Karoo Hippo Hunt For Conservation Dollars

caddman said:

Kudos to ALL those working to see game is available for future generations. It is a very lofty goal, one I am proud to support and be associated with.

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It's a pretty sad deal that the Hippopotamus River has been without wild Hippos for many years. PC is working to solve that.

We've had some massive projects here in the US since the 60's restoring native populations that were long since gone.

The REMF and National Wild Turkey Association are probably the biggest two organizations in the US started specifically for those purposes.

Our native Pronghorn Antelope (which actually isn't an antelope) was on the verge of extinction in the fifties and I was fortunate enough to be able to hunt them in New Mexico as a kid shortly after they had been restored to such numbers as to have a huntable population again.

caddman said:

Kudos to ALL those working to see game is available for future generations. It is a very lofty goal, one I am proud to support and be associated with.

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Absolutely and without hunters it wouldn't be happening.

I found this post pretty interesting, so decided to do a bit of research on these hippo and the reintroduction. Some sites say they were introduce in 2006. I find the fact that they going to shoot (not hunt,my opinion) this bull very sad, as the post says he's roughly 25-30 years old, hippo live up to 50 years. I don't see the reason for wanting to kill him, they are definitely not over populated. I am not going to try tell PC how run his conservation operation, why not put the money back into the hippo............why put it into rhino?

WildRose said:

What makes his project a neat deal to me is that their ultimate goal is to reestablish a self sustaining wild herd of Hippo in The Karoo where they were long ago killed off. To me that'a a very laudable goal.

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i never said it wasnt lauadable, and i think its great to bring those hippo back. it was the header ,making out with the wording "for conservation dollars" as if this should be a hunt given special consideration by using those words.......if we all put them in would that make our hunts more special.......they are also for funding wildlife areas. as i said no different to any other hunt being sold on here. i hope it works well for him. i would be interested to know what it costs to buy hippo and relocate them there. from the website it looks very nice and he has some big plans which seem to be coming together. as the river only has the one lot of hippo and i presume plenty of space , i was wondering same as simon @TMS why not use the surplus for more hippo and not on their rhino?

TMS said:

I found this post pretty interesting, so decided to do a bit of research on these hippo and the reintroduction. Some sites say they were introduce in 2006. I find the fact that they going to shoot (not hunt,my opinion) this bull very sad, as the post says he's roughly 25-30 years old, hippo live up to 50 years. I don't see the reason for wanting to kill him, they are definitely not over populated. I am not going to try tell PC how run his conservation operation, why not put the money back into the hippo............why put it into rhino?

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I don't want to start any arguments on here and I do kind of agree with you on it not really being a "hunt" which is why I was never really interested in hippo. That being said, I don't see how it is different than any other hippo "hunt" which seems to me is basically sitting near a river and waiting for the right one to surface. I admit I have no experience with it and am only going by what I have seen on videos. I'm sure some are harder to get close to than others when they are in areas they have been hunted, but I know there are "hunts" being sold in areas where hippo are used to boats and such and will sit on the surface as they go right by too. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see much difference between this and any other offered other than its just the one bull in the area. Unless I'm missing something and they somehow have the hippos closed off in one section of the river.....

Also it does seem if this is to help the expansion of the hippo population, it would make sense for all the money to go to more hippos, maybe a second bull to start a second pod elsewhere on the river? But I'm sure he has his reasons, maybe issues with containing the rhinos is a bigger concern currently?

@Albert GRANT , I can assure you there are hippo hunts that are far more dangerous than any animal put in the right situation,. But this poor hippo bull is use to cameras and basically has no way to run/swim.

TMS said:

@Albert GRANT , I can assure you there are hippo hunts that are far more dangerous than any animal put in the right situation,. But this poor hippo bull is use to cameras and basically has no way to run/swim.

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I'm sure there are, it just seems like it's not the general choice, from what I have seen after watching every video and clip I can find for the last 5 weeks or so to try and make the time go by a little better before my hunt in august. As I said I have zero experience in this, and also not much interest in hunting hippo. I'm not really disagreeing with you, but for someone this might be something they want and they money will do some good.

BTW if you happen to have an video of more interesting hippo hunts or know where to view some, I'd love to see it

Maybe they need to remove him and introduce another bull for more genetic diversity.

If you get one on land I believe they can be pretty interesting. A fellow hunter who was on the Omay in Zim this past summer found a bull on land snoozing. He hammered him with his .577 double twice. He ran behind his two PHs trying to reload when it charged. The PHs put it down on their bootlaces basically. If I am ever on a hunt and find a bull on land I'd go for it in a heart beat if the quota was open.

I am almost speechless at how petty some of you guys are proving to be. I definitely find it informative though.

If you can't fill your hunts without pissing on others you need to re-examine what you are doing.

@WildRose , we all allowed our opinions. I truly enjoyed looking up the hippo on the internet and what is being done to reintroducing the hippo. If you read some of the articles, people drive down to the one pool to take pics of the hippos in the afternoon or morning. It's basically a given that you will see them. I don't feel it is a hunt. I think this bull should rather be swapped out for another bull if it is being shot because of genetics.

My post was definitely not related to pissing on others, hippo are closed in Mozambique. I admire what PC is doing, not just regarding the hippo, but his vision for the whole area. But a spade is a spade and at times it needs to be called.

WildRose said:

I am almost speechless at how petty some of you guys are proving to be. I definitely find it informative though.

If you can't fill your hunts without pissing on others you need to re-examine what you are doing.

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i agree with simon above. we dont have hippo either, there is nowhere said anyone cant fill their hunts, i just stated that the header seemed to be making out this hunt is more beneficial by using the words "hunt for conservation dollars" than other hunts which are doing the same thing.......as i said in my previous post what he is doing is great and i wish him great success, so i dont see anyone pissing on anyone at all...........

I'm a hunter, not an outfitter. I've hunted hippo exactly once and it was in water. In that limited experience I found hippo to be more of a finding the right one and then a waiting game than anything else. It was not a difficult hunt. A hippo on land could be quite exciting though I'd think. So those are my limited qualifications to comment on this thread.

That being said, I have no problem with anything that has been said in this thread and don't think any outfitters are being petty. This is by definition a cull hunt - to remove one specific animal that is unwanted. Is there anything wrong with that? Nope! But it is what it is and nothing more. That bull isn't going to do much even if he does see the hunter. He's used to people and this will likely be nothing but a shoot. Again, nothing wrong with that and I plan to do some culling this summer and I'm very much looking forward to it.

And I agree that many hunts could be labeled conservation hunts. That label doesn't make this one different from the others though as there are many. Every hunt at Takeri and TMS are conservation hunts. Those two guys are as passionate about the land and animals as anyone I've ever met. I'm honored to call both of those gentlemen my friends and I've learned a lot from them both. I'm sure the outfitter in this case is the same way.