One for the Road

Jul 17, 2019 | News

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“Hurry, Hurry! Shoot! SHOOT!

(And other helpful comments.)

Towards the end of his career in Africa, Robert Ruark had one particular tracker named Metheke without whom, he wrote, “I feel naked in the bush.” He does not make it clear exactly who Metheke worked for when Ruark was not around. Presumably, it was one of the Ker & Downey professional hunters, but Metheke always seemed able to detach himself to accompany Ruark, no matter who he was hunting with at the time. Or so Ruark would have us believe. He was Man Friday to Ruark’s Robinson Crusoe.

Ruark was very adept at creating ideal situations that embed themselves in your mind, making you seek out such perfection on every hunting trip henceforth. Alas, perfection in hunting — and especially in hunting companions — is a very scarce commodity. On rare occasions I have met trackers in Africa who compare favorably with the sainted Metheke. Lekina Sandeti, a Masai who works for Robin Hurt in Tanzania, is one. Cuno, who worked for Chris Dandridge in Botswana, is another; I never did know Cuno’s surname. Nor did I know Charles’s surname, who was Clive Eaton’s tracker and always dressed in a shirt and hat more in keeping with a beach in Hawaii than on the track of a Cape buffalo. His attire belied his ability, however, which was second to none when it came to finding game and tracking it.

Books and stories from old Africa often depicted trackers and gun bearers in less than flattering terms. Some were outright racist to a point which, in this day and age, causes even the most non-politically-correct to cringe. Even those who purported to like and respect the safari staff were often condescending in their treatment of native people and their foibles. Most wrote about their trackers the way a wingshooter writes about a particularly gifted bird dog. Ruark, I hasten to add, did like and respect them. At times he was critical, but never condescending.

I don’t claim to be any less inherently racist — or at least, race-conscious — than other men of my age and background, but I have always tried to write about Lekina, Cuno, Charles, and the others in the same terms I wrote about the white professionals who headed up safaris. Perhaps this is because, 20 years before I ever went on safari in Africa, I went there as a freelance foreign correspondent and spent long periods living in grass huts, mud huts, and, on occasion, refugee and guerrilla camps. (Grass huts, by the way, are the most comfortable, and you become fond of the lizards that scurry around.)

In the course of that and later such expeditions, I learned enough Swahili to get by, or at least enough to show the trackers I was making the attempt, and this always seemed to put them on my side. Earning the respect of your trackers is, of course, the best case. Failing that, not incurring their enmity is something to be desired. One time, I was told about a client in Botswana, hunting with some Bushmen, who made the mistake of treating them badly, constantly denigrating them and generally being a boor. It has been my experience that people respond in kind, and that a little politeness goes a long way. At any rate, the Bushmen determined on some revenge. Knowing they could go long periods without water, while the fat American needed a drink every fifteen minutes, they took him out one morning and did a long, looping circle under the hot sun, with no water. Hours later, dehydrated, hallucinatory, and almost dead with fatigue, they delivered him back to camp. I don’t know whether he changed his ways, but the guides certainly got a bit of their own back.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of respect, mutual or otherwise, but simply competence. For every superb Lekina or Cuno, I have met trackers and other staff that seem to have been hired at short notice out of the local saloon, and have no more idea about hunting than if they’d been hired to teach quantum physics. One time, I was trying to locate a wounded wildebeest in the thick bush of Natal. With no tracks or blood trail, going back the next day to search for it was like looking for the proverbial needle, but we had to try.

We split up, with the PH and one tracker going one way, and a tracker and me going the other. By some miracle, a lone wildebeest bull appeared on an open slope about 200 yards distant. We had no shooting sticks, and no convenient tree. I was studying the bull in my binoculars while the tracker gesticulated wildly, insisting it was the wounded animal. My only chance was an offhand shot.

“Hurry!” he shouted. “Shoot! Shoot!”

Already out of breath, nervous, I tried to place the dancing crosshairs somewhere near the shoulder, and yanked the trigger with predictable results. The bull melted into the undergrowth. My guide looked at me, practically in tears. “Why you not shoot?” he asked, obviously thinking that killing an animal with a rifle required nothing more than pointing it in more or less the right direction and pulling the trigger. The wounded bull — if it was our bull — was gone, then and for all time. I should add that it was a hell of a head.

Guides like that make you even more nervous and likely to miss. Others, like Lekina, know that their own chances of survival go up considerably if they keep you calm in a tight situation, and try to make things easier rather than harder. Shouting “Shoot, shoot!” when the client is either not ready, or not in a good position to do so, accomplishes all the wrong things.

I’ve heard of, although I’ve never experienced, the extreme case of a guide running on ahead to try to spot a wounded animal, and then turning around and shouting to the hunter to “Shoot!” when he can’t even see it from where he is. And, naturally, the shout then spooks the beast to make tracks.

