Is the Golden Age of hunting now?

[Pheroze]

I have read several books, most recently John Sharp's autobiography, and something dawned on me. I think there is a renaissance in Africa hunting. I think we are living it.

When I read some of the stories I am actually disturbed by the disregard displayed in the past. I believe we, as hunters, have developed a much better idea of our obligations and place. I am often shocked by the lack of shooting practice described in some stories, or the lack of understanding of animal behaviour. Some of the old photos show very young critters, ones we would not choose to take on a modern safari. Unfortunately, some of those tales are why so many are opposed to what we do. We have to work so hard to undo the perception that some of those on safari have created.

I think our responsible approach to our adventures shows an evolution. I would be interested to hear if the PHs have experienced a better, more ethical caliber of client over the last decade.

 

[tarbe]

Pheroze

I too was appalled by some of the stories of clients, and their lack of skills and/or evident lack of care regarding the finer points of the hunt.

It made me wonder how the professionals can put up with these clients?

I want to believe these clowns were the exception to the rule, but I also wonder, like you, if progress has been made overall.

I am curious to hear some responses from the pros!

 

[markm]

Pheroze

I too was appalled by some of the stories of clients, and their lack of skills and/or evident lack of care regarding the finer points of the hunt.

It made me wonder how the professionals can put up with these clients?

I want to believe these clowns were the exception to the rule, but I also wonder, like you, if progress has been made overall.

I am curious to hear some responses from the pros!

I have always said hunters can be their own worst enemy.

 

[Philip Glass]

We certainly are in the golden age of Safari. Although hunting is expensive now the availability of opportunities is fantastic. The traveling is easier with so many airlines and routes available a person can be most anywhere in the world in a day and a half. Most of us have heard so many stories in Africa of client hunters being well terrible hunters! Bad shots, afraid of follow ups, never being ready, expecting too much, and just not putting in the effort. When I go on Safari I really try to be prepared for the hunt, be on time daily, and keep a cheery mindset no matter where the hunt takes me. I am not perfect but I don't want to be "That Guy"!
Regards,
Philip

 

[Bushpig4Ever]

I‘m a PH although not active anymore. Some clients really couldn’t shoot well, I remember a guy, he missed an huge eland antelope, shooting distance maybe 40 metres. Other clients were unable to sight in the own rifle, I had to do it. Sometimes the tape was more important than the camera. Very frustrating to me. But there were also nice people of course, real crack shots.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Science and regulations have certainly improved conservation. Improvements in firearm technology, ammuntion and optics have improved hunters' ability. It still requires the client to keep up his end of the bargain.

 

[Pheroze]

I wonder whether this website, and other internet resources, have helped? How many times do we read about someone who learned so much by being on this site (me included). I doubt there were many, if any, resources 30 years ago.

 

[CAustin]

You may well be right!

 

[Hogpatrol]

You may well be right!

He IS right! I told a fellow shooter at my gun club about this site. Saw him a year or so later and he told me he had contacted one of the outfitter sponsors here, booked a hunt and he, his wife and another couple had already gone! As usual, he became afflicted with the multiple trip syndrome and is headed back in 2020.

Having said that, the internet is probably greater than any government regulation when it comes to staying in business. It will either keep one in business or put you out of it.

 

[spike.t]

Nope......game numbers have taken a hammering in the last 30 years since i first hunted in African countries...( and not including SA in that...but that is a different scenario to wild africa) .and areas have been lost totally or are not much good due to human encroachment......yeah plenty of good hunting but no way would I call it the golden age.....to me now it seems more the main thing is how cheap the hunt can be got for and shooting the maximum amount of animals .....or you read reports where everything was shot in the first three days or so of seven or ten day hunt.. ...so don't agree at all....

 

[jeff]

I think this may be the golden age of hunting SA and Namibia, but for many african countries the golden age is past!

 

[Hank2211]

@Pheroze, what a great question. I'm afraid though that I'm with @spike.t on this one . . . though perhaps what we need is some definition of what is meant by "golden age".

If you mean that safaris have never been more accessible to the largest number of people, then, yes, this is likely to be a golden age. Some animals are expensive, but an African safari is well within reach for just about everyone who works for a living in the developed world. In the past, there may have been more parts of more countries available for hunting, but a safari was really only for the very well-heeled or well connected. Lots of movie stars, royalty and oil tycoons. This comes across pretty clearly from Brian Herne's book "White Hunters" (which is excellent, by the way).

On the other hand, if you are talking about what PH Ian Manning called "the freedom to carry a gun and hunt an elephant in good country", well, then we're taking about a way of life which has all but disappeared. I could cite so many books written by authors - men such as Ian Nyschens ("Months of the Sun"), or WMD Bell - who describe a way of life built on hunting which really no longer exists.

I take nothing away from hunting in Namibia and South Africa, but hunting in places such as Benin, sleeping out doors under the stars, listening to hyena and lion, or the jungles of Cameroon, as unpleasant as they are, where you are so far away from anything anyone of us would call civilization, gives you a hint of what a "golden age" would look like, at least to me.

