Game & Hunt - March 2017

VOL 23/02 FEBRUARY / FEBRUARIE 2017

Other Southern African Countries R38,60 (Tax excl)

Cover front

L’Atelier 17002

Verney-Carron 9 771025 422016

The summit of gunmaking art

Kan die wildbedryf gekaap word?

J du P Bothma

Š Daryl Balfour / Afripics

Loxodonta africana

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umerous species of five families of elephant once roamed the continents of the world, except Australia. Henry Fairfield Osborn, former curator of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, describes 352 species of elephant and their relatives in his book Monograph of the Proboscidea, but later analyses have reduced this to some 25 species of true elephant.

Elephants found it difficult to survive

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The African s

global changes in a climate that altered their habitats, and in later years merciless hunting by expanding, early human hunter-gatherers.

Fossilised mammoth skeletons have, for example, been found with embedded, primitive, flint-tipped spear points. Most elephant extinctions are as recent as 10 000 years ago. That Stone Age man and elephants such as the mammoths lived side by side, is clear from numerous cave paintings

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and engravings that have been found in southern Europe.

Elephants were once thought to have originated and evolved in Africa, but Primelephas, which had a short, lower jaw and a pair of small, widely separated tusks and lived in India and Pakistan in the late Miocene Epoch some 8 million years ago, is now considered to be the first type of elephant.

However, older ancestral forms have also been discovered in India and Pakistan, while an early ancestor, Moeritherium, lived in the extensive swamps that occurred west of the Nile River as part of the former Great Tethys Sea before it disappeared when the northward-drifting India made contact with Eurasia. In the 19th century, the French naturalist Cuvier classified the dassie or hyrax and the aquatic dugong and manatee as the closest living relatives of the elephant, based on morphological similarities.

This view has since been supported by detailed biological analyses.

The extinct genus Stegodon could once have been the dominant type of elephant in Africa. What is now known as the Asiatic elephant genus Elephas, developed south of the Sahara Desert some 6 million years ago, with Elephas recki fossils having been found as far south as South Africa.

The living forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis and the new African savanna elephant Loxodonta africana then gradually replaced Elephas. Provisional genetic research indicates the possibility of a third living species of African elephant in the deep forests of western Africa. Loxodonta atlantica once lived in North and South Africa as two subspecies and is the probable ancestor of the modern African savanna elephant, while Loxodonta adaurora lived in the Afar Rift Valley in Ethiopia some 5,2 to 5,8 million years ago. Only the Asiatic elephant Elephas maximus has survived in Eurasia. The mammoth is more closely related to the Asiatic than the African elephants and the mastodons are related to the elephants.

Blumenbach first described the African savanna elephant scientifically

n savanna elephant as Elephas africanus in 1797, based on a molar tooth that was found near the Orange River in South Africa.

The name Loxodonta was possibly created by Cuvier in 1827 when he Latinised his original name Loxodonte for it. This name is derived from the ancient Greek words loxós (slanting) and odoús (tooth), and means ‘oblique teeth’.

or a bull becomes sexually active in musth. The trunk has prehensile tips on the bottom and top, consists of hundreds of muscles and has a multitude of uses. The cow has two teats between the forelegs. Age determination can be done by the wear of the six molar teeth that erupt in sequence, with each successive molar being wider than its predecessor. The last molar is usually worn away at an age of 60 to 70 years. The small eyes are green or hazel in colour. The eyesight of an elephant is poor although its hearing is acute. The tusks grow throughout life and are enlarged upper incisors, but both sexes can be tuskless.

The lungs are relatively primitive as there is no pleural cavity and they adhere to the inside of the chest wall and the diaphragm. An elephant breathes Continued ➻

© Martin Harvey / Afripics

Description Along with the rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses, the elephants form the pachyderms or thick-skinned animals.

A bull typically has a shoulder height of 3,42 m and weighs 5 500 to 6 000 kg, as opposed to 2,62 m and 4 000 kg in a cow, but some bulls may be heavier. Josef J Fenykovi shot an African elephant along the Cuando River in Angola in 1955. This elephant

had a shoulder height of 4,0 m and a front foot circumference of 316 cm, and is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. The sole creases can be used to identify individual elephants. The weight of a bull increases throughout his life but that of a cow remains constant after an age of 35 to 40 years. The testes are abdominal and are therefore not visible externally.

