Leapard Hunting South Africa

[robertq]

Friends,

Last Friday the AGM of the Limpopo Hunters Liaison Forum in Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa.

In short, the LHLF is a body that was formed by the hunting industry in LIMPOPO to liaise on our behalf with Nature Conservation. We have grown from strength to strength over the last 10 years, and have achieved much.

Big on the agenda last Friday was the new Leopard hunting system that was introduced by the government. They introduced sweeping changes, most of them for the better to us!

For the first time a Scientific report was received by a third party (PANTHERA) and the government accepted their model of hunting Leopards on a sustainable basis in the province. This system is also accepted by CITES as a scientific sound model.

For my friends on AH the following information is relevant:

1. The 6 districts fell away and was replaced with 52 hunting zones. Each zones gets 1 tag
2. One male Leopard can be hunted on any property in the zone, to which the outfitter has hunting rights to.
3. Outfitters with the most land to hunt on will get preference, according to a points system, in an electronic draw.
4. The first tag can be hunted until the 31'st of July after which a back up Outfitter gets the tag from 1 August to 31 September.
5. After 31 September any outfitter can get the tag if it has not been filled, and if he has the hunting rights and the client.

There is a lot of other "admin" that is not relevant here, mainly to do with the application process and the post hunt report and paperwork.

It's not perfect, but it is one helluva improvement!

So now Limpopo Leopards can be hunted the way it was intended to be, and I can see this province becoming a very sought after Leopard hunting destination in a couple of years, with high success rates and monster cats!

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

I believe this province is already by far the most sought after leopard destination in South Africa with the Waterberg topping the list, the latter IMO being one of the best quality (trophy) leopard destinations in Africa, especially when dealing with a reputable outfitter.

We have been taking monster cats for many years.

The model has some very real issues, while it has worked in Kwazulu Natal we must keep in mind that this province had 75% less quota per annum than Limpopo.

While I also believe that Ross (panthera) researcher is a very nice guy, I can not help but notice that LEDET is basing a conservation model on un published and Non excepted research (as this research is still in progress and this thesis has not been approved or reviewed by biologists and his project leader so mostly at this time it is a hypotheses.)

I do believe that we are in the right track, but there is a very long way to go, once again we were steam rolled by LEDET and that is not appreciated.

Another point of concern is how the system leans itself to being manipulated, especially with a new development as far as land owners being able to grant multiple outfitters hunting rights, the new system works (theoretically) on a point system, we were informed.

Herein lies my problem, multiple outfitters (5) obtain hunting rights on one piece of land, the more hunting right you have the huger your score.... Okay but then we are also told that the system picks one name randomly per hunting zone ??? Were do the point system come in and how do we decide if a an individual with hunting rights to 20 000 hectares name is drawn that a 40 000 hectare individual should receive the tag... (To me it's silly)

Within this very system there will be companies once again that will take advantage of the multiple hunting rights, this is how, obtain hunting rights over multiple stretches of land with the promise of extreme remuneration, to increase their point standing and according to the point system those with higher points get draw preference???? (Still have not figured this out) once the tag is received the leopard is hunted on a more economical property.... (Makes you think)

The point system, and amount of land should not be the determinator, it feels like all animals are equal but some are more equal than others, and has a very non democratic communistic feel to it.

Hey I don't mind I'll always draw a tag and fall in preference with the current system but many other good leopard hunters and up and coming ph's won't.

I see allot of issues with it.

My best always

 

[SafariA]

I have to support Jaco 100 % on this one . We have a good model but really has some obstacles that some just do not want to see . I suppose it will show in the first year and hopefully we can get it fine tuned for 2016 !

South Africa and especially Limpopo has some of the best cats you can get . Your main choice would be who to go with ....... Remember you only get what you pay for and will most probably become part of statistics if you book a cheap deal .

If you make the right choice the success rate should be at least 80 %. We would really like to push to get these allocations a year or 2 ahead to give the prospective clients more time to plan !

Good luck to all that have booked hunts for these magnificent cats or intend to book !

Happy Hunting !

 

[BRICKBURN]

I took the Leopard aging test that was a basis for some of the research.
Sexing and aging the critters.
It was interesting to do it, but I can only imagine what you would do under field conditions.

I hope the department finds a reasonable and equitable way to distribute the tags that will support the industry and conserve the Leopard.

Good luck to you all.