SOUTH AFRICA: Americans Gone Wild - SA PH School

[Goopy]

Francois is astonishingly good at ID and size! On every one I shot he was either right on with the size or within an inch. An impressive skill to say the least!

I've hunted with Francois before and can second that!

 

[AZDAVE]

@mdwest You set up a great course. Kudo's to you and the training staff.

 

[mdwest]

Today was an entire day of lectures and tests on legal issues and on general subject matter..

My head hurts…

And I have a new found appreciation for the volume of information PH’s have to absorb in a short period of time.. there is a lot of what seems to be obscure, but relevant information that appears on the various provinces licensing exams… things that make you scratch your head and wonder why they need you to know it… but, simply put, if you don’t know it, you won’t pass the governments exam..

Like…how many AH members know how many teats a kudu has?

There’s a handful of us that can answer that question now that couldn’t have answered it yesterday lol…

while diving into South African law as it applies to hunting a couple of interesting themes emerged that show how vastly different the US and South Africa are legally..

The first is how their laws are structured and written… in the US, laws typically tell us what we cannot do… we can’t murder, can’t speed on the highway, etc…and then define what those actions are (what is a murder, what is speeding, etc)… if there isn’t a law against something, generally speaking we are free to do whatever we like..

In South Africa (at least as game laws are concerned), pretty much everything you can imagine is illegal… the laws are written in a way that establishes that everything is prohibited… and then after establishing what you are not allowed to do, they provide lists of exemptions and conditions that turn an otherwise illegal act, legal..

The other is.. you are guilty in South Africa until you prove your innocence… the presumption of innocence that we are afforded in the US doesn’t exist…

Now I’ve got to get back to studying plains game teat counts and how many pellets are in South African shotgun shells (their nomenclature and pellet counts aren’t consistent with US nomenclature and pellet counts)..

 

[Hunt anything]

Have you found anything that a PH has had you do in past hunts and said it was legal that turned out to be illegal?

 

[mdwest]

Have you found anything that a PH has had you do in past hunts and said it was legal that turned out to be illegal?

Honestly, no.

That’s sort of the point I was trying to make…

There are exemptions for almost everything… as long as you’ve got the right permit, right license, etc there’s a way to hunt almost anything you want, any way you want to hunt it… the key is getting the right permit in place, from the right agency, etc..

The law will start out telling you something that you definitively cannot do… and then will follow up that definitive statement by listing all of the exemptions to that law (must apply for the proper permit.. or must obtain the right permission.. or must meet a particular condition, etc etc)….

If you’re on an “exempted” farm (high fence, certain permits in place, certain inspections conducted, etc etc), there’s honestly not a whole lot you can’t do.. you just have to make sure you go through the proper process required to do it..

Hunting on a non exempted property (low fence, game not under control by the land owner, etc etc) the restrictions are significantly greater…

 

[Denvir Tire]

It's Friday morning in SA as I write this, and I'm preparing to leave the "Americans Gone Wild" clubhouse ,on the Bos En Dal farm, in the North West Province.
The past week has been one of the most relaxing and informative visits to SA I've ever enjoyed. The small group of AH members in attendance, represented the USA well, our instructor commented on more than one occasion, that our knowledge of most things firearm related, surpassed most of his usual students. As Dave explained above, the laws regarding the hunting in SA are confusing, and I grew increasingly frustrated trying to make sense of it all.
It gives me a new found respect for PH's added to my already high regard for them.

Some random thoughts and observations...

This is my first visit to the Bos En Dal farm, and I'm quite impressed.
The lodge is large, bright and clean. The outdoor "lapa" or firepit, is just out the door from the lodge, has comfortable seating around a raised firepit. and an adjacent deck overlooking the valley below.
My room was large, well lit, and comfortable, and included a dedicated heat pump/air conditioner. The bed was comfortable, linens nicer than at home, and a large bathroom with tub and shower. In addition, my room has a gunsafe in the closet, a first for me in Africa.
The farm proper is much like other farms I've hunted, regarding the flora and terrain with one notable exception. Everything on this farm works. The electric and manual gates all slide smoothly, the water points all had water, the roads had been maintained, etc. In addition, the ground blinds were clean and neat, and wait for it, the elevated blinds have urinals, unbelievable. It easy to see that plenty of time and money are being well spent here.

The PH school was both informing and not. We studied the actual curriculum used to train aspiring Professional Hunters, knowing that we will never be one. The laws are confusing and redundant and we truly need not learn them. It's interesting to learn about measuring and scoring trophies. I've never measured any trophy before, I didn't know that SCI and Roland Ward were different.....
Judging horn size in the field was also a humbling exercise, attempting to measure a Kudu at 100 meters away is difficult. The field work regarding tracking was very interesting and a nice break from the classroom. We learned to cape sheep heads after an informative live demonstration, it's harder than it looks. The study of animal characteristics; color, shape, breeding habits, diet, behavior, identifying traits, habitat, etc. was interesting. One study topic however was more than baffling to us, the number of teats on different animals..... Why?

All in all, this was a terrific experience that I will recommend to anyone who hunts in Africa. I was able to meet fellow AH members, and make new friends that I look forward to seeing again at a show, or perhaps in another lodge somewhere.

 

[Houston Bill]

Class is now finished and we all graduated and have our certificates. Overall it was great fun. As @mdwest eluded to, the portion of the class on SA hunting laws was a bit confusing and made our head hurt! But I think I can speak for everyone, we had a great time, created new friendships and each of us learned many things we did not know before we arrived.