The grey to brown-grey skin is thinnest behind the ears and thickest on the trunk, forehead, legs and back. The body is covered sparsely with bristlelike hair and the cylindrical tail of some 1,5 m has a flat end with a tassel of long, black hair.

There are no sweat glands on the skin. Two temporal glands on the side of the face increasingly secrete fluid when an elephant experiences stress

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Alain de l’Hermite “Perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Verney-Carron SA created L’Atelier Verney-Carron in 2004 with their integration of renowned gunmaker Demas. In SaintEtienne, France, they now produce entirely handmade and made-to-measure weapons in the purest local gunmaking tradition.

Jérôme Lanoue, who graduated in 1997 from the famous gunmaking school in Liège in Belgium, manages L’Atelier Verney-Carron. Every year, when their new crop of fine weapons is presented to the world, Jérôme is in the habit of keeping a surprise up his sleeve for hunters. This is why, in March, some of the 45 000 visitors to the vast Rambouillet International Hunting Show were in such a hurry to get to his stand. Jérôme’s treat on this occasion was the latest creation from L’Atelier Verney-Carron: an Azur Safari double express rifle in .700 Nitro Express. With the creation of this remarkable instrument, the Saint-Etienne-based gunmaker pays homage to African big-game hunting at it’s purest.

When this rifle is fitted with a case-hardened round action, decorated with fine engraving, the Azur Safari is first and foremost an elegant weapon. With its remarkable propor-

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tions, who could possibly imagine that this express rifle embodies the very soul of a security weapon – the ultimate weapon of the professional hunter? But the qualities of this express go far beyond its aesthetics.

When you carry the weapon, you immediately realise that the weight is perfectly balanced between each hand; the guarantee of fast shouldering when you need it most.

Here we see the prowess of the gunmaker’s art: perfectly matching the dimension of the .700 NE barrels to those of the action. According to this principle, the Azur’s point of balance is located precisely at the hinge of the action. Balance is a shared characteristic between this express rifle designed for big-game hunting, and the marvellous little falling-block rifle named ‘Exigence’, which is on show at L’Atelier Verney-Carron stand.

Chambered in .222 Remington, it weighs barely 1,6 kg.

Purely for decoration, the sculpted action boasts no less than 20 layers of Chinese lacquer. This authentic work of art is the rich fruit of collaboration between the Saint-Etiennebased company and master-laqueur S.T. Dupont. “Each of our models is created made-to-measure, based on a project elaborated with our client. Each shotgun or rifle is always built in proportion for each calibre, from .22 to .700. Smoothbore or rifled weapons, falling block or bolt action, boxlock or sidelock, absolutely everything is possible, including the choice of wood and engraving …” explains Jérôme. There is no doubting why each and every weapon from L’Atelier Verney-Carron is unique …

To really understand the degree of excellence produced

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by L’Atelier Verney-Carron, we need to visit the town of Saint-Etienne, the historic capital of French gunmaking.

The history of French hunting weapons is inseparable from the name Verney-Carron. Led by Jean Verney-Carron, the company is by far the largest and oldest arms manufacturing company in France. The name Verney-Carron dates back to 1830, when Claude Verney (1800–1870), after having won the Saint-Etienne city’s gunmaking prize and having set up his own business in 1820, married Antoinette Carron, the daughter of a gunmaker. Even then, the gunmaking expertise of the Verney family was over two centuries old!

Under the broad glass roof on the Boulevard Thiers in Saint-Etienne, L’Atelier Verney-Carron has its home within the very factory that bears its name. Bathed in light, the workshops are impregnated with the scents of linseed oil, wood and gun grease. The mechanical sound of barrels being matched to their actions is characteristic of the gunsmiths’ work. Before leaving the workshop to join their future owners, each weapon passes through the skilled hands of each gun-

smith, 16 of them, to be precise. To achieve perfection, each gunsmith specialises in one specific task.

