By Geno Van Niekerk

For the better part of 300 years livestock farmers (and more recently game farmers) in Southern Africa have been plagued by Black Backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas) and Caracal (Caracal caracal). It is estimated that Black Backed Jackal and Caracal kill approximately 5500 Lambs PER DAY in South Africa and Namibia. Those 5500 Lambs could have fed in the region of 165 000 people were they to reach a mature age.

Multiply that by 365 and you could have fed 60 225 00 (60 million odd) people over a year’s time with the livestock killed (approximately 2 007 500 sheep) by Black Backed Jackal and Caracal. Now in a country (and continent) where we have a high rate of poverty and where millions of people go to bed hungry each night, you can see why there is a need to control these animals that are killing the livestock.

Disturbing images such as these are seen by game and livestock farmers on a daily basis:

Now my intention is not to deliberately bad-mouth Black Backed Jackal and Caracal, as they do play an important part in the ecosystem, as all God’s living creatures do. They do have a role to fulfill in their natural habitat, as scavengers and by controlling vermin populations. Unfortunately Sheep (and especially Lambs) are an easier and softer target for a Black Backed Jackal that to kill than a Hare for instance. The other problem is that they do not necessarily kill and consume one lamb but they will kill a number of them and not utilize all of the carcasses.

The Black Backed Jackal – Canis Mesomelas

Jackal have an average shoulder height of 45cm and adults can weigh anything between 6-14kg. Jackal are mostly nocturnal in areas where they kill livestock but in some reserves, they can be diurnal as well. Jackal are omnivorous creatures, with their diet consisting of birds, reptiles, carrion, berries, mammals and the reason we hunt them; livestock.

They form pairs that mate for life, unless one dies then the other will take on a new mate. When 2 Jackal pair up, they will establish a home territory. They will defend this to the death. In this territory, they will mark the area with urine and also with their scat along certain points. They also mark the territory vocally by making territorial howls and barks. In this area will be food, water and suitable cover.

When you see a Jackal during daytime the chances are good that you are in its home territory. This is an excellent area to call for them during night time. A pair of Jackal will start preparing to mate in April of each year. We do not normally start off with a Jackal call when hunting them at this time of year, but rather food calls such as: Rabbits, Steenbok and other small animals. This carries on to the end of July when the pups arrive after 61days of gestation.

Jackal give birth to 1 to 6 pups, but as many as 8 have been recorded. When the pups arrive, it gets easier to call in the Jackal. We then use their protective instinct against them. Sounds that work well are food calls, single Jackal calls and distress sounds of pups. We always try to kill the parents first, and then we dispatch of the pups. Both parents help rear the pups and they visit the dens regularly. They also carry food to the dens, where they regurgitate it in order to feed the pups.

From mid-November through to February/March is when you target the younger Jackal. In this time, the pups are running around, exploring, learning to hunt, and cause havoc with stock, as they generally catch and injure but don’t necessarily kill Sheep. We start off with social Jackal calls and 9 times out of 10, the young ones react. We also use fight and distress calls to utilize their curiosity instinct.

Around January/February, they get the distinctive black saddle on their coats from where the name Black Backed Jackal comes from.

The Caracal – Caracal Caracal

Also known as “Rooikat” or Lynx, this beautiful cat can cause major damage to live stock and game animals. They stand about 50cm high, and can weigh up to 27kg in extreme cases. 1 to 3 kittens are born after a gestation period of around 80 days. Caracal have large territories and they lead a nomadic lifestyle. They are exceptionally strong animals, with a medium sized Caracal being capable of catching a Mountain Reedbuck without any difficulty.

They occupy rocky and dense, bushy areas. Young Caracal walk with their mother for a very long time, so if you shoot a female Caracal, just look around for her young. The chances are good that they will be in the vicinity of where the mother was spotted. Caracal respond very well to raspy sounds suck as Springhare, Scrubhare, and Jack Rabbit distress calls. The “Kiss of death” call also works well. It’s a kissing sound that you make with your lips, similar to when you call a dog.

They are relatively easy to shoot when you can spot them with a light at night time. Keep the light on them and drive towards them until you get inside shooting distance and take the shot. If you come across an animal killed by a Caracal have a look to see if the animal’s carcass has been covered with sand and grass. It’s a tell-tale sign that the Caracal will return to feed at a later stage. Wait from late afternoon for the Caracal to return to feed again, and then shoot it.

Equipment

To be efficient and successful, you need the following equipment as a bare minimum:

1. A reliable truck (bakkie).

2. Hessian or camo netting to cover your bakkie, especially if it’s white (we use vinyl wrapped trucks nowadays).

3. Paint colours of a vehicle (if no netting is used) that work well are: Black, red, green, blue, sand, brown.

4. A rotating shooting chair or shooting frame. Chairs can be built by one self, or commercially manufactured chairs can be bought.

5. A proper shooting light fitted with a dimmer (not a red filter) as well as a handheld spotlight. I use a Lightforce 170RMSM fitted with a dimmer: http://www.lightforce.com/products/p…ntedspotlights

6. Remote callers such as: Foxpro (any model), Western Rivers, Tewis Van Oudshoorn, Cass Creek and the like. Personally, I believe Foxpro is the best for calling Jackal and Caracal.

