Warning to my fellow hunters

RSA gunnut

RSA gunnut

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I'd like to warn other gunnutz members and any person that might read this about a specific hunting farm in South Africa.

We went hunting from the 10th to the 12th of may 2007 on a farm in "Kanon Eiland"(in English it's called canon Island), in Upington in the Northern Cape Province.

The Supervisors/foreman/guides we had was fantastic. They took us to the best bucks you have ever seen. There was oryx's and Springbuck, but htere was also "kudu's".

However, we weren't told not to shoot any "Kudu's". On Saturday morning about 09:30, we spotted a "kudu" and the guide started the chase, because the Kudu is one of the most difficult bucks to hunt and runs like crazy to get away.

We chased him through rough terrains for about 15 Kilometers. My ribs was banging against the roof of the pick up truck etc.
Eventually the kudud started turning around, heading back, when we cam net to him. The driver nearly rolled the pick up, which left me lying on my back on the ground with my rifle next to me. I indicated that I was OK and they should carry on. They then chased the kudu for about 100metres, when he dicide to turn back to my side. I was standing next to the perimeter wire then and saw the huge kudu coming towards me.

I LL'd my rifle and took aim at the kudu, and squeesed the trigger. The shot went off and took the kudu straight to the ground. I then went towards him and saw how magnificent this animal was. The horns had 3 and a half turns, which is quite big. We then loaded the buck and took it back to the house to go and slaughter.

All three guides was there and no one said a word, just how fantstic this Kudu is and what nice meat it had. The next moment the "head guide" told me that he thinks the owner of the farm might keep the kudu, seeing it was the first kudu that was ever shot on that farm.

Unhappy about it, I agreed, but then things changed. About an hour later, after asking him if he had contacted the owner, he said "No, I can't get hold of him, but we were not allowed to shoot the Kudu anyway.

However, with all the running and chasing of the kudu a thornbush got hold of my leg and a few thorns got stuck. After cleaning the small wounds, I realised I had a slight problem. Three small holes, as big as a needles prick was pumping blood out like crazy. I then realised that my vain was hit and I went to the closest doctor. He then admitted me in hospital, gave three stitches to stop the bleeding. While in Hospital on Saturday, I enquired about the Kudu. After it was slaughtered, it weighed in at 175kg's, which is huge and fantastic. My wife told me that the foreman said that they are going to keep the meat and this guide will still talk to the owner.

This all sounded very suspicious to me, so I decided to phone the owner myself, after meeting one of his friends in hospital.

I thnk this was a huge mistake. This Owner, a Mr Piet Karsten, started shouting, screaming and using a language that I cannot reapet on this website.

It went something like "Who the F gave you F permission to f shoot the f kudu. I will f fire the f guy responsible for this f sh*t".

I then explained who it was that gave permission, then he went "That F guy doesn't even f work for me".

I told him that I just follwed instructions and I thought I'd appologise, seeing that he is now carrying on like this, which is totally unacceptable.

When my wife came to fetch me at hospital on Sunday, she told me that there was huge problems on the farm, due to my phonecall. Luckily we didn't have to go back, and we started the long journey back to Cape Town, which is about 830km's away from Upington.

To me this whole thing was really unnessasary(escuse the spelling). They could have warned us not to shoot any Kudu's, if it was such an issue.

The farm is called "Karsten Boerderye"(meaning Catrens Farning in English).
So, I would strongly suggest that no one should go there to go hunt. I know, I won't go. It is a pity, beacause I really liked the guides, for they were now really professional and real experts, except that they forgot to tell me not to hunt kudu's.
 
sounds like he came home with three holes in his leg and a bad taste in his mouth.

Sorry for the unfortunate incident, hope the leg heals up quick for your next hunt!
 
BBB said:
So don't go hunting on a "hunt" farm where you run animals to exhaustion with a truck?

Thanks for the tip!:slap:
Click to expand...

Please go do some research about "hunt farms" in South Africa!

...are you a hunter anyway?
 
Sesshomaru said:
Please go do some research about "hunt farms" in South Africa!

...are you a hunter anyway?
Click to expand...


"We chased him through rough terrains for about 15 Kilometers. My ribs was banging against the roof of the pick up truck etc..."

"Eventually the kudud started turning around, heading back, when we cam net to him. The driver nearly rolled the pick up, which left me lying on my back on the ground with my rifle next to me. I indicated that I was OK and they should carry on. They then chased the kudu for about 100metres, when he dicide to turn back to my side"

Hey Sesh: Please read buddy's post.:bigHug:
 
Hmmmm

WOW! Sure doesn't sound like my experiences in RSA.

