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I got this email today regarding Gabon:

NOTES FROM AFIELD

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6 November 2007

Gabon Reopens to Hunting

Longtime African hunters may remember when the country of Gabon was open to hunting in the 1980s. It was a game-rich destination with many different species. Now, through the Paris booking agency Club-Faune, a limited program of hunting is once again available in this West African country.

As far back as the 1960s, the venerable James Mellon spoke of Gabon as a country in which “good hunting conditions will prevail till the last sportsman alive today has hung up his rifle.” It seems such conditions still prevail today, and four hunters went to Gabon this fall including Sports Afield Field Editor Peter Flack, who just returned from a fourteen-day hunt there.

Three of the hunters obtained forest sitatunga, a real prize and a very difficult animal to get anywhere in Africa. Currently bongo and elephant are not on license, and it is not known when this might change. Elephant certainly will be problematic because of the CITES regulations.

Peter Flack sent us this report:
“This new hunting initiative, brought about by a combination of the government of Gabon, COMILOG, a French mining company, Club Faune, and Phillipe Chardonnet from the Wildlife Conservation Fund, is a major achievement in re-introducing legally authorized hunting into Gabon and, if successful, it is no exaggeration to say that it may create a valuable precedent for west and central Africa which could have far-reaching effects for conservation of wildlife in the region.

“After seeing eighty-two dwarf forest buffalo in eight separate herds in three days, I believe that this is the finest hunting area for this animal in Africa today. It may also be the same for forest sitatunga, as the three hunters that preceded me all shot outstanding trophies but, unfortunately, I did not see a whole one and only caught glimpses of the flank of one and the horns of another. It is also the only area today where you can legally hunt Gabon and black-fronted duikers, and, among the first four hunters, we shot specimens of each.

“I attach a photo of the dwarf forest buffalo that I shot at sixty paces in the savanna on the fringe of the forest in the early morning when it emerged with a herd to feed as they seem to regularly do. It then ran into the forest where it died, but the follow-up was as interesting as you ever want one of these things to be, as you can see from the vegetation surrounding where the bull died.”

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