On my first safari in Botswana, my professional hunter was a Tswana by the name of Patrick Mmalane, a Sandhurst graduate and captain in the Botswana Defence Force. He had signed on as a professional hunter with Safari South. Naturally, he being black as the ace of spades, I insisted on referring to him as my “white hunter,” which caused great mirth among the trackers. Since Patrick and I both held the Queen’s Commission, we declared our end of the dining table to be the officers’ mess. We became quite good friends, and I went back the following year for a four-week odyssey wherein we drove around Botswana, wingshooting, seeing the sights, and setting a number of local beer-drinking records.

Patrick eventually left hunting and rejoined the BDF, and the last I heard he was a lieutenant-colonel. I mention all this because it was interesting to see his relationship with our trackers. They were Bushmen, in whole or in part, and as at home in the bush as Patrick and I were on a drill square. While Patrick was good with a rifle, and held command in an easy grip, he was not a tracker, and game spotting was not his long suit. The trackers treated him with the same somewhat bemused respect that an experienced sergeant-major accords to a newly appointed young officer.

In the end, we all proved ourselves to each other — and earned whatever respect we had — through our own abilities, and by the end of the week, one Cape buffalo bull and several lesser species later, we all got along with a kind of easy familiarity. Everyone did his job, no one screwed up, and we had a pretty happy ship.

It would be nice to be able to say that eventually I ended up with one tracker who did for me what Metheke did for Ruark, but those were other days. A tracker/gun bearer/factotum of the Metheke stamp is either a distant memory or, more likely, an ideal that never really existed — certainly not for visiting client-hunters like Ruark, or me.

One of my most treasured memories of hunting in Africa, however, is when, on my second safari with him, Lekina Sandeti invited me to be a guest in his hut, and to drink a cup of the buttermilk-like concoction that is a staple of Masai life. This was, I was told by my PH, a great honor. Whether Metheke ever did the same for Robert Ruark, I don’t know. As I say, those were different times[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in Ezine” color=”chino” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fjuly-aug-sep-2019%2F%23africanhuntinggazette-ezine-july%2F146-147|||”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Loxodonta Africana

May 27, 2019 | News

Loxodonta Africana

What a powerful name for the world’s greatest land animal.

Today, the landlocked, small southern African country of Botswana, with a little over a million people took arguably the biggest decision in living memory (or mine anyway) regarding how it manages its own wildlife.

This is an arid country, with an average rainfall of 440mm, less than half the world’s average. It is dependent on exporting some of the world’s best diamonds, hugely reliant on beef exports and in particular, exporting its ecotourism experience as it showcases the world’s greatest wetland – the Okavango Delta. But the cross it has to bear is the unenviable task of managing a natural behemoth. A monster that consumes 26 000 (twenty-six thousand) tons, or 58 000 000 (fifty-eight million) pounds of foliage a day!

This is the herd of Botswana’s African elephants and Africa’s largest by miles. Conservatively speaking at 130 000 animals – number many questions being too low, they consume 200kg of leaves and grass, each …a day!

Some of the variables and factors this country has had to grapple with include:

1. Listening to, consulting with, empathizing, working out how to compensate the rural communities who have the ongoing challenge of the human-wildlife conflict to deal with. These beasts raid and destroy their crops and livelihoods and when working with and for the safari operators in the remote rural areas – they stood to benefit from this challenging dilemma. They are at the centre of where this is all happening.
2. Pleasing photo tourists who want to experience these beasts up close and personal on foot, on a boat or on the back of a land cruiser and seldom understand the concept of sustainable utilization or the challenges of human-wildlife conflict.
3. Keeping ivory poachers away as they’ll do anything to satisfy the demand for illegal ivory markets, particularly when they have no resistance.
4. Hunters who are prepared to pay handsomely for a limited number of trophy bull elephants each year through operators that manage the more remote areas not utilized by tourists.
5. A lucrative side industry from the management of elephant numbers, call it culling. This benefits thousands of local inhabitants with arguably one of the purest forms of a renewable, sustainable utilization of resources, that after all is theirs.
6. Animal rightists who want zero hunting anywhere – let alone in Botswana. They start petitions and campaign for eco-tourists to boycott Botswana should they opt to lift its ban on hunting.
7. Photographic safari operators, who are disguised animal rightists, working with National Geographic of all companies, who want everything on their terms and even went into business with the ex-President as a tactic to close down hunting and are still today, very powerful eco-tourism players.
8. You have ‘editors’ and journalists bringing out books, one most recently called the Last Elephant – (as if these animals are on the verge of extinction) that conveniently sideline Namibia’s elephant success story who coincidently work with communities in an even drier country with way less elephant to manage and it is prospering.

All this is happening while there is a tsunami of international pressure, from ‘Conservation bodies,’ interested groups, countries, politicians, celebrities, all seeking their moment in the sun – around a topic they know nothing, at worse, or very little at best, about.

This is a Botswana problem – not a global, African, or a southern African problem.

And so, as the press conference starts at 1400 on the 23^rd of May 2019, explaining why they have lifted the ban on hunting elephant, I salute this great country.

What a bold decision, taken for the right reasons, in the face of such adversity. What a lesson for us all.

