Please help me to define this

[Boela]

How would you define the following hunting area.....?

10,000 acres in size, no inner fences. Three 'sides' of the area is high fenced-
- North: Fenced, to deter animals from walking onto a very busy national road.
- West: Fenced, to deter animals from walking onto a very busy railway track.
- South: Fenced, to deter animals from walking into community farming area.
- East: Unfenced. Open system, that borders a National Park with a huge water body.

This unfenced area is 2,8 miles long, and the water poses no restriction to any animals that wish to enter / leave the concession. Hippo, Crocodile, Elephant, Buffalo and a number of PG species can come and go as they wish.

So, how do we define this area? High Fenced? or Free Range?

 

[LimbNoMo]

Partially fenced.

 

[Don458]

I would say Free range with an opening 2 .8 miles wide - It’s like a peninsula.

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

I say it sounds great fenced or not

 

[uplander01]

I experienced a similar situation in Namibia with a ranch right next to Etosha National Park. There was a tall perimeter fence around the outside of the ranch (about 15k acres) and a low fence separating the park from ranch to illustrate the boundary but everything could move freely.....it was like hunting in the park, with no people------>awesome.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Here's how Timbavati describes their situation: The Timbavati Nature Reserve spans over 55,000 hectares and shares a border with the Kruger National Park, allowing wild animals to roam freely across a vast wilderness.

They certainly have high fences on the highway side.

 

[grand veneur]

How would you define the following hunting area.....?

10,000 acres in size, no inner fences. Three 'sides' of the area is high fenced-
- North: Fenced, to deter animals from walking onto a very busy national road.
- West: Fenced, to deter animals from walking onto a very busy railway track.
- South: Fenced, to deter animals from walking into community farming area.
- East: Unfenced. Open system, that borders a National Park with a huge water body.

This unfenced area is 2,8 miles long, and the water poses no restriction to any animals that wish to enter / leave the concession. Hippo, Crocodile, Elephant, Buffalo and a number of PG species can come and go as they wish.

So, how do we define this area? High Fenced? or Free Range?

I suppose you want to hunt in South Africa.

This is a high managed area, like many others in southern Africa nowadays, and fences are part of it. Open area ist nowadays a vague term somewhat abused. But it should not be a problem, you can also do good hunting not far away from fences. The game is often not particularly disturbed by that, in all cases less than the clients.

 

[R eight]

I’d say free range.

Years ago I used to cull/hunt on the place in the photo. Would you describe this island as fenced or unfenced?

 

[grand veneur]

The story of the fences in Africa is way too hyped up. It all comes from the fact that many people dream of an Africa like the times of Stanley and Livingstone and then expect something like that. All of this is long gone and southern Africa in particular, meaning not only the SAR but also the neighboring countries, is increasingly resembling Europe where we also have to hunt between fences, settlements and what goes with, and various roads. In addition, like in Europe, something has to be done for the game, but in contrast to Europe, where we are forced to keep the game populations within limits, in Africa many has to be done for some game species in the opposite direction so that the demand for game for hunting can be satisfied for a lot of clients. Unfortunately, this includes fences and they even exist in Coutada 9 in Mozambique, where it were not always the same situation with the buffalos as they is now. I was also hunting in the Zambesi Delta more than 30 years ago and back then, things looked also a bit different if you compare to nowadays, as far buffalo hunting is concerned. If one dream of real open hunting areas in Africa, one have to search for them in Afrika and choose them based on our own geographical and historical knowledge. Google maps can be very helpful to see where there are now settlements and fields, and thus traces of human presence, and therefore the necessity of fences near or even around the hunting areas.

 

[mark-hunter]

So, how do we define this area? High Fenced? or Free Range?

Modern marketing accepts definition of high fenced areas having free range animals in it, as a fair chase. So, "free range" is not the proper term that we use here.
Free range applies for game in fence these days and is misleading

Partially fenced, would be my term.

Having said that, 10,000 Acres (fully fenced or partially fenced) is solid size of area for fair chase in my opinion. If everything else clicks, I would go there, no issue.

My own vocabulary, by the order of preference - from lower to higher:

Fenced area. (and usually budget friendly)
Partially fenced area where unfenced part is a water body
Partially fenced areas, bordering parks or other areas.
Unfenced area, true free range, with low fence parts (for cattle)
Unfenced area, true free range.
Wilderness area. (hunters dream, high dollar value)

I hunted almost all types of these areas in Africa, with exception of partially fenced.
And enjoyed everything.
It gives different experiences of modern African safari.
All good for me.
I dont expect Livignstons Africa in modern times.