Fair chase SA hunts?

[wildfowler.250]

Right gents, this is up for debate as much as you want.. experiences or personal opinion,(even if you haven’t been to Africa) are all welcome.


So I’ve always fancied going over to Africa for the antelope species, kudu, impala etc. Although I’ve never got round to putting money aside for it.


I was and still am, slightly put off by the fact that the majority of SA seems to be high fence. Now I can see some sense, a managed area, privately owned etc. But it does ‘sound’ a bit off to someone who hasn’t been there before. I’m pretty sure I remember a Steve Rinella podcast joke where it will get to the stage that the scopes will scan a bar code on the animals ear and a price will pop up on the scope reticule.


How big an area do you need before you would class it as fair game? And is there the usual options to spot and stalk,(rather than the truck stuff that has been debated on here recently).


I’ve heard Namibia is a bit more ‘free range’. But it is more comforting to know that SA has decent hospitals if needed and malaria free so keen to find out a bit more.


Is there lots of options for a hard earned, guilt free hunt?

As an aside, having looked at Alaska prices , it makes a week on the uk stags look cheap..

 

[IBD]

SA is very good value hunting . You can have a week away in quality lodge and food and shoot 5 quality animals for the price of a Hungarian stag but obviously that comes at a price of wild vs bought in or bred cheaply.

Go totally free range and up goes the price as it costs a lot more to keep animals on your land.

You can find some huge fenced areas (25,000 acres or more ) in SA. My advice is go and see what you think and spend £3000 and if it was your cup of tea

 

[Frank Homes]

I would definitely advise going to SA as an intro into safari hunting, as IBD says it's good value and you can find some good size ranches. I've moved on from SA but enjoyed my early hunting there.

 

[Jon P]

SA is definitely good value for money, I have only been twice 2019 and 2022, both times I hunted high fenced areas and low fenced areas- most high fenced areas are extremely large and if you are selective you will still have blank days. The Kudu i shot in 2019 took 2 days to find and was on a low fenced place . Also Duiker and warthogs are good hunting and have no respect for any fences.

 

[Lancs Lad]

Wouldnt want to hunt a waterhole...

If it was fenced and tge size of the lake district then fine.

 

[Tazz]

Shock as it may be to many people but all of SA is owned by someone, therefore if you own and farm it you will put fences up. In the event you have game as part of your business that fence will be 2 m high. I have been to SA hunting 5 times and enjoyed the experience, however the variation on what is on offer is vast, for most of the clients coming to SA from abroad they are happy to shoot from or close to vehicles, for most of the Brits that is not what we are after, here is my advice

1 Pick an outfitter who talks about fair stalk and walk
2 Minimum 15-20K acres for the reserve
3 They own it rather than have an “Arrangement” or concession
4 All the hunting is done on the reserve you are staying on

when you are happy with the above go and have a fantastic time with the red soil stain on your boots and soul. I now choose to go to Namibia but I look back fondly on my SA hunts

 

[Jon P]

Photos from my recent trip to SA. First photo shows how vast the high fenced places can be, the boundary was over the horizon. 24,000 Acres I believe. Second photo shows some of the terrain in that area.

 

[Sika98k]

I’ve just finished up on a 40,000 Hectares farm in Omaheke, Namibia. We walked 12-15kms the last 3 days after a blue wildebeest. That’s about as fair chase as I reckon you can get.
We stalked into waterholes at times in this vast expanse. Anything we shot was hard work

 

[cjm1066]

Hunted on farms in the free state, Blesbuck will stay behind a cattle fence, spring buck will go through/under it with no issues.

Put and take hunting area might be different, but lots will breed naturally and never get near the farm boundary, which will probably apply to lots of deer in this country on the larger estates.

 

[Jon P]

I’ve just finished up on a 40,000 Hectares farm in Omaheke, Namibia. We walked 12-15kms the last 3 days after a blue wildebeest. That’s about as fair chase as I reckon you can get.
We stalked into waterholes at times in this vast expanse. Anything we shot was hard

Very nice, I will get to Namibia one day.The premises is was on, size was probably given to me in hectares not acres TBH . I just know it was large .

 

[wildfowler.250]

SA is very good value hunting . You can have a week away in quality lodge and food and shoot 5 quality animals for the price of a Hungarian stag but obviously that comes at a price of wild vs bought in or bred cheaply.

Go totally free range and up goes the price as it costs a lot more to keep animals on your land.

