Jagermeister,
Lets see if I can nip this in the bud right now. NOT ONE SINGLE OUNCE OF ANY THESE ANIMALS INCLUDING THE ZEBRA WAS WASTED!!!!
Do I make myself perfectly clear? The giraffe was made into biltong and sold by one one of the local trackers. You see giraffe is considered quite the delicasy.
As far as the springbok goes if you read the post you'll see that to was all utilized.
As far as the rest of meat goes it was either taken by my friends family or given to locals. Protien is not wasted in Africa.
Now for the final point about using a camera instead of a rifle. And I can't believe that I still have to explain this to people especially on hunting site....
Before animals were assigned value I.E. trophy fees from hunting most wild animals had been wiped out in South Africa. Because if they are not of any economic value then they are culled off to make way for cattle or sheep. The only reason that there are any wild animals left in many parts of Africa is directly because of HUNTING and hunting alone...
It takes approximatley 45 photo tourists to equal the economic benifit of one sport hunter anywhere in Africa. So you see if it wasn't for hunters you wouldn't have the opportunity to shoot any animals with your Nikon. because there wouldn't be any there to take pictures of.
The meat from wild animals in South Africa are commonly sold in the meat section of your rural markets so you see to the ranch owner they are essentially a form of live stock.
And finally it is not allowed to bring meats or vegtables into the USA from any foriegn country and especially not one on a continent that is a host to so many fun and exciting parasites as are present in Africa.So I guess that pretty much kills the import of ten thousand pounds of venison doesn't it ?
The picture below is of the ranch hands carrying the Zebra a half mile to a truck. Now mind you these guys are not trackers or skinners or any way involved in the hunting business they are African cowboys or sheep tenders in this case. Why are they carrying this 600lb carcass? Not for money not for the sake of their jobs but because I gave it to them to eat.. And that is just what they did.
I'm not upset with you Jagermeiater but please try to look at this with a bit more knowledge please.
respectfully H&Hhunter
P.S.
And one final point about shooting a messed up horse (Zebra) it is probably one of the smartest and hardest of all african plains game if you want to harvest a good one. I passed up over 30 stallions and finally took this one on the tenth day of hunting. Not nearly so easy as shooting a messed up deer like a whitetail
Not anything like National Geographic Explorer. These animals are way different than the ones in a park. Which by the way they hunt in those too.
I guess it would be hard to fathom the African definition of a varmint. When elephants destroy a whole maze or sugar cane field in one night and flee through a villiage killing people. When you've got 3 or 4 hundred springbok on your hay field at night. When a leapord eats the family dog in your back yard. They are considered varmints and culled as such, of course it's a benifit to the land owner or the park systems to be able to derive an economic benefit from allowing these animals to be "trophy hunted for a fee". Kinda kills two birds with one stone don't it. And keeps these already poor countrys from having to pay someone to do it. And also all of these varmints are eaten including baboons. No meat is wasted in Africa. Unless it was poached for ivory or horn but that's a whole nother story.
Jagermeister, thank you for opening this debate and I hope that I've been able to bring some light on the subject of African sport hunting. Keep in touch and good hunting.
H&Hhunter