“Though each craftsman is trained in one of the great gunmaking schools, such as Liège or Saint-Etienne, three or four further years of training are necessary before they can permanently join the L’Atelier,” explains Jérôme. During this entire period, while knowledge is handed down from one generation to the next, the student refines his sensations, and his more or less pronounced taste for metal or wood. While machines are used at L’Atelier Verney-Carron to smooth and prepare certain parts, most of the time everything is done by hand. This is one of the reasons why, as Jérôme explains, “each weapon is unique, the daughter of the chisel and the file”.

The creation of a weapon begins with the barrel. In the case of the Azur express rifle, each of the German-made tubes is turned from the muzzle to the breech before being brazed onto a cradle selected for its large surface contact area. The cradle of the Azur is exceptional in that it possess-

Jokl le Roux Hunters are often confronted with having to make on-the-spot decisions while hunting, especially during walk-and-stalk hunting and still hunting. During my hunting ‘career’, which is now approaching 45 years, I have generally been very fortunate in making the correct choices. Obviously one will know whether your decision was right or wrong only after the hunt.

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y 2016 hunting season was a very pleasant one, starting off with a successful kudu hunt on the family farm in the Karoo, followed by another good kudu hunt with a group of friends in the Steytlerville area, and a mountain reedbuck / impala / warthog hunt in the Humansdorp area during the same hunting trip.

However, during my customary end-of-the-season kudu hunt on the Karoo family farm, the law of averages (some people call it Murphy’s Law) caught up with me. One cannot always make the correct decisions in the veld, but after almost half a century of hunting, I would have expected to do somewhat better!

That particular Karoo farm does not really provide the best kudu habitat available, with the odd sweet-thorn lined, dry,

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sandy river bed and some mountainous areas with sparse spekbos. Over more than three decades, however, I have managed to scratch out a couple of kudu most seasons.

There are not more than about five family groups of about six to ten kudu each, all groups with their own territories. During my customary three- to four-day hunts I would get only one opportunity per group or territory, because if I would disturb them, they would evacuate the area to the neighbour’s side for a fortnight or so, since the farm boundaries are normal stock fences and most territories straddle the boundaries.

My success in previous seasons was heavily dependent on me having to see them without being seen, plotting a stalk over difficult terrain with very sparse cover, and executing the stalk with finesse to get within range for a killing shot. If I would blow any component of that, it would be good bye to that particular herd until the next season.

For a change the weather was perfect for kudu at the end of August. After helping my wife to unpack after our arrival on the first afternoon, she dropped me on the road close to the eastern farm boundary. From there I planned to walk and stalk within sight of the northern boundary fence to the western boundary, a distance of about 8 km, where she would pick me up well after dusk. I had hunted many kudu on that route over the years, so I was optimistic. The wind was in my face and the moon phase was ideal for kudu to start browsing in the mid-afternoon.

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About 20 minutes after starting a slow walk, regularly using my binoculars, I approached the northern boundary fence that ran along an east-west-striking ridge. I had previously noticed kudu there on the neighbour’s side and had shot the odd one that crossed the fence to my side. As I carefully peeped over the ridge, there they were. Six cows and a very nice bull on the neighbour’s side were browsing on some knee-high Karoo shrub towards me, less than 200 m away!

I carefully slipped into the late-afternoon shadow of a dense stand of bush and made myself comfortable to wait them out.

I was in the market for a bull or cow (the latter with no accompanying calf), so if any mature kudu would jump the fence, I would have an easy shot. Within ten minutes the first cow jumped the fence, but she had an almost-weaned calf that could not jump the fence, so I waited for the next one. A very nice cow crossed next and I closed the bolt on the 175 gr Claw in the chamber of my 7x64. I was already thinking about the recovery that would not be too difficult, since there was a jeep track not more than 400 m away. Before I squeezed the trigger, I just checked on the progress of the bull. He was next in line to jump the fence, so I chose to postpone my shot at the cow. After all, a bull is quite a bit bigger and for some or other unknown (probably masochist) reason, bringing a bull home always caused a more pronounced chest! But then the bull started browsing parallel to the fence, slowly moving away from me. The cow, whose calf was still on the neighbour’s side, decided to rejoin her offspring, and the other cow followed her example. It all happened so quickly that there was no chance for a shot, and the entire herd slowly browsed away from me. I should have taken that big cow as soon as she has landed on my side! Her meat quality would have been better than that of the bull, the recovery would have been slightly easier, and I would have had her. Wrong decision!

