POACHER . . .

Sigi, took off with his dog and a 7X57 Mauser op[en sighted rifle looking to find out who was walking along one of his internal fence lines.  From on top of the mountain Dax and Sigi had seen a man, in a royal blue jump suit -- kind of like a uniform, was walking along the fence line where our big trophy bull kudu was supposed to be.  Sigi went down to the fence line and tried to track the blue suit man out.  Sigi found tracks where he had walked.  He found worse, much worse. Sigi found a large lion trap set in a "climb under" spot on the game fence and two large wire loops that were installed as snares on a cattle/game trail.  Sigi had a problem.  There was a poacher working his farm for game and/or cattle.  Sigi saw the lion trap was set with big jaws open in the trail then one sheet of newspaper over it and a light dusting with native red sand to hide it.  The trap was chained to a tree for when an animal stepped in it to immobilize the prey.  Sigi picked up the trap and the snares.  He then saw a hunting type dog a distance down the fence line.  Sigi's dog went into the alert mode.  Sigi knew the strange dog was from the poacher and was to run game into the snares.  Sigi threw his Mauser up to his shoulder and killed the dog with a single shot.  He was transporting the trap and snares down the fence line and discovered another place where a trap had been placed.  The newspaper was there but the trap had been dragged off with the chain that secured it.  Sigi was really really unhappy to see this.

typical lion trap

Sigi called the police.  The police came to Farm Garib at 2 p.m.  Then they let with Sigi to look at the situation.  They found where the trap had pulled loose from the fastening spot and they tracked the dragged trap and chain up the mountain for awhile. The found a juvenile oryx dragging the trap on his foot.  Sigi shot the poor crippled animal.  The two police and Sigi brought the oryx to the road and salvaged the meat.  The police found boot tracks as Sigi had.  They documented them and then went to the local private school and asked to talk to one of the male employees.  He had the same boots on as the documented tracks.  He denied any involvement in the poaching.  The police then took the director of the school aside and told her that she is responsible for the actions of the employees of the school.  She would be detained and taken to the capital city for further investigation next time there are any poaching activities on the adjoining farms.  Sigi explained to us later that an oryx might yield 300 pounds of easy meat and that could be sold in the farmers type markets for over $2 per pound.  The oryx could bring an easy $600 for a local poacher.  Daily mandated wages for farm workers in Namibia are $8 per day.  So a $600 oryx would be easy money and almost 3 months wages for honest working.  I personally have never been that close to a poacher nor his methods before, that I know of.  I was educated and appalled at the same time.

Later that evening a farmer called and asked why Sigi felt justified in shooting his dog.  It was his best hunting dog and was valued like a cow to him.  Sigi told him the dog was way off where he should have been and was causing trouble with both Sigi's hunting operations and his cattle business.  I can't believe the guy calling Sigi like that?  Perhaps the caller didn't know the guilty party was using his dog to poach?  Perhaps he didn't want Sigi to think he had anything to do with the poaching.  The man in the blue jump suit was on someone's payroll, who was actually in charge of the poaching anyway?  Lots of questions, one less oryx and dog that we know of, and no big bull kudu -- CRAP.