m guessing the caliber is .30-06 ? Lots of my Indian friends have recently begun to prefer this caliber over the old IOF .315 bore rifle (basically an 8x50mm R).