Hunting Hounds in South Africa: History, Depredation Control, And Sport

[PANTHER TRACKERS]

Hunting with hounds has a long and evolving history in South Africa, intertwining practical predator control with the traditions of sport hunting. Since the era of early European settlement, trained packs of dogs have been used to track and chase a variety of wild animals. What began as a means to protect livestock from predators gradually also became a form of recreation for settlers, and today hounds are still used both to manage depredation and in specialized sport hunts. This article examines the historical context of hound hunting in South Africa, the breeds and origins of the hounds used, their role in government-supported predator control including bounty programs, the cultural shift toward sport hunting, and the particular case of using hounds to hunt leopards. Throughout, emphasis is placed on historical accuracy with references from primary records and scholarly analyses.

Historical Context: Early Settlement to Present

European colonists introduced formal hound hunting to South Africa in the early 19th century. Lord Charles Somerset, Governor of the Cape Colony in the 1820s, was an avid fox hunter who imported hounds and initiated jackal coursing as a method to curb black-backed jackal populations. At the time, shooting alone was deemed ineffective against these cunning predators, so the British brought their foxhunting practices to the Cape, setting hounds after jackals much as they would after foxes in England. This was one of the first recorded uses of packs of dogs for predator control in South Africa, combining utility with the sporting ethos of the colonial elite. The practice caught on among settlers: contemporary accounts note jackal coursing became a popular pastime in both the Cape and the Boer republics by the mid-19th century. For example, in the Orange Free State it was standard to flush jackals from their dens using terriers, then chase them in open country with fast sighthounds. Such hunts were challenging because jackals often had multiple dens, but they provided landowners with a structured way to reduce livestock losses while indulging in the thrill of a chase. By the 1850s, some farmers were even employing hounds systematically to clear their lands of predators – one Caledon farmer, Michael van Breda, built a huge 7,000-morgen (approximately 60 square kilometres) wall around his property and “cleared” the enclosed area with a pack of foxhounds, killing 24 jackals in the first year. This early experiment demonstrated the effectiveness of combining fencing with hound hunting for predator removal.

Through the late 19th century, as sheep farming expanded, conflicts with predators like jackals, caracals (locally called rooikat or lynx), and leopards intensified. Colonial bounty records reflect this escalation: in 1815 a jackal’s bounty was worth only a fraction (one-twenty-fifth) of a leopard’s, but by the end of the 1800s jackal and caracal bounties had risen to about 70% of a leopard’s value. So smaller predators came to be seen as almost as economically harmful as the big cats. Farm records from the Eastern Cape in the 1830s - 1850s describe constant efforts to trap, poison, or hunt predators, with jackals emerging as the most persistent menace once larger carnivores like wild dogs and hyenas were reduced. By the turn of the 20th century, organized “vermin hunts” with packs of dogs were common. Hunting clubs and informal groups frequently gathered to pursue jackals and caracals with hounds across the Cape Colony and beyond, both to assist farmers and as a rugged form of sport.

Over time, the use of hounds persisted into the modern era. In the 20th century, provincial governments actively supported hunt clubs that maintained hound packs for predator control, and many rural communities sustained the tradition of hunting problem animals with dogs. Even as poisons, rifles, and fencing became the primary tools against predators, certain regions – notably the Eastern Cape – kept alive the practice of running hounds to track down livestock-killing jackals and caracals. By the late 1900s and early 2000s, a new dimension emerged: a few professional hunters began training packs specifically to hunt trophy animals like leopards, adapting the old methods to the safari industry. So, from the first British foxhounds deployed against jackals in the 1820s to the specialized leopard hound teams operating today, the use of hunting hounds in South Africa has evolved continuously, shaped by the dual needs of depredation control and the desires of sport hunters.