The Bos en Dal camp was very comfortable and the food was quite good. The conversations around the evening campfire were often lively and entertaining. Gerrit and Dave were great hosts and my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

The photos below include the 2 cull Wildebeest I shot as part of the PH class. @Denvir Tire did a great job on guiding me for one of the hunts. I shot 2 animals as part of the class because my wife said I could shoot her animal. Both were shot with a 243 Win with 100 grain Oryx bullets. One was shot at 200 yards at a very acute quartering away angle, bullet entered by the last rib and angled towards the off shoulder and into the lungs. The other was shot at 50 yards in the heart.

Class ended with a few hours of hunting time so I went out to cull another Wildebeest as I am donating all the meat from my animals to @mdwest's charity orphanage and school sponsored by Gerrit. This time I took the 450/400. It was a great hunt with Francois as my PH; we made a great stalk to 45 yards and closed the deal. Broke both shoulders and she spun around and dropped in her tracks!

If Gerrit and Dave decide to do this class in the future I can highly recommend the experience.

 

[DieJager]

Both were shot with a 243 Win with 100 grain Oryx bullets. One was shot at 200 yards at a very acute quartering away angle, bullet entered by the last rib and angled towards the off shoulder and into the lungs. The other was shot at 50 yards in the heart.

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen will be proud of you. It's his favorite calibre. Especially in Africa

 

[PARA45]

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen will be proud of you. It's his favorite calibre. Especially in Africa

I was thinking along those lines. Now, where is @Bob Nelson 35Whelen?

 

[Houston Bill]

I used the 243 Win just to prove @Bob Nelson 35Whelen wrong!

 

[AZDAVE]

Sounds like a fantastic course, will another course be held in the next couple years?

 

[Throwback]

Today was an entire day of lectures and tests on legal issues and on general subject matter..

My head hurts…

And I have a new found appreciation for the volume of information PH’s have to absorb in a short period of time.. there is a lot of what seems to be obscure, but relevant information that appears on the various provinces licensing exams… things that make you scratch your head and wonder why they need you to know it… but, simply put, if you don’t know it, you won’t pass the governments exam..

Like…how many AH members know how many teats a kudu has?

There’s a handful of us that can answer that question now that couldn’t have answered it yesterday lol…

while diving into South African law as it applies to hunting a couple of interesting themes emerged that show how vastly different the US and South Africa are legally..

The first is how their laws are structured and written… in the US, laws typically tell us what we cannot do… we can’t murder, can’t speed on the highway, etc…and then define what those actions are (what is a murder, what is speeding, etc)… if there isn’t a law against something, generally speaking we are free to do whatever we like..

In South Africa (at least as game laws are concerned), pretty much everything you can imagine is illegal… the laws are written in a way that establishes that everything is prohibited… and then after establishing what you are not allowed to do, they provide lists of exemptions and conditions that turn an otherwise illegal act, legal..

The other is.. you are guilty in South Africa until you prove your innocence… the presumption of innocence that we are afforded in the US doesn’t exist…

Now I’ve got to get back to studying plains game teat counts and how many pellets are in South African shotgun shells (their nomenclature and pellet counts aren’t consistent with US nomenclature and pellet counts)..

Yeah MD West, that legal point you make is the whole common law verse civil law society discussion. Professors can make careers covering this but point is, it is a reminder that most of the world actually has a lot of rules and subjects of the government are "allowed" to do things by their overlords. I always sum it up as the quote credited to Barry Goldwater "every law on the books is a restriction of man's freedoms" - meaning, make as few as necessary.

Anyway, back to the hunting world, I think yall made all AH members jealous with this experience. Wow. Such a great combo of learning, hunting, camaraderie and adventure. Hope there are more in the future!

 

[Mountainshadows]

Thanks for doing the daily write up on this @mdwest . It was nice to follow along and not have to wait until you got back to pick your brain. It sounds like the course worked great on the hunter side and hopefully it was successful for the Outfitter/PH side too so that more courses are offered.

 

[Green Chile]

Excellent report. For those of us back home, wait until you see the huge sable that was taken.

With all of the commentary on the legal material, I wonder if it would have been better to spend the majority of that time on something else like more field exercises since this was not going to result in active PHs. Even 1 hour of legal material would have made the point and then back to more practical material.

 

[gillettehunter]

Wish I would of been there. Had planned to go and fully paid to go. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with liver/bile duct cancer on 9/1. That shot down all travel I had planned. Maybe next time should another class occur and I'm physically able to go.
Love the pics and descriptions of what you studied.
Bruce

 

[Hunt anything]

Wish I would of been there. Had planned to go and fully paid to go. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with liver/bile duct cancer on 9/1. That shot down all travel I had planned. Maybe next time should another class occur and I'm physically able to go.
Love the pics and descriptions of what you studied.
Bruce

Good luck in your battle!
Best wishes and prayers!

 

[Altitude sickness]

Did the class include how to deal with clients ?

Needy, greedy, drunk, cheap, can’t find the animal in the sights. Can’t hit the animal. Can’t walk, see, hear or shoot ?

How do they learn the patience

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen will be proud of you. It's his favorite calibre. Especially in Africa

@DieJager
If'n the 243 was necked up a bit, to say 358 I would be happy to use it in Africa but not as standard.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I used the 243 Win just to prove @Bob Nelson 35Whelen wrong!

@Houston Bill
Mate I am never wrong but then again I'm very seldom right either.
Bob

 

[Houston Bill]

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen

We can discuss it over a beer with @Mark Biggerstaff next month

Bill