WANTED: Leopard hunt wanted for 2015

[Wheels]

As Bossie mentioned above it is a bit of a mess in SA as we speak.
1.)there was a glitch with the system to be used for the draw, this was due to the fact that the gps coordinates of each application was not to the correct decimal.
If I read correct, the draw has been postponed to the 13th of JANUARY.

2.Of all provinces in SA Limpopo has by far the largest leopard population, we receive 53 tags a season (hunting allocated), 22 odd are located to the PDI program, a incentive for outfitters to employ black professional hunters and train them in the industry, not provide them with a once off paycheck but train individuals, there are outfitters that got on board with this program and trained legitimate guys and of course others that worked the system.
3.our draw in Limpopo use to be open to limpopo based outfitters only, this was deemed to be unconstitutional, and any outfitter from any province in SA can now apply with hunting rights to a property in Limpopo as well as a registered Limpopo PH.
This brought about a total of .... 1500 applications for 31 leopard tags!
4.nature conservation, in conjunction with Panthera, have come up with the Zone system.
This was initialized to move away from "concentrated" hunts as they call it. The entire province was divided into these zones all averaging 89 000 to 250 000 acres roughly some quite larger.
*only one leopard may be hunted per Zone.
*a minimum of a 1000 ha. property size applies when obtaining hunting rights, should the property be less than 1000 ha. you can obtain hunting rights to neighboring properties to add to your application.
*it works on a point system the more land you have (continual) hunting rights to the more "points" you receive, 1 point or ticket is given per 100 ha. (roughly)
*this means that come draw time if I have 4000 I will have 100 tickets or points in the draw if I have 40 000 hectares my chances increase to be drawn as I have more points.
*if you are drawn in a zone, you can legally hunt any property within the relevant zone to which you have obtained hunting rights.
*if you are drawn in a zone you will have until July 31st to complete your safari or your tag will be distributed to the back up list that was drawn.
*if you are drawn on the back up list you will have time to I believe end of September to complete your safari or it will be cast into an open pool and any outfitter can then sell it at short notice upon Natcon issueing you the permit and the right to market mentioned tag.

Interesting thing though is that this system was implemented by Natcon without taking the PDI (contracted system) between outfitters and govt. Into consideration, which threw a spanner the size of the pan handle into the works.

Now Limpopo is sitting with 22 blacked out zones in which resident outfitters that were not part of the initial PDI plan can not apply in, even though some of them might own 50 000 acres within that zone...

In my honest opinion, it was bulldozed onto the guys, as all decisions by Natcon have almost been before, but if the issues can be ironed out this system could be to the benefit of LEOPARD in the long run.

Age appropriate off take of which I am a huge supporter will be implemented next season and only males above a certain age will be allowed to be harvested (which has it's technical issues)
*no female will be exported.

But I'm all for age appropriate harvesting.

I hope this give you guys an idea, of what is going on, for now I'll stick to Moz.

My best always

Thanks for the explanation......bureaucracy at work!

Surprised any PH's apply. Got to have the patience of Job and be as detail oriented as Brickburn to want to mess with that.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

As Bossie mentioned above it is a bit of a mess in SA as we speak.
1.)there was a glitch with the system to be used for the draw, this was due to the fact that the gps coordinates of each application was not to the correct decimal.
If I read correct, the draw has been postponed to the 13th of JANUARY.

2.Of all provinces in SA Limpopo has by far the largest leopard population, we receive 53 tags a season (hunting allocated), 22 odd are located to the PDI program, a incentive for outfitters to employ black professional hunters and train them in the industry, not provide them with a once off paycheck but train individuals, there are outfitters that got on board with this program and trained legitimate guys and of course others that worked the system.
3.our draw in Limpopo use to be open to limpopo based outfitters only, this was deemed to be unconstitutional, and any outfitter from any province in SA can now apply with hunting rights to a property in Limpopo as well as a registered Limpopo PH.
This brought about a total of .... 1500 applications for 31 leopard tags!
4.nature conservation, in conjunction with Panthera, have come up with the Zone system.
This was initialized to move away from "concentrated" hunts as they call it. The entire province was divided into these zones all averaging 89 000 to 250 000 acres roughly some quite larger.
*only one leopard may be hunted per Zone.
*a minimum of a 1000 ha. property size applies when obtaining hunting rights, should the property be less than 1000 ha. you can obtain hunting rights to neighboring properties to add to your application.
*it works on a point system the more land you have (continual) hunting rights to the more "points" you receive, 1 point or ticket is given per 100 ha. (roughly)
*this means that come draw time if I have 4000 I will have 100 tickets or points in the draw if I have 40 000 hectares my chances increase to be drawn as I have more points.
*if you are drawn in a zone, you can legally hunt any property within the relevant zone to which you have obtained hunting rights.
*if you are drawn in a zone you will have until July 31st to complete your safari or your tag will be distributed to the back up list that was drawn.
*if you are drawn on the back up list you will have time to I believe end of September to complete your safari or it will be cast into an open pool and any outfitter can then sell it at short notice upon Natcon issueing you the permit and the right to market mentioned tag.