Types of Hounds and Their Origins

Over the decades, South African hunters have drawn on a diverse array of dog breeds to create effective hunting packs. Different breeds were imported or developed at various times, each chosen for traits suited to the local terrain and target animals. The major types of hounds and their origins include:

• English Foxhounds (Britain) – Sturdy scent hounds originally bred for fox hunting were among the first imported hunting dogs. British settlers brought foxhounds to the Cape in the early 19th century for jackal coursing. Their keen noses, pack cohesion, and endurance made them ideal for running jackals to exhaustion over long distances. Even by the late 1800s, English foxhounds (and mixes thereof) were still a mainstay of Cape jackal packs. Local breeders sometimes maintained foxhound bloodlines, English and Welsh hound stock influenced many Southern African packs thereafter.
• Greyhounds and Lurchers (Europe) – Fast sighthounds were introduced to give hunting packs greater speed in open country. Boer farmers in the 19th century commonly used greyhounds, which could outpace a jackal on short to medium sprints. Greyhounds were often crossed with sturdier breeds to produce lurchers, aiming to combine speed with strength or agility. By the early 20th century in the western Cape, hunters were crossing foxhounds with lurchers (and even with Russian borzoi wolfhounds) to create versatile hounds for jackals. These crosses had the nose and pack instincts of foxhounds, tempered by the greyhound’s speed and the borzoi’s size, producing a hound capable of pursuing fast “vermin” across the semi-arid Karoo. One South African lurcher type, the Steekhaar greyhound (a greyhound crossed with Irish wolfhound), became well-known for jackal hunting, valued for its stamina and ability to navigate thick bush.
• American Coonhounds (United States) – In the late 20th century, hunters began importing specialized hound breeds from the U.S. to improve scent-tracking of elusive predators. Notably, Bluetick Coonhounds and Treeing Walker Hounds (strains developed for raccoon, bobcat, and cougar hunting in North America) were brought to South Africa and bred. These breeds are famed for their “cold noses” (ability to follow older scent trails) and their tenacity when on track. Gary Miles, a farmer and avid hunter from South Africa’s Eastern Cape, is widely regarded as the father of introducing American coonhounds to the region. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Miles imported Bluetick Coonhounds from the United States – the first time this breed set foot in Southern Africa. This bold move caused “a great sensation in hound circles” locally, as South African hunters had never seen the high-performance tracking abilities of American Blueticks. Miles recounts that the first American hounds he imported were purchased from renowned breeders in Arizona, and that these introduced lines (originating from houndmen like Terrel Shelley and Richard Holcomb) proved to be “magnificent cold trail hounds” on African game. Importing Blueticks gave him the opportunity to breed the “ultimate” hunting dog for local conditions. He began a breeding program, mixing the American coonhounds with robust local hunting hounds to produce crosses suited for South Africa’s terrain. His objective was not just to import bloodlines, but to develop a pack tailored to African game. Victor Pringle was another well-known hound hunter from the Eastern Cape who made a significant impact on predator control using American hounds. In the 1960s and 1970s, with caracals increasingly targeting livestock, Pringle developed a highly effective pack of hounds to systematically eliminate the predatory felines, and between 1972 and 1975, he and his team removed over 100 of the predators from the Bedford district, keeping detailed records of each hunt, including the sex, size, and stomach contents of the cats. Pringle’s approach combined traditional hunting skills with a focused, methodical strategy, making it a major success in controlling predator numbers. His methods became a key part of the Eastern Cape’s hunting culture, and even today, caracal hunting with hounds remains a popular practice in the region. Pringle’s influence on the hunting culture in the Eastern Cape is still felt, as his work helped shape the way predator management is approached in the area. His legacy lives on in the ongoing use of hounds for predator control, keeping the tradition alive and effective. The American hounds’ superior tracking ability greatly aided hunts for nocturnal, stealthy predators like caracal and leopard. Today many packs contain these U.S. genetics, often crossed with locally bred hounds, yielding hounds adept at trailing aged leopard spoor, or chasing jackal for hours over rugged terrain.
• French Scent hounds (France) – In the 1990s and 2000s, a few professional hunting outfits introduced French hound breeds to South Africa to further refine their packs. For example, Theunis Botha (a pioneer of big game hound safaris) imported Grand Bleu de Gascogne and Petit Bleu de Gascogne from France and the UK in the mid-1990s. These large French scent hounds descend from ancient packs used for wolf and boar in Europe and are celebrated for their deep voices, acute trailing characteristics and relentless endurance. The Bleu de Gascogne’s superior scenting skills enhanced Botha’s packs’ tracking efficiency, especially during the prolonged drought of the late 1990’s. This strategic addition boosted their overall performance, making them better equipped for big game hunting. Botha’s decision to incorporate this breed was a key move in refining his hounds, ensuring they could handle the complex environments of the Northern regions of South Africa, and the demanding nature of wild lion and leopard hunts. More recently, Gavin Lipjes, founder of PantherTrackers (a specialist Leopard Safari outfit), imported 8 Gascon Saintongeois hounds to South Africa, marking the largest single deposit of French hound genetics in the country. These dogs have since been distributed widely, contributing further to local hunting bloodlines. The French hounds, with their centuries-old heritage of pack hunting, meshed well with the American coonhounds and English foxhounds already in use, contributing to a more well-rounded pack.

