CHASA: Some insight into the ‘driven hunt’

LIMPOPO – In the Review issue of 10 – 16 September, Review reported about the driven hunting, whereafter Review was contacted by the Confederation of Hunters Associations of South Africa (CHASA) to get a clearer view of what happened during a driven hunt.

“The method of hunting loosely referred to as ‘driven’ and which this particular event appears to be based on, does indeed occur in a number of biomes and for a number of species both in South Africa and globally. In these circumstances it is certainly a legal, accepted and sustainable hunting method and in certain areas has deep rooted historic and cultural significance. Both the NSPCA and Carte Blanche’s outputs relating to this form of hunting contain elements of sensationalism or emotionalism which we believe is perhaps a consequence of the drafters thereof having no proper knowledge of hunting methods generally,” said Stephen Palos, CHASA chairperson.
He further explained they do however recognise that in this specific instance, in this biome and for the likely species, it is not a normal hunting method.
“While we have no direct further information, we surmise from what was shown that the landowners having recently acquired these estates as part of a land redistribution processes are relatively new to the game ranching industry and are perhaps in need of some mentorship and guidance relating to their newfound opportunity.”
Palos said it is quite conceivable that their prospective foreign clients come from a country where driven hunts are what they know.
And he explained that the clients perhaps asked for this, thus the combination of their lack of knowing of our typical “walk and stalk” style of hunting plus the landowner or their management team wishing to satisfy the client’s wishes, has lead them to using a less than ideal method.
“Animals will instinctively move away from advancing beaters, and will be much further ahead should these beaters be rowdy. Having looked at the footage of the setup, we believe if the animals are chased to the degree they are actually running, there is almost no prospect of telling shots and we suspect the final bag will disappoint both hunter and landowner. Should these beaters be instructed to move quietly and slowly, animals will walk instead of run ahead of the beater line and when reaching an open patch such as that cleared road, would stop for a while before crossing, affording anyone sitting with such a steady position to take very deliberate and telling shots. Palos also added the statement that the meat will not be used can’t be true.
This is said not to promote this as a hunting method, but to illustrate that the inferences that animals are going to be herded into mass firing zones where they would be ‘riddled with lead’ and stressed to the extreme, simply cannot be true,” explained Palos.
“In all instances with trophy or meat hunting, the meat is never wasted.
“We, together with other stakeholders in the hunting and wildlife domain, stand ready to offer our experience and assistance to these new entrants to this exciting and sustainable business, to help ensure their marketing and methods of hunting is done in a manner that is good for the wildlife, the country and their own profitability,” Palos concluded.