I will tell you flat out that wounded Leopard is the most dangerous of the Big 5 and the least likely to make your PH a happy camper. You see, ethics and the law require you to go after wounded game until you either find it or further follow-up becomes impossible. In Africa, if you wound it, you've bought it, whether you find it or not. Leopard is currently around $2000 and up. And you don't get to try for another, even if you have the $$$.
Leopard are most frequently shot out of a tree where they are feeding on a bait you have put up. Range is usually 25-50 yards and you shoot from a hasty built blind. Leopard most often show-up at last light or are caught still on bait at first light. Silence in the blind is absolute; they have incredible hearing and will spook easily if they think something is out of the ordinary.
Ideally you select one rosette (spot) just above and slightly behind the front shoulder, as your point of aim. Find it by following the front leg up into the body and then moving towards the rear just a bit. Cats have a different physiology than antelope. A .30-06 or .300wm (my choice) is proper Leopard medicine. At the shot, Old Spots will usually fall from the tree into the knee high grass. You won't get a second shot and you won't see him move off if you've only wounded him. You are advised in the strongest terms to spend the next 10-30 minutes sitting quietly in the blind. This in hopes Chui was well hit and will bleed out or, if hit poorly, that he will begin to stiffen-up from his wound.
When you approach the bottom of the tree (carefully) with your rifle (or the 12ga pump gun loaded with 3" magnum 00 clad shot you brought along for just this eventuality) you will discover whether you've done your job correctly. If not, you have encountered one of the most frighteningly dangerous eventualities of safari - tracking a wounded Leopard (most likely in the dark). Your PH may or may not allow you to accompany him and a tracker into the bush.
A wounded Leopard will attempt to ambush you. He will go off a ways, circle back and hide in the bush, where he will literally dig in his hind feet to provide starting blocks for his death charge. He may let the tracker pass by before charging the hunters, and when he comes it will be at blazing speed. You will maybe have one shot before he hits someone. He will jump, placing his forepaws on the victims shoulders and using his hind paws to sink claws into the abdomen and then rake your guts out onto your shoes, while chewing on an arm or shoulder. He may immediately move towards another target. I know of cases where 3 separate hunters were hit within a matter of seconds by the same wounded and pissed Leopard.
Leopard mauling is very serious. The main issue is infection caused by the dead and putrid meat beneath the animals claws and in its' mouth. Evacuation is rarely an easy option in Africa. I have hunted areas where I knew it would require being carried a few miles distance to a vehicle followed by a multi-hour drive to a dirt airstrip followed by a multi hour flight to a medical facility for initial treatment, usually followed by an even longer flight to a proper hospital.
So, shoot straight!