South African hound packs thus became a melting pot of canine talent. By selecting and mixing breeds from around the world, local hunters created packs tailored to their needs: English hounds for drive and stamina, French hounds for nose and conformation, American hounds for trailing and treeing, and sighthounds for speed. Each imported breed was chosen with specific reasons in mind – be it the tracking ability of a Bluetick, the nose of a Gascony hound, or the speed of a greyhound – and all were assimilated into the unique conditions of the South African veld. Over generations, many of these dogs were bred locally, developing a distinct South African strain of hunting hound. The Eastern Cape became “the stronghold of hound hunting culture in Southern Africa”, where the knowledge of breeding and training packs has been preserved and passed down into present times.

Depredation Control and Government Bounty Programs

Controlling predators or “vermin”, to protect livestock has been a primary driver of hunting with hounds in South African history. Especially from the late 19th through mid-20th centuries, organized depredation control campaigns used hounds alongside other methods to reduce populations of jackals, caracals, and other predators that preyed on sheep and goats. These efforts were frequently supported by government bounty programs and subsidies, which left a rich trail of historical records.

By the 1880s and 1890s, colonial authorities in the Cape had formalized bounty payments for killing problem animals. In 1889 the Cape Colony government began subsidizing “vermin” extermination, augmenting the bounties paid by local farmer associations and councils. Within a few years (by 1896), the system was made fully public and managed by magistrates. Hunters would present the required proof (initially a tail, later an entire skin) of a jackal, caracal, or other predator to claim a cash reward. This bounty system was intensive and far-reaching. It provided a significant source of income for rural poor white farmers/hunters, to the point that, as one historian notes, some people found they could “make a better living hunting predators than farming”. Recorded in one of the Cape Colony’s districts, at the end of the 19th century, for example, one especially successful bounty hunter (recorded only as “Jan”) claimed rewards in a single year for 5 leopards, 32 wild dogs, 62 caracals, 17 baboons, and 255 jackals, earning over £200 – more than ten times the average annual farm wage at the time. This illustrates how lucrative and aggressive predator extermination had become under the bounty incentive structure.

Hound packs were an important tool in these campaigns. Many local farmers and “vermin clubs” kept packs of dogs specifically to hunt jackals and caracals that were harassing livestock. The Cape government explicitly promoted the use of hunting dogs. By 1910, after the Union of South Africa was formed, administrators like Cape Province’s Frederic de Waal pushed for coordinated action against predators, including increasing bounties on jackals/caracals, subsidizing hunting dogs, and forming local hunt committees. The 1917 “Vermin Control Ordinance” in the Cape Province divided the region into committees that oversaw pest control; these bodies supervised the laying of poison and “hunting with dogs” and administered the bounty payouts. They even granted hunt clubs legal rights to enter private lands in pursuit of vermin and to charge uncooperative landowners a multiple of the bounty value if they refused access. Under this system, official bounties might be on the order of 10 shillings per jackal and 15 shillings per caracal, paid by district councils and subsidized two-thirds by the provincial government. Some local councils added bonuses – in Bredasdorp a jackal could fetch an impressive £5 bounty. As a result, the number of animals destroyed skyrocketed: annual jackal bounties in the Cape rose from 2,501 in 1914 to 57,492 by 1923, totalling over 317,000 jackals in less than a decade, while caracal bounties in that period totalled about 25,000. Hound packs, often accompanied by groups of mounted farmers, were deployed across rural districts to drive these numbers. Period accounts describe cooperative “driven hunts” where areas were systematically scoured by lines of beaters and dogs to exterminate predators en masse.