7. Mouth calls like Critr’ call, Foxpro Skyote, Foxpro Keychain, Johnny Stewart, Primos work very well when used correctly.

8. A rifle shooting varmint bullets at a minimum of 3300fps and preferably 3500fps and above.

Popular calibers are:

.223 (Rem and Ackley improved)
.243 (Win and Ackley Improved)
.25-06
.22-250
.220 Swift
6mm Dasher
6mm BR (and BRX)
.204 Ruger

I use a custom built 6mm Dasher with 55gr Nosler Ballistic Tips at 4000fps, a Ruger M77MKII VT in .25-06 Rem with 75gr Hornady V-Max bullets at 3700fps and a Howa 1500 Hogue in .204 Ruger that shoots 32gr Hornady V-Max and Nosler Varmageddon bullets at 3870fps.

9. A rifle scope with at least 8x magnification and 44mm objective diameter. We at G&G Varminting recently started using March optics (2.5-25×52).
Other good optics are: Zeiss, Diavari, Swarovski, Meopta and Schmidt & Bender.

10. A handheld GPS to plot stands, dead Jackal, dens, water and to use bearings to get to Jackal that react to calls.

Stand setup and Tactics

One can easily make 6-8 stands per night. Firstly, you need to know whether or not there are any Jackal in the area you decide to hunt in.

Core-territories are usually the following areas:

– Where Jackal are seen in daytime.
– High ground.
– Close (within 1km) of water.
– Where tracks that go both ways are seen.
– Where Jackal call late afternoon and early morning.

These are very good areas to set up a stand. Find a high spot with a 300m undisturbed view downwind, then you are in business. Dead ground, gullies, treelines etc. are things you definitely don’t want down-wind of you. A Jackal will smell you and associate you with danger.

A good friend and full time Jackal hunter, Taffie Muller has a saying: “a Jackal’s classroom is 450m downwind!” If you want to turn a dumb Jackal into an educated Jackal, then allow them to smell you.

This is what the ideal stand layout looks like:

A Jackal will typically come in, and work around the caller, trying to get down-wind of it.

The following image shows why we put the caller diagonally into the wind:

This gets the Jackal nice and close for an easy shot. Red line is the Jackal’s approach.

If you have any problems with Jackal or Caracal killing your game or livestock, please do not hesitate to give G&G Varminting a call:

Geno Van Niekerk – 082 535 4100
geno@ggvarminting.co.za

© 2015 Guns and Fly Fishing. All Rights Reserved.

By Luka Geertsema

My favourite South African freshwater species to target on fly is without a doubt the Smallmouth Yellowfish. But the most challenging and rewarding freshwater fish for me on fly is the Largemouth Yellowfish. Largies are stealthy hunters and can be difficult to catch on fly. They live in water that is hard to get to and they put up a very brave fight. To target Largies, you have to understand how largies hunt and feed.

Although these fish will also scavenge for food by picking up crabs and other available food from the bottom, they are predominantly ambush predators, especially the larger specimens. In order for a fly fisherman to catch one of these magnificent creatures on fly, it is vital that to fully comprehend their ambush techniques and feeding behaviour. When targeting these fish you have to think like the ambush predator that it is. Similar to Largemouth Bass, their strategy involves ambushing baitfish, dragonflies, freshwater shrimp and amphibians.

Largies prefer water with ample structure and some depth. I have found the best structure to find them in and around includes some kind of cover such as vegetation of some sort where small baitfish and other prey can hide. The Largemouth Yellow will usually position itself in such an area, ready to strike as soon as something like herons or catfish disturb the baitfish, causing them to scatter from the cover and making them vulnerable to other lurking predators.

Another thing to remember is that Largies don’t have teeth and therefore they have to suck in their prey. For this specific reason many strikes are missed as the takes are sometimes very subtle. Clear water is essential for hunting Largies as they rely mainly on sight to locate prey. Their eyes face forward and upwards which suggests that they prefer hunting from deeper water, targeting their prey above and ahead of them. We have also noted that deeper water generally yield the larger fish. This is sometimes referred to as the aquarium effect.

On the Vaal River we prefer to target Largies during the winter months and mainly because of two reasons. Colder water carries more oxygen and results in the fish being more active. The second reason is that the water clarity of the Vaal River is better at the end of winter which is as previously mentioned, key in order to target them.

In order to successfully target Largemouth Yellowfish on fly, you preferably need a small inflatable boat equipped with a trolling motor and fish finder. This ensures not only that you can find the fish but also that you can approach any potential structure from a distance wich reduces the possibility of spooking any fish present in the area.

The first step would be to cast toward the bank or any other identified structure. Get your fly as close to the structure as possible (rocks, trees, logs etc.), let the fly sink to the desired depth and start strip-retrieving. Retrieving must be very slow but you can play around with the movement of the fly in order to imitate the swimming action of baitfish.

