I would bet it is acres. If he does not own it all, I'd bet he at least has permission to hunt on 125,000 acres right there by his lodge (or possibly hectares, but I found they tent to speak in acres, feet and inches as they are accustomed to accommodating US hunters). Yes it is a lot more if they are talking hectares, but in either case it a large chunk of land!
When we hunted in that general area, we were regularly on farms of 8000 to 20,000 acres, we would often cross over to the next farm and as the hunters, we might remain un-aware as it is all part of the outfitters area.
We hunted very large conservancies, I think up around 450,000 acres. Of which the outfitter had negotiated hunting rights on significant portions but had deals with each land owner and either he or the PH called at least the night before to get permission for the day. On one example a farmer had family members coming out for a cull hunt on a weekend so we went elsewhere and got to that place a few days later. Heck sometimes people just don't get the call or message for a few days, life is going on and does not stop because some hunters show up.
The PH would be re-organizing and coordinating all the time based on animals we had already gotten, priorities we still wanted, which areas we were going to be close to, where other PH's were heading the next day or next few days.. or had been. What other PH's, land owners, farm hands etc. had reported seeing, climatic conditions, and just how hard a day we had and whether we felt like taking it easy or pushing hard up a mountain or through a river bottom the next day. Sometime we would head out 2 hours before sun up to get to a new place. And drive back late at night or even stay at a different place a couple days.
To my wife and I those circumstances were just what we wanted, a laid back and flexible hunt without pressure. We wanted to experience all the different terrain, sights, smells, flora and fauna. and we had an extra great time because we were somewhat flexible on animals we would take... Heck I did not know I was going to hunt Mountain Reedbuck until 5 minutes before making the shot. The outfitter and PH were doing their jobs and making it all happen!
That was all free range, this is working farm country... More ranch country to us from the US as not a lot of tilled fields but there were cattle grazing in places, and lots of sheep and goats. On the other hand we would go over large tracts and not see any domestic livestock. There are cattle and sheep fences just like we have where we live... but just like the whitetails here, the fences do not restrict the wild game. We did go to one area that must have required passing through 15 or 20 cattle gates in various states of repair. But you drive over cattle guards and through gates in Colorado and other US places as well. We saw some high fences but they were more to protect or keep in high value or dangerous animals. I believe they have laws in RSA that certain animals (Buffalo, Lion) must be kept behind fences constructed to code.
Bob