Despite the heavy toll, species like the adaptable black-backed jackal persisted and even bounced back when hunting pressure waned, sometimes leading to claims that the “jackal plague” was spreading by the late 1890s. Nonetheless, the first half of the 20th century saw sustained government commitment to lethal predator control. In the Cape Province, bounties remained in place through the 1940s and 1950s, alongside other measures. The year 1956 was the final year of the state-run bounty system in the Cape, and still 20,084 jackals and 3,408 caracals (among thousands of other “vermin” such as foxes and wildcats) were paid out that year – a testament to how ingrained and long-lived the bounty hunting culture was. After the 1950s, ecological thinking began to shift; conservationists questioned the indiscriminate killing and the bounty system’s efficacy. The Cape Province officially ended its bounty program in the late 1950s, replacing it with “technical aid” to organized hunt clubs. Instead of open bounties, the government provided subsidies, equipment, and trained packs of hounds to licensed hunt clubs as more controlled agents of predator management.

One hallmark of this new approach was the establishment of a Hound Breeding Station at Robertson 1962. This state-run kennel and training centre was set up to breed packs of hunting dogs for distribution to hunt clubs and to offer courses in methods like trapping and poisoning. By the mid-1960s, the Cape Province boasted 110 hunt clubs maintaining hound packs, each employing hunters and partially funded by government subsidies. The rationale was that organized packs could target specific problem animals more efficiently and selectively than bounty hunters. An influential official, C.F. Hey, argued in 1967 that using hounds was “sound conservation practice, for animals are hunted only when they are a nuisance and not merely for the sake of hunting”. For example, a trained pack could be brought to the site of a livestock kill and set on the scent trail of the offending caracal; the dogs would track, chase it up a tree, and hold it there for the farmer or club hunter to shoot. This tactic removed the specific “problem animal” without indiscriminately killing other wildlife. One farm in the Bedford district (Eastern Cape) kept a pack for this purpose and reportedly eliminated 108 caracals between 1972 and 1975 by responding to fresh sheep kills in this way. Meanwhile, poison was also widely employed against jackals in the same era, but hounds offered a more directed solution in many cases.

Although the official provincial bounties ended, local bounty systems persisted in some areas for decades longer. Farmers’ associations and certain local governments instituted their own levies and rewards. In Uitenhage (Eastern Cape), for instance, vermin bounties continued to be paid up until 1994, financed by a levy on farmers (50 cents per hectare) and managed by a local committee. Thus, even within living memory, one could earn bounty payments for jackals in parts of South Africa. Many of those local schemes worked hand-in-hand with hunt clubs – the clubs would do the hunting and then collect the bounty as a supplement to their funding.

Oranjejag was a predator control program established in the Orange Free State (now Free State) in the mid-1980s. The program focused on controlling black-backed jackals and caracals, which were major threats to livestock. At its peak, Oranjejag employed around 20 full-time hunters and maintained a pack of 1,000 hounds. This initiative was part of a broader national effort to manage predator populations. However, with the political changes of the early 1990s, these large-scale predator control programs started to decline. The Oranjejag program remains a notable example of the use of hounds for managing human-wildlife conflict in agriculture.

