Hunters Take Aim At Firearm Authorities

Business Day (Johannesburg)

July 11, 2005
Posted to the web July 11, 2005

Ernest Mabuza
Johannesburg

FIREARM licensing authorities are denying professional hunters a right to earn a living by dismissing applications for rifle and ammunition licences without giving sufficient reasons, say hunting lobbyists.

Southern African Hunters and Game Preservation Association secretary Theo Venter said at the weekend that the refusal to pass applications by the Firearms Control Registry inhibited the hunting industry from contributing to economic growth.

With up to 54 species of animals in SA that can be hunted, professionals need a variety of guns to shoot them, hunting advocates say. "Each rifle has a specific task," Venter said.

The hunting industry is valued at R2bn a year.

According to the Professional Hunters' Association of SA, about 70000 jobs are created and directly supported by the country's 10000 game farms that offer professional hunting opportunities.

The 7000 foreign visitors who came to SA to hunt in 2003 added about R1bn to the industry, the association said.

Professional hunters can have as many rifles and as much ammunition as they like, but they need to explain to the control registry why they need them.

Venter said reasons given by the registry for not granting a licence were too general and did not consider the specific needs of professional hunters.

Common reasons given for not granting a licence are that the applicant has enough ammunition for the purposes required.

Police spokesman Director Phuti Setati said the correct mechanisms were in place to process applications.

"When applying for rifles and ammunition, hunters must give reasons and fully motivate why they need them," he said.


If an application fails, an applicant could appeal to a board, which, Setati said, was "capable of doing its work".

Last week the Democratic Alliance said the appeal board could not cope with the number of applications for review.

"...10000 game farms that offer professional hunting opportunities.

The 7000 foreign visitors who came to SA to hunt in 2003..."

10,000 game farms and 7,000 hunters?!? Seems like prices should be going down!

Looks like there must be some farms with no hunters?

Les

This, coupled with the hassle of bringing firearms into the RSA by foreign hunters should be a clear signal to all! Government officials want to keep a tight rein on firearms and may someday outlaw them altogether...an unarmed society is a defenseless one. I hope I am reading something into this that isn't there!

Les

10000 game farms....
7000 foreign hunters....
over 200000 local hunters....
Prices ????

Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by LHowell:
"...10000 game farms that offer professional hunting opportunities.

The 7000 foreign visitors who came to SA to hunt in 2003..."

10,000 game farms and 7,000 hunters?!? Seems like prices should be going down!

Looks like there must be some farms with no hunters?

Les

L Howell

Not all game farms are registred Outfitter hunting operations & some hunting is carried out on concession type areas NOT on game farms, so you have not done your homework in making your assumption unfortunately.

Peter

Peter,

I should have known that I would hear from you on this post. I guess should have put one of these after my post to soften the impact.

Still, it seems that 10,000 game farms is quite a number to support!

And PHASA's estimate of related jobs has got to be smaller than actual, isn't it? There are many times the 7 person average related to the operation of the modest 10,000 hectare ranch I've been hunting.

And the R2.0bn has got to be low as well, doesn't it? That is under $4300 per foreign hunter if we discount domestic hunting entirely! [and observers???]

Does that include airfares for 7000 hunters? and taxidermy? And I wonder if that includes the rippling impact of that $2.0bn [+/-] as it spreads throughout the economy?

Kudu

I obviously focused only on the foreign hunters - my bad. How much of the R2.0bn do you reckon comes from the local hunting population -or perhaps how much per hunter / per year?

Thank you both for calling me on this and making me think about it deeper. But now I have more questions than I did before!

Les

The implementation of new Firearms Control Act is a complete shambles.

The way firearms licence applications are processed is a disgrace. A sheep farmer applied for a 243 rifle and motivated it for control of jackal on his property. He was turned down with the reason that there are other means at his disposal for self defense. A man applied for a handgun license and as motivation explained that he frequently travels remote areas at night. He was turned down because he is a full time teacher. A practical pistol shooter (he is the top shooter in the Eastern Cape and in line for the National team) sold a pistol to a new competitor and applied for a license for a replacement competition handgun. He was turned down because under the new law only one defensive handgun is allowed.

The Appeal Board (to which one directs the application when it is refused by one of the first level incompetents) at one stage had a backlog of 48 000 applications. I was told that they process an application every 20 minutes and work a 6 hour day. It will therefore take 10 years to clear the backlog. Today a SAPS spokesman said there are now only 20 000 applications with the Appeal Board. So after throwing away 28 000 applications they still have four and a half years to go.

The Central Firearms Register call centre number (+27 12 353 6100) is a farce. It does not answer for days on end and, when someone does bother to pick up a phone, they give conflicting information or no information at all. CFR sends out newsletters to dealers and gunsmiths regularly ( twice a year is regular not so?). These newsletters contain phone numbers for more information that do not work or gets you through to someone who has no idea why their name and number is in an arms related newsletter.

quote:

Originally posted by Gerard:
The Central Firearms Register call centre number (+27 12 353 6100) is a farce. It does not answer for days on end and....

Well, just a thought. If you could identify the correct agency, or agencies, where complaints should be sent (I have NO idea if such folks would care what us foreigners have to say), give us... not the phone number(s)... but, the FAX number(s). It's fairly cheap to send a complaint by FAX, you can say as much as you want, they can't "say" anything back and, at a minimum, it'll annoy them because they're running out of paper all the time.

People can dodge calls. It's hard to dodge a FAX. Most people need their FAX machines turned on... and if they're on, they have to receive. (Yeah, I know, some are set to receive to memory, which can then be selectively cleared... but the majority of FAX users on the planet don't have those and if they do, they don't have them set in such a manner.)

So... just a thought... FAX these people to death.

Russ

quote:

Originally posted by LHowell:
Peter,

I should have known that I would hear from you on this post. I guess should have put one of these after my post to soften the impact.

Still, it seems that 10,000 game farms is quite a number to support!

And PHASA's estimate of related jobs has got to be smaller than actual, isn't it? There are many times the 7 person average related to the operation of the modest 10,000 hectare ranch I've been hunting.

And the R2.0bn has got to be low as well, doesn't it? That is under $4300 per foreign hunter if we discount domestic hunting entirely! [and observers???]

Does that include airfares for 7000 hunters? and taxidermy? And I wonder if that includes the rippling impact of that $2.0bn [+/-] as it spreads throughout the economy?

Kudu

I obviously focused only on the foreign hunters - my bad. How much of the R2.0bn do you reckon comes from the local hunting population -or perhaps how much per hunter / per year?

Thank you both for calling me on this and making me think about it deeper. But now I have more questions than I did before!

Les

Hi Les

No worries, we love all informative as it can then open up a good clean debate, you rattled my cage and awoke me from my slumber

Actually you are 100% correct in that 10,000 game farms IMHO is tooooo much in theory.

Essentially what has happined in SA in recent years is a lot of cattle farmers or cattle ranches for one reason or another, but mainly monetory, have seen an opportunity with game in preferance to cattle and hense the possibly oversupply of ranches // BUT not all ranches are Outfitter registered and set up for overseas clients.

Peter

Les

I don't think that the local hunters are included in the R2,0bn figure.If local hunters spend a mere R3000 per hunter per annum the injection into the economy will be R6bn.
The university of Potchefstroom is currently doing a survey amongst local hunters and when the results are available I will post same.
Cheers