But I was only 40 minutes into my hunt and there was still a good chance to find the beacon herd (I had often found them near a trig beacon along the ridge, hence the name).

An hour later I was approaching the beacon area and moved extra carefully to see them before being seen. When about 700 m from the beacon, I casually checked the latter with the

The old and the new! aid of my binoculars. Lo and behold – a big bull was standing right next to the beacon, scrutinising the flat to the south below him! I could see eight cows in the long shadows cast by the beacon hill. This was my chance to make up for a blown opportunity! If I was extremely careful, sticking just below the rim of the hillock range out of their sight without kicking any of the many loose stones, I would get my chance. If I could steal about 500 m, I would be within range.

The dry bed of the Traka River, flanked by thick, almost impenetrable vegetation.

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BUFFELJAG ...

Stefan Fouché

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et die lang swart teerpad wat deur die Schoemanskloof vleg, is die opgewondenheid in die VX200 Cruiser duidelik te bespeur. Hoewel die manne oor allerhande dinge gesels (en nie slegs jag nie), is die volume van hulle stemme vir seker nie op die normale verstelling nie. Dit bly lekker, die samesyn en die vooruitsigte van ’n week met goeie geselskap op die spore van wilde diere hier in ons geliefkoosde land. Maar hierdie spore is nie net enige spore nie, dis spore van een van die lede van die Groot Vyf, hier in die noordelike deel van Suid-Afrika waar hulle al eeue voorkom.

Met die koms van die mens was dit nie lank nie of wildheinings het ook hulle verskyning gemaak. Heinings om dit wat joune is binne te hou, en dit wat jou moontlike skade kan berokken (mens en dier) buite te hou. Hierdie konsep dra baie by tot die land se sukses met bewaring, maar in tye soos die droogte van 2016 het dit sy eie uitdagings. Charl van Rooyen van Infinito Safaris het my geskakel met ’n spesiale aanbod op die jag van vier buffelkoeie op ’n privaat stuk grond, so te sê reg langs die Nasionale Krugerwildtuin. Die jaarlikse kwota buffels is reeds deur plaaslike sowel as internasionale jagters geskiet, maar met die gras wat daagliks minder word, moes daar nog heelwat diere geskiet word om die trop sowel as die ander diere op die eiendom se voortbestaan te verseker.

Ons groep sou in twee verdeel: Ek en Eugene du Plessis, my neef, sou saam met Charl jag. Ronald Nel en Coenie Meyer sou saam met Gawie, die ander professionele jagter (PJ) jag. Met ons aankoms op die jagplaas Sondagaand het die bedompigheid ons soos ʼn klap in die gesig getref toe ons

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Die 570-grein Clawkoeël uit Stefan se buffelkoei. Die koeël het mooi omgeklink, in ʼn reguit lyn bly penetreer en is in die maag gevind na ʼn frontale skoot. Gewigretensie was 559.1 grein of 98,1%.

Kyk na die video van Stefan en Eugene se jag

Stefan se trofeefoto’s is met sonsondergang geneem.

Eugene het sy buffel ʼn halfuur ná Stefan sʼn geskiet.

uit die lugverkoelde Land Cruiser klim. Die temperatuur in die gebied is dikwels saans ná sewe steeds bo 42 grade Celsius.

Om die braaivleisvuur het Charl en Gawie se ore behoorlik gesing soos die manne hulle gebombardeer het met vrae, aangesien drie van ons die eerste keer ’n trop buffels van agter ’n geweer se visier sou dophou. Ná ’n lekker paar skaaptjops en ’n koue bier of drie het ons in die kooi geklim en ja, soos dit maar gaan, het die slaap moeilik gekom …

Douvoordag was ons op die skietbaan om die twee manne wat met teleskope skiet se gewere na te gaan.

