doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Double guns , not just for birds anymore

I came back to apologize to Mark for the mean nature of my post. I will now go do penitence.

Back on topic, nice photos Mark. I'm guessin' that is South Africa?

Mark, what absolute dolts and what a wonderful experience to remember for years to come. Thanks very much for sharing the pictures and for demonstrating that such a hunt can still be accomplished with classic guns is this sensibility obsessed brave new century of ours. Wouldn't it have been grand to spend some time around a fire with some of those rude men and women of the earlier less sophisticated time? Ruark talking about something of value and Hemingway about killing marlin and the frustrating chase for a kudu. And neither embarrassed by their sport. It would be refreshing.

Nice photos Mark, thanks very much for posting. If you don't mind, who was your outfitter?

It looks like about 250 rock pigeons? For 5 guns that's 50 each. Considering the poor native African farmer where we hunted had lost his whole sunflower crop to the pigeons, I wouldnt be at all hesitant to take that many or more birds myself (if I could hit them!). As others have noted, plains game animals are a crop to harvest, like any other, and would'nt exist without the the hunter.

Best,

C.

Thanks for the photos, Mark. Looks like you had a grand time and see you at the UP shoot.

I apologize to Mark and others for my name calling. Best to you all. I'm going on a long hiatus.

And Walter, would you believe I have the preserved remains of a Leopard resting on a rock above my fireplace and a kudu on a pedestal across the room? Not to mention several dozen other scraps of antler and hide hanging about the place.

I guess I am most put off by the whole "shouldn't we all be offended" reaction when the comment displays such apparent ignorance of actual conditions in Africa today. My friend Nick Nolte is a PH on roughly 200k acres of open range in central Namibia. This year, because the economic induced scarcity of hunters, he and other land owners will cull several hundred head of game - primarily oryx. In the tribal areas, plains game is exploding because it now has value to the local population besides being a simple source of protein.

Mark likely made a more serious contribution to the well being of real Africans in his two weeks of "piggish" behavior, than any of the offended enlightened do in a lifetime.

Again Mark, thanks for the post. I am off to the Caprivi in July for buff, roan and sable.

Walt's and Ed's problem is that they are trying to compare their local situation and ethics to a very different place. All the animals were legally taken, I would tell them both to save the name calling for those that break the law.

Doves and Rock pigeons are a nuisance bird that we were told take 60% of the harvest. I remember seeing 50-200 birds within shotgun range at time and shot 3 flats of shells before lunch. It was estimated we took 2,000 birds out of the field and it did not begin to make a dent in the numbers. The locals do not have the means to control the numbers but were very grateful for the birds that were distributed to them after the shoot.

Where I currently live I seldom see a deer, however where I used to live they were far to numerous and considered by many to be "rats with hooves". One year I shot 80 antlerless deer on crop damage permits. The meat was given to a church for distribution to the needy. Did that make me a game hog by trying to control the numbers?

Funny how some like to call people names but get offended when someone stands up to them. I thought dolt and ninnie was pretty mild.

African game and its people are more than just a long way away in miles from us. They are under a completely different set of rules as far as what is good and permissible or even desirable.I don't even pretend to understand the reality of living in Africa as a black native living in scant circumstances.