Long and accurate casts are critical, especially so when the water visibility is more than 3 feet. Our usual setup would consist of at least 6/7wt rods, quality large arbour reels with a decent drag system and loaded with either a sinking or an intermediate line. There is a lot of information and suggestions about Largie flies out there, but any fly which can imitate a swimming action, is 1 to 2 inches in length and is tied in a darker colour will work; even more so if placed in the right spot and retrieved correctly.

Remember to rather use heavier gear than being under-gunned for Largemouth Yellowfish. With lighter gear you will exhaust the fish past the point of recovery and off course, catch and release is non-negotiable with Largemouth Yellowfish. Every Largemouth Yellowfish that is caught, MUST BE RELEASED!

I have been catching Largies on fly for many years with my good old friend Jan-Harm Vorster from Kimberley, who has made thousands upon thousands of casts whilst targeting Largemouth Yellowfish. As well as being an active member of the Yellowfish Working Group (which promulgates catch and release of all Barbus species) Jan-Harm is also a registered tag and release angler and he has tagged hundreds of fish over the years in the Vaal River. He has guided many anglers in the Northern Cape for Largies and he has contributed more than most toward the conservation of our Yellowfish in South Africa.

When a tagged fish is caught please contact the YFWG and provide them with the date, place where the fish was caught, its weight, length (from fork in tail to tip of nose) as well as its girth measurement.

I have been blessed with this beautiful lady (tag no. Z99) of 8,1kg (17.85lbs) which I caught near Barkley West in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It was truly an unforgettable moment when I released her back into the river and I saw her dissapearing into the depths.

Although development, agriculture and pollution is taking a toll on our Yellowfish population, there are still some monster Largies prowling our waters and if you put in the effort, spend time on the water and have a bit of luck on your side, you might catch one of these alpha predators on fly.

Good luck and tight lines.

© 2015 Guns and Fly Fishing. All Rights Reserved.

The Black Wildebeest (or White Tailed Gnu) is endemic to South Africa and is possibly one of the strangest looking antelope that you will encounter in South Africa. It is not as common as its cousin the Blue Wildebeest and they prefer grasslands and open plains to the bush. You will usually find them in the same habitat as Blesbuck, Eland and Springbuck where they can be found in big herds, grazing on short grass.

They can sometimes be quite comical in their behaviour and for those of you who have seen them running around in circles for no apparent reason; you’ll know why the Black Wildebeest is referred to by some as the “clown of the bush”. But don’t to let their comical appearance fool you, as they can reach a top speed of about 80km/h which makes them one of the fastest African antelope.

Black Wildebeest have very long tails covered with white hair, which is similar in appearance to that of a horse. When hunting for a Trophy Black Wildebeest bull, an old trick of the trade is to look for the bull with the longest tail. If a Black Wildebeest bull’s tail is touching the ground, then it’s almost sure to measure for the record books (their Rowland Ward minimum is 22 7/8” and their SCI minimum is a score of 72). However crazy this might sound, it has been a well proven trick used by professional hunters and I have seen it with my own eyes on a number of occasions.

They are not an easy animal to hunt, not only because of their blistering speed but also because of the habitat in which they are found. Wide open grassland plains or “Highveld” as its better known in South Africa, offer little to no cover at all for the hunter stalking on foot, which makes Black Wildebeest very challenging to hunt. It is not impossible to hunt them on foot, and it is still the preferred method to hunt these truly unique animals, from a fair chase point of view and where possible.

Most hunts for Black Wildebeest are conducted from a hunting vehicle in open terrain, and even then the average shots taken on these animals can be anywhere between 200m to 400m and more. It can be quite difficult to single out an individual animal in a herd as they can congregate in vast numbers and as both the bulls and the cows have horns, which makes their gender difficult to distinguish from a distance. The other problem with hunting them is getting them to stand still in order to take a shot.

When hunting Black Wildebeest from a vehicle, the average window of opportunity to take a shot will be anything from 2 to 4 seconds on average before the animals in the herd will start to move around or run away. It is thus very important that you know your rifle well and that you are familiar with its caliber’s trajectory over longer ranges. It is also important that you have practised beforehand at these longer ranges to eliminate any chances of wounding an animal.

In areas where Black Wildebeest are frequently hunted from a hunting vehicle in open terrain, the animals can become suspicious of the hunting vehicle over time (especially white vehicles), associating it with danger, which is the reason that they don’t hang around for too long when they see a hunting vehicle approaching in the distance.

You ideally want a 6.5 mm and larger rifle caliber with premium bullets and a flat trajectory to hunt these animals as most shots will be taken at long range. A 6mm caliber (such as a .243 Winchester) with a premium bullet of about 87 to 100gr should be considered the absolute minimum effective caliber to be used on these animals, but then shot placement is absolutely critical. A flat shooting 7mm or .308 caliber with a 150gr bullet would be the better and recommended choice for hunting Black Wildebeest.

Black Wildebeest are one of my favourite African antelope to hunt and they are still relatively affordable to hunt in some places. Their horns make for a great shoulder or skull mount (European mount) and they make for good eating too.

I hope that you too will develop the same admiration and respect that I have for the “clown of the bush”.

© 2015 Guns and Fly Fishing. All Rights Reserved.