To me, this would be the essence of a golden age of hunting. To "get away from it all" is, for me, what safari is all about. I can drive out of my hometown and shoot deer within a half hour, and never get the office out of my mind. My kids referred to Africa as my "happy place" this Christmas, and it often is. But it's getting more and more difficult to find that feeling. If I could find a place in the bush with nothing but wild spaces farther than I could walk in a week or two, as full of game as it was in earlier times (and empty of bothersome and annoying government), well, that to me would be a golden age of hunting.

In 1950 the population of Africa was about 280 million. In 2018, that population had grown to almost 1.3 billion (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/).

So if your definition is the ability to kill lots of animals at a reasonable cost, then, yes. Golden age. But if your definition runs to a certain feeling which comes from freedom and self-reliance, then I'm afraid those days are essentially gone. Likely forever.

 

[tarbe]

As is usually the case, the answer to the question depends upon the definitions!

I took Pheroze’s question to be specially regarding hunter preparation, skill and attitude.

 

[Pheroze]

yeah plenty of good hunting but no way would I call it the golden age.....

Ok, perhaps the Carbon Fiber age. What I mean is that hunters going overseas are generally more aware of the implications of their actions, are mindful of conservation, and are prepared.

I think this may be the golden age of hunting SA and Namibia...

Really the renaissance of hunting in Namibia, the planned rebuild of wildlife in South Africa and places like Mozambique and Uganda coming back are all positive outcomes of this "Carbon Fiber" age. I am referring to the sharing of knowledge and the power that has to influence positive changes for wildlife.

To me, this would be the essence of a golden age of hunting. To "get away from it all" is, for me, what safari is all about.

100% I agree. I regularly track north to experience this too. Semi-urban hunting is not the same, agreed. But I think we do still have the opportunity to experience remote areas as you have proved through your most awesome adventures. Hopefully, with the collective conciousness of ours will ensure these remote adventures persist. Even though more of Africa was like this, a man can only actually experience a small slice. So the fact that Africa continues to develop is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. In fact, it is probably a good thing. But, maybe today we are far more mindful how to do it in a positive way?

Funny, whenever I leave northern Ontario I make a silent prayer that the highways do not keep creeping north and destroy what I love. But, progress is inevitable in Canada and Africa.

Carbon Fiber Age has a dark side too....

to me now it seems more the main thing is how cheap the hunt can be got for and shooting the maximum amount of animals .....or you read reports where everything was shot in the first three days or so of seven or ten day hunt.. ...so don't agree at all....

But when I read the way wildlife was slaughtered from the backs of elephants I say we are still better. Recall that many of Corbett's targets where animals wounded by this type of shooting parties. No one would condone these excesses of the wealthy today. Animals are valued much differently. We target the old or injured. We protect the young. So, there may be more of a commodity structure to the safari, but not the wanton waste of life that was witnessed before.

 

[johnnyblues]

Yes although I am not an expert on hunting in Africa I would have to agree the golden age has passed as some have stated. We will never see the same opportunities hunters had say in the 1950's. Public opinion is destroying hunting world wide on many levels. SAD!

 

[Hank2211]

As is usually the case, the answer to the question depends upon the definitions!

I took Pheroze’s question to be specially regarding hunter preparation, skill and attitude.

That's certainly the way the thread went . . . but I wasn't sure that was exactly what he meant. Well-equipped and well-trained hunters might be a golden age for PH's . . . but even then, who knows! Having said that, if we defined "golden age" that way, then we would always be living in a golden age compared to the past. Hunting equipment continues to improve all the times and I think that, as Pheroze said, our knowledge of and consideration for animals also improves continually (generally speaking).

I should have been clearer - to me, it means when would you most have wanted to be a hunter . . .

 

[Royal27]

I think our responsible approach to our adventures shows an evolution. I would be interested to hear if the PHs have experienced a better, more ethical caliber of client over the last decade.

I think you're likely right in this statement @Pheroze .

That said, does this corelate to a Golden Age? Because of changes to westerns society as a whole, and a true lack of understanding of where food comes from, the masses look down upon hunters in a way that has never happened before, ever.

Hunters ethics have certainly evolved and by modern standards we are certainly more ethical than days gone by. I just don't see how this translates to a Golden Age?

But when I read the way wildlife was slaughtered from the backs of elephants I say we are still better. Recall that many of Corbett's targets where animals wounded by this type of shooting parties. No one would condone these excesses of the wealthy today. Animals are valued much differently. We target the old or injured. We protect the young. So, there may be more of a commodity structure to the safari, but not the wanton waste of life that was witnessed before.

And yet, an elephant hunter today who hunts in an over populated area, makes a perfect one shot kill on an old starving bull, and gives back to that local community is looked down upon by MOST of our society. Whereas I believe Corbett was highly regarded in his time (perhaps I'm wrong).

As a side note, I also completely agree with @Hank2211 and @spike.t, in that this is definitely not the golden age of actual hunting, no way no how. Hunting may be easier and more convenient with many preferring "only two hours from Tambo" but the hunting certainly isn't the same as "days gone by."

 

[tarbe]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....?

 

[WAB]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....?

A tale of two countries?

 

[Royal27]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....?

That sums up perfectly what I was trying to say!