Can you hunt zebras

During the Industrial Revolution, the US changed from a mainly rural population to a largely urban one. As a result, society moved from a subsistence culture to a consumer culture. Cities sprang up all over the continent and people started buying their food instead of growing or hunting their own.

This mass urbanisation not only resulted in habitat loss, it also saw the birth of market hunting commercialisation of wild game to satisfy the appetites of the growing population. Wild turkey, white tail deer, bison, elk, ducks, bears and mule deer meat became a status symbol for the rich and pretty soon, their numbers had plummeted to record lows. It was recreational hunters that came up with the best ideas on how to halt the destruction.

He was also influential in creating the first national parks, and pushing for wildlife management to be legislated. Today, the money raised from recreational hunting and fishing accounts for 60 percent of all wildlife funding in America. While it took a little longer, the story was much the same in South Africa. As the population grew and cities began to spring up around the country, people began migrating to cities, which meant massive tracts of land had to be cleared for farmland.

Wild animals were seen as a direct threat, either through eating and damaging crops, or attacking livestock and humans. Wildlife was not protected, except on a handful of national parks.

In , the government estimated that only , wild animals remained in South Africa, with many species critically endangered. Rather than stopping hunting all together, the government introduced the Game Theft Act, which allowed private citizens to start game parks, and own wildlife, and shock horror, let people come from overseas to shoot them as trophies!

In short, what they did is put a value on the life of a wild animal, and as a result, people stop treating them as a threat to their livelihood and started seeing them as a source of it. Human nature protects that which is valuable. Today, South Africa has more than 24 million wild animals. Species that were previously critically endangered, like the sable, black wildebeest and white rhinoceros, are now growing and coming off the endangered list. Species such as giraffe, lion and elephant, which are still threatened in other African nations, are abundant in South Africa.

In fact, some of these, like the elephant, now have to be actively managed to reduce their populations to stop them impacting on the environment and other wildlife. So back to the zebra, hunting is an important tool in creating value for zebras, which has already been proven to increase rather than decrease their populations. When people ask this question, they often assume a zebra behaves the same as a domesticated, paddock-dwelling horse, in which case hunting one would be akin to shooting fish in a barrel!

But while a zebra and a horse might both spend much of their day grazing grass, the zebra is a wild animal that is always ready to flee at the slightest provocation. They are an important food source for both predators and scavengers. Horses were also prey animals once upon a time, but domestication has bred that flight response out of them.

One of the reasons zebra live in large herds is to minimise their risks of becoming lunch. If two heads are better than one, a whole herd of heads makes it much easier to see danger and run from it. They might look like they stand out in a crowd, but zebra are not actually that easy to see. Their stripes help them to blend into trees and shrubs, while the geometric patterns of their stripes make it harder for predators to determine how many zebra there are in a herd.

So no, it is not as easy as just walking up to a zebra grazing in a paddock and pulling the trigger. Hunting zebra involves a lot of walking, a lot of sneaking and stalking. In essence, hunters need to mimic the actions of a predator, creeping as close as they can without being spotted by one of the many eyes seeking out danger.

If all that goes well for you, and you actually get within range, you then need to make sure your shot placement is good. Anyone who has ever shot at a gun range knows that not every bullet that is fired hits its target. Accuracy depends on many things: wind, distance, trajectory, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and the bullet itself can all have an impact on your margin of error. Add in a moving target as in a live animal and not a static target and the margin for error becomes even greater.

As you would have seen in episode 8 , Jess shot her zebra in the lungs, and it still managed to run for more than metres. If not for the expertise of the tracker being able to pick out infinitesimal drops of blood amongst the dry grasses, they may never have found it!

When people do hunt zebra, they usually target the stallions, as they are larger and more challenging. However, in this episode, Jess deliberately chose the mare as she thought it was prettier, and had more distinctive patterns.

What makes a trophy? Is it the beauty of the animal? Is it the challenge? Is it bragging rights or ego? Most people hunt for the overall experience. Glass carefully when hunting zebra; if alerted, the stallion will most often trail the herd as they withdraw - this may be your best and only indication. The Burchell's favors the open woodlands and grassy savanna; he avoids the thick bushveld and the desert if possible.

Always found where water is abundant, he drinks regularly and cannot take advantage of even the most lush grazing if water is not available. The zebra forms small herds, usually 8 to 10 in number, consisting of a stallion, several mares and their foals. Surplus males are ejected from the herd and form bachelor herds. Their main enemy is the lion and they will actively defend the herd, kicking violently and ganging up on the attacker. When hunting zebra, sex is often not specified on the permits, as sex determination is difficult.

As already mentioned, in flight, the herd will be led away by one of the mares, with the stallion as rear guard; he will often stop and look back - there is your shot. When approaching water, the stallion will most often be in the lead, and when grazing, he will usually stay on the outskirts of the herd. These habits may be useful when hunting zebra.

Good glassing may be essential in trophy assessment. If it is the flat skin you are after, be advised that the old stallions will most likely be battle-scarred and worn. Look for a younger male or a mare if a nice clear hide is what you seek. Hunting zebra is best in the early morning or late afternoon. When the young males become mature, they are kicked out of the herd and form bachelor herds until they are old enough to push the old stallions out of the breeding herd.

They make yearly migrations to areas with water as the old sources dry up. A stallion can reach up to five feet at the shoulder and weigh pounds, or more. The mares are only a bit smaller, which makes sexing the animal difficult. Many mares have been killed; the hunter mistaking them for stallions, and the reverse as well. They normally prefer grass but will browse on twigs and bushes if grass is scarce. They get necessary water by digging in dry riverbeds, and opening old waterholes when water is scarce.

Their habitat encompasses south-western Angola, Namibia, and South Africa. Another good area is in the Kalahari Desert, especially near the small village of Aroab in southern Namibia.

Zebras have no horns and are not trophy hunted in the same way as horned plains game. The Safari Club International has no listings for zebra in their trophy book. Because their hide is so spectacular, their trophy value is judged by its quality, size, and coloration. Older stallions usually have hides that are scarred from fights with other males, and encounters with predators like lion, hyena, leopard, cheetah, crocodile, and African wild dogs.

Some hunters want a zebra hide with little, or no scarring. Their best choice is to go for a younger animal or a mare. However, an old male, replete with battle scars, and close encounters of the predator kind, makes for a colorful trophy. The best method for hunting zebra is normally the spot and stalk. Zebras are fairly prolific, and locating a herd is relatively straightforward.