BOSPOS

I’m a great fan of the SA JAGTER/HUNTER magazine and enjoy the articles immensely. I really enjoy biltong hunts and the times spent in the bush with friends and family are always special and greatly anticipated. Now that Johan van Wyk is in the chair it’s great to have a man there from my own hometown Bulawayo!

My last hunt was in 2019 in the Cape, and I sincerely hope our lives will settle down to some normality if the virus vaccines are successful in curbing the spread of Covid-19 and enable normal hunting to continue. I’m sure the game farms are really praying for this to happen too so that they can re-established their income.

During lockdown, I was able to watch several videos on YouTube of “hunts” involving overseas visitors. It seems to me that the vast majority of these “hunts” are purely long-range shooting with little of the skills involved in normal walk-and-stalk hunts. The visitors are seldom seen getting close to their chosen quarry but are placed on a hilltop far away from the game on the opposite side of the valley at least 300 metres away. The animal is mostly totally oblivious to the presence of anyone, so when a shot is fired it takes so long to reach the target that the animal is stunned by the sudden intervention in his grazing! The shooter is made to feel really great about downing his target, with pumping handshakes and pats on the back.

These videos are really different from the local biltong hunts and do not reflect the skill it takes to follow game until a suitable shot is presented. That is why the locally published stories of local hunts are so popular by the vast majority of readers in SA. Your magazine keeps me busy for many hours and even months later I return to them with renewed enthusiasm to reread old favourite.

Keep up the good work and thank you for maintaining high standards and my interest over the past 15 years.

BRUCE GARDNER

(Letter shortened – Ed) * Bruce is the winner of the Safari Outdoor gift voucher. Congratulations Bruce!