Lions and Lion Lands. From “The Book of the Lion”, 1913, by Sir Alfred E. Pease

In my youth I believed myself so hemmed in by circumstances and duties that I thought I should never break through such barriers into the real world beyond. Conventionalities which then looked like a granite wall I have discovered to be a delusion. I have learnt that human beings do not always understand the language in which duty calls, and that by the use of a little force a hole can be made through the thorny zariba of circumstances by which the poor, impounded creature, whether peasant or potentate, may escape to taste of life.

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Changes in kudu trophy fees

African Trophy Fees: The Past Century

After coming across a few old hunting price lists, it was interesting to compare how hunting prices, trends and hunt marketing has changed over the years since 1977. Unfortunately actual South African hunting prices are difficult to find until around 2005. We will take a look at the pricing trends of the Big 5, some special and most commonly hunted species in South Africa.  All prices were originally in SA Rand, but converted to US Dollar at historic rates. 

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The wapiti trophy from Northern China

Hunting in Northern China

Today, you can’t legally go hunting in China. A century ago, however, things were different, and you can find testimony on pages of old books. Here we reproduce a few extracts from one such book, “Fur and Feather in Northern China” by Arthur de Carle Sowerby, F.R.G.S., published in 1914. Bats, admittedly, are mentioned only in passing, but we hope you’ll enjoy the stories about wild sheep, wapiti, and antelope. 

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a small herd of springbok

Good Times, Bad Times: Springbok hunting in Gordon-Cumming’s “Five Years in South Africa” and today

“The springbok is so termed by the colonists on account of its peculiar habit of springing or taking extraordinary bounds, rising to an incredible height in the air, when pursued”, wrote Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming in “Five Years of a Hunter’s Life in the Far Interior of South Africa”. The graceful antelope that has become the symbol of South Africa once covered the plains with its innumerable herds. Today it is mostly found on game farms, hunting concessions, national parks and protected areas, and the impressive “trek-bokken” is but a memory of times gone by. But are the good times of springbok hunting then or now?

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