Zimbabwe elephant cull

[mrpoindexter]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/zimbabwe-issues-permits-cull-least-50-elephants-2025-06-03/

If they are desperate to start cutting their elephant population, I would hope they would consider allowing bow hunters to come in and assist...

 

[Hunt anything]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/zimbabwe-issues-permits-cull-least-50-elephants-2025-06-03/

If they are desperate to start cutting their elephant population, I would hope they would consider allowing bow hunters to come in and assist...

I couldn’t get the article to pull up so this is just a guess.
In a true culling operation you take out complete family groups, cows mostly and in the past only a few of the youngest calves were spared. It is not pleasant and a job for professionals only.
If they want visiting hunters to help they should include a cow elephant on each TR2 at a very reasonable trophy fee, I’m thinking less than a buffalo bull. Make them exportable and people would flock to an opportunity like that, this is only my opinion.

 

[towserthemouser]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/zimbabwe-issues-permits-cull-least-50-elephants-2025-06-03/

If they are desperate to start cutting their elephant population, I would hope they would consider allowing bow hunters to come in and assist...

If they were desperate they would have issued more like 1750 permits, to get the population closer to the carrying capacity......

This sounds to me like it's more about people-pleasing politics (free meat) than about science-based wildlife management.

50 permits won't even begin to address the ecological problems.

 

[kpoynter]

Bow hunters would be the absolute last means to be considered. Sorry but you don’t understand the issue. I think we understand your thought ( low profile)

 

[Datchew]

*Snip*
If they want visiting hunters to help they should include a cow elephant on each TR2 at a very reasonable trophy fee, I’m thinking less than a buffalo bull. Make them exportable and people would flock to an opportunity like that, this is only my opinion.

Dammit man. Don't go bringing logic into these things.

 

[K-man]

True culling is done in family groups, with entire herds culled in a matter of a minute or two. Leaving some results in a stressed animal and the potential to create problem elephants. Not the best for a bow hunt. I agree, more permits would be a good solution in some areas.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Bow hunters would be the absolute last means to be considered. Sorry but you don’t understand the issue. I think we understand your thought ( low profile)

I would think handgun and spear hunting would be below bow hunting as a means to hunt them. Still, I understand that the amount of elephant reduction they need in Zim and SA are beyond what you get from issuing hunting permits. That said, I believe they need to issue bow permits in more countries.

 

[Fordy]

Gday
Good to see they are @ a minimum thinking this way although I’m sure a zero has been left off the numbers
Cheers

 

[Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy]

True culling is done in family groups, with entire herds culled in a matter of a minute or two. Leaving some results in a stressed animal and the potential to create problem elephants. Not the best for a bow hunt. I agree, more permits would be a good solution in some areas.

You've got it correct. Most folks think of culling as just shooting more than you normally would and also targeting females and juveniles. I used to think this way as well but elephant are not whitetail deer.

Ron Thomson's book Mahohboh is the best I've read on elephant management. Yes, it also has a bunch of hunting stories and info on shot placement, calibers, etc. But the charts, graphs, detailed explanation on how to best manage elephant populations for their environment - very informative. He spent extensive time working within then Rhodesia with the game department. Culling elephant was his specialty.

I highly recommend it to anyone that is interested in how we can conserve elephants and their broader African ecosystems for the future. Especially non-hunters and even hunters not interested in pursuing elephant.

 

[sniper7]

Glad to see they are doing something even if it doesn’t seem to be enough. Hopefully this expands to keep a manageable number and potentially increase the quota for hunting in the area. Would be a benefit to all.

 

[buck wild]

This was quite an interesting video. I think the narrator did a good job of remaining unbiased, as much as anyone can these days. I do think there were a few misunderstood items by the team putting it together.

It takes a while to reach the conclusion - spoiler alert, it's in the last 3 minutes of the video.

