Is there an African animal you wouldn't shoot?

[LivingTheDream]

For whatever reason, I didnt have the range of emotions most have with elephants. They are the ultimate to hunt in my opinion. Long long long walks, stealthily sneaking up close, a mental and physical battle. I felt like I got the real African experience. I hope to do it again someday.

 

[CoElkHunter]

If there are hungry people in Africa or anywhere else, who would benefit from an animal I harvested, I wouldn’t be opposed to taking MOST of the available non-endangered game animals. At times, there is good cause to take predators (i.e. coyotes, wolves in NA) or other non-edible animals (i.e. prairie dogs in NA) which can cause tremendous damage to game populations, and ALL animal populations and the environment (habitats) of MANY animal species. Just like the elk (wapiti) here in some areas of Colorado, when they over populate and start degrading their environment, more must be harvested to protect their habitat. I have no real desire to hunt an elephant ( many here have said my .458WM isn’t sufficient anyway Ha! Ha!) but IF they are over populating a certain area someone MUST hunt them to reduce the population before they destroy their (and other species) habitat. To do otherwise is really unjust to ALL of the animals which inhabit that habitat. Just my thought.

 

[CoElkHunter]

If there are hungry people in Africa or anywhere else, who would benefit from an animal I harvested, I wouldn’t be opposed to taking MOST of the available non-endangered game animals. At times, there is good cause to take predators (i.e. coyotes, wolves in NA) or other non-edible animals (i.e. prairie dogs in NA) which can cause tremendous damage to game populations, and ALL animal populations and the environment (habitats) of MANY animal species. Just like the elk (wapiti) here in some areas of Colorado, when they over populate and start degrading their environment, more must be harvested to protect their habitat. I have no real desire to hunt an elephant ( many here have said my .458WM isn’t sufficient anyway Ha! Ha!) but IF they are over populating a certain area someone MUST hunt them to reduce the population before they destroy their (and other species) habitat. To do otherwise is really unjust to ALL of the animals which inhabit that habitat. Just my thought.

Oh yes, I’ m thinking again (scary)! It seems through my reading here on AH that most of the African countries have good conservation of ALL game species in mind. Lest we forget as Americans, the TOTAL slaughter (mostly for sport- bison left to rot) of the 60-80 MILLION American Bison in the 1800s’! Probably the greatest man-made extinction of a large mammal in history! This wasn’t conservation hunting by any means that we practice today. There were NO rules or borders! Where was Teddy Roosevelt as a hunter/conservationist when we needed him (probably in diapers)? Ha! Ha! My point being, that with proper conservation/hunting (yes, hunting is part of modern day conservation- like it or not!) of MOST game species (elephant included), WE won’t have to witness what happened to the American Bison!

 

[njc110381]

Personally, I believe that the determining factor for not wanting to shoot an elephant would be awareness. from what I have read, heard, and learned about elephants and their behavior they are far more similar to humans than baboons are! They look nothing like us but they seem to have emotions and self-awareness. Many animals don't have that.

I cut this down to the part that made a lot of sense to me. Exactly that. I hadn't really thought about it until I read it in Cam's post but I too have read and seen on tv how they have quite a tight social structure and emotional bond with other members of their groups. To take a part of that away and possibly cause the others to feel sadness and loss is a hard thing to do. I've never seen that reaction from another animal, apart from with their parenting instinct.

 

[SticksMcKinley]

As someone making plans for a first trip to Africa, I really appreciate this discussion. A few months ago, I posted a thread asking for perspectives on what makes a plains game species interesting to hunt in Africa, e.g. why do you like hunting kudu or waterbuck or whatever stands out from your African experience as interesting plains game. I got a few good responses from folks that have helped me shape the idea of what I want for myself and my family and some of the replies in this thread have helped me as well.

There are some species that I don't think I want to hunt and others that I just don't know if I want to hunt. For instance, I absolutely do not like monkeys. That feeling is unlikely to change in Africa, so primates are not on my list of species to hunt. (Shooting one under less than peaceable conditions is an entirely different discussion, of course.) But, do I want to hunt kudu? Absolutely. Zebra? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know yet.

I'm not opposed to anyone hunting legal, well-managed game. If we learn anything from conservation history, I hope it's that wild game tends to thrive when managed properly for hunting.