You can find some huge fenced areas (25,000 acres or more ) in SA. My advice is go and see what you think and spend £3000 and if it was your cup of tea

I have seen some places list as ‘free range’ and I’ve been in dialogue with one guy but never sure to what extent. I assume free range is lots of small farms where they can come and go. I certainly wouldn’t have a problem with that.
Anyone you’d recommend?

I would definitely advise going to SA as an intro into safari hunting, as IBD says it's good value and you can find some good size ranches. I've moved on from SA but enjoyed my early hunting there.

I think ranch size is the main criteria. Saying moved on, do you still hunt Africa at all now or done with it completely?

SA is definitely good value for money, I have only been twice 2019 and 2022, both times I hunted high fenced areas and low fenced areas- most high fenced areas are extremely large and if you are selective you will still have blank days. The Kudu i shot in 2019 took 2 days to find and was on a low fenced place . Also Duiker and warthogs are good hunting and have no respect for any fences.

What would you consider a ‘large’ area? Any good outfitters you’d recommend?
Certainly kudu would be one of the few I’d be very keen on.

Wouldnt want to hunt a waterhole...

If it was fenced and tge size of the lake district then fine.

Even a waterhole if you’ve to hike in for miles to get to, fair enough. But certainly not sitting beside some of these man made water troughs in a blind

Shock as it may be to many people but all of SA is owned by someone, therefore if you own and farm it you will put fences up. In the event you have game as part of your business that fence will be 2 m high. I have been to SA hunting 5 times and enjoyed the experience, however the variation on what is on offer is vast, for most of the clients coming to SA from abroad they are happy to shoot from or close to vehicles, for most of the Brits that is not what we are after, here is my advice

1 Pick an outfitter who talks about fair stalk and walk
2 Minimum 15-20K acres for the reserve
3 They own it rather than have an “Arrangement” or concession
4 All the hunting is done on the reserve you are staying on

when you are happy with the above go and have a fantastic time with the red soil stain on your boots and soul. I now choose to go to Namibia but I look back fondly on my SA hunts

That’s very helpful. Any SA outfitters you’d recommend? I get the trend that Namibia is the upgrade for folk. Any reason for this? Certainly the game species are more limited,(I don’t think they have Nyala?) but I guess that’s less of an artificial scenario that way

Photos from my recent trip to SA. First photo shows how vast the high fenced places can be, the boundary was over the horizon. 24,000 Acres I believe. Second photo shows some of the terrain in that area.

Thanks! I think 24k is hard to imagine,(not being a farmer). Who did you go with? So many options

I’ve just finished up on a 40,000 Hectares farm in Omaheke, Namibia. We walked 12-15kms the last 3 days after a blue wildebeest. That’s about as fair chase as I reckon you can get.
We stalked into waterholes at times in this vast expanse. Anything we shot was hard work

That’s what I would be after. You want to feel like it’s been hard work. Who was the outfitter?

Hunted on farms in the free state, Blesbuck will stay behind a cattle fence, spring buck will go through/under it with no issues.

Put and take hunting area might be different, but lots will breed naturally and never get near the farm boundary, which will probably apply to lots of deer in this country on the larger estates.

I think if it’s a large enough area to self sustain that would make me more comfortable. I certainly wouldn’t want somewhere where the animals were being regularly topped up.

 

[Sika98k]

I have seen some places list as ‘free range’ and I’ve been in dialogue with one guy but never sure to what extent. I assume free range is lots of small farms where they can come and go. I certainly wouldn’t have a problem with that.
Anyone you’d recommend?

I think ranch size is the main criteria. Saying moved on, do you still hunt Africa at all now or done with it completely?

What would you consider a ‘large’ area? Any good outfitters you’d recommend?
Certainly kudu would be one of the few I’d be very keen on.

Even a waterhole if you’ve to hike in for miles to get to, fair enough. But certainly not sitting beside some of these man made water troughs in a blind

That’s very helpful. Any SA outfitters you’d recommend? I get the trend that Namibia is the upgrade for folk. Any reason for this? Certainly the game species are more limited,(I don’t think they have Nyala?) but I guess that’s less of an artificial scenario that way

Thanks! I think 24k is hard to imagine,(not being a farmer). Who did you go with? So many options

That’s what I would be after. You want to feel like it’s been hard work. Who was the outfitter?


I think if it’s a large enough area to self sustain that would make me more comfortable. I certainly wouldn’t want somewhere where the animals were being regularly topped up.

I was hunting with Hendrik&trudisafaris. In a gun shop in Windhoek yesterday I mentioned his name. The sales assistant said we were hunting with one of the best.
Btw, plenty of factory ammunition available in Windhoek. Saves the grief of bringing ammo. Rosenthal, that’s in Auas valley Mall. Another one in the same mall but the name escapes me.

