Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Where Does the Meat Go?

In response to an email last night, a few quick words about hunting in Arrica and what happens to the meat. in America, hunting is a hobby and the meat belongs to the hunter. Over hre, at least where I've been in Namibia, hunting is both an important part of resource management and the food distribution system. Game animals are "ranched" in same way cattle are ranched, but at a vastly different scale.

For example, the Wildacker ranch we were on the Kalahari is more than 60,000 acres. The original plan was to run cattle, but like much of the Kalahari the Wildacker holdings are full of a particular poisonous plant that cattle just love to eat and the indigenous animals have learned to avoid (although some of the game animals routinely die from the poison). 

The ranches maintain their own butchering facilities and provide the game meat to the local tribes, who usually process the meat through drying it into biltong, sort of game beef jerky, to last through the rainy months. To be clear, the tribes have their own holdings and hunting rights, but there is no Whole Foods you can pop down to for free-range grass-fed beefsteak if daddy comes home empty-handed from the hunt. 

6 comments:

Unknown said...

The ranch you are hunting on will generally hire several hundred employees as trackers, skinners, game scouts, road maintenance, cook, camp girl, etc. The meat that hunters provide is the only protein their children receive. If you fly out of the camp you will notice the difference between the ranches and tribal land. The ranches are green. Tribal lands are brown and have been used past a useful life.

RVN11B said...

Just another example of poor land management bu the respective governments. Nothing new. This has been a thorn in the side of many since even before I was old enough to buy guns!

Sadly it was/is not for the lack of trying. Educational and
exchange programs happen even today but the efforts bear little progress due to local political (dictatorial) influences.

nj larry said...

MB no reason to come back to America. Apparently Starbucks has caved and doesn't want gun owners in their shops. :( Just stay in Africa and blog every once in a while for us folks trapped here.

RickP said...

I hope you got to sample some of the eland as it is supposed to be excellent. Our two PH's were 'discussing' who was going to keep the meat from the big one my hunting partner shot a couple years back.

I think my favorite was blue wildebeest but the gemsbok loins were plenty tasty as well.

Unknown said...

I got my zebra the day I had taught the cook how to make chicken fried steak.

Anonymous said...

Michael, Please get back as soon as you're done selfishly enjoying your life. We need you. Or, have Mark Stein sit-in for you while you're away, LOL. (( I can't believe that this old f__t just used "LOL")) I hear that he's often available. In that case,..... ; )

Anyhow, we need you to do a TBD on mall take-overs by terrorists. It could show ARs in trucks, concealed pistols, "Biden's shotguns", etc. You could also show a situation in a "CPL-Free" mall vs. one in a "Shall-Issue" state.

Life Member

P. S.: Starbucks is against openly-carried guns, not concealed guns.