Click here to view the letter of The Botswana Lifting of Ban

Politics and Hunting in Botswana

May 7, 2019 | News

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Politics and Hunting in Botswana

By Dr John Ledger

In 2014 the then President of Botswana, Ian Khama, unexpectedly announced the banning of all hunting in his country. This caused consternation in the hunting community and brought confusion and distress to local rural communities around hunting areas who had benefited materially and financially from the hunting industry. They were simply cut off from an important source of money, protein and other wildlife products and work opportunities. It has been said that former President Khama was strongly influenced by animal rights and anti-hunting activists. Whichever way you look at it, the lack of consultation and proper planning of the hunting ban was shameful.

But as they say, what goes around comes around. Just over four years down the line, Botswana has a new President, and one with a different style to his predecessor, in that he is apparently more willing to listen to the people. And the people tell him that they are suffering damage to their homes, crops, and even loss of life resulting from the impacts of wild animals which, since the hunting ban, are of no value to them. President Masisi appointed a committee (‘The Hunting Ban SubCommittee of Cabinet’) to consult the people through tribal meetings known as ‘kgotlas’, where everyone has an opportunity to be heard. In its formal report back (in the form of ‘Handover Notes’) to the President, the subcommittee made the following key points:

“From the submissions made by the communities and other stakeholders, the Committee as assigned by Your Excellency, found it necessary to propose the following recommendations, stated here in summary form.

Hunting ban be lifted;
Develop a legal framework that will create an enabling environment for growth of safari hunting industry;
Manage Botswana elephant population within its historic range;
Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) should undertake an effective community outreach program within the elephant range for Human Elephant Conflict mitigation;
Strategically placed human wildlife conflict fences be constructed in key hotspot areas;
Game ranches be demarcated to serve as buffers between communal and wildlife areas;
Compensation for damage caused by wildlife, ex gratia amounts and the list of species that attract compensation be reviewed. In addition, other models that alleviate compensation burden on Government be considered;
All wildlife migratory routes that are not beneficial to the country’s conservation efforts be closed;
The Kgalagadi southwesterly antelope migratory route into South Africa should be closed by demarcating game ranches between the communal areas and Kgalagadi Wildlife Management Areas;
Regular but limited elephant culling be introduced and establishment of elephant meat canning, including production of pet food and processing into other by-products.”

Some of these submissions made by rural communities are rather bizarre, and unlikely to be implemented by government, but it should be remembered that these are people who are so angry and frustrated by the impacts of wild animals, especially elephants, that their emotions have boiled over to the extent that they have come up with the idea of culling them and turning them into pet food! These thoughts have certainly caused a furore among the animal-rightists, but I doubt any of them have had family members killed by elephants. It also seems improbable that the government would sanction such activities, or unrealistic ideas for fences, but the realities of elephant management in the long run are that someone has to have the courage to take the ‘tough love’ road, as difficult as that may seem.

The important point is that the debate on the role of wildlife in Botswana has been re-opened and government has an opportunity to come up with some innovative policies regarding the relationship between people and wildlife outside the formally protected areas of the country. There is little doubt that the people of Botswana have been looking with interest at the wildlife policies of their neighbour, Namibia, where community conservation programmes have resulted in a high level of tolerance by people for wildlife, because they benefit from its presence. These benefits range from tourism and hospitality, from subsistence and trophy hunting that can be conducted in areas that are not suitable for photographic safaris, and from the breeding, sale and relocation of sought-after species.

There is no good reason why Botswana cannot implement a sound national wildlife management policy that will see rural communities benefitting from the wild animals living on their land. Benefits from the wildlife sharing space with humans results in tolerance. There are limits to tolerance, however, and predators will always require management and control when they exceed the bounds of tolerance. Namibia has learned how to do this, and reach a balance between the rights of stock farmers and the tourism benefits of seeing predators in adjacent areas. Custodianship must benefit the custodians, and wildlife must be able to make a financial contribution to the well-being of the human occupants of the land. Hunting has a major role to play in rural economies, and can be implemented with proper checks and balances and quotas based on sound management principles.

There is little doubt that the government of Botswana will be at the centre of a huge debate about how it should be managing its wildlife in future. Hunters should give their firm support to government for the re-opening of hunting in areas that are best suited for these activities, and where local people can benefit from regulated, well-managed and high value hunting operations.

The animal-rightists and anti-hunting lobby will of course do their best to dissuade Botswana from implementing wildlife management policies similar to those that are working in Namibia. Indeed, I have noticed a recent trend that looks like a deliberate campaign to ignore or sideline the Namibian success story, because it does not sit well with the animal-rights and anti-hunting lobby.

For example, I recently read and reviewed a new book on elephants (Pinnock, Don & Colin Bell (Compilers) (2019). The Last Elephants. Struik Nature, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town). It is largely a propaganda piece aimed at the forthcoming CITES meeting. Under the country heading Namibia, there is a single article about ‘social structure’, ‘male and female society’, ‘genetic links’, ‘feeding activities and more in the ‘Desert-dwelling elephants of north-west Namibia’.

