https://www.chronicle.co.zw/on...-wildlife-adventure/


Only female professional hunter enjoys challenges, thrills of wildlife adventure



Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter

WITH free-flowing hair and skin tanned by years spent hunting under the glare of the African sun, Ms Tanya Blake (32) has etched a place for herself as an icon in the story of safari hunting in Zimbabwe.

Her natural curiosity, the love of nature, bush life and a strong passion for wildlife drove her into professional hunting, an industry largely dominated by men.

Ms Blake, who is based in Bulawayo, is the only female professional hunter (PH) in the country. In fact, she is the fourth female professional hunter ever to emerge in Zimbabwe and when she qualified in 2014, it was 30 years since the last female hunter qualified in the country.

Ms Blake’s journey was not a walk in the park. Being a woman, she faced typecasting largely because society is still adjusting to the emergence of women in the field of professional hunting.



She has hunted the length and breadth of Zimbabwe as a freelance professional hunter and enjoys the challenge and the thrill.

For Ms Blake, no great adventure stands out more prominently than the hunting safari. The encounters with dangerous game, spending time in the bush and sleeping in tents is what she enjoys most.

By virtue of being a professional hunter and conservationist, Ms Blake believes she is a great custodian of African wildlife.

Growing up at a farm, which was surrounded by wildlife, Ms Blake developed a passion for wildlife at a tender age.



She started her hunting career as a young girl shooting small game on her family’s ranch and later learning about tracking and big-game hunting.

However, it was no easy feat for Ms Blake to attain her professional hunter’s licence. Being a professional hunter is not a title which is easily earned, it comes through hunting prowess and success.

It is a title bestowed on the men and women who guide and organise hunting expeditions all over the world. Its tradition can be traced back almost a century to R J Cunningham, who was former American President Theodore Roosevelt’s professional hunter on his famous safari of 1909-1910.

The tradition is continued today by countless men and women who guide visiting sportsmen and tourists on hunting safaris throughout the world, especially in Africa.


“Having grown up on a farm and in a very strong hunting orientated family, it has always been my dream to leave school and go straight into the bush and study towards attaining a professional hunter’s licence. However, my parents were strict in the sense that they wanted me to pursue a career path which was more academic,” said Ms Blake.



She enrolled for a nine months secretarial course and half-way through her first job, she quit to fulfil her childhood dream.

“I finally got into a photographic job in Mana Pools at a good reputable company. My dream was to go straight into a hunting camp, but being a woman, it was somehow difficult to convince safari operators to give me a chance largely because it’s a male-dominated industry,” said Ms Blake.

“The general societal perception is that male hunters are allowed to have complex personalities while female hunters are often summed up by hackneyed stereotypes that undermine their capabilities.”

In 2009, she began her gruelling journey towards attaining a professional hunter’s licence.

“For one to get a hunting licence, you basically have to first go through an advanced medical aid course before writing a learner’s examination. The course covers issues on habits and habitats (flora and fauna), ballistics, general information about Zimbabwe, the rules and regulations governing wildlife in the country,” said Ms Blake.

“After passing these initial stages, you are then awarded a learners’ certificate, which makes you eligible to work as a leaner professional guide. At this stage you may then apply to a hunting camp or photographic area to become an apprentice depending on the field you wish to pursue.”

Ms Blake said for one to get a professional hunter’s licence in Zimbabwe after attaining a learners’ licence, they should have worked not less than two years under one safari operating company.

Being a woman, it was not easy for her to find a company that was willing to take her for apprenticeship.



“It was a mammoth task for me to secure apprenticeship after I got my learners’ certificate. I applied to several safari companies and there were very few that would respond. I remember at one time, my dad would even apply on my behalf and companies would offer me apprenticeship but, the moment I showed up and they discovered that it was a woman, they would start coming up with all sorts of excuses,” she said.

“I eventually found very good people and went into the photographic sector where I spent two-and-half years of apprenticeship under the guidance of two fully qualified professional hunters. During the apprenticeship, the candidate must shoot at least four dangerous game, including a buffalo or elephant and some cats.”

