Is the Gemsbok coming back to Limpopo?

[migrabill]

So I went to RSA this past June for my first Safari ever. There were 2 animals on my wish list that I did not get. One was a Honey badger, he just never showed up on our decaying stinking bait pile for the 3 nights that I hunted it. The other was a Gemsbok. My PH explained to me that Gemsbok populations have been devastated due to a certain tick. He said they were still prevalent in the Kalahari areas as that tick was not present down there. During my 10 day hunt in Limpopo, we never saw one Gemsbok.
A conversation with my PH's assistant said that they were working on breeding Gemsbok that were resistant to this particular tick. It was his thought that Gemsbok would once again come back to Limpopo in greater numbers in the future. I then suggested that prices on them would probably be ridiculous when they are reintroduced due to supply and demand.
As anybody heard of this issue? Has anybody seen Gemsbok in Limpopo recently? Do you guys agree that this will effect price going forward?

 

[WildWill]

This May in the Thabazimbi area of Limpopo I hunted on two properties that both held herds of gemsbok. One herd was probably around a dozen animals the other larger property maybe 20. When I began looking around the price in Limpopo was much higher then most other areas. One of the reasons I decided not to hunt one there and save it for a hunt in a area where they are more endemic. I'm thinking Namibia myself.

 

[Reed Thoma Outdoors]

Last year my father had gemsbok on his list while we were in the Limpopo and the property that we hunted had a herd but it was not big enough to get one out of it. Our PHs tried to find another property to hunt one but they had a very hard time finding one. I can believe that the ticks are devastating based on how damaging they are to other species like eland.

 

[375Fox]

Gemsbok aren’t originally native to Limpopo. They only exist there because of game ranching. They are native to the Kalahari.

 

[Red Leg]

Go to Namibia and hunt them free range in their native environment - A great affordable experience. Shooting one on a game ranch in the Limpopo is a bit like collecting one from the Hill Country of Texas.

 

[Piet-Vis]

Back in the late sixties my Old Man and a few colleagues from the Department of Nature conservation caught six Gemsbuck in the then South West Africa and translocated them to the Transvaal. There must have been translocations after that, but that was the beginning.
Remember that there were virtually no game in the old Transvaal as the game compteded with cattle and the farmers shot them out, as the game belonged to the state and not the landowner. It's only after they managed to change the legislation to move owership of the game to the farmers if the property is fenced that the game numbers started to increase. I would not say they never occured there, as game used to migrated all over, but gemsbuck are desert species and don't tolerate ticks well.

 

[Creigh]

Saw a herd on last year's hunt. Couldn't get a shot on as they just wouldn't settle before heading into the bush.

 

[Kiwifire111]

My wife shot a nice Oryx earlier this month near Steenbokpan in Limpopo, one of a herd of 8.

 

[cgdemakis]

My wife shot a nice Oryx earlier this month near Steenbokpan in Limpopo, one of a herd of 8.

I was in that general area of Limpopo in June and took a nice Gemsbuck, saw several on a few properties the outfitter has and most of our group saw several, but I was the only one in our group who connected.

 

[Hunt anything]

Saw a few around Thabazimbi in the Limpopo in 2021, we moved to the big cattle ranches and a potato farm close to where RSA, Botswana and Namibia come together and saw a lot.

 

[Ryan]

There's plenty of other great places to hunt a wide range of species.
If you have another hunt in the future in mind think Namibia or somewhere else in South Africa. I know my outfitter in the East Cape (KMG safaris) had access to them and plenty of other species for a reasonable price. And my first two hunts in Namibia had plenty along with great kudu, both for a far better price than the Limpopo.