In summary, hunting hounds have been a critical component of South Africa’s predator control history. From colonial times through the late 20th century, packs of hounds were deployed in organized eradication campaigns, backed by government bounties and policies. Primary sources – like bounty registers, legislative records, and farm journals – document an extraordinary scale of carnivore control, in which trained dogs, and their handlers played leading roles. While these efforts nearly wiped out some species (wild dogs and hyenas were eradicated from farmlands outside parks, for example), the resilient jackal and caracal survived as foes, ensuring that hound hunting for depredation control did not disappear. Instead, it shifted from a bounty-driven scheme to a more regulated hunt club system by the late 20th century. Through it all, the image of the huntsman with his pack became an ingrained part of rural life in regions like the Eastern Cape – a legacy of the long battle between sheep farmers and the predators that stalk their flocks.

Hounds and the Transition to Sport Hunting

While the initial incentive for hunting with hounds in South Africa was utilitarian, over time a cultural transition occurred: hound hunting also became a sport and social activity. This transition was influenced by both British colonial hunting traditions and local frontier practices, and it gave rise to a unique sporting subculture that persisted even when predator control needs waned.

From the earliest days, the act of chasing game with a keen pack if hounds had an element of sport. Lord Somerset’s jackal coursing meets in the 1820s were as much about the thrill of the chase as about pest control. British officers and gentlemen in the Cape hosted organized hunts, complete with mounted riders and horns, mimicking the foxhunts of England. These events were social gatherings for the colonial elite. Similarly, Boer farmers, though motivated by the need to protect their flocks, often took great enjoyment in testing their fastest windhonde (greyhounds) against the wily jackal. By the late 19th century, jackal hunting had an established recreational presence. One colonial writer noted that hunting the jackal with hounds in South Africa felt like witnessing an older, more primitive form of English foxhunting – a raw contest between dog and jackal that was both exciting and challenging. The challenge of the jackal as a quarry made it a respected adversary for sportsmen.

In the 20th century, formal hunt clubs helped cement hound hunting as a sporting tradition. Especially in the Cape Province, these clubs often consisted of local farmers and landowners who pooled resources to maintain a pack of hounds. They would arrange group hunts and “driven” operations, which doubled as community events. Descriptions of hunt club activities in mid-century note the camaraderie and ritual involved – early morning gatherings, assigning beaters and standers, releasing the pack at a jackal’s scent, and everyone sharing in the success when the quarry was finally brought to bay. Even though the clubs received government support to serve a pest control function, the participants clearly derived recreation and a sense of identity from the practice. The Eastern Cape’s Henderson Hunt Club in the 1980s, for example, not only removed dozens of problem animals with its three packs of hounds but also continued a cultural heritage of hunting with dogs that members valued and kept alive. Multiple generations in farming families grew up participating in these hunts, learning the skills of handling hounds and reading spoor as a traditional rite.

Several factors influenced the shift towards seeing hound hunting as sport. Colonial influence was paramount: British sportsmen transplanted foxhunting culture and even organized competitive hunt meets. Moreover, as large game and antelope became scarcer in settled areas by the late 19th century, hunters who sought adventure turned to pursuing predators, which were still abundant. Jackals and caracals provided year-round sport when other game hunting was closed or limited. For Afrikaner farmers, sport was often secondary to utility, but they too developed a pride in their hounds and enjoyed testing their dogs’ abilities on predators.

Social and cultural norms in rural South Africa also played a role. Hunting with hounds was a communal activity: unlike trapping or shooting at night, it was typically done in groups, in daylight, with a lot of camaraderie and cooperation. This made it a social sport. Afrikaner and English communities alike integrated hunt outings into their social calendars. Some areas even formed annual hunt events, where neighbouring farms would collectively drive through a block of land with dogs and people, then celebrate afterward. The adrenaline of the chase, the music of the hound pack in full cry, and the satisfaction of a successful catch appealed to sporting instincts. By the mid-20th century, one can see a clear dual identity in these hunts: they were both a pest control duty and a cherished rural sport.

