I got an e-mail from Clive Eaton/Tholo Safaris this AM. He says that leopard hunting on the concessions has closed throughout the country. Ranch hunting is still available and he has 5 leopard on quota for '11.

It's sad to see the closing of any hunting when the closure is not based on any problem with the species numbers but in this case the unique Kalahari leopard hunt with the Bushman is also gone. The ranch hunts can be conducted in a similiar manner but it just won't be the same experience offered in the wide open Kalahari.

Clive did have a positive note in that his recent client took a 96x93 ele in NG8. Clive has taken several exceptional bulls this year and hopes to have the area again.

Mark

What a shame. First bots lions for no good reason. Now leopard. When I shot my lion below in the Kalahari we stopped at a game guard station and saw the 07 statistics on problem lions. They shot 167 (and I was there in July) and that is a small percentage of what really gets killed. Hunters had permits for 28 that year for the entire country.

When they took leopard away in 09 in the Delta everybody knew the rest would follow. Khama just hates hunters and it is no coincidence he owns photo safari interest. Politics, pure and simple because it is not what is best for the animals. I would love to know how many problem animals are getting spanked now that they can't sell them. Those ranchers have little patience and will kill the crap out of them unless they carry value.

What a shame

quote:

Originally posted by DawnRoar:
What a shame. First bots lions for no good reason. Now leopard. When I shot my lion below in the Kalahari we stopped at a game guard station and saw the 07 statistics on problem lions. They shot 167 (and I was there in July) and that is a small percentage of what really gets killed. Hunters had permits for 28 that year for the entire country.
What a shame

Bingo!! The facts that few people know, and even fewer care about as long as sport hunters aren't doing it. Pathetic, sad, and horrible wildlife management practices.

here comes kenya claus, here comes kenya claus, right down kenyas lane

I could not agree more, DR.

Ian Khama and his minions strike again. The days of big game hunting in Botswana are surely numbered.

Idiots.

By the time they get someone in who understands game management, the bushman way of life will be so extinguished that they will not be able to reoffer that hunt anyhow.

Truely a unforgivable shame....

AAAAH DAMN!!!

I met Ian Khama several years ago at Mashatu in the Tuli area of Botswana. He acted like a very snobby aristocrat. Unfortuately for us he received an extensive liberal education in England and now has all the greenie philosophy burned into him. As long as he is President and head of the Tribal council we are screwed.

He has openly said he will end hunting. One bright spot is when you think of Bots you think of big heavy ele. They are so overpopulated with ele I doubt even he will get rid of quota on them...He shut lion down in 07, leopard in 09 in the delta, now leopard everywhere but private ranches. At the same time ele quotas have remained or improved.

Besides Lion, which are the best in Africa IMHO, ele is the next best Bots has to offer.

quote:

Originally posted by DawnRoar:
What a shame. First bots lions for no good reason. Now leopard. When I shot my lion below in the Kalahari we stopped at a game guard station and saw the 07 statistics on problem lions. They shot 167 (and I was there in July) and that is a small percentage of what really gets killed. Hunters had permits for 28 that year for the entire country.

When they took leopard away in 09 in the Delta everybody knew the rest would follow. Khama just hates hunters and it is no coincidence he owns photo safari interest. Politics, pure and simple because it is not what is best for the animals. I would love to know how many problem animals are getting spanked now that they can't sell them. Those ranchers have little patience and will kill the crap out of them unless they carry value.

What a shame

Maybe a dumb question but were politics and an anti-hunting sentiment the cause of Sable and Sitatunga being closed in Botswana as well?

quote:

Originally posted by pinotguy:

quote:

Originally posted by DawnRoar:
What a shame. First bots lions for no good reason. Now leopard. When I shot my lion below in the Kalahari we stopped at a game guard station and saw the 07 statistics on problem lions. They shot 167 (and I was there in July) and that is a small percentage of what really gets killed. Hunters had permits for 28 that year for the entire country.