Ms Blake said in Africa, Zimbabwe has arguably the most stringent hunters licence requirements with candidates undergoing extensive training and testing.

Professional hunters are licensed by Zimparks and applicants must be a Zimbabwean citizen or permanent resident aged 18 years and above.

Before attending the licence proficiency test, the candidate must obtain an advanced First Aid certificate and attend a shooting test which is conducted by Zimparks and the Zimbabwe Sport Shooting Federation.

Ms Blake said during the shooting test there were 40 candidates and she came second.



“We were a class of 40 candidates in the shooting test and I came second. After the shooting test, we got into oral examination, which for me was the hardest of them all,” she said.

“I walked into the examination room where there were 18 people comprising six PHs and 12 Zimparks officials.

There were several trophies in that room, a book of skins and they ask you lots of questions around that and I was nervous.”

Ms Blake managed to get through to the next stage of practicals, which involved 10 days of safari hunting with examiners.

“During the practicals, you have to shoot a buffalo or elephant. The examiners will make you track the animal, skin it and you have to put the entire camp for them, feed them, give them drinks and basically treat them like a client,” she said.

“It’s gruelling and tough exercise both physically and emotionally, but the biggest reward obviously is that you have to get through it for you to be issued with a full professional hunter or guide licence.”



Ms Blake got her full professional hunter’s licence in October 2014.

“As a PH, you assume complete responsibility for the safari, which includes the safety of the clients and crew. You must also be able to organise a camp, fix a broken vehicle, judge the horns of an antelope at more than 300 yards and be familiar with all manner of firearms,” she said.

Ms Blake uses a .416 Rigby, which she inherited from her grandfather who was also a great hunter.

“The gun has a lot of history attached to it. My grandfather was a great hunter and this was before there was a professional hunting licensing system. The gun was passed to my dad and when the results were out after I had qualified as professional hunter, the permit was changed into my name,” she said.

“As a bush person you get to see the most incredible things, getting much closer to the animals without being a disturbance to them. Zimbabwe is unique in that we have national parks where you can get extremely close to the wildlife, which is not the case with a lot of other countries.”

The general perception about hunters is that they are anti-conservationists, especially after the famous Cecil the Lion incident.

“As hunters, animals are our assets because it’s not just about the money, it’s about creating a habitat for them where they can survive for the next generation. We have sincere love and respect for wildlife more than enough to look after them in a way that people may not even understand,” said Ms Blake.

“Our common goal as hunters is to educate people about protecting the wildlife because it’s such a huge generation of funds for Africa. If all animals die in Africa what will tourist come to see? Visitors come to our country not to just see Victoria Falls and those unique rocks at Matopos, but they also want to see our giraffe, lions and elephants.”

The major highlight of her career was when she hunted and killed an old and mature male leopard after long hours of sweat and tears.

“One of my greatest achievement was last year in October when my client and I were able to harvest one of the oldest leopards in Zimbabwe in a very long time. It was an incredible safari taken by a client and we loved every bit of it fully taking in all the flora and fauna that we were in,” she said. — @mashnets

Fantastic.

I just wish she would stop “harvesting” animals

+1

Great story! Thanks, Kathi

On the same subject, Natasha, the original female professional hunter, hunted in Tanzania.

I understand we will be hunting her concession later this year.

Sue and I had the pleasure of Tanya’s company on a houseboat charter a few years ago. She would be a delight to hunt with!

George Hoffmans daughter was a class act professional hunter at one time and I knew another lady PH in Tanzania, quite well, but her name has slipped my aged mind..She was/is a great lady as well..It may have been Natasha..Its been a number of years ago..

Natasha Illum Berg

Congratulations to this fine courageous lady!

I admire her perseverance in a male dominated profession, and the officials who gave her the chance to prove herself.

Andrew Baldry has mentioned a female PH in Zambia whose name escapes me at the moment.

Thanks Baxter for the brain flush on my end..gett'en old ain't for sissies..

quote:

Originally posted by surefire7:
Congratulations to this fine courageous lady!

