Alf says all of RSA is fenced. Ray says it is not.

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Thank you for the detailed explanation Alf. It is encouraging that farmers choose to farm game rather than cattle, but in my view the most discriminating hunters will always seek out the wild lands.

The whole of RSA is high game fenced? I find that highly unlikely in the extreme.

Mickey, high horse? No just the opposite. The one who want to dictate to others how they can and can�t hunt are the ones on a high horse holier then thou kick.

I really had three points to make with my post. One, put a little humor into the situation, guess I failed. Two point out that you better be careful what you wish for, you just might get it and all those unintended consequences that go along with it. See Alf�s post that I wholehearted agree with about the farming of game in RSA being responsible for the huge numbers of it. Three what gives anyone else the right to dictate to another the method he uses in his hunt?

Howard, no one is trying to prevent you from hunting behind a high fence. However, some of use are only interested in wild lands hunting ourselves.

I'd pretty much agree with ALF on this. Certainly 99.9% of RSA game areas are fenced and ALL areas that hold DG (except Leopard) have to be fenced by law. Those very few areas that are not fenced, mostly have neighbours that do fence their land, so you still end up with the same thing.

There's nothing really wrong (IMO) with hunting a large fenced area for plains game, and even for some DG depending on the clients abilities...... for example it might be tough for a badly handicapped hunter to access and hunt some of the wilder places...... so should this mean that this kind of hunter should never hunt Africa?

As for areas that release game a couple of days before the client arrives. I've been in this business one way or another since the early 80s and have never come across that. The closest to this that I know of is where some wild game might be captured in one area and translocated to another. But even if this happens just prior to the client arriving the game is so spooky for the first few weeks that it is more of a hinderance than anything else. If you did a total game count on pretty much any sensibly sized hunting area in RSA you could be pretty sure that only a very small percentage of those animals would have been translocated in the previous few months.... or even years..... and believe me, there's very few hunting areas in RSA that have never used a game translocation as part of their game management programme.

As with most things in Africa, never say never and never say always.

Here is where I get lost in this debate. If it is indeed all fenced and seeded. what is the difference if I hunt a exotic in Texas on a high acerage ranch with perimiter fencing Vs Africa ? It's more cost effective and I do not have to deal with any foreign politics to enjoy a hunt. I guess I guess I do not understand why so many are opposed to fences here but in RSA it is ok to hunt behind a fence. Simply because you are hunting a area that is enclosed does not make it a canned hunt in my view. Planting animals the day before and hunting very small high fenced areas is not for me.

Well it seems to me then that most hunters dont mind fenced properties as SA is the most hunted country in Africa and it seems from the posters that it is mostly fenced, so where is the problem !!!! I guess there is no problem except some hunters will not hunt fenced and that is their perogitive, but they are definately in the minority IMHO.

Put an take, well that again is debateable its like canned hunting, where is the line drawn, what is put and take to one man is game management to another so really it all boils down to each individuals perspective, and we know that we will NEVER EVER all agree will we ...

Therefore hunt wherever your heart & budget takes you ...

Peter

A wise man, Balla-Balla! I think the trend we can see is an overbearing concern for the ethical aspect of the hunt. We allll have different views on ethics....One guy will go to the wildest place on earth, but will still pop a kudu from the car on the way back to camp.....another will go to a fenced "preserve" and hunt with a weapon which has 30yards maximum range. I am glad that most/nearly all hunters here care so much that the hunt be fair, hard and that trophies are well-earned no matter where they are hunted! Bass!

P.S. Thanks for making this a thread where no threats, foul language, or references to each others lineage are used as bargaining chips! KEEP THE TREND!

Balla Balla well said.

Post deleted by DavidAk

Put and take in high fenced enclosures comes down to DEFINTION!

Animals specifically stocked for the upcoming season or a particular hunter or group of hunters is unethical.

To spin or infer that a significant number of high fenced operations are similar is not helpful nor is it legitimate opinion.

Animal restocking goes on even in areas without high fences.

I was told an amusing story by one of my PH's after we had stalked a group of Tsessebee (no shooters). On the way back to the vehicle he told me that once a PH friend of his was stalking Tsessebee on a ranch in Zimbabwe of several hundred thousand acres. This PH saw one that he was sure would break the world record. They successfully stalked and harvested the animal. When they walked up to the downed animal they saw why the animal was so impressive. Several years earlier they had added Tsessebee from another part of Zimbabwe either to bolster numbers or improve genetics. Regardless, my PH said that during shipping between locations they typically put rubber hosing type material on the horns to keep the animals from hurting each other. The Tsessebee they had on the ground still was sporting this brown hosing material. They had failed to remove it from this particular animal before release. Alas after removing the hosing material, the animal was rather average.