Interesting thing though is that this system was implemented by Natcon without taking the PDI (contracted system) between outfitters and govt. Into consideration, which threw a spanner the size of the pan handle into the works.

Now Limpopo is sitting with 22 blacked out zones in which resident outfitters that were not part of the initial PDI plan can not apply in, even though some of them might own 50 000 acres within that zone...

In my honest opinion, it was bulldozed onto the guys, as all decisions by Natcon have almost been before, but if the issues can be ironed out this system could be to the benefit of LEOPARD in the long run.

Age appropriate off take of which I am a huge supporter will be implemented next season and only males above a certain age will be allowed to be harvested (which has it's technical issues)
*no female will be exported.

But I'm all for age appropriate harvesting.

I hope this give you guys an idea, of what is going on, for now I'll stick to Moz.

My best always

Simple.........

 

[ChasingHemingway]

As Bossie mentioned above it is a bit of a mess in SA as we speak.
1.)there was a glitch with the system to be used for the draw, this was due to the fact that the gps coordinates of each application was not to the correct decimal.
If I read correct, the draw has been postponed to the 13th of JANUARY.

2.Of all provinces in SA Limpopo has by far the largest leopard population, we receive 53 tags a season (hunting allocated), 22 odd are located to the PDI program, a incentive for outfitters to employ black professional hunters and train them in the industry, not provide them with a once off paycheck but train individuals, there are outfitters that got on board with this program and trained legitimate guys and of course others that worked the system.
3.our draw in Limpopo use to be open to limpopo based outfitters only, this was deemed to be unconstitutional, and any outfitter from any province in SA can now apply with hunting rights to a property in Limpopo as well as a registered Limpopo PH.
This brought about a total of .... 1500 applications for 31 leopard tags!
4.nature conservation, in conjunction with Panthera, have come up with the Zone system.
This was initialized to move away from "concentrated" hunts as they call it. The entire province was divided into these zones all averaging 89 000 to 250 000 acres roughly some quite larger.
*only one leopard may be hunted per Zone.
*a minimum of a 1000 ha. property size applies when obtaining hunting rights, should the property be less than 1000 ha. you can obtain hunting rights to neighboring properties to add to your application.
*it works on a point system the more land you have (continual) hunting rights to the more "points" you receive, 1 point or ticket is given per 100 ha. (roughly)
*this means that come draw time if I have 4000 I will have 100 tickets or points in the draw if I have 40 000 hectares my chances increase to be drawn as I have more points.
*if you are drawn in a zone, you can legally hunt any property within the relevant zone to which you have obtained hunting rights.
*if you are drawn in a zone you will have until July 31st to complete your safari or your tag will be distributed to the back up list that was drawn.
*if you are drawn on the back up list you will have time to I believe end of September to complete your safari or it will be cast into an open pool and any outfitter can then sell it at short notice upon Natcon issueing you the permit and the right to market mentioned tag.

Interesting thing though is that this system was implemented by Natcon without taking the PDI (contracted system) between outfitters and govt. Into consideration, which threw a spanner the size of the pan handle into the works.

Now Limpopo is sitting with 22 blacked out zones in which resident outfitters that were not part of the initial PDI plan can not apply in, even though some of them might own 50 000 acres within that zone...

In my honest opinion, it was bulldozed onto the guys, as all decisions by Natcon have almost been before, but if the issues can be ironed out this system could be to the benefit of LEOPARD in the long run.

Age appropriate off take of which I am a huge supporter will be implemented next season and only males above a certain age will be allowed to be harvested (which has it's technical issues)
*no female will be exported.

But I'm all for age appropriate harvesting.

I hope this give you guys an idea, of what is going on, for now I'll stick to Moz.

My best always

Jaco,

Thank you for your response - crazy. I have wanted to hunt leopard in Limpopo for sometime now, but it seems it might be a long shot. What is the average cost in hunting leopard in SA vs Mozambique. Have also thought about Namibia. SA seems best option for me due to additional travel time to Namibia/Mozambique. Maybe I am wrong and should consider hunting in these other countries as well.

dt

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

Certain areas in Namibia has great quality Leopard, keep in mind that leopard are not allowed to be hunted under artificial light, I firmly believe this is a stupid law but that's just my opinion

SA and Moz permits hunting with the aid of a light, with this being said a good number of the cats I have hunted in Mozambique were without the aid of a light, however even in places like Niassa where I have conducted multiple hunts and that has a very strong leopard population connecting with your Leopard during daylight hours should Not be considered the Norm, many years ago I hunted the Delta (under Johan Calitz) in Botswana, even here it was no easy task.

All 3 countries mentioned Namibia, South Africa as well as Mozambique have excellent Leopard it's a matter of fitting you with the country that suits you best.

