The Bushveld Conservation Bureau

 

Farm bookings procedure

Times for bookings:

  • Farms may be booked for hunts by telephone or email from:
  •  Monday 09h00 to Wednesday till 18h00,
  • Thursdays till 15h00.
  • Hunts may also be booked on Wednesday nights if the FLO is present.
  • The exception to this arrangement is enquiries about joining on an already arranged shoot e.g. pigeon shoots. These enquiries will be accepted until 14h00 Fridays.

Booking Procedure:

  • The member decides on which farm he wishes to visit or which species he wishes to hunt.
  • The member contacts the Farm Liaison Officer and requests a specific farm or a recommendation as to which farm has his target species on offer.
  • Please Note: Members do not contact the farmer directly without specific instructions from the Farm Liaison Officer, to avoid :
  1.  an uncontrolled number of members phoning the farmer on an ad hoc basis, 
  2. “double bookings” which may result in accidental gunshot injuries with the accompanying unpleasant legal consequences.

NB: This rule is not negotiable for safety reasons.

  • When the venue has been decided on, the Farm Liaison Officer will contact the farmer to arrange the hunt.
  • If the farm is unavailable for whatever reason, the Farm Liaison Officer will contact the member and suggest an alternative venue.
  • When the venue has been finalised, the Farm Liaison Officer will fax / email a signed and dated Farm Permission Letter to the member, with such supplementary information (Cull List of animals that may be shot, Report Back Form, maps, phone numbers etc.) as may be required.
  • The Farm Permission Letter will indicate whether he should report to the farmer on arrival, departure or both. 
  • The member will then go out on the arranged day(s) to the farm and hunt the species the farmer has highlighted as problematic.
  • As soon as is practical after the hunt, the member should email the Report Back form to the Farm Liaison Officer for BCB record purposes. The names of all members present must be noted on the Report Back form. 
  • Sightings of unusual species, some of which are listed on the Report Back form, should also be noted for research purposes.
  • Dedicated hunters should retain the original Report Back form as proof of hunting activities for their annual Hunting Activity Report which the BCB must submit to CFR.
  • The Farm Liaison Officer will file the Report Back forms for use in compiling the annual Cull Statistics Report.                                                       

Kindly Note:

  1. No “Off-List” animals may be shot without the farmer’s direct request. If this is a long-term change, inform FLO to enable him to update the “Cull List”
  2. “Protected Animals” as gazetted in the province in which the farm is situated may not be shot under any circumstances.
  3. Rule 2 overrides rule 1 if the animal in question is a Protected Species! (Just tell the farmer “Sorry, we didn’t see him”)