What are your thoughts on culling?

[Royal27]

I'm with the others, it is absolutely a conservation tool.

What/if I would pay would depend on what kind of cull it is.

• Trying to take out am undesirable animal to better the herd and for a trimming of the population? I'd pay a reduced price and do it as a way to add to a trophy hunt.
• Wholesale reduction and shoot everything that moves for whatever reason? Again, I'd do it, but this one would be different and I personally wouldn't pay to be a part of it, but I'd help either in Africa or here in the states.

 

[houlotte]

I went first to Namibia for a trophy hunt. Then to SA for a cull hunt.
I have mixed fillings about the first and very good memories for the second.
The quality of a hunt is not only the length of the horns.
When there are too much animals it necessary to kill a part of them. If there is agreement between owners and hunters what can be wrong? Ethic is in the manner not in the result.
In France most of the people don't have the cult of the trophy and many good roe deer trophies go to the trash can. Many people don't like to see hunting trophies in the houses.
I prefer to go each year instead once every two years.

 

[WRudman]

How proper culling should work

I as a rancher have to manage the wild animals the same as I have to manage my domestic livestock. Unfortunately, with all game ranches/parks, management via culling is a necessary to limit one’s number of animals for times of drought (which in our area can be a problem). Any given amount/acreage of land has a limited amount of natural foodstuffs/nutrition. Believe me, it is heart-breaking to see starving animals. Management is also undertaken to ensure that the best gene pool is maintained, thus leading to a healthier stronger animal and herd that is able to withstand harsh times due to drought and other climatic issues.

There are 4 ways I go about managing my game:

1. Trophy Hunting done by overseas or local hunters – in which old mature bulls/rams are harvested, through walk and stalk or still hunting. Thus taking animals past their breeding potential out of the herd and making place for new bulls/rams to contribute to a stronger gene pool.

2. Cull/Venison Hunting done by local or overseas hunters – in which your non breeding bulls/rams with no trophy potential, mature cows/ewes that are ending their breeding cycle are harvested, through walk and stalk or still hunting.

3. Night shooting done by professionals – in which your non breeding bulls/rams with no trophy potential, mature cows/ewes that are ending their breeding cycle are harvested, by means of a truck rigged with a powerful spot lamp and a shottist with a silenced rifle. The meat harvested is then shipped to a local or overseas market. This is done later in the year towards the closing of the season so that when the season reopens the animals have had a chance to settle down.

4. Helicopter cull done by professionals – an aerial count is first done to calculate the density of a herd on a specific part of the ranch and an idea of the male to female ratio, then non breeding bulls/rams with no trophy potential, mature cows/ewes that are ending their breeding cycle as well as the excess are harvested to ensure a healthy ratio of males to females. It is not a pleasant sight, but it is effective in that a large amount of animals are harvested in a short concentrated time (therefore minimising the disturbance and anxiety to the animals) as well as you can be very selective of what is harvested. This meat is normally exported out of the country under strict export regulations. The ranch and culling team has to be inspected and registered for such export of venison.

The night shooting and helicopter culling undertaken by professionals totally minimises the stress factor to animals. I cannot emphasise this point enough.

Just to clarify, the last 2 options are a necessity on this large, well populated ranch as trophy hunting and venison/non-trophy hunting struggle to keep the numbers down within a year to acceptable proportions, otherwise these 2 steps would not be undertaken.

I do not believe in having animals harvested from the back of a truck during the day on my ranch (Other ranchers have to due to the terrain and other factors, I respect that) as, in my opinion, this is not ethical - except predators, they must drop any which way.

 

[WRudman]

Photo
1 Young lady from Italy stalked her springbok ewe during the day. It was her first animal she had ever hunted and shot.
2 Good example of a cull gemsbok bull stalked during the day, and it was not that easy as the cover was minimal.
3 Duiker cull at night.
4 Duikers being processed, next step chiller. Note the predators taken as well.
5 Duikers in the chiller ready to be transported to the local butcher.
6 Old kudu bull shot during the day, he would not have survived a month.
7 This gentleman from Cyprus is 80 years old. He stalked the morning and well into the afternoon, in wet miserable conditions to take this old impala ewe. I salute him
8 Kudu cull with chopper, exported to Europe under strict EU regulations
9 All management bulls taken during cull, none would have made trophy standard
10 This is what you get during times of drought, what a waste

 

[TokkieM]

No problem with culling at all. Good way to sharpen your hunting skills and your shooting.

One other way not mentioned here is the age old driven hunt. Large herds of Springbuck and Blesbuck get shot this way,not selective,male,female,lambs and trophies all get shot until the required number of offtake animals is reached. Much like they use to cull elephant years ago,whole family groups for the greater good of the species and their environment.

 

[WildRose]

Something the anti's need to understand along with a great many people who simply do not understand game management is that nature is a harsh, cruel Mistriss.

There are no health plans.

There are no old age homes.

There are no UN programs to feed the starving animals in times of drought.

The only way a game animal dies naturally barring accident is to disease, predation, drought or some combination of the above.

When populations expand out of control and exceed the available resources you have mass starvation, disease, and suffering on a huge scale.

The only "balance" in nature is the balance that is achieved by a swinging pendulum and it swings from one extreme to the other.

Controlled hunting is a big part of maintaining healthy populations but there come times when mass culling is the only solution available to prevent huge die offs of game populations.

Selective culling plays another essential role particularly smaller places and isolated habitats.

On both large and small scales culling is an essential management tool if the goal is to maintain healthy populations.