As governmental policies shifted in the 1960s–1970s, emphasizing selective control and withdrawing bounties, the sporting aspect helped sustain interest in hound hunting. Even when jackal numbers were at low ebbs due to earlier extermination efforts, organized hunt clubs kept running because members enjoyed the activity. The government’s support of clubs via subsidies and breeding kennels in that era can be seen as inadvertently supporting a sport, since it kept alive the practice beyond pure necessity. Some critics at the time even suggested that the enthusiasm of hunt clubs might conflict with efficient pest control – i.e. a truly effective extermination would end the very sport those clubs loved. Indeed, black-backed jackals were never fully eradicated, ensuring the chase could go on.

In more recent decades, as South Africa’s farming and land use patterns changed, the role of hound hunting further shifted from routine control to niche sport. Sheep farming declined in some areas or grew more intensive (with high fences and guard animals), reducing the need for large-scale jackal hunts. Simultaneously, ethical and practical considerations led to greater use of non-lethal controls for predators (like guarding dogs or deterrents). Still, a core of dedicated houndsmen continued the old ways, often turning their skills into a service or business. For instance, private predator control operators would contract with game ranches or farms to remove troublesome jackals using their dogs. These operators essentially function as modern commercial hunters, but for predators – and they often relish the work as a challenging sport. One such hunter noted that pursuing a clever jackal with hounds remains a test of “above average hunting skills, physical and mental fitness,” underscoring that it’s “a challenge that requires as much dedication as any sport hunting”. The sporting mindset persists even in a professional context.

Finally, the late 20th century saw hound hunting make inroads into the mainstream safari industry in the form of guided sport hunts for leopards. This represents the culmination of the shift: hound hunting moved from a limited farm practice to an offering in the international big-game hunting market. Travelling foreign hunters could employ the service of an experienced a hound pack, not to control vermin, but for the sport and tradition offered by this hunting style. In this arena, South African houndsmen merged traditional methods with the expectations of modern sport hunting (high level success, fair chase principle, selective harvest and trophy quality). The use of hounds consequently found new life and legitimacy as a specialized skill.

In summary, the trajectory of hound usage in South Africa illustrates a blending of practicality and recreation. What started as depredation control gradually also became a cultural sport, shaped by colonial heritage and rural tradition. Hunt clubs institutionalized this, turning “vermin hunts” into anticipated social events. Even as the original rationale faded, the practice continued among enthusiasts as an expression of hunting heritage. The transition to sport hunting ensured that the knowledge of training and running packs did not die out but rather adapted to new forms – including the challenging pursuit of Africa’s rosetted big cat with a pack of keen hounds.

Hounds in Leopard Hunting: Modern Practices and Controversies

Among all the applications of hunting hounds in South Africa, none is more debated today than their use in sport hunting of leopards. Leopards (Panthera pardus) are notoriously elusive, mostly nocturnal, and cryptic when in their favoured habitat – qualities that make them difficult to hunt by conventional means and therefore well-suited to pursuit by tracking hounds. While hunters in other parts of the world long used hounds to hunt big cats like jaguars and cougars, in Southern Africa the practice of pursuing leopards with hounds was rare until recent decades. Historically, leopards were controlled by trapping, poisoning, or shooting over bait, and attributed to chance when captured by packs of hounds. However, in the late 20th century a few pioneering houndsmen in South Africa began training packs to purposefully, and specifically, track and tree leopards for trophy hunts. This development has led to a niche but growing practice, accompanied by both approval and dispute.

The method of hunting leopards with hounds is specialized and requires a highly trained pack plus skilled handler. Typically, the hunt begins when trackers find fresh leopard spoor early in the morning. The houndsmen will verify that the track is from a mature male leopard by measuring the size of the paw impression – selectivity is crucial, since shooting females or young cats is mostly prohibited or counterproductive to sustainable offtake. Once a suitable fresh track is identified, the pack is brought in. Often one or two lead hounds are put on the track first, and once they confidently pick up the scent trail, additional hounds are released to support them. The dogs will follow the leopard’s scent through all terrain, using their olfactory powers where sight tracking is impossible for the human element, and ideally bay or tree the leopard. The hunters must keep up on foot as best as possible, guided by the hounds’ deep voices advertising their progress through the bush. Once the leopard is treed or bayed by the dogs, the professional hunter guides the client to a strategic vantage for a clear shot at the cat, thereby ending the hunt.