I am unsure with regards to travel times to Namibia, maybe Jerome can help out, but the Mozambique, hunts I generally have my clients overnight in Johannesburg, from there they depart the following morning at around 10 Am to Tete Matunda, we usually leave Tete at around and preferably no later than 2pm to head to camp as crossing the lake at night is not preferred.

This adds one day of travel time, I reckon Namibia will be the same.

I do not wish to discourage you to hunt SA, hell I am a South African and hunt there allot, but as you correctly state the permit system is a problem, it takes an outfitter a long time to build a good reputation on leopard due to tag limitations, and the good ones are sold as they come into hand.

On the pricing, my Moz and SA pricing is very similar.

I am of on a rant, again definitely consider hunting Namibia or Mozambique, together with SA there are truly exceptional hunts to be had in these countries, and many of them are available right here on this site

My best always

 

[slad68]

Jaco thanks for the detailed explanations you always put out for us.
With the current system in SA as it is it is true what you say when it comes to reputation. How can one build a good reputation if you only get one permit in a few years.
In the olden days when permit systems were not so messed up, guys like McDonald Safaris, TG Safaris and Paul Ferreira were among some of the best outfitters and PH's for Leopard in our area if not SA. I wonder if they even applied for a permit this year. Come to think of it if you are looking for a Leopard in SA, contact Alex McDonald (McDonald Safaris) or Tino Erasmus (TG Safaris) and see if they applied for a permit.

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

As I, Sandy Macdonald did not apply, he is working tirelessly on all's behalf to try and resolve the situation!

Big up to Sandy, Phillip and the other guys working on outfitters behalf.

My best

 

[slad68]

Thanks Jaco

Just shows you how messed up the system is if the old school guys did not even apply for a tag.

 

[peras]

Bossie and Jaco, this is so true, I myself did not apply this year. I hope this can be resolved in future.

 

[ChasingHemingway]

Thanks Jaco - now I will have to look at Mozambique and Namibia.

dt

 

[johnnyblues]

I just want to thank everyone for trying to help, make suggestions, send emails to PH's and all the private emails I received in regards to starting this thread. I m truly grateful to this site and everyone here. Great folks willing to help. Thank you all. Jerome you should be proud, I don't know of any other web site like this.

 

[slad68]

You are welcome Johnny. This is what brings us all together.

Jerome you should be proud, I don't know of any other web site like this.

I do a fair amount of messing around on the internet. My wife accused me of being addicted to AH and I did not even comment, I think she is right.
There is no other site to compare with AH and there will never be one. Great stuff Jerome X 1000000000000000000Mil

 

[BRICKBURN]

I just want to thank everyone for trying to help, make suggestions, send emails to PH's and all the private emails I received in regards to starting this thread. I m truly grateful to this site and everyone here. Great folks willing to help. Thank you all. Jerome you should be proud, I don't know of any other web site like this.

It's an excellent example of a great community!

 

[billc]

I just hope I helped some and did not make it harder to decide.

It nice to see how this site just gets better and more fun.Plus they still let me sign on yet.

 

[johnnyblues]

N

I just hope I helped some and did not make it harder to decide.

It nice to see how this site just gets better and more fun.Plus they still let me sign on yet.

No Bill thanks for your input

 

[johnnyblues]

Has anyone heard of or hunted with Schoenfeld Safaris? Supposed to have the highest success rate in Namibia on leopard

 

[johnnyblues]

Just wanted to bring all up to speed. After the horrendous treatment I got from a booking agent who I will name at a later date I did cancel my leopard hunt and have re booked with Schonfeld Safaris in Namibia. References were excellent and they are one of the oldest families in the safari business in the country. After Several phone conversations with Stephan (owners son) we were able to come to a package price on the hunt. It was a little over my budget but I feel like I m in good hands. Especially since I m trying to get my deposit back. I did send copies of the terrible e mails sent by the booking agent to the Safari company. Let's see what kind of folks they are. Again I want to thank everyone involved for their opinion's and advise. Especially to Marius from KMG safaris for all his efforts.

 

[JustinC]

I'm glad you found somebody who is able to assist you!

Enjoy the hunt and please post a few pics

Regards

 

[slad68]

Johnny I think I speak for all of us here if I say we are indeed glad you could come right with a Leopard hunt.

What makes me the happiest of all is that it's not in SA. Shows you our neighboring countries has a system that works.

 

[johnnyblues]

I'm glad you found somebody who is able to assist you!

Enjoy the hunt and please post a few pics

Regards

Thank you I sure hope I will be able to share some pictures!

 

[johnnyblues]

Johnny I think I speak for all of us here if I say we are indeed glad you could come right with a Leopard hunt.

What makes me the happiest of all is that it's not in SA. Shows you our neighboring countries has a system that works.

Thank you sir. Has not been a pleasant experience I will tell you that. This reminds me why I have not used a booking agent in many years. I m sure there are some good ones out there but this has left a bad taste in my mouth.