Wild&Jag; / Game&Hunt; - May 2019

I dette nummeret

Met Suid-Afrika se unieke wildbedryfmodel, waar wild agter heinings voorkom, maak Ron Thomson die stelling dat jagters potensieel die beste jagambassadeurs vir hulself kan wees mits hulle hul omliggende omgewing ten volle verstaan. Wat maak van ’n jagter ’n goeie ambassadeur? Ron stel hierdie vraag en verduidelik dat dit slegs kan gebeur indien die jagter verstaan hoe jag binne die groter bewarings-, oftewel wildlewebestuursmodel, inpas. Hoewel jag ’n integrale deel van wildlewebestuur uitmaak, is dit nie die belangrikste element nie. Dit is dus verkeerd as jagters sê jag is die alfa en omega van wat hulle as jagters bewaring noem. Lees gerus op bl 8–10 hoe Ron die Afrika-olifant as voorbeeld gebruik om hierdie belangrike aspek van wildlewebestuur te verduidelik. As hunting is a tool of wildlife management, the choice of available hunting tools changed when modern civilisation introduced firearms into the arsenal of hunting weapons. In “The art and science of hunting” (p 53–56), Cleve Cheney explains that people are attracted to a hunting tool of choice, based on childhood impressions, the level of challenge, novelty, practice opportunity, and in many instances, affordability. All these factors came into play when Stefan Fouché, our editor of hunting, guns and ammunition, explored the world of crossbow-hunting with Seppie Cilliers. Read all about his challenge (p 42–45) as the shooting distances increased. Johan Smit was faced by a challenge of a different kind when the opportunity arose to hunt a crocodile. In “What lurks beneath ...” (p 57–59) he tells us about his passion and determination to push himself to the limit and get better with each hunt.