Hunting in South Africa

cullman

Active Member
Hi Everyone,

I would like a bit of advice please!

Basically I would like to know what your average British deer stalker would expect or want from hunting in SA?
I realise SA does have a bad reputation for game being in fenced game farms and big trophy animals being kept like pets for rich overseas hunters, but dont want to dwell on that as there is huge range of animals in very varied environments good and bad, so want to know different UK stalkers perspective.

So if any of you guys were going to book a hunt in SA what would be your priority, do you look for prefered species, or must be unfenced, or an certain area, or a real bush experience or something else?
 
I went in Feb on a cull package with Settlers Safaris, they will cater for whatever you want, I had a great time and had plenty of trigger time but in all honesty the most fun I had was on baboons and warthogs, they have no respect for fences or boundaries!!!
 
Ive been a couple of times now, I can promise its as challenging as any other stalking and far from shooting tame animals in a pen. A true stalkers paradise. Note my warning you will become addicted. If you want true unfenced hunting Namibia is the place to go. I promise if you go with a good outfitter it'll be the time of your life.
 
I think we need to accept that all of South Africa is fenced. Its maybe only a question of the height of the fences. Having said that, when you are dealing with what can be pretty big ranches, the fences are not intrusive and I've never known of animals being pushed up against them. I've been maybe 8 times now and never felt any of the animals were in any way tame. They all seemed to know the score and skedaddle if they weren't happy.
What I want from the hunting experience is a good PH who knows his stuff - as they all do in my experience - on a ranch with ample game to keep a chap amused.
Having said that, I've been in Zimbabwe twice lately and it is different with no fences. Very big areas with the likelihood that the animals you are after will just disappear onto the neighbouring (also unfenced) property. That probably wouldn't happen in SA so you do get much more of a hunting experience. I have hunted Eland in Zim now for 6 days and never shot one. Would that happen in SA? Probably not.
It's all fantastic anyway!
 
I have hunted Africa 7 times, and South Africa from the Transval, Zululand and the Cape.

True most if not all areas in SA are now fenced, or partially fenced and have been for a number of years. However my advice would be to look for quality every time and hunting areas that are 20,000 acres and over. Some areas are noting more than a garden and on a put and take basis.

Nearly every where you go in SA the hospitality and camps are of a high standard, as is the field prep of trophies. I personally would not hunt Buff, Elephant or Lion in SA for many reasons. But for plains game, unless it is Namibia it is hard to beat for value and range of species.

If you are trophy hunting research your target species well, Kudu for instance need to be 50" plus for a nice mature bull with 3 good curls of the horns and kicking back out at the top. Impala the bench mark for a southern Impala is about 21" to 22" and over.

There are some very good guys on here and from the reports I have read you will be in good hands.

Good luck
 
Last edited:
All positive experiences, thats good and very helpful.
Yes Sikamalc, I do agree with you that the big high value animals you have to be very careful with in SA particularly. Look at the film "Blood Lions".
 
I've never hunted SA (but have been there a good few times on business) - but I have hunted in Namibia (twice), In Zim and many, many times in Tanzania - but there as a resident, a pretty different experience.

My 2p worth:-
  • Always try to hunt animals in their natural environment - I imagine paying a lot of dosh to hunt Nyala in the high veldt is probably a much less satisfying experience.
  • Be modest in your expectations - don't go with a long list of "must have" animals - better to have a really good hunt for two or three animals than dozens of heads on the wall - you will remember the hard and the good ones. I once spent two weeks in the Maasai Steppe hunting eland - looked at hundreds, got to within 10 yards of a good few - but never pulled the trigger - good hunt though!
  • DO a good bit of research and make sure that the style of hunting of your intended operator matches your expectations.
  • I would always book direct, and not through an agent - my view may be coloured by my own experiences, but it is what it is. You can then put questions directly to the operator and if they do not come up to scratch - find another. An agent will obviously steer you to what they have available. There is no shortage of choice.
  • Depending on what you like doing try to combine the hunting with camping/photographic safari - not difficult.
  • Make sure you are reasonably fit and expect to do a lot of walking - so make sure your boots and clothes are well broken in.
  • Enjoy yourself !
 
i am going again in september for buffalo.

You bet ya!

All / most hunting areas in RSA are fenced, yes! The majority of Outfitters in RSA are all reputable outfits and hunt on the most ethical way their game animals possible...and yes, there are 'bad apples' out there which doesn't give a bloody hell how they conduct hunts...and I can assure you it doesn't happen only in SA, but adjacent countries' like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia also.

The most beautiful thing about SA is:

1. Can drive under a hour to the nearest town / hospital in case of an emergency
2. Can hunt 4-5 different environments travelling under 5-7 hours
3. Can hunt 'I think 67 species, and 50+ native to RSA' of animals in RSA
4. Excellent world known Game Parks
5. Beautiful beaches
6. Beautiful women
7. Excellent wines and brandy
8. Friendly people
9. All the bananas and oranges that Europe gets on our back door...
10. Biltong
11. Did I mentioned beautiful women...haha

Future problems: RSA and probably Namibia is going to be the only country/ies to have game animals left...poaching is getting out of hand in countries like Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique...and Government doesn't give a damn about it...This is Africa... not that much animals left (especially Plains Game) areas where they naturally roamed...most animals get hunted on migrating routes near Nature Parks...SA has probably a better 'strike rate' on hunted animals and it is your choice what you want from a safari...my 2cents

South Africa is really not a bad place! Try it, you will be surprised!
 