But nowhere is there any mention of Namibia’s success in community-based conservation, of its massive community conservation areas, of its government’s unwavering support for both trophy hunting and subsistence hunting, of the benefits that have flowed to rural communities through a balanced approach towards sustainable consumptive wildlife utilisation, alongside eco-tourism opportunities. How does Namibia manage conflicts between rural communities, elephants and lions, for example? Why does this book choose to ignore the success story of conservation in Namibia, and make no mention of one of the most significant books on the region, An Arid Eden, by Garth Owen-Smith?

Let us hope that Botswana will soon join Namibia by introducing a new wildlife policy that suits its country and its people, and not the prohibitionists who apparently cannot stand the thought of Africans benefiting from the wild animals on their land.

Dr John Ledger is an independent consultant and writer on energy and environmental issues, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. John.Ledger@wol.co.za

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A Matter of Trust…

May 2, 2019 | News

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A Matter of Trust…

Trust – firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something

When you’re buying something – particularly the higher it is in value – this underlying element of trust is becoming all too important. The world is offering more of everything. Promises are spouted, choices abound. Everyone and anyone is being told everything and anything. Decisions become difficult. Once great bastions of truth – like BBC, CNN – distort the facts for the sake of agendas, viewers and stakeholders.

With international travel to Africa, when your precious time and personal cash is spent on a classic safari – the last thing you want is to be sold is some story. How do you tell who has got what concession, or the exclusive right to hunt where they say they have? Or have even got their license from that country’s association? Forums exist, but many use pseudonyms, and right of reply is seldom offered before there is trial by media. Associations exist, but don’t have enough clout. Ethics committees abound – but with well over ten thousand hunters to Africa each year – how many rotten apples are removed?

With offering peace of mind, we launched the Visited & Verified Program. There’s no grading system for now – it was merely a means to independently confirm, via our platforms, what the Outfitter said they offered. Our reputation was on the line.

While there’s space for all types of hunting operations and areas, just like any restaurant, hotel, tourist attraction or motor vehicle for that matter, simply state what it is that you offer. Don’t say with a straight face you are a Mercedes, when you’re a Toyota and have stuck a star badge on the hood. We know it happens, and thankfully the V&V program has gone some way to alleviate the problem. Our goal is to move this forward.

While everyone is a publisher, or a journalist, and there is too much keyboard courage and cyber ranting, we want to offer a refuge for those serious about hunting in Africa. As we expand the program, we will do what we can to build on that age-old quality that is all too quickly eroding in today’s world. Billy Joel sang about it in his 1986 hit, A Matter of Trust. And for us – promoting safaris to this great continent is what we do, so we take this seriously, and it is a matter of trust.

The Story of Two Shoe Salesmen in Africa – Once upon a time, a shoe company sent two salesmen to Africa to determine the market potential for their products. One salesman was sent to the east coast of Africa, while the other was sent to the west coast. Both the salesmen completed a basic survey of the target market and called back to the office. The salesman sent to the east coast of Africa reported, “No one here wears any shoes, there is no market for us here!” The other salesman sent a message, “No one here wears any shoes, there is a huge market for us, send inventory fast!” And so, the story went. Different perceptions of potential with the same scenario.

For those sitting in the northern hemisphere and reading this – there has never been a better time to visit Africa. I keep saying this, and each time there are more reasons: The currency exchange rate, the declining cost of game, (essentially an economic factor of constant demand and rising supply), the increasing number and frequency of airlines to Africa, and then the low barriers to entry for PHs and Outfitters to ‘get into’ this industry. Game farm owners are becoming hunting outfitters, wealthy businessmen are becoming game farmers – you name it, the reasons are many. Yet, the outfitters tend to bemoan the fact that competitors respond to the economic reality of rising supply and discount their hunts.

I flew to the USA from South Africa, via UK in May 1993 to start a summer internship at 3M, Minnesota. At an exchange rate of 3.18 SA Rand to the US$, it was $943. I have googled the cheapest flight right now, and it is SAR 11 073 to get to the USA, and at today’s exchange of 14.41 to the US$ – that would mean my flight would be $768. More than 20% cheaper than it was 26 years ago!

This continent offers so much, as each area opens up – be it wilderness areas in Zambia, Botswana lifting its ban, Mozambique’s Zambeze Delta team managing the greatest relocation of lions, ever – or South Africa’s Karoo, of all places, offering a wonderland of big open skies. The potential abounds. Wildlife is hardy and survives in extreme areas, Namibia’s desert game being the best example. And so, hunters, if you know of friends that have dreamt of hunting our great continent – there really is no better time. We challenge you – in fact politely beg you to tell your buddies, share this magazine, or electronically send it from our website to your contacts – just spread the word.

Outfitters and professional hunters. If the fish are not biting, or they appear smaller than before – it is time to explore new waters. There are hunters from across the globe that are nuts about Africa. We see them at Afton Guest House, from Slovakia to Sweden, Argentina to Australia. When you are presenting the diversity and wealth of our wildlife, our scenery, people and weather, the odds are stacked in your favour. Period.