I admire her perseverance in a male dominated profession, and the officials who gave her the chance to prove herself.

Andrew Baldry has mentioned a female PH in Zambia whose name escapes me at the moment.

Patsy Hahn.

I would have no problem hunting with a woman. Just my two cents. I think this is great.

I have absolutely no problems either.

As long as they competent at their job.

I’m generally willing to try anything semi-reasonable at least once.

But more than once?

Only if I liked it and it didn’t kill me the first time.

I did a 3 week hunt with Natasha in Mlele. Perfectly competent. My partner and I were a bit put out when she insisted that we pass a shooting test. (After many safaris this was just wasted ammo.) After passing her "test" I turned to her and said "Now, YOU do it." She passed just fine...

quote:

Originally posted by JohnDL:
I did a 3 week hunt with Natasha in Mlele. Perfectly competent. My partner and I were a bit put out when she insisted that we pass a shooting test. (After many safaris this was just wasted ammo.) After passing her "test" I turned to her and said "Now, YOU do it." She passed just fine...

Just curious what her test was?

Presume she was shooting Ishmael, her 458 Lott?

John DL: Did you tell her she’s a “Crack Shot” ??

John D,

In case you haven't noticed, you've been given a "shooting test" on every safari you went on with a new PH, both when you checked your zeros the first day and on the first animal. Ever noticed with a new PH that the first animal was usually not a buffalo or an elephant?

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:

quote:

Originally posted by surefire7:
Congratulations to this fine courageous lady!

I admire her perseverance in a male dominated profession, and the officials who gave her the chance to prove herself.

Andrew Baldry has mentioned a female PH in Zambia whose name escapes me at the moment.

Patsy Hahn.

Thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:
John DL: Did you tell her she’s a “Crack Shot” ??

A good male shot will always beat a female shot.

If you are in doubt, look at all the shooting disciplines and you will what I mean.

I used to tell all women trap shooters that they can never out shoot me

Saeed: I must respectfully disagree with you about male vs female skills. The winner of the 2020 Interservice Long Range Rifle Championship was SSG Amanda Elsenboss. She shot a 200-19X at 1000 yards and a 200-16X at 600 yards. At the NRA National Rifle Championships she won the Long Range Aggregate and shot a 100-9X in the shoot off final. She became a Distinguished Rifleman at age 16 and Presidents 100 at the same age. She shot for the USA at the 2019 Palma Matches in New Zealand and won one of the matches. I’ll stack Amanda up against any male shooter in the world. Not far behind her is SSG Erin McNeil. At the 2021 Interservice Matches Erin won the Aggregate Championship.

I agree with Bud and for the first time in history I must disagree with Saeed.

I coached the rifle team at the high school in Anchorage where I was teaching for 7 years. The girls always shot better. I came to the following three reasons: 1. They had the hips for the off hand position, 2. They didn't have testosterone shooting through their bodies, 3. they listened better than the boys.

I may be wrong in my reasoning and you may disagree, but the scores showed the boys were second to the girls.

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:
Saeed: I must respectfully disagree with you about male vs female skills. The winner of the 2020 Interservice Long Range Rifle Championship was SSG Amanda Elsenboss. She shot a 200-19X at 1000 yards and a 200-16X at 600 yards. At the NRA National Rifle Championships she won the Long Range Aggregate and shot a 100-9X in the shoot off final. She became a Distinguished Rifleman at age 16 and Presidents 100 at the same age. She shot for the USA at the 2019 Palma Matches in New Zealand and won one of the matches. I’ll stack Amanda up against any male shooter in the world. Not far behind her is SSG Erin McNeil. At the 2021 Interservice Matches Erin won the Aggregate Championship.

Great to know this.

I was referring to trap shooting when I shot trap.

The ATA Year Book has records of every registered shooter.

And no woman had higher scores than men.

Saeed: Was it your brother who won an Olympic Gold Medal in Trap?

My friends who compete at the international level in trap told me about this lady. This article is from 2014....