Eugene en Coenie het beide presies dieselfde roere, ’n .375 Ruger-kaliber in ’n Ruger M77 African-model. Eugene het die 270-grein Swift A-Frame-koeëls vir sy jagtog gelaai en Coenie het op die 300-grein Nosler Partitions besluit. Ek en Ronald het elkeen ’n dubbel saamgebring, ek my Merkel en hy sy Verney-Carron, beide in .500 Nitro Express-kaliber.

Albei dubbels skiet met handgelaaide ammunisie en ná ’n

hele paar middae op die skietbaan het Ronald die 570-grein Woodleigh Softs teen 2 050 voet per sekonde laat reguleer, terwyl ek besluit het op ’n plaaslike koeël in dieselfde gewig, die Claw-sagtepuntkoeël teen 2 136 voet per sekonde.

Omdat die kans bitter goed was dat ons die diere in die trop sou gaan jag, het geeneen van ons enige soliede koeëls gelaai nie, om die risiko uit te skakel dat ’n dier dalk agter jou teikendier raakgeskiet kan word.

Ek en Eugene is saam met Charl op sy Land Cruiser om paaie vir vars buffelspore te fynkam. Met die eerste vars spore oor die pad was dit duidelik dat die hele trop van 130 buffels saamgeloop het, wat beteken het ons sou alleen agter hulle aangaan en Ronald, Coenie en Gawie eers hulle soektog moes laat vaar. Ek het die gooi van die muntstuk gewen en sou eerste skiet. Ná ’n hele klompie kanse op sowat 70 meter kon ek net nie ’n oop skoot deur die takke kry nie. Ons het die trop telkemale ingehaal maar die baie

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Ecological apocalypse

DEA’s pursuance of species distribution maps

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overnment signed the International Convention on Biological Diversity in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, published in the Government Gazette no 18163 dd, 28 July 1997.

The purpose of the Convention was to conserve biological diversity, which, by definition (as clearly described in the Convention), includes all life forms on earth – domestic animals as well as indigenous wildlife. The state committed itself to the goal of allocating 12 per cent of its surface area to conserved / preserved wildlife biodiversity by the year 2021. This was the beginning of the great conflict between the department of environmental affairs (DEA) and the private game-ranching sector.

The following are extractions from the Convention: • “Aware that conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity are of critical importance for meeting the food, health and other needs of the growing world population, for which purpose access to and sharing of both genetic resources and technologies are essential.”

• “Determined to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity for the benefit of present and future

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generations.”

• Article 2: “Biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.”

• Article 8i: “Endeavour to provide the conditions needed for compatibility between present uses and the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components.”

• Article 10e: “Encourage cooperation between its governmental authorities and its private sector in developing methods for sustainable use of biological resources.”

• Article 11: “Each Contracting Party shall, as far as possible and as appropriate, adopt economically and socially sound measures that act as incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of components of biological diversity.”

The International Convention on Biological Diversity was then rewritten by the state (DEA) as the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity

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Blesbok distribution Act, 2004 (Act 10 of 2004)(Nemba).

DEA changed the most critical definitions and meanings of the terminology of the Convention. In February 2004, Dr Kassien CD Hamman from the former division biodiversity of Cape Nature Conservation published a new proposed National Game Translocation Act in the SA Journal of Wildlife Management. In this publication, he strongly proposed the implementation of maps that would restrict wildlife distribution and translocation. The paradox of the compilation of the species-restricted distribution maps was outrageous, non-scientific and non-ecological. They were based on the sightings and inscriptions noted in the journals of early travellers through South Africa some 200 years ago.

This came as a huge shock and was one of the most detrimental actions ever to be enforced on the private game-ranching sector.

A wildlife symposium was held at the Pretoria Showgrounds in March 2004 and Dr Hamman was invited as keynote speaker to present the proposed Translocation Act to the industry. Co-author Prof Pieter du P van Niekerk from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and I prepared and presented a contradicting

Top to bottom: Distribution of blesbok DEA (2007), DEA (2013), DEA (2016)

Is there a hidden agenda that partly explains why the private gameranching industry has not been able to form a successful partnership with the department of environmental affairs since 2004? It seems that the situation is steering the industry and game in South Africa in general towards a disaster concerning the translocation of animals.

