Matthew Aldridge of Florence Alabama successfully hunted an a very beautiful big Tom leopard and completed his quest for the ”BIG SEVEN” Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion, Hippo, Crocodile and Leopard in 2016.
Congratulations Matthew and well done, your hard work paid off and you deserve it. W.T.H also want to say, THANK YOU to Randy & Matthew Aldridge and Family for your support, friendship and trust in W.T.H over all these years.
No leopard hunting will be possible in The Republic of South Africa (RSA) for 2017. That’s because South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has withheld the quota and no hunting licenses will be issued. The de facto closure is due to a recommendation by DEA’s scientific department, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
SANBI believes South Africa’s leopard population is in decline but has not presented any research to support that conclusion. Another reason DEA gave to withhold the quota is that the North West Province failed to provide any of the required information for the DEA to make a nondetriment finding in their leopard offtake.
If you have already booked a leopard hunt for this year, be aware that your operator has no leopard permit for 2017 and will not receive one unless DEA’s decision is overturned.
If there is any questions or anything we can assist with please do not hesitate to contact us.
NB!!! Watts Trophy Hunting still got leopard permits in some of our neighboring countries.
I am not a big writer at all but thought I would post this for anyone contemplating hunting in South Africa. This is our experience….
My brother and I just got back from South Africa were we harvested the slam of springbuck, both blesbuck, 2 warthogs, blue wildebeest, impala, and a gemsbuck.
Our hunt was with Wyatt Trophy Outfitters. We had never hunted Africa before so we didn’t know what to expect. This outfit was fantastic! they handled our gun import and export permits on the Africa side, they had their people (taxidermist, owners permit specialist etc.) meet us all at the airport and handled everything! (Not one issue with the guns)
The accommodations, food hospitality was over the top. Defiantly a 5 star all around. The hunting was awesome, we saw a lot of animals and there was no pressure to shoot more animals (which I have heard is done in some places) We hunted on many different ranches and all the choices were there.
We were so impressed and happy with our choices. The Watts brothers are top shelf guys and if anyone out there is looking to head to Africa, I would highly recommend them!!! We have already booked our buffalo hunt in Tanzania and are so excited!
