Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa just like I thought Africa is just an expensive Texas hunt

I just read in a thread below, the OP said he shot a "cull" kudu. HOW can you have a "cull" kudu in the "wilds" of Africa. Management animals are taken on high fenced private ranches. Is this what African safari hunting has become? The "hunts" I see on TV are the same, just like hunting a high fenced ranch in Texas. The only thing Africa has is black mambas, Big cats, elephants and baboons, I'll pass on those.

It's just not as pure as it was back in the old days, it seems to me.

Depends greatly upon where one hunts. Most reports posted are of RSA and Namibian game farms/ranches.

Due to population growth and expansion, "back in the old days" are sadly, in general a romantic memory. However, there are still many area's in various African countries that are raw and wild Africa. It will cost considerably more than the African game farm experience..... obviously.

It comes down to the type of hunt you want as was mentioned above. You match it to what you want.
In the good old days (if there is such a thing) opportunities for all did not exist as in today. Everything changes to allow more opportunities to a greater group to experience. This doesn't make it better, but times change.
I remember as a kid growing up in Texas you would see a photo of a 9 pointer in the paper and be envious. To those with a 10 pointer you would be besides yourself and green with envy. Now in Texas with the whitetail industry becoming litteraly an industry a 9 pointer doesn't bring quite the stir it once did. Now they have to have more than 14 points with a drop tine.
You can still get a free range hunt in east Texas for a basket rack 8 but we don't really want the good old days

In Africa game meat can be sold in supermarkets, and is the property of the landowner. I've culled a bunch of animals in Africa, all bound for the marketplace. Some were on high-fenced properties, but many were not. The animals chosen to be culled are sometimes excess females, but more often males with broken or misshapen horns that most safari hunters won't want as trophies.

The size of the fenced areas in much of Africa average much larger than in Texas, though there is some overlap. In most of Namibia and even parts of South Africa quite a few ranches are even free-range, with the only fences low barbed wire that can be easily crossed by wild animals. Half the kudu I've taken in South Africa (including my biggest kudu ever) were taken in unfenced country, and the other half were taken on ranches of at least 50 square miles.

Yeah, there are some small "ranches" in South Africa that are essentially put-and-take shooting zoos. But in Namibia the minimum area that can be fenced is 20 sqare miles, and then its usually done to protect animals they're trying to restore from predators. In 1999 I hunted a pair of ranches in Namibia that had 150 square miles of free-range hunting for warthog, haartebeest, kudu and gemsbok. One of the ranches had a 20-square-mile fenced area for species the country is trying to restore, such as eland, blue wildebeest and springbok.

There are also several countries with totally unfenced wild Africa going for hundreds of miles. Tanzania's Selous Game Reserve, for instance, is six times the size of Yellowstone Park.

No, Africa isn't a pure as it was back in the old days, but it sure as hell isn't Texas.

I have never hunted Texas. I never had the desire to shoot whitetail the size of my dog. I can hunt the bush behind my house and if I am lucky get a shot at the 14 point buck that lives there. The only fence I worry about is the one on the south end of my place that marks the north end of the adjoining property. I have been blessed oveer the years with some spectacular hunts in unspoiled wilderness here in Canada.

Lord willing I would like to go back to Africa with my family because it is as spectacular as anywhere I have been in the world. Every piece of rock, every blade of grass, flower and tree and every wild animal and bird is different than those I know.

When you drive 60 km without seeing any fence save and except stone krhaals built in the 1800's and the animals spook and run when you are a half mile accross the veldt from them, you can be forgiven if you reject the notion it is as if you were hunting Texas.

I hope you gain as much personal awareness during your Texas hunts.

Culling is to decrease excess wild animals on any property in any country. In the old days when there was no fencing natural disasters like droughts, fires and disease took care of excess animal numbers. Today fencing prohibits the free movement of animals in South Africa specifically and fire breaks limit casualties by fire. South African hunters mainly hunt female animals because they are cheaper and any left on quota can be offered to anyone else, like foreign hunters. If a visiting hunter wishes to take back skins of animals that were hunted by themselves then this is the way to do it. Most of this hunting is stopped by July because of pregnancy. Other male animals, like Mule Deer mentioned, with genetic defects or one horn broken can be hunted at some properties at reduced rates.