When they took leopard away in 09 in the Delta everybody knew the rest would follow. Khama just hates hunters and it is no coincidence he owns photo safari interest. Politics, pure and simple because it is not what is best for the animals. I would love to know how many problem animals are getting spanked now that they can't sell them. Those ranchers have little patience and will kill the crap out of them unless they carry value.

What a shame

Maybe a dumb question but were politics and an anti-hunting sentiment the cause of Sable and Sitatunga being closed in Botswana as well?

Not a dumb question, but the answer is, YES!!! Just as Bots has always given extremely tight quotas without management justifications. Sable & Sitatunga were completely removed for no damn good reason either!

Send your thank you notes......to the Joubert's. !!!

Forget about leopard, not 1 gemsbok or eland issued in any concessions in the whole country!!!
The end is near folks!]
Will try and post the hunting quota.

Elephant quotas have gone up slightly but Buffalo and all general game down 70 odd percent - we are on the way to closure and the silence from the major hunting organisations and political bodies is deafening. Academics can argue till the cows come home but without political interfernce from the SCI frat we are down the river without a paddle. Whats the slogan protecting our freedom to hunt , There is enough political clout out there to make a difference but it just aint happening

Didn't the government not renew any of the concessions in the Delta?

quote:

Originally posted by Safaris Botswana Bound:
Elephant quotas have gone up slightly but Buffalo and all general game down 70 odd percent - we are on the way to closure and the silence from the major hunting organisations and political bodies is deafening. Academics can argue till the cows come home but without political interfernce from the SCI frat we are down the river without a paddle. Whats the slogan protecting our freedom to hunt , There is enough political clout out there to make a difference but it just aint happening

SCI is too busy patting itself on the back for being "FIRST FOR HUNTERS" and ignoring miscreants like Dawie Groenwald to bother with trying to exert leverage in Botswana. damn glad i hunted there( and got my Kalahari leopard ) in 2005- other than elephant and game ranch plains game, Botswana hunting is done. i saw more big/ dangerous game in the 2 weeks i spent in the Kalahari/Okavango than in my other 8 African safaris combined. there is no way this tragedy can be justified when looked at from a game management perspective.

quote:

Originally posted by Safaris Botswana Bound:
Elephant quotas have gone up slightly but Buffalo and all general game down 70 odd percent - we are on the way to closure and the silence from the major hunting organisations and political bodies is deafening. Academics can argue till the cows come home but without political interfernce from the SCI frat we are down the river without a paddle. Whats the slogan protecting our freedom to hunt , There is enough political clout out there to make a difference but it just aint happening

I don't live there and you do so I can only repeat what I have learned from others who are knowledgable. They don't think anything could change Khama. He is dead set in his anti-hunting ways and it is not a coincidence that the delta shut down first. He has ownership interest in photo safari camps there. If they took Eland and Gemsbok away I don't see how PHs can make it just on ele. The buf have been at ridiculus numbers for a while. Bots, while on the expensive side has been IMHO the best place for great trophy quality. Other than ele say goodbye at least until Khama is gone...and he is young.

Very sad indeed, I was doing my last hunt of the year Nov 8-14 just across the tuli block on the RSA side and spoke to the owner about the farm after seeing the destruction of the riverine trees and bush from the elephants.

That's when he told me about the Botswana goverments attitude towards the problem, they had a cross border meeting with relevant parties and he said that they should make a plan with the elephants as they are destroying not only pumps, pipes and electrical wiring but the environment.

The responce from their side was this "As soon as that elephant crosses the middle of the Limpopo its not Botswana's problem anymore!"

It has been 3 years ago that I hunted in that specific area and you would not recognize the place from very thick riverine forest with high rooftop to very open ground coverage with high rooftop. And that is in 3 years only. They did a count on 1km strecth 60 trees with diameters over 6" that has been pushed over this year alone how long will it last before the bushbuck, hippo, waterbuck and all other game will be gone because their envrionment has been destroyed ?