 

[Michael Dean]

For me it's just the nature of the animal. I've spent my whole life being taught that shooting game like that is a bad thing, it's a hard attitude to shake.

Now I've studied it a bit I get it. If someone wants to shoot an elephant then I won't judge, you 100% have my support. But I'm not sure I could do it even knowing why it should happen. Double standards on my part for sure - I'll happily take a deer or most other species if they are causing trouble or their population balance isn't right. Maybe one day I'll adapt - it could well change when I go to Africa for my buff and get more involved in what they do first hand?

For now I want a buff. There are loads of them and they look like food. I still want the right buff though, an old one or a cull animal. My opinions of taking trophies of the best examples of any animals wouldn't make me many friends here. It's not for me, lets just put it that way. To me a trophy is an old animal past it's best, not something that's in it's prime.

I like your rationale and take on things. There are several animals I won't consider shooting simply because their numbers are too low. I was shocked last week when I read an article regarding Lions. Currently Lion numbers have dropped to 25,000; the figure could be as low as 16,000. This is outragous. I couldn't bring myself to shooting one knowing that their numbers are so low. Same with Elephants, as much as I'd like to take one, there's no way I'd consider it because of their low numbers. Poaching has decimated their numbers.

There are plenty of other animals that can be hunted. Poaching is still a major problem. It's time to rethink the way we hunt. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

 

[IdaRam]

I like your rationale and take on things. There are several animals I won't consider shooting simply because their numbers are too low. I was shocked last week when I read an article regarding Lions. Currently Lion numbers have dropped to 25,000; the figure could be as low as 16,000. This is outragous. I couldn't bring myself to shooting one knowing that their numbers are so low. Same with Elephants, as much as I'd like to take one, there's no way I'd consider it because of their low numbers. Poaching has decimated their numbers.

There are plenty of other animals that can be hunted. Poaching is still a major problem. It's time to rethink the way we hunt. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I think you may have just established that you are part of the problem

 

[cagkt3]

I like your rationale and take on things. There are several animals I won't consider shooting simply because their numbers are too low. I was shocked last week when I read an article regarding Lions. Currently Lion numbers have dropped to 25,000; the figure could be as low as 16,000. This is outragous. I couldn't bring myself to shooting one knowing that their numbers are so low. Same with Elephants, as much as I'd like to take one, there's no way I'd consider it because of their low numbers. Poaching has decimated their numbers.

There are plenty of other animals that can be hunted. Poaching is still a major problem. It's time to rethink the way we hunt. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Where are the populations located? I would agree, in say Kenya, where poaching has decimated elephant populations (since the hunting ban). But in say parts of Botswana and South Africa where wildlife experts have said the populations are way more than what the habitat can support, they need to be controlled. And the best way to control poaching is an active sustainable hunting program that funds anti-poaching activities and enriches local communities with jobs and food.

 

[MarkB]

I like your rationale and take on things. There are several animals I won't consider shooting simply because their numbers are too low. I was shocked last week when I read an article regarding Lions. Currently Lion numbers have dropped to 25,000; the figure could be as low as 16,000. This is outragous. I couldn't bring myself to shooting one knowing that their numbers are so low. Same with Elephants, as much as I'd like to take one, there's no way I'd consider it because of their low numbers. Poaching has decimated their numbers.

There are plenty of other animals that can be hunted. Poaching is still a major problem. It's time to rethink the way we hunt. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Hello Michael

I hate to be the one to say but statements in your post sounds like posts from another site. (Anti hunting). I do not plan to change the way I hunt. Scientists, biologists and persons better educated, better immersed and with more knowledge than I dictate where, when and numbers of animals that can be taken. (CITES) Please investigate, educate and research regulated sport hunting worldwide. Hunters are NOT hunting the triceratops of any species, in fact the opposite is true. There is no legal permits, tags or hunting of any species population that are "so low" as to cause the population to extinction, at least that I participate in (regulated sport hunting) and probably most members of this site.

I can fully understand someone not wanting to hunt a specific animal for most of the reasons members have posted in this thread but to not hunt them because you think you hunting them has great negative impact is purely "fake news".

Loss of habitat, poaching, bushmeat and human encroachment are all valid reasons for wildlife reductions yet it has been proven that regulated sport hunting reverses this.