Last edited:
I found the hunting in S.A too Easy... we were by the kalihari on the Botswana border. By kruma I think thats how its spelt. Big ranches, water holes... animal every where....
We had a drive around... and my PH picked a springbok out.. I shot it... kudu ealand ect.... nothing hard where I was.
I shot that one animal and put the gun away...and come home as good as,. the animals were not bothered about been hunted...

I am not saying all hunting is like this... but after working on hill reds and forestry .. this will be a far more challenging hunt.
I would like to go back to africa, but im not paying for something you can drive too and shoot.., or walk upto with out ig caring.

Things like wart hogs and baboons would be more fun.. as there always alert ... and low down on the food chain...
We tracked a few ... but never found any...

I was left feeling very disapointed.
 
That's a shame Calvin, ,my uncle had a similar experience and vowed never to return to Africa, but we persuaded him back out and we had a fantastic hunt ,all fair chase.
 
I found the hunting in S.A too Easy... we were by the kalihari on the Botswana border. By kruma I think thats how its spelt. Big ranches, water holes... animal every where....
We had a drive around... and my PH picked a springbok out.. I shot it... kudu ealand ect.... nothing hard where I was.
I shot that one animal and put the gun away...and come home as good as,. the animals were not bothered about been hunted...

I am not saying all hunting is like this... but after working on hill reds and forestry .. this will be a far more challenging hunt.
I would like to go back to africa, but im not paying for something you can drive too and shoot.., or walk upto with out ig caring.

Things like wart hogs and baboons would be more fun.. as there always alert ... and low down on the food chain...
We tracked a few ... but never found any...

I was left feeling very disapointed.


Calvin, sorry to hear about this...

It seems you hunted in the area of Kuruman...there are big farms and enough space for animals to roam...unfortunately some farmers make use of hunting of the truck and it is allowed in some parts of RSA like the Kalahari (no much vegetation for cover) where longer (250-350m) shots are taken...but most hunting are conducted from the following provinces: Limpopo, NW, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape (especially Limpopo, NW and Mpumalanga with heavily dense bush, with shot ranging from 40-100me).

Nothing wrong with the other provinces (some animals only occur in these areas like springbok and black wildebeest...), but the majority of species will occur in the provinces mentioned above...Big 5 included.

All hunting should be conducted on a walk and stalk basis ONLY, but sometimes PH's has to find alternative strategies to get their quarry like for instance using the method of drive and stalk (driving until game has been spotted and then walk from there on)...or sometimes use the truck or tree to get some elevation especially if the grass is as tall as 1.8me...


Calvin, I think you must considered hunting RSA again...and do some homework on the outfitter and the areas the safari will be conducted...you just might like it!!
 
​I have hunted on a few game farms in South Africa. The one farm was over 10,000 hectares and consisted of plains and ravines, the other was similar but was even bigger . Most game farms have to be game fenced to allow for hunting all year round. All game is completely wild and has to be managed in the same way as any national park in South Africa or in the UK, mainly due to a lack of natural predators. The size of the game farm is directly proportional to the caring capacity of the area and in more arid areas the farms need to be bigger to sustain the same amount of animals. As a general rule the farms in Namibia tend to be very large because they cannot support as many animals per hector and therefore give you more of a sense of being away from any human activity. Also, don't confuse your understanding of a typical game "farm" in Southern Africa with your understanding of farms in the UK - they are very different.
One thing you should insist on is a "walk and stalk" hunt and avoid shooting off the back of a vehicle, make it very clear to your host as to what your expectations are and bear in mind that different hunting techniques are used in different environments depending on the amount of time you have.
I had a great time on both these game farms and worked really hard for my Kudu and Oryx.
 
I went once, it was a blast. I hunted on several different properties, one had a high fence but the animals could jump over it, I saw a young eland do so. It was about 30,000 acers. I would not want to hunt that again. The other properties had what they call jackal fences, about 4 feet high, just about everything but jackal can jump it. The ranches (farms) I hunted were huge areas and not unlike hunting an un-fenced ranch in the Western US or Texas. It was fair chase. I hunted the Big Karoo and the Eastern Cape, check out African Scent Safaris, dicker on the daily rate. Good hunting to you. Look into the Bedford area.
 
Seems ok. Just needs a yes or no answer. What's the problem? Or is there something going on here?
[
QUOTE=sikamalc;1000731]Hmm that's a can of worms question if ever I have seen one!

Why would you ask such a question on an open forum? what is your motive?

And what makes you think that the above trade members would undertake such a practice?[/QUOTE]
 
Oh one reason that it might seem odd to some members is that he started a thread on 19/7/2015 titled
Wild Plains Game and Wing shooting South Africa
in which he lists (in detail) the services of an outfitter and says
"Also I have recently done a PH course in KZN, so understand the SA hunting industry reasonably well."
 
Last edited:
Exactly archer,
I think I gave the wrong impression slightly as I was trying to find out what the typical British stalker wants from a SA hunt, I go there regularly (not for hunting) and would like to have helped some friends of mine advertise there hunting safaris here.
So I was just trying to get a more of a rounded view of what people want.

I have a tendency to think about everything from a farming perspective point of view about control or management rather than the actual enjoyment of hunting stalking, so trying to learn about peoples expectations.
Plus thought I would see how honest outfitters on here are, but perhaps that last question is best avoided in public area.
 
You have a PM.

And as for the answer yes or no. Why is it that every tom dick and bloody harry on here thinks there is alterior motive.

The hunting industry has been kicked by unscrupulous idiots taking a Lion illegally, and we have posts on here, which is an open site for anyone to read being asked about canned Lion hunts :rolleyes:

Work it out!!
 
Back
Top