African Indaba Articles - wildlife-baldus.com

The ChallengeWe would like to issue a challenge for all hunters and in particular for the international huntingassociations. Although this challenge emanates from Africa, we are sure that it applies to all continents. Thechallenge is to decide what is right and what is wrong and to determine what your own personal valuesystem should and will be. The real challenge then will be to stand by what you believe is right. And if alone,it is a challenge to strive to stand steadfast and to lead steadfastly by example. Let us analyze the conflictingdemands, emotions and beliefs; let us get the scientific evidence and most importantly, let us arrive atsolutions which will benefit wildlife!Of course the challenge points towards the international hunting associations and their members, butsignificantly, it also addresses the professional hunters and guides here in Africa and around the world.We, as the professionals in the hunting field, need to show our visiting hunters what hunting is reallyabout. That the fulfillment in hunting is not found in inches and points, but in a holistic, participativeexperience in natural surroundings. Anything else lessens the value of the experience. A trophy obtainedeasily is not well remembered nor cherished, whereas the one that has been hard earned will always berespected and cherished, as will the memory of the hunt and the animal.There are a good number of highly dedicated professional hunters who are conducting their safaris, (andhunting clients who hunt), in this way. There are those professionals who refuse unacceptable demands andturn their backs on the money There are those who are seeking a different way to evaluate trophies, toachieve desired ends and to avoid undesirable results.On one thing we can all agree. We wish to preserve our hunting heritage for posterity. To do so we allneed to ask ourselves where we as hunters stand in meeting the challenge.The Rowland Ward Guild of Field SportsmenBy Peter Flack, Chairman, Rowland Ward“To hunt is a privilege not a right. The Rowland Ward Guild of Field Sportsmen brings togetherlikeminded field sportsmen who believe in maintaining and upholding a Code of Ethics in FieldSports, who hope to encourage and actively guide and teach the youth, who regard as apriority the improvement of the environment and who want to conduct the sport with great careand consideration in order to preserve the sport for those that follow.”Let me say at the outset, that I am not one of those people who can say, “If I had to live my life over, Iwould do it exactly the same”. Quite simply, I have made far too many mistakes (many of which I deeplyregret) to make such a statement. The same goes for my hunting life and, I confess that I have both donethings, sometimes in the heat of the moment which, in retrospect, I should not have done, and have alsoomitted to do things which I should have done. For example, especially when I was younger, I took shots atgame that I should never have tried and I unnecessarily wounded some wonderful animals. I can alsoremember, I am ashamed to say, more than one wounded animal which escaped me. In the early pre-dawndarkness these animals sometimes march through my mind’s eye and, when they do, sleep is not somethingthat follows. As such, I don’t want to appear holier than thou and as if I wash in cold water Omo each night.I don’t.Nevertheless, I do want to ask you this, when you first watched the infamous “canned lion” video thatthose two ugly characters, Cooke and MacDonald, effectively combined to produce, what was your reaction?Anger? Embarrassment? Frustration that, as a hunter, you were, once again, unfairly tarred with the samebrush as those in the video who were also described as hunters even though there was clearly no hunting ofany kind involved? Killing, yes. Shooting, yes. But definitely no hunting! Certainly, my feelings changed to134