MB

 

[tarbe]

Currently Lion numbers have dropped to 25,000; the figure could be as low as 16,000. This is outragous. I couldn't bring myself to shooting one knowing that their numbers are so low.

There are currently about 500 lion on the BVC. 500 lion on about 850,000 acres.

This is about double the ideal population level, per the researchers on site.

The BVC has entertained a lion cull, but this idea was nixed for fear of all the backlash that would ensue from people who make essentially the same argument you are making. They tried to give lions away, but you cannot just throw lions out like grass seed.

Instead of refusing to allow for the hunting of them where they are too numerous, we should be working to preserve habitat, while monetizing the localized excess animals to help fund that preservation.

 

[CoElkHunter]

There are currently about 500 lion on the BVC. 500 lion on about 850,000 acres.

This is about double the ideal population level, per the researchers on site.

The BVC has entertained a lion cull, but this idea was nixed for fear of all the backlash that would ensue from people who make essentially the same argument you are making. They tried to give lions away, but you cannot just throw lions out like grass seed.

Instead of refusing to allow for the hunting of them where they are too numerous, we should be working to preserve habitat, while monetizing the localized excess animals to help fund that preservation.

Again, whether there are too many elephants or lions in a given habitat range in Africa, or too many camels or donkeys in a particular habitat in Australia, or too many pronghorns in Wyoming or elk in areas of Colorado, their populations MUST be reduced to avoid the complete degradation of their habitats. Controlled hunting is the most economical and environmentally friendly way of accomplishing this task. I would prefer to see significantly reduced license fees in these instances, to encourage the average hunter to participate. Cull if need be after that. In the 1990s, Wyoming had too many pronghorn for their available habitat. They greatly reduced the license fees for non residents to hunt does. In a few years, the overpopulation issue was resolved. I believe this would work in other countries with animal overpopulation problems.

 

[steve white]

wild dogs

 

[Charles de Ribeau]

As someone making plans for a first trip to Africa,

There are some species that I don't think I want to hunt and others that I just don't know if I want to hunt.

You will be surprised how your interests evolve after your first safari. Good luck on that one.

 

[tarbe]

You will be surprised how your interests evolve after your first safari. Good luck on that one.

Truth!

 

[Charles de Ribeau]

wild dogs

Agree, but probably not legal anywhere.

 

[TTundra]

You will be surprised how your interests evolve after your first safari. Good luck on that one.

That is exactly the sequence which cause me to want to do an Ele hunt! Before arriving in Africa I 'thought' I would never hunt one...a few days later...I was dreaming about an Elephant hunt....

 

[MarkB]

That is exactly the sequence which cause me to want to do an Ele hunt! Before arriving in Africa I 'thought' I would never hunt one...a few days later...I was dreaming about an Elephant hunt....

X2 for me also, plus they seamed smart, knocking over trees across the roads deliberately during a Buff hunt. After out PH got one to give us a mock charge I was HOOKED, had to hunt one. Nothing what those who have never done think. Challenge, walking miles thru African bush, excitement, emotional and great eating. To stand on the "stump" thank and get thanks from the community (communal permit for specific bull) was a lifetime moment I will never forget..

wild dogs

If you mean African Painted/Cape hunting dogs. Now those cannot be hunted as the population cannot support, I think every where. We saw in Zim, very close and very playful. I have a few pics of them mere yards away.

If you mean poachers dogs or feral dogs must say I have shot them.

MB

 

[Charles de Ribeau]

As someone making plans for a first trip to Africa, I really appreciate this discussion.

You might even be thinking that this will be your *only* safari.

As I have seen it said in other threads, although I can't remember who to credit for it:Africa - if you go once, you'll go again. Deal with it.

 

[MarkB]

Read on here before. There is your "once in a lifetime safari" but that's only until your on the plane returning. That animal that eluded you, the one you did not or could not hunt until you saw it without TF money or permits were sold out. Plans change. Once home life changes, your planning, scheming, thinking and always organizing your return. Don't know anyone who can/could stop with just one. Isn't it great.....

MB

 

[mdwest]

There are several animals I dont have a particular interest in... but that doesnt mean I wouldnt hunt/shoot them under the right circumstances..

I could care less if I ever see another blesbok in my life... I have no desire to ever hunt one...

But let a 15 year old blesbok ram with 22" horns walk out of the wood line while I am nearby..

We'll be eating blesbok stew for dinner...