Our mission and my job is to promote hunting in Africa, and 2019 will be a telling time. We will be unveiling a plan to promote this continent and outfitters, not only to our primary markets – but to establish larger secondary markets and, equally important, to new and potential markets. We started it in Canada 10 years back, so we know there is potential. We can’t do it alone and we will be working with the industry we are a part of and so committed to. So, as you read through the next hundred and something pages – please bear in mind that this is the turning point. We are on a mission. And like the shoe salesman who noted nobody wore shoes in Africa – “bring more inventory!”[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”chino” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fapr-may-june-2019%2F%23africa-hunting-gazette%2F8-9||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Of Demons and Dragons

May 2, 2019 | News

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Of Demons and Dragons.

The preservationist, anti-sustainable use doctrine is a formidable global force. Selling the creed to the Western world is both simple and lucrative. A 24/7 stream of cuddly Disney movies, TV documentaries, news reports and newspaper articles that portray Africa as some kind of idyllic Eden that needs no human management has laid the platform to cast safari hunters as the evil villains.

Kenya is the preservationists’ posterchild in Africa where the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have had a stranglehold on government environmental policies since the mid-1970s when safari hunting was banned. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Born Free and the African Wildlife Foundation lead the NGO pack. Under their watchful eye, it has been estimated that since 1963, Kenya has lost 90% of its wildlife and 80% of its forest land. Thirty to forty per cent of the rangelands have turned to desert. This damning evidence shows that these institutions are more concerned with the raising of funds than the wildlife they purport to protect. They realize all of the benefits of their unique position through the ability to raise awareness and money for their assorted campaigns with the added bonus of not being accountable for their actions. The day-to-day consequences resulting from their shenanigans are left to the people who live with the wildlife to deal with.

In stark contrast is South Africa’s wildlife success story, probably the greatest the world has seen. Pioneers of this program were Dr. Ian Player and his colleagues in the Natal Parks Board. Faced with an overpopulation of white rhino in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi game park in the 1970s, a decision was made to sell excess animals to private ranchers. A key aspect was that the rhino owner could do whatever he liked with his rhino. Profit could be made from his investment through photographic and hunting safaris as well as through the selling of excess animals onto other game ranchers. This radical concept was the engine that drove the establishment of game ranching in South Africa. From a countrywide population of around 500 000 in 1964, South Africa’s wildlife numbers now stand at around 22 million head.

Botswana followed a similar progression, centered around consumptive sustainable use, until Ian Khama became president of Botswana in 2008. He was hell-bent on changing tack and emulating the Kenyan model. He reportedly once said that the only endangered animal in Botswana would be the professional hunter. With the support of animal rights activists such as Dereck Joubert (National Geographic’s “Explorer in Residence”), Colin Bell and many others, the country’s safari hunting industry was systematically dismantled.

The closure of safari hunting in Botswana (except for plains game species on private land) had devastating consequences for both people and wildlife. “The effects of the safari hunting tourism ban on rural livelihoods and wildlife conservation in Northern Botswana” was written by Prof. Joseph E. Mbaiwa from the Okavango Research Institute, University of Botswana.

He states that between 2006 and 2009, safari hunting generated US $ 3 120 000 for rural communities, while photographic tourism generated only US $ 415 000. 49.5% of revenue from the safari hunting industry was used in the local district, 25.7% at the national level, and only 24.8% was being paid overseas, mainly in the form of agents’ commissions and profits. Over 600 jobs were lost, and 4 800 livelihoods affected. Photographic operations have not picked up the slack in marginal areas because these areas are not suited to photo-tourism. Community projects such as the construction of houses for the needy, funeral insurance, scholarships and household dividends have dried up.

The loss of protein in the form of meat from the hunted animals was substantial. In the last five years prior to the hunting ban, each community was allocated a total of 22 elephants or 154 tonnes of meat per annum. This was in addition to the meat from other animals hunted such as buffalo. The communities were permitted to sell any excess meat, and in one area alone, Sankoyo, $600,000 was realized from meat sales in 2010.

With these losses, human-wildlife conflict has increased appreciably and the nationwide reports rose from 4 361 in 2012 to 6 770 in 2014. Poaching is on the rise and is having a significant impact on wildlife populations. Fortunately for Botswana’s people and wildlife, the current president Mokgweetsi Masisi realizes the importance of sustainable use of natural resources, and, hopefully, safari hunting will once again be an integral part of the country’s community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) program.

In South Africa it seems that the preservationists are gaining some traction. When “Skye the lion” was supposedly shot on the border of Kruger in June 2018, the anti-hunters were hoping for another “Cecil the lion” story. But, unsurprisingly, the international outcry was muted. That fairy tale has lost its mojo. The lion in question may or may not have been “Skye”. It’s irrelevant. Kruger lion are not endangered, there is a healthy, growing population of around 1 800. A male lion was on quota as set by the appropriate authorities, and all of the various hunting protocols had been followed. There was an upshot to this saga however.