Yes things change over time and I would wager my bottom dollar things have changed on your side of the water also. Come to think of it, I used to be quite pure myself back in the old days.

Until you have experienced it your "thought" drops like a turd in the good old outhouse.

Stay home, then. Everything changes...

Well, While I agree with most on this thread, Please remember to go hunt in the real woods somewhere up north. We have enough hunters of Texas roots to take care of our "little" deer.
I have hunted in Masai land for buff and plains game. I have also hunted in SA on a high fenced ranch of 100 square miles. Enjoyed both tremendously. I just don't remember cornering a kudu against the fence and having the advantage. Just remember you hunt where you choose and how. When in Rome, you know.

+1

I was hunting cull Springbok in Damaraland last year which is 1.5 million hectares of unspoiled and unfenced wilderness. You can shoot cull animals in wild areas. I have also hunted on game farms in SA and never seen a game fence whilst hunting. Let alone cornered an animal.
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Buzzsaw

If you have the financial means you can take a safari to a country that will provide you a historical safari.

Be prepared to walk or ride a horse from where your ship will dock. It could take you a month or longer to get to your hunting block. Is this the good old days you are talking about. They made about 5 to 10 miles a day in there travels to the hunting grounds.

Let your PH know your exceptions to have the porters available to carry your luggage and safari gear. Water and food will have to be ported for everyone in your hunting party.

Even if Africa was highfenced, it is still a better value to me than a lot of Texas hunts. My dollar will go further.

Let me be very frank. Most local south african hunters see overseas hunters that visit our land as inferior hunters. Local hunters
dont need or use a ph, thus they see a hunter that does use a ph as a dependant hunter. A term that is somewhat deregatory. Mentioning kudu seems a bit silly. The kudu is one of the last free roaming game in Africa.

So, do I view foreighn hunters as inferior. No. Why? Becuase I have hunted with more than enough to know that it is not true. Still keep in mind that more than 90% of game taken in RSA and Namibia anualy, are taken by white local hunters. These hunters dont know 2 things about foreighn hunter and they dont care. This is their land and they do as they please on their farms, of which a free roaming kudu is still the top prize for most.

I suppose a lot of it depends on how one defines the "old" days.

After all, one could take up a sharpened stick and trot around barefoot in a loincloth most anywhere in Africa - or anywhere on the planet for that matter, and have a "pure" hunting experience.

Allen

I have hunted Texas multiple times including fence meat "hunts" in the Hill Country and some really fun nilgai spot and stalk hunts in Kenedy county.

I have also hunted dangerous game and plainsgame in Tanzania (once), Mozambique (once), and Zimbabwe (four times).

For me the "Golden Age" in Africa is now. It is MY time to hunt there. I savor every moment on safari.

There is no comparison to hunting in Texas. I have been in some wild and remote places in Africa that we never saw another human being. I have hunted in other places near villages that to me added to the experience. Like in the old books we would go to different villages and ask if they have heard leopard, seen any big buffalo tracks, etc.

I have seen just about every species indigenous to the areas I hunt. We have listened to the lion and hyena at night. I have been charged by elephants and buffalo. we have enjoyed seeing all the species of birds and insects. We are still amazed with the flora.

Africa is not for everybody. If being among big cats and elephants along with the other wonders of sub-sahara Africa does not interest you, save your money and go to Texas.

I have only been to Africa once. I have only been to Texas twice. I am not an expert on either place. All three experiences were different. Two were wonderful and one was terrible (first one in TX). If you don't want to go to Africa, fine. Hunt TX. If you want to visit Africa, I would do it. I plan on going back to both ! They are entirely different places and the hunting in each, pretty different.

I couldn't have said it any better...

I know it doesn't compare to Texas and if i could spend $25,000+++ on a hunting trip to Africa I would surely love the experience. If I could go, I would want to do it all, big 6.

One thing still bothers me, go back up these threads and look at the avitars. Medicine man has a very nice Gemsbock on the ground. Does that picture look like Africa, is the Medicine man dressed for a Safari??? somethings fishey there

Paul 375, nice pictures come to West Texas, I'll show you the same scenery, only mountain Lions though, no King of Beast here.