NEWS FROM BOESMANSKRAAL
HUNTING LODGE

Latest News

BREEDING NEWS

In spite of severe drought conditions, during which time we had to import food as we did not harvest any maize to make silage, we have managed to get our game breeding herds through this difficult period successfully, and if anything, they look in better condition than they have ever been.

Black Impala

Our two black Impala have been very busy this year. Our first black Impala calves will be born in December this year.

Sable

We did very well with the two Sable bulls sold last year. One of these breeding bulls measured 46 inches at five years old. We will sell another two bulls soon.

We chose the two most promising-looking bulls and have put them in their own camps, this time with plastic pipes to protect their horns from being worn down before they are sold.

The disadvantage of doing this is that we can’t tell how much the horns have grown until we dart and measure them for the May sale. Our cross Zambian bulls progeny continue to impress and this year we will be able to compare them to those of our Matetsi bulls progeny.

It will be interesting to see how they compare. We have fifteen pregnant Sable about to calf in the next couple of months. To date, we have two calves, of which the sex is unknown.

We sold two Sable heifers in April last year for well above the average price. They were bought by a well-known game breeder and this year we will be selling 3 Sable heifers.

HUNTING NEWS

We hosted three groups of hunters from America – two groups from Montana and a family group from Baton Rouge.

All enjoyed very successful hunts and a good time was had by all. We have some really good Gemsbok (Oryx), Kudu and Sable bulls available for hunting this year.

The standard trophies hunted included a 31-inch Waterbuck bull and a couple of very good Warthog. Also available will be Waterbuck, Nyala, Zebra, Hartebeest, Impala and Warthog.

BIRDING

The birding continues to be really good recently. I spotted a Little Bee-eater and a Swallow-Tailed Bee-eater on the same branch.

I also saw a Greater Spotted Cuckoo in the garden. We have a pair of nesting secretary birds this year.