I have hunted for many years now both on my own and with clients.
Some of them young with the possibility of many more safaris to come and others are older and nearing the end of their safari history.
Some of the hunts I like the most are with children or even just newcomers to the sport. These clients are eager to learn of new things and the look on their faces when the plans come together are priceless.
The most enjoyable though for me has been able to hunt with my own children and see them enjoying their time out in the field. Not every hunt has been successful. Many of them have brought frustration as we are normally looking for specific animals to take out.
My eldest son who is now almost eighteen started off with me in the UK on pheasant shoots and in pigeon blinds. When we returned to live in South Africa he started to hunt plains game. His first was a common blesbuck (Damaliscus pygarus) hunted on a farm north of the town called Graaff Reinet. A day I will not forget and I am sure he won’t either. From there he has hunted many different animals from an array of species. Mountain reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula) in the high country, springbuck (Antidorcas marsupialis) on the plains, kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) in the bush and scimitar horned Oryx (Oryx dammah) on a friend’s property. Many long days which have hopefully been as much fun for him as it has been for me. He has even had the opportunity to return to the UK and be invited on driven pheasant/partridge days. Dressed in full tweeds as would be expected.
My youngest son also got into the action a couple of years ago, starting on mountain reedbuck with a one shot kill in the hills. More springbuck and mountain reedbuck have fallen for him since that day and I am sure he will continue.
This year my daughter decided that she was ready to give it a go. A keen air gunner and someone who joins us on many a hunt but had always said she wasn’t quite ready to pull the trigger on an animal just yet. Her first springbuck was taken with a perfect heart shot using my 308. She gutted it and has done everyone since which she has shot to date.
It gives me as much pleasure, maybe more actually when I see one of them navigating their way through a stalk and being blessed with the success of an animal at the end of the day than for me to pull the trigger.
My children know where their food comes from, especially the venison which is in our freezers. They understand that to keep a healthy population of game on a property or in an area you need to be able to control their numbers.
Knowing that my children enjoy to get out of town and into the outdoors with me is great. We get to spend valuable time together and we have time to talk about many more things than just hunting. We see and go to places where others don’t manage which for me is a blessing.
We need to introduce as many new comers to our sport as we can. The pressures which the hunting communities face every day around the world aren’t going away. Many people have a twisted idea of what we do in the field due to lack of understanding and the wrong type of exposure. The anti-hunting lobby voice their opinions without worry of offending anyone or giving half-truths of what is going on.
If we as hunters can show people that there is a real purpose to what we do, it will help us and our children in the future. If it means taking someone out for the first time and letting them see what you do or letting them shoot their first buck will help. Even the kind gesture of giving someone a processed buck, be it a whitetail deer from the USA or a springbuck from South Africa makes no difference. Every little helps in to ensure that we as outdoors people can continue our quests in the future.
Hunting and Outdoor Adventures 