An enquiry into the Kruger and Private Reserves Benefit Sharing Agreement by the parliamentary Environmental Committee for Environmental Affairs was initiated. At least five anti-hunting presenters were invited to the enquiry, and not one pro-hunting representative. Any subsequent committee findings could therefore hardly be described as unbiased. The chairperson of the committee, a certain Phillemon Mapulane, was livid when he found out that the cooperative agreement between the Kruger National Park and the Association of Private Nature Reserves was signed despite the directives of his committee not to. As Stephen Palos the CEO of the Confederation of Hunting Associations of South Africa (CHASA) pointed out to Mapulane, while committees hold an oversight role and a responsibility to report and make recommendations, they have absolutely no mandate to directly interfere at the operational level. It is untenable to expect any functionary to try serve or appease two different masters. SANParks is governed by a Board, duly appointed and empowered in terms of legislation, to oversee the operational activities of its executive and staff. To drag that same executive and staff to answer and act at the operational level to the Portfolio Committee is not just illegitimate in terms of law, but also highly immoral. It must prove very disheartening to the capable, dedicated and passionate people who try run our parks. They will surely prove the legitimacy and correctness of the processes they have followed towards the benefit sharing and expansion of area on Kruger’s western border.

Palos goes on to question whether the Portfolio Committee has not somehow been captured by the doctrine of animal-rightism, which has a coordinated and devious agenda to replace conservation with preservation, at huge potential cost to human needs.

And so like some warped “Game of Thrones” melodrama the battle continues with dragons to be slayed and villains to be vanquished and all the while we are left to ponder when common sense, if ever, will prevail.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”chino” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fapr-may-june-2019%2F%23africa-hunting-gazette%2F12-13||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_masonry_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1556795175771-ce7d4f5e-7d24-5″ include=”21455,21456,21457″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Always trust Your PH…

May 2, 2019 | News

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Always trust Your PH…

By Lucas Paugh

“Nothing captures your heart like Africa,” was the mantra of my friend and mentor Craig Boddington. And as a young hunter I had always dreamed of hunting Africa to experience what most others only talked about, and very few Americans ever experienced.

Seeing the Big Five taxidermy exhibits at various trade shows sparked a fire in me to someday make this dream a reality. My longtime friend and hunting partner Jason Quick had previously introduced me to Alex and Johnny Thomson of Eland Safaris, a private hunting concession in the Northern Limpopo Province of South Africa, and we finally inked the date for early July 2018

We were met in Johannesburg by PH Petrie Boshoff, and on arrival at the farm were welcomed by Johnny and his family. We spent the afternoon shooting our bows to ensure accuracy, and recovering from jet lag after 26 hours in the air. Needless to say, we were ready to go experience Africa after over a year of waiting, and after an early breakfast next morning we split into our groups with our PHs. I was fortunate to have Petrie as my PH (or he was the unfortunate one to draw the short straw and have me as his client!).

One thing about bow hunting in Africa is that you will sit in blinds over water. At first, I was having a hard time with this concept, but I learned to respect and understand their hunting culture, and it wasn’t more than 30 minutes when my first encounter with an African species came straight to drink. A large mature impala ram had me at full draw, and when the arrow released that animal sprung up from the water and hightailed it out. It was a good shot, but the “vital triangle” sits a bit forward and lower in South Africa than in our traditional North American species. This took some getting used to as my impala proved by escaping my first arrow and disappearing in the bush!

I had a sleepless night worrying about it, but the good news was that thanks to my tracker Abraham, the impala was recovered within a few hundred yards of where I had hit him.

Day Two began at the same waterhole. The temperatures were rising in the afternoon, so plenty of game came down to feed and drink. I sat and studied Kevin Robertson’s The Perfect Shot about shot placement for trophy hunting Africa game, and made mental notes of where the arrow needed to penetrate for a clean kill.

Near the top of my desired list was a kudu bull. Of the spiral horned antelope, for me there is nothing more majestic than the Grey Ghost as they walk and browse through the trees. This day a massive kudu bull was thirsty, and my PH Petrie told me to grab my bow and get ready for a shot. We waited over 45 minutes until all the other animals left the watering area and the kudu gave me a 25-yard broadside shot. My arrow took flight, the bull spun and charged out into the thicket. In spite of the fact that the autopsy showed my arrow had cut through the bottom of the heart, he evaded us for hours till we finally were able to stop him in his tracks. I gained a newfound respect for these African animals.

I think another very special spiral-horned species is the nyala, and I decided to test my luck and see if I could get a chance on one. At the waterhole many nyala came in waves, and they all looked like a trophy bull to me. Prior to the trip my good friend and neighbor in our local town, Craig Boddington, told me straight: “Lucas, always trust your PH”. I recalled those words as I relied on Petrie to field judge and help me find a nyala bull that stood out above the rest. As luck would have it, a big bull with ivory-tipped horns appeared out of the thick brush and walked into water. Immediately my PH gave me that look of, “there’s the one”. I took my bow, nocked an arrow, and waited for the right moment. After what felt like hours, I lined up my single pin on the first stripe running down the front shoulder, and released a deadly arrow that made a full pass through and hit the dirt before the bull even knew what hit him. I managed to double down that morning as a nice-sized blesbok also came to water and took one of my arrows. One morning and two animals in the salt!

