Russ
I am sure you are well respected. The canned hunt theory you have I believe is way off.
I pay big money for PH's to take me on hunts all over Africa to hunt various game.
Me as well as others would be really PISSED if they did not have a clue where the animals were and we hunted around aimless looking for game.
With your definition every Plains Game Hunt in SA and Namibia would be considered canned hunts.
I believe a lot of Hunters and PH's would disagree. Just a comment. Oh by the way I believe the term Canned hunt came from Outfits actually having specific game such as lions and others in CAGES and then released a day or two before the hunt and these animals would tend to go to one area after being released then harvested. But like I said my opinion.
Have a great day Russ.
Larry

Quoted by Russ :

"A canned hunt is a hunt where the victim is known before the hunt starts, and his whereabouts are generally known as well. The "hunt" then becomes a stroll (or worse, a ride on a bakkie) to the area where the known victim normally waters/grazes/seeks shade. The victim has been bred for this moment. This is not a hunt, it's an assassination"....

Most (note most) hunting areas in SA are fenced pieces of land and while the cover may be thick, rugged, dense and the Buffalo (in this case) as wild as can be, they are still part of an ecology that is restricted in its habitual wanderings. A setup of this kind qualifies the animal as being "canned".

It is reasonable to expect the landowner to know the approximate "whereabouts" of his "livestock" and to know with almost the same degree of approximation the number of bulls and size of trophy.

In reply to Elk 88101:

"I pay big money for PH's to take me on hunts all over Africa to hunt various game.
Me as well as others would be really PISSED if they did not have a clue where the animals were and we hunted around aimless looking for game"

Hunting in a "free-ranging" area will undoubtedly mean having to "hunt" for the animal and while so doing may encounter other species as well - so if you don't find your Buffalo which is top of the list by day 4 you may have shot several other heads that ranked lower in the shopping list and you will end up getting the Buffalo on day 5 etc.
The PH will have a "clue" but cannot guarantee he will find the desired animal in the same area as it may have moved along (free- ranging).

That is hunting - shooting or collecting ranched game is similar to shopping from the shelf because each and every herd and its location is known to the rancher.

If that is what one prefers, areas like Zim, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique among others, are definitely off you list.

quote:

Me as well as others would be really PISSED if they did not have a clue where the animals were and we hunted around aimless looking for game

Each to his own I guess. For me personally, it's all about the challenge: first to find a worthy quarry; and then to make a clean kill. No guarantee of either. I have never been on a buffalo or elephant hunt where the PH knew, in advance, which particular bull we would shoot, or where we would shoot it. We "hunted around", not "aimless", but looking for tracks, and when we found a promising track, we went looking for the animal(s) that made them. In other words, we HUNTED the animals down. Sometimes these animals eluded us, sometimes they were not what we were hoping for, but nornally, with persistence and luck, we found and killed something close to the animal we hoped for, and sometime surpassing what we had hoped for. It usually takes a week to find a good buffalo and 10-14 days to find a decent elephant. To me, that's HUNTing.

On a fenced ranch, hunting an elephant or a buffalo is altogether more certain and less challenging. That is why such hunts are over in a few days (and most could be over on day 1 if the PH wanted it that way).

With regard to plains game on a "game farm", the animals tend to be skittish due to persistent pressure, and some species are naturally elusive (something that cannot be said of a buffalo or elephant). So the finding can be more interesting, and the killing can still be quite challenging, as the animal will not normally just stand there looking at you while you walk up to it. Hunting an impala (herd) ram can be challenging because there are dozens of eyes keeping a look out for danger in a herd, even though the species is highly territorial. Kudu move over wide areas and can jump fences, so you never know what you are going to find, making them another species that is challenging to hunt. Nyala and bushbuck because they live in thick cover and finding a good one takes some doing, killing it takes even more doing. Same can be said of the duikers.

The practice of "catch and release" is about the most egregious form of canned hunt. Some of these animals are still drugged when shot. One Oryx shot in RSA still had a piece of hosepipe on his horn. Most of the lions hunted in RSA have lost their fear of humans (as they were raised by them) so they make no attempt to escape, even if a little effort in tracking them is necessary.

So no, I would not conclude that all PG hunts in RSA and Namibia are canned. Many are not. Just as I did not conclude that all fenced DG hunts are canned, as there are some (few) very large properties in RSA where a buffalo hunt can be sporting.

Hunting buff in a fences consession can be alot mor dangerous than in a free roaming area.

Russ
Now we agree.
Larry