A New Year For Living

PROBABLY, MUCH OF the frustration experienced by firearm owners when applying for new licences can be blamed on employees at the Central Firearm Register. Recently my own experience bore this out. Early in April 2020, shortly before lockdown, I handed in an application for accreditation. During the first week of September I enquired about it at my local (friendly and helpful) DFO. The computer system revealed that, apart from my DFO sending the application to the next responsible person, nothing had happened.

He immediately sent an email to enquire as to why the application was not being processed, and some weeks later I received an email from the person vetting the application. The application was thoroughly compiled by a third party and included every possible document to support my need for accreditation. However, the email stated that a preliminary assessment found the application incomplete; among other things, I was asked to supply a ‘motivation’.

As a result, six documents were emailed to the relevant person with an explanation as to where these could be found in the original application. These included an amendment to the regulations on the requirements for such an application. Apparently the person dealing with my application was unaware of the amendment.

Also, my membership to the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association as a registered professional hunter was not accepted as proof of belonging to ‘a national association or organization which has the primary objective to promote responsible hunting’. I am a paid-up member of several hunting and shooting organisations and for this application chose to include proof of my membership of SAHGCA. Notwithstanding the documentary proof that SAHGCA is an accredited association and that its members can apply for the specific accreditation I was endeavouring to secure, the person handling my application simply did not regard my membership as sufficient.

A flurry of emails back and forth ensued to sort out the ‘problems’. Hopefully, sanity will prevail and my application will be approved.

This incident clearly points to a lack of knowledge and training, and perhaps even a lack of will to do the job properly. Surely those handling our applications should, as a start, read the applications thoroughly before sending out a list of allegedly outstanding documents. Those responsible should have at least the bare minimum of knowledge of the documents required, know which organisations are accredited and, they should be up to date with any amendments to the regulations.

Of course, my experience could be an exception, and not all is doom and gloom. Some employees at the Register know what they are doing and are competent. Many licences and other applications that are processed in reasonable time are proof of this.

Given my experience I can only reiterate that it is our responsibility to ensure the relevant and correct information is supplied and that we should keep copies of everything. If you need help with an application, remember that local hunting associations are all up to date with the latest requirements and can provide the necessary guidelines and help to ensure your application is complete. So, if you’re not a member, join, to support hunting and shooting and to get the benefit of the help that’s available.

On a different note, I finally got the chance to go hunting this year. I arrived in the Northern Cape at the onset of a heatwave. At 18:00 on the first day, the temperature was still 34 degrees Celsius.

I chose my old Mannlicher-schönauer 6.5x54mm as my hunting companion. On the third day, around 12:30, my opportunity came when a herd of blue wildebeest appeared over the crest of a hill and finally stopped about 150m from my position. I was sitting quietly in the shade next to a low bush. Using my knees as a rest, I aimed a shot at the vital triangle of a cow. The bullet hit too far back but penetrated both lungs. The cow went straight down, only to get up a few seconds later. I could see she was bleeding profusely and as she rose, I hastily fired another shot, and missed. She moved off with the herd, but soon slowed and split off on her own.

A strenuous chase ensued in the blistering 40-degree heat. I often caught glimpses of her ahead, while trying to stay on the blood spoor. Almost an hour later, I spotted her lying down under a tree, facing away at an angle. From 200m I could see that she had spotted me and was trying to get up. I managed a raking shot angled into the chest and she went down, but immediately got up again and slowly stumbled off. By now I was in a panic to end her suffering, and my third shot, this time straight from behind, hit the rump and brought her down for good, though a head-shot was needed to end the affair.

I was utterly exhausted from following at pace over the extremely rocky terrain in that heat. When I finally collapsed on a rock next to the cow, I found the seat too hot for comfort and had to relocate to a grassy patch. The moments alone gave me time to reflect on the preceding few hours. I was deeply disappointed with my first shot. Although the cow would eventually have expired from the wound, she still suffered on my account. I also realised that the lockdown and accompanying restrictions on spending time hunting had left me completely unfit to hunt. It took me more than half an hour to recover, and even then, I was still feeling nauseated from the heat. Notwithstanding my low self-esteem, I felt privileged to have again been able to share a 6 000ha piece of land with these extremely tough animals (and my old Model 1903 Mannlicher). I was also reminded that, with the year now winding down, it is time to seriously work on my fitness and shooting skills to prepare myself for the 2021 hunting season. Hopefully in the new year, we’ll get the better of the pandemic and be back to really living rather than feeling as though we’re merely surviving.

We at Magnum wish all our readers a joyous and peaceful Festive Season and a prosperous New Year.