Hmm, that’s intresting. So what I’m getting from this is that Goverment land is full of restrictions and strict regulations, and private land over there is more accessible to hunting?
I heard about the poaching situation in Africa. The PHs on YouTube always talked about it. But I didn’t think it was that bad.
Think of it like deer hunting on private ranches in Texas vs a wilderness hunt in northern BC. One is very accessible. The other takes more effort and planning.
My last hunt in Mozambique is typical of geography that is essentially unfenced open country. The drive from Beira to the concession was about six hours and covered a little over one hundred miles (yes, the road network is a challenge). For five and a half hours, through unfenced rural terrain, we did not encounter a single game animal. The moment we crossed the invisible line into the outfitter's concession, we began to see game around every curve in the road. The concession holder can only create such an oasis through aggressive anti-poaching efforts.
I think the special designation for citizen hunts is generally a thing of the past. The own use permits in places like Namibia should really just be called non-exportable. The communities sell the larger or more valuable animals like hippo, elephant, lechwe to outfitters but outfitters and their clients still take nearly all the other common own use quota on the community’s behalf (and also so they don’t help themselves to a 60” kudu instead of an old broken horn bull).
botswanalaws.com
When I first hunted Zambia they still had citizen hunts. The area was opened after Sept 1 for them. I was told it’s gone away in Zimbabwe too. My PH in Tanzania got personal licenses on marginal areas or some private farmland he showed me, but generally if a citizen wants to hunt quality areas I think they need to arrange through lease holder and pay like anyone else. Botswana might be a different case I’m not sure. Unfortunately though Africa is getting small. I’m stealing someone else’s quote but it use to be islands of people surrounded by wildlife now it’s islands of wildlife surrounded by people.I don't know if it is 100% a thing in the past or not.
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND NATIONAL PARKS
An Act to make further and better provision for the conservation and management of the wildlife of Botswana, giving effect to CITES and any other international
There are a few countries. Bots and Tanz from what I could find.
We had a engineer from Tanzania who invited us to go hunting with him and his uncle on citizen hunting land , after reading all the details and warnings about wood cutter poaching and hassles with chiefs and time of travel between areas that had huntable numbers of game and us not crossing invisible lines and becoming poachers ourselves, plus needing some extra insurance, we just politely declined .I don't know if it is 100% a thing in the past or not.
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND NATIONAL PARKS
An Act to make further and better provision for the conservation and management of the wildlife of Botswana, giving effect to CITES and any other international
There are a few countries. Bots and Tanz from what I could find.
Ok, what about unfences areas, I seen some outfitters have that as an option. Do they still get the same aggressive anti-poaching efforts?
I recently hunted an hour south of Victoria Falls. Over 7 days we drove probably 55 miles looking for elephant sign, walked perhaps 25-30 miles, and in all of that driving and walking, I saw exactly 1 duiker and 6 baboons. Why, because I was hunting on communal lands, those people 'live' to poach. Without anti poaching programs in many countries there would be no wildlife.
Yes. That is what is properly termed a concession. You will hear many uninformed hunters call private land a concession especially in South Africa. It is government land under a lease agreement with an outfitter. Namibia has a tender process where they bid on the concessions. Most countries have this and some all of the Hunting land is government /public land. It is however much different than in the US.
Not necessarily. Private land can have many restrictions as well. The big difference, and why we are all able to have so many hunting opportunities, is the law in RSA that allows full ownership and control of game under fence. This is why most of it is fenced.
There is a huge difference between private land and government owned land in many respects. There is also a big difference between South Africa and other countries. There is poaching everywhere. My friends who raise sheep in South Africa and Namibia have sheep stolen and slaughtered from time to time. Most of the poaching that is discussed is in the massive wilderness areas that are hard to control. In many cases the antipoaching work is done by the outfitters.
Unfenced private land in South Africa and Namibia will have some poaching. It depends on a lot of factors. Road access, how close to town, the neighbors, full time staff for livestock on property, etc. Usually the poaching pressure on private land in South Africa and Namibia is not the same intensity as more undeveloped countries so doesn’t require same investment. More likely a hit and run at night with dogs on a farm vs a poaching gang setting up camp on a remote part of a concession area for weeks.
Wow, they’re really using every method possible. It’s a shame, no value for anyone. I also learned that without hunting, this will just keep happening because there’s no value.
