First and foremost, find out what property or properties they hunt. There are a lot of outfitters that offer a long list of species you can hunt, but what they don't tell you is that they hunt several different properties and you spend hours driving from one property to another. I chose my outfitter because he has 50,000 acres to hunt all in one location. He offers over 80 species to hunt. All of the references were very positive. I'm going to hunt with Huntershill Safaris this October because they offer competitive packages and you hunt on one parcel of land that they own. The last thing you want is to end up hunting 6-7 different parcels of land and end up spending half of your time driving rather than hunting. They also have a property adjacent to them that is 50,000 acres that they have an exclusive right to hunt. 100,000 acres is truly free range hunting, no high fences.
I'm happy for you that you have chosen your Outfitter.
Just so you are not disappointed I can assure you that:
1. HH indeed has high fences, otherwise they could not have a CAE.
2. You will spend plenty of time driving on a large property. (Been there, done that in multiple countries.) Does it matter that you are driving on dirt, sand or tar? (Take your stop watch along and see how long you spend in a vehicle.)
3. HH has property that would be hunted that is at least 1 hours drive away from HH.
I wish you well on your hunt and truly hope you enjoy it.
This is the perfect example of when everybody is right.
1) Huntershill owns a number of properties. Huntershill itself is over 55,000 acres, and has hunting rights over 65,000+ adjacent contiguous acres. These form a 120,000 acres / 188 square miles low fence or no fences hunting territory. It is located in the foothills of the Stormberg mountains near Queenstown from about 2,000 to 5,000 ft in elevation and combines hills and flat plain.
Yes there is a perimeter high fence to separate the property from the public road, this is where
BRICKBURN is right (actually the public road cuts across the 55,000 acres, so there is a high fence on each side of the road), and no there are no internal high fences, nor is there a perimeter high fence around the adjacent property that Huntershill has hunting rights one, so this is where
Michael Dean is right, there are no compartment high fences and it is truly free range hunting on 120,000 acres.
2) Obviously, and this is where
BRICKBURN is right again, one will not hunt 120,000 acres on foot and a hunter at Huntershill will spend a lot of time hunting with the vehicle, crawling along more or less developed dirt roads through the hills. This being said, when
Michael Dean is talking about spending half of the time driving rather than hunting, it is my understanding that he does not talk about hunting with the vehicle on a large property, but commuting on highways to and from small properties constantly, as is the case with outfitters who do not own the land they hunt.
3)
BRICKBURN is right, Huntershill indeed has property that would be hunted that is at least 1 hours drive away from Huntershill. Actually Huntershill also owns Rocklands, 2 hours south near Fort Beaufort. This is a 6,000 acres territory, that is very dense, very challenging, and great habitat for bushbuck, bush pigs, etc. Huntershill also owns Comre Safaris located also a couple hours away in a valley of the Winterberg mountains. This property is 22,000 acres. Huntershill also has hunting rights with several properties adjacent or near Rocklands and Comre. In addition, Huntershill also owns hunting properties in Limpopo and the Kalahari.
But, and this is where
Michael Dean is right, a Huntershill client may very well go spend
a few days in Rocklands, or Comre
if they are interested, to hunt for bushbuck, or bush pig, or Vaal Rhebok, etc. but
a Huntershill client will not spend 4 or 6 hours each day on the highway commuting from one small farm for one animal, to another small farm for another animal, etc. in a constant daily routine as can indeed happen with some outfitters who do not own the land they hunt.
For example, in August 2018 I spent 12 days at Huntershill. My PH and I decided that we would go down to Rocklands for 2 days to get a great bushbuck. Turns out we got one on the first day, so we elected to come back that evening. That is the only time we touched blacktop in the 12 days I was there. We for sure spent hours and hours everyday in the truck during the other 11 days at Huntershill but we were in the act of hunting.
General view of Huntershill from the West. The picture is taken from where I shot my Kudu, looking toward the lodge that is in the foothill of the Huntershill Mountain (the high chain behind it). Virtually every acre in this picture is part of the Huntershill hunting area (except along the public road that follows the bottom of the valley). We obviously drove a truck from the lodge to the other side of the valley where I shot my Kudu, but we were hunting... I actually collected a very nice Steenbok along the way that we decided to stop for and walk & stalk.
