Steve

Of all the places I have hunted in Africa, two stand out as the least enjoyable and both were high fenced places.

One was the most difficult hunting I've had. It was a too small (3500 ha) fenced place. Lots of lots of thorn bush. The hunt was at the end of the season. The game was extremely skittish from being over-hunted. And perhaps the place was "re-stocked" each year so the number of trophy animals left at the end of the season was limited. We ended up hunting the same animal time and time again. Bumped into the same fences time and time again. Difficult hunting but on balance boring in comparison to other areas hunted.

The other was also fenced, three times the size, but due to a drought they were feeding the animals off the back of landcruisers. Shot one zebra there and then found out about the feeding. Went back to the other area we had been hunting. Again quite boring, but this time the animals were very easy to hunt.

From these experiences now I am quite skittish about high fenced hunting. The properties really have to be good sized and game raised on the property not bought at auction. One thing that turns me off places with high trophy prices is I think this often reflects the price at auction the animals cost. Not my cup of tea at all.

Hunted a high fenced place with Karl Stumpfe in Namibia two years ago and that was quite different. Really quite similar to a fair chase/open range hunt. Also in the open Kalahari.

How much better to hunt large concessions in the true wild, where there are no artificial barriers to escape.