Proponents of this technique argue that it is highly selective and humane when done correctly. A hound-guided hunt typically takes place in daylight and enables confirming the leopard’s identity up close. PH’s who use hounds note that with dogs one can “visually confirm the cat by spoor size all the way in, and then actually eyeball him in daylight”, ensuring it’s a mature male before any trigger is pulled. This selectivity is important for conservation, as it avoids killing females or subprime males. Some even contend that hound hunting results in fewer leopard hunting errors than the common bait-and-blind method. Additionally, once the leopard is treed, the hunter can take a steady, close-range shot, which increases the chance of a quick, clean kill reducing wounding and prolonged suffering. From this perspective, well-managed hound hunts can be both fair chase and effective. They also provide an adrenaline-filled, active hunting experience that many clients find far more engaging than sitting in a blind all night. As one account put it, “hunting a leopard over hounds is an enthusiastic pursuit… it is fair chase in every sense of the word and it’s the challenge that makes it so exciting”.

On the other hand, the practice faces several practical constraints. One issue is that leopard hunting with hounds is logistically demanding – it requires access to large tracts of land and well-trained personnel. In South Africa, private land boundaries limit free movement of a pack in pursuit which cannot be constrained by fences, therefore posing a risk of dogs trespassing into areas where the PH might not have permission to hunt. Few South African properties are expansive enough to ensure the chase stays within bounds. Thus, hound hunting is effectively limited to certain large ranches or conservancies. Furthermore, some provincial regulations place restrictions on the practice, resulting in only a few regions possessing supporting legislature. Additionally, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs in recent years has been cautious with leopard quotas due to population concerns; in 2016 and some subsequent years, the government even set a zero quota on leopard trophy hunting because of uncertainty about leopard numbers. This moratorium affected all leopard hunting, including with hounds. Although quotas have been reintroduced under strict conditions, the regulatory climate remains conservative.

In Namibia, a neighbour to South Africa, the government took a firm stance by banning the use of hounds for large predators (including leopards) altogether in 2009. Despite Namibia’s healthy CITES quota allowing 250 leopard trophies per year, exports have never recovered to pre-hound ban levels. The numbers speak for themselves, hounds played a key role in sustaining the industry and driving revenue across the broader hunting economy. Reliable sources indicate that despite the ban, hound hunting didn’t disappear; it just went underground. Enforcement in Namibia’s remote hunting areas has been understandably limited, and reports suggest locally established packs, sourced from South African stock, continued operating in the shadows while legitimate South African houndsmen largely withdrew. This ban is often referenced in South African debates as a failure - not because it ended valid hound hunting, but because it merely drove it out of sight, cutting legitimate revenue without truly eliminating the practice.

If we compare another South African neighbour, Zimbabwe, where the wildlife authority implemented a governing framework for hound hunting of leopard, it is evident that the revenue contribution to state conservation has been beneficial, while hound hunts have not ‘decimated’ leopard populations as feared by the Namibian authority. The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA) charges a special permit for leopard hunts using hound packs (up to 12 dogs) and an annual registration fee for each pack. These fees contribute an estimated US$30,000 to US$50,000 annually to wildlife conservation, based on around 20+ hound hunts per year. The total revenue over 15 years likely exceeds hundreds of thousands of dollars - an income source lost to the Namibian conservation effort. Though hound hunting accounts for less than 1% of Zimbabwe's overall hunting revenue, it contributes to conservation efforts. Available reports indicate that revenue from hound-pack licenses continues to play a positive role in conservation when properly managed. The conservation trend over the last 15 years has been to refine management by observing quotas, introducing age/size criteria for trophies, and containing hound hunting to appropriate areas, rather than implementing an ineffective ban. This suggests that Zimbabwe intends to allow hound hunting on a limited, sustainable basis so that it can keep providing funding for wildlife authorities and local communities. The revenue from hound-pack permits, while not enormous, is part of the broader trophy hunting economic model that justifies the conservation of significant habitat and funds anti-poaching efforts particularly in community owned areas.