Of course this is one side of the story, and it seems to be a little thin in places.:confused:
 
Sounds like they were chasing it with the truck to me. Also mentions "perimeter wire", I assume that means a fence. Sesshomaru, in Canada, we don't call that kind of activity hunting, so in YOUR opinion most of us here wouldn't be considered hunters.

Maybe it is a matter of differing cultural values.
 
Sesshomaru said:
Please go do some research about "hunt farms" in South Africa!
Click to expand...

Since no one care what's a "hunt farm" in South Africa:

http://www.huntingadventures.net/index.php?nav=newsandarticles&id=7


Many of the bigger ranches in Africa are entirely fenced. At first this might sound like you would be shooting animals in a pen of some sort. Nothing could be further from the truth. These ranches are, in some cases measured in square miles not acres. The game living on these ranches must stay fenced to protect it from poaching, to prevent game from being road killed or killing somebody in a vehicle. Also to prevent neighboring landowners from destroying all the management work a responsible land owner is doing, and finally to keep animals like elephants and rhino from wandering off and being poached. The natural home range of many of these species is tiny by comparison to the size of the whole property.
Click to expand...

Many of the Parks in Africa are also fenced to prevent herd animals from migrating into established agricultural areas. These are still considered free ranging animals even though they are inside a fence. The parks and the private ranches have size in common which means the game is free roaming but protected from poaching and the possible damage to neighboring land owners farms, ranches, orchards, crops, etc.
Click to expand...

You may not agree with the hunting practice of the the first poster (or that particular hunt farm), but "hunt farm" in South Africa is the most effective way to finance the conservation of the natural resources over there.
 
BBB said:
So don't go hunting on a "hunt" farm where you run animals to exhaustion with a truck?
Click to expand...

Sesshomaru, I am not sure why you had a problem with BBB's comment. From our viewpoint (I am taking the liberty of speaking for BBB here), the activities that were described are not "hunting", they would be illegal here and reason enough to lose your privilege to hunt for many, many years. Therefore, we do not consider this place in question a "hunt farm", maybe just "a big pen for killing animals in without regards to the principals of fair chase".

Many of us are quite aware of the role of "hunting preserves" in the role of game management in many areas of the world today. I find it sad that they are needed in some areas to preserve populations of species, and make it possible to allow hunting of the same. In an ideal world such preserves would be unnecessary and would not exist. In Canada, we are very fortunate to have abundant populations of most game animals, and a population of hunters who, for the most part, willingly accept the regulations placed on our activities to ensure the continued opportunities to hunt wild animals that have the ability to run away, very far away, without running into a "perimeter wire". But even here, the lure of big money has resulted in the creation of "hunt farms" for the sole purpose of allowing those with money the opportunity to hunt an elk or deer with stupidly huge antlers, thanks to special feeds, mineral supplements, and probably all sorts of growth hormones, et al. Interestingly, most of these operations have evolved from "exotic livestock farms" that began existence providing game meat for restaurants and antlers/velvet for the chinese medicine market. As these farms realized that there was really no way to be profitable in these markets, some turned themselves into "hunt farms".

As a side note, it is a pretty well accepted theory that the introduction and spread of CWD (chronic wasting disease - similar to BSE which destroyed Britain's livestock industry) to wild cervid species was due to the existence of elk and deer farms.

The vast majority of hunters in Canada find these operations distasteful and unethical and most hunting organizations are actively lobbying government(s) to have them shut down.

So, after explaining how we as Canadians have our own "black eye" on this subject, I would like to state that our comments to you were not a comdemnation of all "hunt farms" everywhere, but of the particular kind of operation that was originally described in this post. This is not the first time I, and I am sure many others, have heard about the preference of many operations (and yes, many of them seem to be in the RSA) to have clients spend the day riding around in a truck looking for game, and often requesting that clients shoot from the truck (a very big "no no" here in Canada). Personally, this is not my idea of the Magic of Africa.

I am sure that "come chase animals in a big 4x4 until they are so exhausted you can shoot them from your seat" is not the sort of slogan that will make hunters like me want to spend thousands of dollars to go there. I am actually just beginning to plan a trip to the RSA, and am looking forward to it very much; but I will be having a long talk with the owner of the "hunt farm" I will end up on, about what my expectations are. I guarantee they will not include chasing anything with a vehicle, and all stalks will take place on foot, or they won't take place.

That is my morality, and I will impose it on whomever I am hunting with, or they WILL listen to a tirade of colourful language, at a volume the likes of which they will not soon forget.

Peace,
Ian
 
Good catch Pudelpointer, couldn't have said it better myself -- its' definitely worth pointing out that I never said anything about fences, South African preserves in general, or the morality of those preserves -- just that one in particular. If I'd been on that trip, I would be #####ing about a whole lot more than non-returned meat.


...are you a hunter anyway?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure, but I'll tell you what: if I get a bear this weekend, you can ask him.

He ought to know.
 
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