What exactly is "Anti-Poaching"

[Skinny Tire AH]

There has been much information and even more dis-information about hunting Elephants, Lions and other species. I am going to attach much data and links.

I will be the first to admit, this issues is driven by emotion and not so many facts. Most of you know I have hunted all over the world, I love the far away and fantastic place. I have been fortunate to hunt most of Africa's bounty. Her magnificent antelopes and it's grim beasts. Adventure fills my soul and complacency stagnates me.

I'll go sort of country by country here. I will start with Zimabawe. I will also only give data from outfitters and Professionals I have personally hunted with.

Economically Zimababwe is a mess. As a matter of fact, Robert Mugabe resigned from his reign of terror Today. It will be interesting to see if a non-corrupt government takes his place, my guess is not.

DAPU= Dande Anti Poaching Unit. Dande is a hunting area in Zimbabwe. DAPU is run by Buzz Chartton. He is a very experienced PH (Professional Hunter). Keeping in mind, all this data is from but ONE small hunting area in a large country.

http://dapuzim.com/about.html

Please look at their numbers and financial. ALL funded by hunting as they are a hunting organization.

Here are some of the pictures of the work they've done.

This last picture is Buzz at a water hole in a sand river. All those bent sticks have small game snares on them. The previous pictures also show the amount of snares that are confiscated in the bush. Snares catch antelopes by desire and even cats (as shown) by accident. The antelopes are sold in the illicit trade of "Bush-Meat."

Point being, not just Elephants are the target of poachers. ALL the species in an area have an economic value to them. The trade is ONLY interrupted by local hunting teams spending time in the bush.

I personally have pursued poachers...armed with orders to shoot to kill if fired upon. I'm not up to killing anyone on a hunting trip. Not even poachers. Can't say what I would have done had we caught them.

The next country of concern is the Central African Republic (CAR). I did a 28 day full license Safari in CAR in 2012. I was there for 28 days of hunting. CAR is old school Africa. It still has a very French Colonial feel. The official (non indigenous) language is French.

Things here are as bad as I can imagine. It was in a relative window of safety when I was there. Civil uprisings and political upheavals were in a lull. I took advantage and went. There are species there, available nowhere else in Africa. I hunted Bongo and Lord Derby's Eland as my primary but had everything on license.

The country of Sudan borders CAR. There are roving bands of Sudanese Elephant poachers. They are armed with AK-47's, every single one of them. When I was there, we were driving down a dusty bush road. We saw a few guys riding donkeys, coming our way. As we passed, I made eye contact with each and every one of them. They were the absolute fiercest looking men I 'd ever seen. They sat on these donkeys with only a blanket under them, under those blankets, they shoved their AK's. I wasn't scared and kept a confident yet non-aggressive posture. Some, even nodded their heads as we drove by.

After that contact, I told Mike Fell, the Professional Hunter (PH) I would have dearly loved to have taken a photograph with them. Mike stated that they probably would have obliged, they love their pictures taken and in this situation saw no threat. They had no Ivory.

The ivory is taken to collection points and sent back to Khartoum, Sudan via Camels.

This video is done by Erik Mararv and David Simpson. They started the Chinko Project. Please take the time to watch this video. When I hunted CAR, I told my friends back home it was the closet thing to the "Garden of Eden" I could ever imaging. The video is not misleading, it is in fact this beautiful. Incidentally, CAWA is the company I hunted with, (Central African Wildlife Adventures). It is owned by Erik Mararv.

http://www.chinkoproject.com/

I plan on adding to this thread. I have many, MANY pictures to support the conservation argument of conservation through sustainable hunting practices.

I would be happy to field ANY and ALL questions, even the negative ones. I've been involved in wildlife conservation for 15 years and have been an elected Director on International Hunters, Conservation advocacy organizations. I think robust yet civil debate can answer many questions.

Regards,

Steve

 

[Skinny Tire AH]

Here's a well worded article that explains how hunting Elephants...saves Elephants.

https://www.outsideonline.com/22626...&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=onsiteshare

 

[Skinny Tire AH]

Timing on this is funny. I received this picture today on "Whats App." The man behind the picture is Alister Norton. He is both a Professional Hunter (PH) in Zambia and a good friend. We have hunter together many times, shared many great hunts together. He recently acquired a new hunting are called Luano. It is/was whats called a depleted area. He gets it cheap, with a favorably long lease and takes all the risk for setting up anti-poaching. The animals are hammered, its all up to him to get the poaching under control and turn it into a quality hunting area.

Try to imaging the damage done to the animal population with this enormous pile of snares and confiscated poachers rifles. Not just to Lions, not just the Elephants but EVERYTHING that walks. Impala, Roan, Sable, Buffalo, Duikers, Small cats, Leopards. The snares are indiscriminate killers. There are 2749 snares in that pile. Now, tell me, being intellectually honest, Hunting doesn't make a difference.

 

[Skinny Tire AH]

@Gelcoater

 

[Gelcoater]

@Gelcoater

Congratulations

You're a tagger

 

[ssc]

Thank you for the thread and info. I have hunted both the Dande and Omay, as well as other areas in Zim. ( As well as Namibia and SA.) The number of snares seen was outrageous, both in camp and while out hunting. Whenever we saw the vultures, it was a sure sign of another animal death via snare. It was sad to see the changes after the "war vets" issue began. I had friends who lost their land. While out hunting, we did have a rather interesting encounter with a group of poachers. I absolutely believe that if not for the money that the hunters bring to Africa, the majority of the animals would have been decimated long ago. My contacts in Zim have expressed a cautious optimism based on the recent events. I hope they are correct. I am contemplating going back to Zim next summer.

Cheers, Steve