It took the author 60 days of sitting on leopard baits--over several years--before he finally was able to take this big cat.

We all know hunters who seem to enjoy more than their share of luck, who enjoy success where others experience failure, and who consistently bring back the largest trophies. We call them "lucky." Maybe they're lucky, and maybe they're just plain good. I'd wager that if you took a close look you'd discover that they are strong in at least a majority of the following seven habits or traits. Nobody is going to be really strong in all, but I'll bet that most hunters who are consistently "lucky" are model examples in at least four or five.

PATIENCE
If you stumble into a deer stand you have never sat in before and the world record whitetail happens by, you have just defined "luck," and the old adage in the East is: "He who sits the longest bags the buck." This applies not only to whitetails and not only in the East. Most of the time, hunting is not a short race, and serious patience is often required.

A whole lot of whitetail hunting and any baited hunting (like leopard and black bear) are best handled by sitting still, staying alert and taking whatever Mother Nature dishes out. And in places such as Canada and Alaska it isn't uncommon to have to sit in camp and wait out wind, rain or snow for days while your long-dreamed-of hunt ticks painfully away. An entire hunt may slip by without any decent hunting weather, but, more likely, if you wait it out you will be rewarded with at least a couple of good days.

To some extent, hunting is like combat--hours upon hours of sheer boredom spiced by very short periods of incredible excitement. Much of the time it doesn't take all that long to encounter game and get a shot. If you can stay alert, keep a positive attitude, and keep from going stir-crazy until it happens, you will be much better prepared to handle the encounter when it comes.

PERSEVERANCE
It takes patience to persevere, but when I talk about perseverance, I'm talking about the ability to keep at it through an entire season, for multiple seasons or (and perhaps especially) in the face of defeat.

My best example is the terrible luck I had hunting leopards. Over the course of several safaris I sat on active baits more than 60 nights before I ever saw a leopard--vigils made all the more difficult by my lack of patience and inability to sit still. It went on so long that several times I had to ask myself if I really wanted a leopard that badly. The answer was "yes," so I kept at it, and eventually it happened.

Right now I have a similar, ongoing project to find a really good interior grizzly. Yes, I have shot grizzlies, but not a really big one. Come to think of it, over the course of several trips I've passed every grizzly I've seen for nearly two decades now. If I keep at it, I think I'll find the right bear one of these years--but only if I keep at it.

This same principle applies to the huge buck that's been making tracks, rubs and scrapes in your back forty. He may be one of those charmed, nocturnal, near-legendary bucks that will never be taken--but for darned sure you won't get him if you don't keep trying.

The same applies to other big game. Some of the best opportunities occur in areas where tags are tough to draw--so tough that maybe you'll never win one. But if you don't apply, it's guaranteed you will never draw the tag.

I applied for 20 years in multiple states before I drew a Rocky Mountain bighorn tag, and during the mid-1990s I drew two. I can't tell you how many people told me how "lucky" I was. I can accept this from other hunters who have also been trying to draw, but most of the folks who put it down to pure luck have never even applied.