 

[Dinsdale]

I couldn’t get the article to pull up so this is just a guess.
In a true culling operation you take out complete family groups, cows mostly and in the past only a few of the youngest calves were spared. It is not pleasant and a job for professionals only.
If they want visiting hunters to help they should include a cow elephant on each TR2 at a very reasonable trophy fee, I’m thinking less than a buffalo bull. Make them exportable and people would flock to an opportunity like that, this is only my opinion.

CITIES export quota is fixed for the year, so there is little desire to use that number for female animals in general.

 

[Hunt anything]

CITIES export quota is fixed for the year, so there is little desire to use that number for female animals in general.

Understood, I’ve felt with CITIES a couple of times, I don’t know if they could convene an “emergency” meeting to address overpopulation problems or not. Even if they did the uproar by the antis would be deafening and would most likely never be approved.

 

[spike.t]

Understood, I’ve felt with CITIES a couple of times, I don’t know if they could convene an “emergency” meeting to address overpopulation problems or not. Even if they did the uproar by the antis would be deafening and would most likely never be approved.

Too many NGOs been allowed into cities who are anti .....along with a lot of the African countries further north and east, ie Kenya who are also anti hunting, or bought by the anti hunting groups and NGOs in cites itself to get anything like that sorted....why some of the southern countries have talked about leaving cites

 

[sgt_zim]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/zimbabwe-issues-permits-cull-least-50-elephants-2025-06-03/

If they are desperate to start cutting their elephant population, I would hope they would consider allowing bow hunters to come in and assist...

Capstick did a pretty thorough job of describing elephant culling in Death in the Long Grass. Two or three guys with large-bore magazine rifles who are also fast at refilling magazines seems to be pretty important.

For the folks who did it professionally, I'm reasonably certain some number of them never survived long enough to become pensioners.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Well, the clarify, I wouldn’t expect a culling operation to include bows, but increasing the hunting can assist in managing the population. That said, I don’t even think they can issue enough permits to keep the population stable now.

 

[Raven]

It seems to me that such things are possible in isolated cases. And it is unlikely that they will be ready to accept a large number of hunters. After all, this is a serious responsibility. Who will come to them? Everyone who is ready to pay. And there will be people with different levels of training, with different physical characteristics. How effective will they be? Will they create problems? Will they increase the number of accidents?

When a hunter is preparing for a safari, the host party has time to study him, understand what kind of person he is, how prepared he is and how serious he is. They provide this person with various services and at the same time are responsible for his safety. But if there are many people willing to shoot elephants, who will look after them?

Hunting an elephant with a bow is, of course, a very exciting activity. However, it is unlikely to be suitable here.

 

[spike.t]

You are talking about whole herds being taken out in minutes....and most of the people who had the experience to do it are either too old, or not with us anymore...

 

[AZDAVE]

I am currently reading Mahohboh, by Ron Thomson. It gives a very vivid picture of culling and the conservation of the sepsis and maintaining the eco system. If you want to see a eco system destroyed by an overpopulation of elephants just go look a Madikwe Park in South Africa.

The requirements of a ranger that is responsible for culling herds is a much different skill set than a PH or sport hunter.

The first part of the equation is that the countries affected by the over population will have to just conduct the cull for the good of the entire eco system and then take the flak from the rest of the world that will jump on the narrow minded myopic view of the anti's. Not sure if any of the countries affected have leadership with a big enough brass pair to do what's needed.

 

[Philip Glass]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/zimbabwe-issues-permits-cull-least-50-elephants-2025-06-03/

If they are desperate to start cutting their elephant population, I would hope they would consider allowing bow hunters to come in and assist...

That is not how a cull works. It is not politically correct or talked about but here is how it goes. They take a helicopter and take out entire herds no matter age. This is the best way to do it and had been proven to work.
I agree with you that more hunting permits for elephant should be issued but shooting bulls does nothing to the population. Cow permits should be unlimited in most areas and that would help.