As the days passed, I also managed to hunt the holy grail of a gemsbok, a 40” horned beauty that turned out to be just an incredible representative of the species. Although all that was stimulating and fun, it wasn’t till the last day that was for me the most exciting and entertaining.

Alex and I had previously discussed which species were on the target list, and he convinced me to acquire a baboon permit.

“You never know when that opportunity could arise,” he said. All through the plains-game hunting I had this baboon permit sitting out there, and I thought, “Why not go and see what this baboon hunting is all about?”

So Petrie and I set out to an offset concession where the landowners were having issues with the baboons damaging their crops. After sitting in the blind for 20 minutes, a shrill shriek sounded out in the distance and my PH smiled. Within minutes a female baboon had entered the area and started feeding on the rotten tomatoes strategically placed. She was smarter than most, as she would grab a few veggies and run off. Then I noticed a silhouette in the bush walk out into view.

“A mature male,” Petrie whispered. “Take a shot if you can.”

I was committed to using my bow, which limited my opportunity as these primates are extremely clever and cunning. But this male slipped up by walking into my lethal distance. The shooting window was narrow and based on an angle did not give me much of a shot. As I went to full draw, I hoped that little sliver of an opening would be the vital zone I was looking for. One more step was needed for the baboon to give me a broadside shot…

The step was taken and arrow released. The animal immediately ran off for 50 yards till it expired with an arrow perfectly placed high in the shoulder. Petrie was delighted, as it was the first time he had been with successful bowhunter on baboon. We laughed and celebrated all the way back to camp.

That evening, we decided on a night hunt for steenbok. This was another hunt where they had never taken an archer at night to hunt one of these common small antelope species. We met the landowner and started out flashing spotlights across the fields looking for eyes. We had looked over many small game and then found a lone male ram feeding in the distance.

As we approached, my good friend Jason Quick helped me range the animal as I focused on making the shot in the dark. I recall hearing 48 yards, I set my pin, and the visible lumenok vapor trail traveled over the back of that ram. It ran off and went out quite a bit farther out of my effective range. We slowly moved forward and Jason whispered out another range of 38 yards. We followed, and after setting my pin I let an arrow fly and watched the ram buckle up hard and run about 20 yards before folding up. I was ecstatic at what I had just accomplished. Never had I thought this was achievable, but again proved these animals could be taken with archery equipment. We spent that evening under a sprinkle of rain taking photos and enjoying the beautiful winter’s night under the stars.

I’d like to thank Eland Safaris for making our experience incredible and providing world-class accommodations, and special thanks to our camp of hunters and friends: Dave Kelner, Bob Anderson, Jason and Wyatt Quick, Brandon Williams, Derek and Meredith Franklin.

Africa certainly captures your heart unlike any other place in the world. For a hunter or someone just looking to experience the culture or sheer beauty of the country, it offers everything one could ever imagine – and some. The density and diversity of wildlife is unlike anywhere else I have ever seen. On that last evening watching the sunset, the enjoyment of our final dinner was bittersweet as we broke bread with some amazing people from all walks of life and backgrounds. But all good things must come to an end, and I had memories that will last a lifetime.

And we are already planning another trip.

PS And you can hear more about this story and our adventure on our Podcast webpage www.rnaoutdoors.com/podcast.

Lucas was born and raised in North Central Montana where there were year-round hunting and fishing opportunities, growing up on the Milk River Valley which provided some of the best whitetail hunting in the West..

Over the last 15 years, his hunting and fishing experiences have taken him to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Alaska and Montana, as well as Argentina Brazil, Australia, Africa, and New Zealand internationally. 100% of his hunts are DIY self-guided.

​He enjoys hunting all big game, but there’s no passion greater than chasing big bull elk in September. His lifelong goal is to kill the North American 29 and 50 bull elk by the age of 50[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”chino” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fapr-may-june-2019%2F%23africa-hunting-gazette%2F90-91||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_masonry_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1556794375167-8943bb6e-4200-7″ include=”21448,21449,21450″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

ARCHERY AND BOWHUNTING – why I like it…

May 2, 2019 | News

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ARCHERY AND BOWHUNTING – why I like it…

By Dr Adrian de Villiers

The reason archery and hunting with a bow is so special is because you are only as good as your last shot.

With archery there is no such thing as sighting in your bow and packing it away till next hunting season, taking it out of moth balls and going hunting with it. It takes regular practise, and it takes gym and exercise to stay in shape. Today’s bows are state-of-the-art machines with computer-designed and C&C cut aircraft quality aluminium parts – they are way better than the cast magnesium riser bows we used in the 1980s. The bows can be fine-tuned, and good archers can easily shoot a golf ball at 100m with them.