Whilst other competitors may have more medals, Shan Zhang in 1992 did something that no
other shooter on earth can claim. She won the Olympic Games against men.
In 1992 the Barcelona Olympic Skeet event was an “open” competition. As a token gesture the
International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) together with the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) allowed a total of six females to compete. It was a complicated procedure as to how the half
dozen females were selected, but in the end, with all due respect, nobody seriously thought any of
the six would be a medal contender.
Zhang shot a perfect 200 straight over the three days of competition to lead going into the final
against her five male competitors. After the first three stations Shan had surrendered her lead and
had dropped out of medal contention, but one by one she caught back up and took the lead back
again after Matt Dryke from the USA missed on station 6. She ended with a total of 223/225.
Despite contrary belief the ISSF had decided prior to the 1992 Olympics that this would be the
last occasion that women would be given the “token” gesture of competing with the men and as of
1996 there would be no female trap or skeet shooters at all. Zhang’s result no doubt caused the ISSF
and the IOC much embarrassment.
Zhang was also the Female World Champion in 1989 and twice a World Cup Gold Medallist.
These days Shan still competes, but has diversified into a television presenter and an
international coach.
Her 1992 victory remains one of the greatest accomplishments in Olympic history.

Tanya is a friend of mine and I am working with her for various hunts in Zim, including Lion, Leopard, Hippo/Croc and plains game. She is the real deal.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
John D,

In case you haven't noticed, you've been given a "shooting test" on every safari you went on with a new PH, both when you checked your zeros the first day and on the first animal. Ever noticed with a new PH that the first animal was usually not a buffalo or an elephant?

Very subtly described.

Ms Blake and Berg are the younger generation females that wish to emulate other PHs of the fairer sex.

Let's see if they can replicate the 2 stalwarts from Tanzania, i.e. Margaret Trappe & Elsie Miller, the latter of whom made no big deal shooting a 500NE.

After she complimented me on my blue eyes I was positively in love...for about a week.

You're so easy....

So sorry John, I accidently hit the wrong button when I was replying to your post. I wanted to quote you not edit!

Weird, the whole post was apparently not submitted unless you edited it (don't know if that is possible).

I originally quoted Cal and agreed with him and added one more reason females are good shots: they have a lower center of gravity.

I then went on to recall meeting Kim Dwyer when I was on the pistol team at USMA; she was a cute blond SP4 who had just won a world championship in Seoul, Korea as part of USAMU. She complimented me on my blue yes and I was in love...for about a week.

Yeah I accidently hit the edit button but thought I got the whole post from Cal, so I deleted the bit I didn't want, screwed the whole thing up. Sorry mate.

I have to agree with Mr. Meadows about women shooters. I shot with Mrs. Elsenboss when she was a Junior in Ohio. Her skills have grown exponentially since she joined the AMU. I also always preferred teaching women (not my wife mind you) how to shoot for all the reasons Cal stated plus one other. They did not seem to have the ego of a male student and were more of a sponge when it came to applying what you were teaching them. And lets not forget Mrs. Kim Rhode, 6 Gold medals if I remember correctly.

Very cool. My daughter is only 14 but has ambition to get her USCG Captains License as soon as she turns 18. She already has her hours. I made her start out sailing small boats and progress up to larger inboards. She just started competitive sailing and won some races.
She can already out hunt and fish most men and is an incredible dog trainer. This is her at seven.

quote:

Originally posted by Gundog 64:
I have to agree with Mr. Meadows about women shooters. I shot with Mrs. Elsenboss when she was a Junior in Ohio. Her skills have grown exponentially since she joined the AMU. I also always preferred teaching women (not my wife mind you) how to shoot for all the reasons Cal stated plus one other. They did not seem to have the ego of a male student and were more of a sponge when it came to applying what you were teaching them. And lets not forget Mrs. Kim Rhode, 6 Gold medals if I remember correctly.

Agree 100%. Not sure they’re better shooters - comparing best against best.

But in my experience, they are definitely better students.