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by Swartbok » Tue Aug 20, 2019 8:19 pm
In my opinion, I agree with Sunbird, the biggest threat is habitat loss.
So the way I see it and do it (to answer your question from above Jack), I have bought space, a piece of land that I stretched to afford, no where even close to Marius scale of operation, to allow space for wildlife and enjoy it. It cost me lots of money to convert that cattle farm to a game farm, it’s still on going for various reasons as Marius mentioned, bush recovery, establishing wild life etc.
So I’m still in the building process, therefore I have only allowed myself to hunt and some of my closest friends.
All animals hunted were specifically targeted for a specific reason, as Marius mentioned there are lots of reasons why some animals need to be hunted.
In my case it was specifically to keep the system and herds in balance, and it would only be an animal or 3, once I had a bigger group darted and sold. It’s not financially viable to dart 1 or 2 animals (depending on species).
Therefore I have only supplied limited hunting animals so far as my main goal is still to increase numbers (my farm is very under utilized.
A lot of these plans have come to a halt due to many reasons, I moved abroad, my wife refuses to stay on the farm for security reasons and EWC also plays a role.
So for now I only use some spare savings occasionally to buy small heards of inexpensive game, and still only allow hunting (myself) or sale to improve the balance of the whole farm system.
And I envisage in future to continue hunting or sale for that purpose only.
The proceeds help offset the cost which is mainly borne by myself, and all of it goes to improving the farm and increasing numbers.
When it eventually gets there I’ll still have to sell or hunt because my land only has so much carrying capacity (so in a way, keeping the eco system in balance).
I don’t hunt something I don’t eat, but if a hunter is prepared to pay me good money for that older Giraffe and I have 2 younger upcoming males to take over, I would let him, and take the money to continue improving the bigger picture.
Edit: I also have 2 camps where I breed some higher value game, in the hope of selling for money to further develop the whole rest of the farm. (not develope as in building)
Flying is like sex. I've never had all I wanted but occasionally I've had all I could stand.