There are a number of reasons why bowhunting is so interesting. A rifle hunter can shoot an animal as soon as he sees it in a good position. But it’s just the beginning for a bowhunter. We have to know animal behavior in far greater detail, and especially herd animals.

I do not consider shooting animals at a feeder or at a waterhole as “bowhunting” although when I started I did do so quite a lot. However, all the animals I have entered into the SCI bowhunter’s record book I hunted on foot, and not over bait or from a hide, including the Big Five and a hippo. But I would urge new bowhunters to shoot at least ten animals from a hide until they get over their buck fever and to see which type of shot will have the best results.

It is thought by most hunters that the only shot is the broadside shot behind the shoulder, but that is not the case. When we are bowhunting on foot in the bush, a broadside perfect shot is not always possible or desirable, especially when you are 10 or 15 yards away. All herbivores have their eyes on the sides of their heads, and plains game, unlike us, do not have much of a “blind spot” so to hunt them you need to be more crafty than they are.

You can’t wait till they are close by standing broadside to you and then draw the bow – they will see that immediately. You need to quickly and silently draw as their eyes pass behind a tree or bush, and you must be standing dead still in a leafy suit or Ghillie suit so they don’t recognise you as a human. lt is hard to judge the speed of their movement while they are walking, so it’s a good idea to try get them to stop and then shoot. I use a soft, small animal sound like, “Ma”, similar to a baby wildebeest.

You don’t have to kill something to be “actively hunting”. You can walk and stalk and draw on animals that you are not going to kill just for the practice and excitement! It’s a great way to improve your skills. Hunting and not shooting animals you would normally kill will allow you to get all your ducks in a row – to get into a good position and choose the right moment to draw and aim without the adrenalin pumping stress of shooting a record-book animal.

The archery component of the bowhunt is also tremendously entertaining, and archery is a sport that you might never master. It’s not a sport where you can shoot a perfect shot every time, even under perfect circumstances. I have seen world-class archers, who have won many world titles, shoot badly under hunting conditions. I’ve had some amazingly good days where I could do nothing wrong, and weekends where I just could not do anything right. That’s what I love about it – it’s never over till the animal is in the cooler room.

Nowadays with the drama involved in getting a firearm license, more people are turning to archery. You can buy the bow and accessories in the morning and be practising in the garden by the afternoon. I have taught a lot of novice bowhunters to shoot a bow, and within an hour they are sitting in a hide and hunting animals that same day.

Hunters that used to shoot with rifles become obsessed with bowhunting quite easily. The thought that you are supplying the energy to the arrow that kills the animal puts you much closer to your quarry, and the absence of that devastating explosion of energy and noise is refreshing. I have often shot animals in a herd without any other animal even noticing it.

Many bowhunting farms, including mine, have exemption to hunt all year around, so it’s possible to keep busy all year and thus to keep your equipment in pristine condition all the time.

3 D archery on animal-sized rubber targets is also great exercise and fun. You can choose different shooting lanes to shoot at the same target. When you get proficient at shooting though tiny gaps and being able to visualise the arc that the arrow will take on its way to the target, you can teach yourself to shoot some insane shots, whereas another bowhunter will not even see an opportunity. Whenever I come back from a hunt I have a ritual. I take all my arrows, wash them, and spin them on a jig to make sure they are 100 % straight. If you own carbon arrows you should bend them quite harshly and listen to them – if you hear a creak or crack, discard them. They could explode on the next shot.

Fixed-blade heads and all used heads are either re-sharpened carefully or the blades replaced with new ones. A broadhead should only be shot once and then be re-sharpened. A broadhead shot into an ethafoam butt is not sharp enough to hunt with. Once the arrows, fletches and points are checked, the arrows should be shot once more at a target to check that they are shooting true. The same applies to every new arrow you buy: test it by shooting it before you hunt with it. Every arrow should be weighed when you bring them home to make sure they are within a few grains of each other in weight. Although 20 gr difference in weight has very little effect over 30 yards, over 100 yards it could be as much as a meter higher or lower.

A light and heavy arrow of the same make will look identical. One may have a brass insert, one a plastic or aluminium insert. Because a light arrow may leave the bow before it has taken all of the bow’s energy, a heavier arrow may take more energy, and so the two could shoot a similar height up to 30 yards, but at 60 yards the heavy arrow will drop way more, so testing them from close may not work. Weighing them will tell.

I strongly urge anyone who is reasonably fit and dextrous to try bow hunting instead of hunting with firearms. You will be amazed how much more enjoyment you will get being fully camouflaged and getting into bow range of an animal and hunting it without the animals 50 yards away even knowing that a shot went off.

I have been retired many years now and my bow and archery equipment keep me busy most days for a few hours. Pulling an 85 # bow is good exercise, too. If you are just thinking about archery and need advice on what to buy and where to get it and how to get started, please email me.

Dr Adrian de Villiers Professional hunter & bowhunter, IBEFMaster Bowhunting Instructor. srac@icon.co.za

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