About three miles distant, a leopard circled a baited tree while French PH Yann Le Bouvier and his client watched from a blind 45 meters away. As the sun slipped down, the hunters heard the rustle of leaves, then the rasping sound of claws on bark, and in a flash the cat was aloft, standing side-on atop the bait and surveying the area. Satisfied the coast was clear, beautifully silhouetted, it looked down at the meat and made ready to feed.

Yann raised his binoculars and checked to see if it was a male, then called for the shot. The client hunkered down behind his scope and drew a bead in the gathering gloom. The rifle roared. There was a brief, frenzied flurry, the blurred form of the cat leaping out the tree, the soft thud of its feet hitting the ground, then silence, and the leopard was gone.

Yann and his trackers rushed to the base of the tree, hoping to find the leopard dead nearby. Studying the ground, the hunting party picked up spoor and followed until a little after dark. The search revealed blood but no body. Suspecting that the shot had gone high, the PH left the scene a little forlorn, now almost certain his client had blown the shot and that testing times lay ahead.