 

[Sika98k]

With the often reported grief of clearing a rifle into SA my country of choice is Namibia.
How about a daily rate of €100 and trophy fee of €400 for an oryx of over 36” ?
Not shabby !

 

[Sjambok]

Right gents, this is up for debate as much as you want.. experiences or personal opinion,(even if you haven’t been to Africa) are all welcome.


So I’ve always fancied going over to Africa for the antelope species, kudu, impala etc. Although I’ve never got round to putting money aside for it.


I was and still am, slightly put off by the fact that the majority of SA seems to be high fence. Now I can see some sense, a managed area, privately owned etc. But it does ‘sound’ a bit off to someone who hasn’t been there before. I’m pretty sure I remember a Steve Rinella podcast joke where it will get to the stage that the scopes will scan a bar code on the animals ear and a price will pop up on the scope reticule.


How big an area do you need before you would class it as fair game? And is there the usual options to spot and stalk,(rather than the truck stuff that has been debated on here recently).


I’ve heard Namibia is a bit more ‘free range’. But it is more comforting to know that SA has decent hospitals if needed and malaria free so keen to find out a bit more.


Is there lots of options for a hard earned, guilt free hunt?

As an aside, having looked at Alaska prices , it makes a week on the uk stags look cheap..

If maybe needing a South African hospital is part of your criteria then good luck. More than an ingrown toe nail in a state hospital, you might as well sit under a tree with a view and die. Sooner trust a Namibian hospital.

 

[Sonicdmb73]

Thanks! I think 24k is hard to imagine,(not being a farmer). Who did you go with? So many options

Roughly a football/rugby pitch per acre. Just shy of 2.5 per hectare. If that makes it easier to picture.
Or a quarter of the Isle of Wight (over half if it was hectares).

 

[tusker]

I would definitely advise going to SA as an intro into safari hunting, as IBD says it's good value and you can find some good size ranches. I've moved on from SA but enjoyed my early hunting there.

I started in SA but have moved on to Namibia.
Tusker

 

[Basil H]

My experience has been limited, but it seems that while there are "game farms" there are also "farms with game" where the wild animals range huge areas which they share with (say) nguni cattle or sheep. Much like some highland estates but on a larger scale. I mean you go in via a gate but then the track runs 10 or 15 k.
The fencing which is always present at the roadside has something to do with the law. As I understand it, to exploit and have ownership in the wildlife on your land in RSA you have to have a fence. This was explained to me one night by my host and I (being tired out and well into the Cruxland gin) may not have understood fully. Perhaps someone else can clarify.

 

[Jon P]

My experience has been limited, but it seems that while there are "game farms" there are also "farms with game" where the wild animals range huge areas which they share with (say) nguni cattle or sheep. Much like some highland estates but on a larger scale. I mean you go in via a gate but then the track runs 10 or 15 k.
The fencing which is always present at the roadside has something to do with the law. As I understand it, to exploit and have ownership in the wildlife on your land in RSA you have to have a fence. This was explained to me one night by my host and I (being tired out and well into the Cruxland gin) may not have understood fully. Perhaps someone else can clarify.

I believe they only have a 2 month hunting season on low fenced land, (Poss June / July ?? ) high fenced areas have less restrictions on hunting seasons.

 

[wildfowler.250]

If maybe needing a South African hospital is part of your criteria then good luck. More than an ingrown toe nail in a state hospital, you might as well sit under a tree with a view and die. Sooner trust a Namibian hospital.

Really? I though SA was quite far ahead on the medical side of things for Africa?

I started in SA but have moved on to Namibia.
Tusker

Thanks! Can I ask why Namibia is seen as the ‘upgrade’ or next step for most? Is it just somewhere different or more to it than that?

My experience has been limited, but it seems that while there are "game farms" there are also "farms with game" where the wild animals range huge areas which they share with (say) nguni cattle or sheep. Much like some highland estates but on a larger scale. I mean you go in via a gate but then the track runs 10 or 15 k.
The fencing which is always present at the roadside has something to do with the law. As I understand it, to exploit and have ownership in the wildlife on your land in RSA you have to have a fence. This was explained to me one night by my host and I (being tired out and well into the Cruxland gin) may not have understood fully. Perhaps someone else can clarify.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

 

[Sjambok]

Really? I though SA was quite far ahead on the medical side of things for Africa?

Thanks! Can I ask why Namibia is seen as the ‘upgrade’ or next step for most? Is it just somewhere different or more to it than that?


That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

Not sure if you are aware but there was an election in '94 and a subsequent change of Govt.