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Far too few farmers are willing to pay for the
services of professional jackal hunters, most want it
for free, when they hear a hunter is coming to a farm
close by they are quick to say “ Ja, hulle is welkom
om hier te kom gooi” – BUT they don’t enquire as to
costs, and when you tell them the price it is “ Nee
dis ok, moenie worry nie”. Not all of them but most
are like this. I have been doing this for over 23
years I know exactly what I am talking about.
Let’s make a simple calculation here;
Let us say I am asked to hunt in Upington, so my fuel
from here (Montagu) is R3400-00 (return trip). Then
my food for 3 nights will be at least R800-00. The
wear and tear on my bakkie in total is at least
R2000-00 for that trip (over 3000 kilos) including
riding on the farm over rocks etc. Then my equipment,
battery’s for night vision, ammunition blown away, and
all my equipment I use at night for hunting (latest
value R109, 000). So lets say in total so far is R
6200-00.
Now I ask R500-00 per jackal, so I have to kill 13
jackal to just break even to cover my overheads, but
lets say I only kill 13 that 3 nights,
so I
drive home and worked the guys farm for ZERO financial
gain, so is it worth it? –
NO !!!
Many farmers don’t seem to grasp the fact that this
is not cheap, it is expensive to go and work farms.
Here is a perfect example, last week in Free State, I
gave a course, after it was over we are invited to go
shoot at the one guy’s farm, he again never asked or
offered fuel money or asked what we charge, but I
thought ok he paid for a course I will let it go.
On my first stand it began to drizzle with rain, I
stopped calling and went and fetched my Foxpro ( I
paid nearly R10, 000 for it) when I started packing up
closing up rifles etc, he said in a sarcastic way I
never showed him my night vision set up and why I
stopped calling. I then stripped my moer, totally lost
control en het hom in sy moer gestuur op sy grond voor
5 ander manne.
I told him does he think I am his junior? I am not
paid to call and kill jackal here, he offers ZERO, but
I must leave a R10,000 Foxpro in the rain, use night
vision that cost me R52,000 plus R200 battery’s on his
farm in the rain and he pays for Zero, then I go home
and he does not give a shit about me anyway and what
damages I have. Ek het hom in sy moer gestuur, but
this is typical of many people who own farms, soek
alles vir fokol. But I must go and call and use my
equipment that’s worth R109, 000 for free at night
excluding the
value of the rifle and the bakkie.
This was said to me on a course we recently gave by
another plaas boer, he admitted it, he said to us that
many not all of the farmers are a weird lot, they are
not willing to pay for information BUT after the
course, they will ask their friends who attended the
course “ wat se daai man op die kurses” hulle wil nie
betaal nie maar soek die inligting verniet.
So to travel by car isn’t worth it because if you
travel far, and don’t make any profit what’s the use,
no sense in that, so I now fly often to places and
they supply a variety of things that cover many
expenses I have.
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