Furstenburg (2008)

Deon Furstenburg Specialist wildlife biologist and risk manager

Top to bottom: Distribution of blesbok DEA (2007), DEA (2013), DEA (2016)

argument at the same symposium, criticising the proposal on scientific grounds. A public outcry followed from the industry. Subsequently, the minister of environmental affairs ordered the proposal back to the drawing board for transparent mediation with the industry. A committee was appointed to negotiate the drafting of a new proposal. Despite major rejection from the industry and many opposing workshops, DEA persisted in forcing the species distribution maps upon the industry.

Following this devastating action, the National Agricultural Marketing Council, in collaboration with DEA (Dr Pieter Botha and Dr Johann Kotze), assigned a commission of investigation (“report on the investigation to identify opportunities and address problems for sustainable growth and development in SA wildlife ranch-

ing”) regarding the role of the private game industry. The ‘National Section 7 Committee Game Report’, NAMC report no 2006-03 dd 8/08/2016 (ISBN 978-0-9802611-2-7) remains the most important official report on game production ever compiled.

Despite repeated notions at various workshops since 2006 to date, DEA neglected the outcome of the Committee 7 Report.

On 17 September 2007, the minister of environmental affairs and tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk (DEA), published the official wild animal species distribution maps to be legislated through the Proposed Wildlife Translocation Act in the Government Gazette. This was done despite four years of continued opposition by both the scientific arena and the game industry. DEA did not employ any inputs and disputes of negotiations opposing the legitimacy of the species distribution maps.

The author’s own scientific report, together with his expert affidavit, case nr 1786/2007 in the high court of South Africa – the South Cape Game Farmers Organisation against the West Cape Nature Conservation Cape Nature, Mr Kassien Hamman, October 2007 – were submitted to the minister.

The affidavit ended up on the table of the premier, Hellen Zille. As a result of the implementation of the translocation restraints in the Western Cape, it was rejected in February 2008.

On 2 April 2008, a DEA workshop was held in Pretoria to discuss the revised draft of alien invasive species regulations (the so-called proposed Wildlife Translocation Act). DEA intended to finalise and legislate the proposed Act, incorporating the highly disputed species distribution maps.

The workshop was attended by 130 scientists from various disciplines across the country. DEA once again neglected the Section 7 Committee Report of the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC). After a long debate, the acting director of DEA called the meeting to a vote. The proposed species distribution maps were voted off the table and out of the act by overruling majority. The acting director gave the assurance that the

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maps were never to be introduced into the act again. Sonja Meintjies of DEA was tasked with minuting the outcome. Needless to say, despite various queries, the minutes confirming the outcome of the closing vote against the incorporation of the distribution maps into the act were never made available to the delegates who attended the workshop.

Most surprisingly, DEA waited another five years for the dust to settle, and in 2013 came forward yet again with a new onslaught to enforce the species distribution maps. My argument, as I had already stated many times before, was that the maps were based on a specific period approximately 200 years ago. The maps ignored the dynamics of evolutionary habitat change as part of global climate change. They also ignored the official National Vegetation Map. Furthermore, the maps were in conflict with the Convention of 1992. Wildlife Ranching SA (WRSA) management opposed the new onslaught by DEA, which at the time was perceived to have been a successful defeat.

In 2016, the maps surfaced again, first on provincial level, in particular the Eastern Cape. Currently, the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT) is enforcing confined genetic bottleneck subpopulations of many species in between larger geographic rivers. This was followed by Notice 727 of 2016, the “Draft distribution maps for certain indigenous species”, as gazetted by DEA on 3 November 2016.

To date DEA has not diverted from its initial intention in 2004 to enforce the Translocation Distribution Maps and policy on the private gameranching industry. The latest proof thereof is a presentation by J Seiler (SA National Biodiversity Institute) and A Taylor (Endangered Wildlife Trust) at the 2016 conference of the Southern African Wildlife Management Association (Sawma). Quote: “South Africa’s terrestrial protected area network falls far short of the 12% agreed to by the country for AICHI biodiversity target 11. Further legislation will not assist Continued ➻

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