I'm looking over some of the photos that I took a couple of weeks ago at Etemba Hunt and Safaris of their guesthouse living room.



I see 3 cats - the cheetah,of course mounted on the wall; the small-spotted genet draped over the couch on the right; and the caracal draped over the chair on the left.

I'm thinking what great hunts these cats would make. I've already taken a gold medal caracal but not the other two. The cheetah interests me most but the present ban on importation of cheetah trophies into the U.S. makes it an animal I would probably not hunt.

Where I hunted in the last couple of weeks, cheetah population, as evident by the numerous tracks we came across, are increasing. Cheetahs are the major predator, accounting for an increasing percentage of deaths amongst the farm's thousand head of cattle. Although cheetahs still prefer to hunt smaller game such as warthog and springbok, the less evasive cows and calves make tempting targets of prey. Unchecked, cheetahs can be an economic liability on one's property.

Bunny huggers will crucify me but, IMHO, cheetah trophy importation should be allowed into the U.S., perhaps on the same basis as the importation of elephant trophy ivory taken from places where the animal is not in a threatened level of existence.

Just my humble opinion.

Namibiahunter

I know that many don't consider the cheetah a worthy trophy, but if importation were legal, I'd probably have one on the wall or floor. While in Namibia, the opportunity to pursue one (a problematic predator) for a pretty decent trophy fee arose, but I had to pass because I would have liked more than a photo. The farmer, a resident, ended up shooting the cheetah shortly thereafter. I imagine it hangs next to his others now.

I took one in Zimbabwe in 2000 and would have loved to bring it home. But as others have said I could not bring it home.

That's why Cheetah hunts are so cheap; you can't import them to the US.
LDK

I would absolutely love to do a cheetah hunt. I don't anticipate seeing one in Namibia next year but would be open minded if one was on quota. Cheetah is one thing that I can see coming off the list in the future. The one that Boddington shot last year was huge.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
I can see coming off the list in the future.

Be nice if it happened by 2010 when I head over.

They are so cheap that I would still consider shooting one if it was NOT importable. I would just have to figure out what to do with it...maybe keep it with one of the AR members who live in Canada, Mexico, Europe, etc.

My Ten year old daughter wants to shoot a Cheetah so bad she can't stand it. My family and I will be hunting in Namibia this July.
She did a report on Cheetahs in school and printed a photo of one and the hunter that shot it off the web. My wife would not let her put it on her school report display board. I was very tempted to let her but it was best to explain to her why she should not.

namibiahunter
I want to pursue Carcal when I am in Namibia. What is the typical Carcal hunt like?

quote:

Originally posted by 458Lottfan

namibiahunter
I want to pursue Carcal when I am in Namibia. What is the typical Carcal hunt like?

I wish I knew. My one and only caracal was a target of opportunity. If there is a "typical" caracal hunt, I don't know how to go about it.

I was actually going for jackal. We were coming up, late in the afternoon, on a cheetah kill to see if any jackals were feeding on it. To our surprise we saw the caracal, and it sensed us just about the same moment. He started to slink away but I had him dead in the crosshairs, putting a 165gr .308 Win into his chest. That should have dropped most critters of that size on the spot but it didn't. It took off into the thorns like nothing hit it at all. When we went to the spot were I hit him we found blood and most of his innards and recently digested food on the ground. We followed his spoor to a tangle of thorns about 200 yards away and found him hiding deep inside the bush, barely alive, but still showing fight. It was now dark and we knew we couldn't get him out while he was still defiant but we also knew he couldn't move much further. We left him and, in the morning, got him out.

Here's a pic of the caracal I took last year being held by two 12 year old boys, my son and the PH's son.



Armin Fietz, who I was with on the hunt, also guides hunters who come to his Etemba Hunt and Safaris farm yearly just to hunt caracal. He is listed with NAPHA as having guided one of the top ten caracals in Namibia. There seems to be caracals and cheetahs in good number in his and surrounding hunting farms.

Namibiahunter