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Jaco
Human
Hunting outfitter and professional hunter
I’ve
been involved in nature for most of my live. My wife, Thea, and I are shareholders in a
privately owned nature reserve. I’m a qualified professional hunter and a
hunting outfitter. I’ve been an amateur hunter for many years and I’m
involved in hunting and the shooting administration. I have served on the following
bodies: Chairman of the South African Field Target Air rifle Association, Vice chairman
of the South African Air rifle Federation, the executive board of
SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association, was a member of the shooting
committee of SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association and a member SA Bow hunting
Association.
I
believe in the principles of fair chase, I endorse the ethical code of PHASA
and SAHGCA of which I am a full member.
My
whole family are involved in hunting, both my son and daughter are keen
hunters and my daughter received national colors in air rifle shooting.
We are an outdoors family, participating in scuba diving, camping, hunting,
the shooting sport, deepsea fishing and nature conservation.
I
completed the RSA Ironman competition in 1993, I was the top student in my ph
school and tourist course. Both my wife and myself serve on the management
commitee of SAHGCA (Centurion branch), she as marketing official and myself as
trophy measurer.
The
following is an article that was written by Dale Foster after a hunt with me.
Visit
to South Africa April 2004
By
Dale Foster
In the Autumn of 2003 I received an invitation from
Willem Botha of the South African Hunting Rifle Shooting Association to attend
their championship competition to be held at Bloemfontein on the 17th
April 2004. Having accepted this invitation Steve Sweet and I, boarded a South
African Airways flight on the evening of the 14th April bound for
Johannesburg. After collecting a rental car at the airport we then proceeded
to drive on to Bloemfontein nearly 400Km from Jo’burg.
The shooting competition part is
deleted. Dale and Steve spent three days on the farm.
Given the distance involved in traveling to South
Africa, I had decided to spend some more time in the country and go hunting.
To this end I booked a hunt with professional hunter and outfitter Jaco Human,
operator of the South African Hunting Experience. This company is a bit
different in that it caters to a wider audience of hunters who wish to share
as much in the social side of African hunting as in the shooting of an animal.
We met Jaco at his home in Centurion close to
Pretoria and set off on a four hour drive to the hunting farm called Victorius
which is located in the Waterberg Mountains near Ellisras in South Africa’s
Northern Province.
Before I go any further I would just like to explain
that when I refer to a farm in respect to hunting, this is not like a farm you
would see in the UK. In this instance the farm is a large area of Bushveld
country surrounded by a game fence. The countryside within the fence is
totally natural scrubby woodland interspersed with clearings, the farm also
contains a stretch of the Klip River.
The game animals on the farm are free to roam
anywhere within the main fence. Hunting these animals means exactly that, you
could quite easily spend an entire day stalking this ground and only seeing
spoor (as happened to me). These animals are in no way domesticated in any
shape or form, they are wild and require skill and determination to hunt.
The first days hunting consisted of seeing
considerable spoor and glimpses of animals, but no shots presented themselves
for Steve or I. After a superb evening meal cooked on an open fire we went on
a night drive to view game, seeing several species including Bush babies,
Duiker and Impala. Not seeing many animals was amply compensated for by the
spectacular scenery. The best part of the drive came when we saw an Aardwolf
an extremely rare species of hyena.
The second day I chose to hunt on the same side
of the river as the camp and after a lot of persistence a small herd of impala
were sighted and tracked in to a partial clearing. A nice ewe presented itself
in clear view so I finally had an opportunity to use the Sako Mod 75 in
.375H&H that I was carrying to good effect, a single shot dropping the
impala in its tracks. The skin of this animal is currently being tanned and
will be sent over in the near future.
The final days hunting gave me an opportunity
for a second impala, but unfortunately a small branch from a sickle bush that
I had not noticed intercepted my bullet and the impala escaped unscathed.
Later that day the sound of another shot came from the far side of the farm,
Steve had acquired a fine young impala ram with 20 inch horns, that fell to
the Ruger No.1 Tropical in .375H&H that he was carrying.
All told the hunting was superb and I would like to
extend my thanks to Jaco Human and Petrus Pretorius the owner of the farm, for
an unforgettable South African Hunting Experience.
If you would like further details on the hunting
rifle competition or hunting with the South African Hunting Experience please
contact Dale Foster on (01326) 311982 after 6pm or e-mail dale@wheal-jane.co.uk
or contact:
Jaco Human on jacohu@mweb.co.za
Author Jaco Human.
Copyright © 2004 [SA Hunting Experience]. All rights reserved.
Revised: April 26, 2007
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