standswittaknife's Link
They should start a GoFundMe for the elephants and elephant lovers. When the funds and hay runs out, the guns come out.
With 130,000 elephants in Botswana alone and only 400 allowed for trophy quota and with 415,000 elephants in Africa I would think it's time to lighten up the hunting restrictions...
I read that it is good to see that kind of info, rare these days.
Then one night in a leopard blind a herd of elephants fed by. Sitting in a brush blind at night with elephants so close u could feel the vibration when they walked and then breaking branches and knocking over trees , while hoping they don’t wind you, and knowing there is absolutely nothing u can do except sit still was an intense hour. Just kept thinking how painful it would be to get stepped on by an elephant but figured the pain wouldn’t last long
I am NOT an elephant expert. However, I have been infatuated with elephants and hunting them for many many years. I have made a real effort to educate myself about elephants, management, hunting, etc. I expect many will get tired of hearing it, but I was fortunate to realize my dream in 2023 and I spent 25 days in Botswana. 15 of those were chasing elephant. 4 more for leopard and then the rest spent on a game ranch west of the Central Kalahari game reserve (I believe that’s a national park)
I learned more in 15 days about elephant and hunting than I had in 20+ years reading about it. I had two very knowledgeable native Botswana PHs. One of them ranches near the game ranch and the kalahar game reserve.
The 130,000 population estimate for Botswana elephants is an old number. And some people think it’s closer to 200,000. They have the room and the habitat to support maybe 80,000 elephants.
They take 300 or so sport hunted elephants a year. Maybe another couple hundred in depredation/conflict situations. Poaching of elephants is well controlled (for now, with the hunting operators in the areas)
People do not realize the amount of money and effort that the hunting operators put into their areas. The area I hunted was 2+ million acres. The operator just signed the lease for this area the month before my hunt. In that month he purchased 3 private properties in this area and drilled two wells and set up solar pumps to provide water for wildlife. Many thousands of dollars invested into this one area. All of their areas are like that. Without them, the animals wouldn’t have these water sources. This is the same story all across Botswana. The operators have a presence in the areas, which deters poaching, and they sink money into these areas. Areas that are not good for photo-tourism due to terrain and vegetation.
People also don’t realize how destructive elephants are. They tear up trees and push over trees and then eat one little branch and move on. If the solar pumps quit, elephants will dig up water lines and tear up pump equipment.
African people live with these highly destructive, possibly dangerous animals. And the “developed” world wants to tell them how they can be managed?! It’s elitism, passive colonialism, and as I said above, racist.
People think Africa is one big national park. Yet 90+ percent of Americans and Europeans too I bet, couldn’t point out Botswana on an unlabeled map. People don’t understand the human population explosion in Africa and its effect on game areas.
It’s just plain old misguided, uneducated, elitism to assume that any western or European nation should tell an African country how to manage their game.
My .02
They are all Racists for telling Africans how to manage their wildlife populations.
Botswana should post billboards in Europe that they are racists.
Show poor black families Maze field stomped by elephants. A seasons work and a years food wiped out in one night. Or show elephants have destroyed much of Kruger park from over population
If hunters did not put a value on elephants the locals would poison all the water holes.
I head to Zimbabwe in May for my first elephant hunt. My wife will hunt Leopard and Buffalo
