News

 Baited and in the bag

This is taken from a hunt report involving Neil Duckworth, a professional hunter with Mokore Safaris in Zimbabwe and the woman hunter pictured above:

“We were able to take [a] nice buffalo cow on the first morning. By the afternoon hours she was hanging in two locations for lion bait after a lot of time and effort was put into selecting the perfect bait / blind sites.

On day 2 we spent most of the day trying for a zebra to add to our lion baits and building blinds at the existing bait sites from the day before. With all set all we needed was for a lion to show.

On day 3 … we saw a big lion track crossing the Sengwa river going away from the bait site. We kept our fingers crossed and on arrival at the bait we could see a big male with 10" mane hair had fed. Fortunately the blind was set up already so we left with the plan of being in the blind late afternoon. 5 pm saw us back in the blind, at first glance all looked quite [sic], Jordan the camera man was setting up the camera and on zooming in on the bait noticed that the lion was there but sleeping in the grass behind. Daylight was fading fast and we prayed he would get up. With maybe 10 minutes of shooting light he finally got up,, walked behind the bait roaring going to the left. Due to the low light through the scope I was struggling to pick him up under the shade of the bait tree. Fortunately he moved around to the right side of the tree and stood perfectly broadside under the bait. With a solid rest and a squeeze on the trigger of my 375 Dakota the lion jumped into the air growling ,bit the bait and then came growling straight towards the blind, stopping 50 yards directly to our left. After 5 minutes of growling it went quiet [sic]. We inched out to the truck, all climbed in and went to the bait. From the bait we could see a large blood trail. After a very nerve wracking [sic] follow up in the dark and thick cover we found him stone dead in a thick bush. This was a massive relief that he was dead and no one got hurt. It was a very fine trophy with an exceptional mane. I was over the moon. So by the end of day three I had my main trophy down. It was a dream come true to take this beautiful maned lion in the wild!!”

And so it goes. Lions are baited everywhere wild lions are hunted – and very often shot from blinds.

The Tanzania Wildlife Act specifically forbids baiting unless with an individual permit from the Director of Wildlife. That same act also prohibits shooting female animals. The Tanzania hunting operators say, however, that baiting for lions has been given a blanket permit. The legality of this is questionable, but nobody has chosen to challenge this in Tanzania. The Wildlife Act also specifically prohibits hunting from blinds.

Are there such rules in Zimbabwe?

The Zimbabwe Wildlife Act has lots of rules and regulations, but does not include any regulations about how animals are allowed to be hunted.

So why all this baiting?

In short, it brings the lion to the hunter. All hunting organizations supposedly espouse the principle of “fair chase” for free-ranging wildlife. Fair chase means that the prey has the ability to elude the hunter, and challenges the skills of the hunter.

But that is just a romantic notion these days it would seem. Hunters spend considerable sums of money to “collect” their trophies, and the hunting operators compete with each other for clients. Those operators who deliver the most trophies to their clients do best in this competition, and baiting is now part of the formula. Is it legal? That is arguable. Is it ethical? That is even more arguable. Is it hunting? That is not arguable – the answer is a clear NO.

But “recreational hunters” are not really hunters are they? They want their trophy and are willing to take whatever shortcuts are offered.

And yet they still say it aids conservation? As they cannot help themselves in publishing these hunting reports, we have long known how trophy hunts are conducted. And we can make up our own minds.

Picture credit: http://bit.ly/1pe3uYV 

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