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The Wild Life
Observations and Reflections
on Africa's Wildlife
II - Hunting
The springbok at Gras are hunted for food and hunted for trophies
in addition to being captured and sold live to other ranches and preserves. Still their numbers grow. Some days they seem
to be everywhere; running and leaping - alone, in small groups, and in large herds. Other days, windy days mostly, they lay
amongst the tufts of grass, or seek shelter in the valleys and canyons with the other wildlife. One can hunt all day and see
almost no game; maybe a few springbok, disappearing over a ridge in the distance – and too far to risk a shot.
A lot of springbok is eaten at Gras and it is delicious. I believe that Jannie would eat springbok three times a day if
he could. Dominick and I spent a week in Paris after our stay at Gras, and nothing we ate in Paris could compare to fresh-killed
springbok, hot off the braai, after a long day of hunting on the veldt. We also ate Kudu Chops, Back-strap of Wildebeest,
Medallion of Gemsbok and, for lunch while hunting on the veldt, Zebra salami sandwiches.
The difference between
a trophy hunt and a meat (or biltong) hunt is mostly shot placement. When out for meat, and when possible, the hunter makes
a head shot on a young bull (male); instantaneous death and no meat wasted. The trophy hunter takes a heart/lung or shoulder
shot on an older bull; the head and horns are preserved, but a portion of meat will be unsuitable for the table. The rest
is eaten. Overall, the difference is not great. In either case, one way or another, everything is used; nothing is wasted.
At Hannah Ranch in South Africa, where I hunted Eland last year, the offal is placed at a remote spot on the ranch
to feed the rebounding population of still endangered Cape Vulture. Though they roost on cliffs over 100 kilometers away,
they usually arrive within 10 minutes after their free meal is set out for them at the “Vulture Café”.
In the broadest sense of course, nothing is ever wasted; even a wounded animal that dies off in the bush is a
bounty for the jackals, wildcats and their young, or the occasional leopard or lion that may find its way onto one of the
ranches. Of course, the hunter strives to prevent that. In every case, a one-shot kill is the goal.
The headshot
on a wild antelope that is shot for meat can be compared to the steel rod used to kill domestic cattle; the differences being
that the wild game has had a free life and a fair chance of avoiding the table; and the meat of wild game is much healthier
for the diet of the consumer. Of course, there is another difference to the hunter - the experience. Hunting big game is an
activity not readily available in urban America.
Trophy hunters never leave a carcass to rot. That is another environmentalists
myth; not that it has never happened, but, like the canned hunt, is so rare as to be insignificant. _________________________________________________________________ Next Page: Hannah
Lodge
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Notes (*)
IUCN: World Conservation Union
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