As of now, South Africa has not instituted a nationwide ban on hound hunting, but the practice remains limited. Many hunting outfitters in South Africa do not offer leopard-over-hounds hunts, leaving only a handful of specialists who do so, usually operating in regions like KwaZulu-Natal or Limpopo on very large properties.

Using hounds to hunt leopards in South Africa represents the most specialized and critical evolution of the country’s hound hunting legacy. It encapsulates a full circle: techniques once used against livestock raiding jackals are now adapted to one of Africa’s most iconic predators. Modern attitudes are sometimes split – with professional hunters praising its selectivity and excitement, and animal rightists critical of its necessity. Regardless, the very existence of this practice highlights the adaptability of South Africa’s hunting hound tradition – a tradition that has moved from colonial jackal chases to high-tech leopard safaris, always rooted in the age-old partnership between human hunter and canine.

Conclusion

The use of hunting hounds in South Africa is steeped in over two centuries of history, evolving from colonial-era predator control to a modern form of sport hunting. Hounds were an indispensable asset to early European settlers who struggled to protect their flocks from jackals, caracals, and leopards, and by importing and breeding specialized dogs they established a legacy of pack hunting that endures. Government involvement in the 19th and 20th centuries, through bounty incentives and later organized hunt clubs, further ingrained hound hunting into the rural fabric, producing extensive archival records of how dogs helped root out predators from many landscapes. Over time, what was once a serious necessity also became a celebrated pastime; the culture of the hunt took on social significance beyond its utility.

In the late 20th century, the focus of hound work shifted as widespread predator extermination gave way to targeted management and recreational hunting. New hound breeds from America and Europe were introduced to enhance packs, reflecting a continuous search for the ideal hunting dog. Today’s hound packs in South Africa are a mosaic of genetic influences and skills, capable of pursuing anything from a marauding caracal to a trophy tom leopard. The practice of hunting leopards with hounds illustrates the adaptability of this tradition – it combines pioneer hunting techniques with modern conservation ethics and market demands.

Historically, primary sources like bounty ledgers, farm diaries, and legislation paint a detailed picture of how hound hunting was used as a tool of depredation control. Secondary analyses by environmental historians (e.g. William Beinart, Lance van Sittert) provide context for these records, linking the rise and fall of bounty programs to broader trends in South African agriculture and wildlife policy. Together, these sources confirm that hunting hounds played a pivotal role in South Africa’s human-wildlife conflict narrative. They were both tools in the war against predators, and beloved companions in a sport that tested endurance and courage.

In examining this legacy, one finds a connection rather than a separation between “pest control” and “sport.” The same pack of hounds might help a farmer eliminate a stock-killing jackal one week, and the next week provide a visiting hunter the chase of a lifetime. Culturally, the image of hunters following a pack of dogs across the veld, echoing with the calls of the hounds, is an enduring one – immortalized in South African hunting stories and still observable in parts of the country today. Modern regulations strive to balance this heritage with wildlife conservation and ethical hunting standards, ensuring that the use of hounds, especially on high-profile species like leopard, is kept within sustainable and well-managed bounds.

In conclusion, the story of hunting hounds in South Africa is a rich tapestry of historical traditions, breed innovation, depredation necessity, and sporting customs. From the first foxhounds loosed on Cape jackals in the 1820’s to the GPS-collared big game hounds tracking a leopard in the Limpopo mountains, the fundamental partnership of dog and human in the hunt remains unchanged. These hounds have established their mark in the historical record – as agents of predator control that shaped ecosystems and as participants in a unique field sport. By studying their use across time, we gain insight not only into hunting techniques but also into South African settler society, rural economy, and evolving attitudes toward predators. The continued presence of hound hunting today stands as a living link to this complex history, one that weighs practical needs against the calls of tradition and the wild music of hounds in Full Cry.

 

[Trogon]

Intriguing document on the history of hound hunting in South Africa, enjoyed reading this very much, thank you! Having hunted near the Bedford area of Eastern Cape, even more so.