Lions, Zebra's and Elephants!

[Iron]

I've watched video of these hunts,i dont understand why a person would kill any of these three animals. that being said, i say it like that cause i truly dont understand the Africa experience. Do you eat Zebra, Elephant , or Lion?  or is it just a pure trophy hunt? I ask this cause i have never heard anyone say " man zebra loin is the best" or "Elephant roast is to die for". i am ignorant, uninformed, and just plain ole curious what happens to the meat? im assuming they have conservation goals and neeed some of these animals culled for population control. and for pete sakes how do you get a Elephant or hippo gutted and drug out back to camp?

I just watched adventures abroad and that made me wonder these questions, im not trying to question the ethics or any persons reasons. just want to be a bit more informed.


Jason

[AKCrazyhorse]

Zebra loin IS delicious.  I assure you, none of that meat is wasted.  Much of it is consumed by hunters in camp, over the course of the hunting seasons.  Alot of the rest is given to the trackers, skinners, guides, other staff and thier families.  As for Lion....I've never eaten African Lion but if it's anything like Mt. Lion here in the states....bring it on.  That stuff is fantastic.  And they use trucks....and winches....and come alongs....and muscle to get big animals like Giraffe, Zebra, Hippo and Elephant out.

[calgarychef]

yes the meat is used.  However even if it wasn't used these animals exist because they have VALUE as a hunted species.  If they had no value they would be hunted and eaten into oblivion by the locals.  Much of Africa wildlife is protected and used for wildlife viewing or hunting.  It's an important part of the economy and in some places one of the only industries to bring foreign money in.  I'd have no problem shooting a "beautiful" giraff, in fact i'd love to try killing one.  What a feat to kill something so huge with a puny longbow.

the chef

[hunt it]

Zebra is good, as is Elephant and hippo. The cats,baboons,hyenas are about all that does not get eaten. 24hrs after elephant is down you would be hard pressed to find a wet spot where it lay. An elephant will feed several villages. We shot two hippos few years back and within 10hrs they were all gone back to villages except the parts we took. Nothing goes to waste in Africa. Locals even fight over who gets the gut pile!

[TxAg]

I've had zebra and it was good. Too bad I wasn't the one who shot it. As mentioned above, most of the herbivores get eaten. However, I did shoot a baboon when I was over there. I don't think anybody ate that. They treated them like pests and were happy to get rid of one.

As for getting an animal out of the bush, I was shocked at how fast it happens and how much weight they pile into the backs of those little Toyota trucks!

Man, now I'm reminiscing and can't wait to go back.

[tradtusker]

Yip Zebra is very good and so is Elephant As mentioned above.
Everything gets used or sold during the season.

Alot of the Big Game reserves used to have processing plants for the culled Elephants, canning the meat for us to eat and the less desirable edible meats into Dog and cat food, nothing was wasted....Until the greeny's got hold of it and £+@*%! everything up, Now Southern Africa faces some serious issues due to the overpopulation of Elephants.

Lion is very seldom eaten, unfortunately its not good eating like the Mt lion in the States.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Why do you hunt deer? You might answer for food, fun and herd management / conservation purposes.

That's exactly why people hunt those animals you mentioned (except they share the food widely with needy people).

[Iron]

Thank's for the education..i must say im suprised the meat is that good, but i will take your word for it. I dont think an African Safari is something id ever want to do, but to those that do. good luck be safe and shoot straight!

Jason

[Terry Green]

Exactly Ben....those folk over there could say the opposite......

Why would they want to shoot a little o'l deer?

[calgarychef]

I think this is an interesting discussion and there are a lot of ways at looking at things.

Let me preface this by saying that at home I eat absolutely everything that I hunt, and I never waste game.  I also teach classes on game utilization so that others can learn to butcher and cook their own stuff.

However if a trophy hunter was to shoot something, take the horns, cape etc. and leave the rest to rot.  Nature would see to it that nothing was wasted.  One could go even argue that taking the meat out of the ecosystem where it "belonged" and would be utilized is wrong.  

Think of a cape buffalo dying of old age if that were possible and getting eaten by everything in the area.  Crocs, birds, lions etc. would have a great little bonanza of free meat.  That's not much different than a hunter shooting it, taking the horns and leaving the rest to nature.  

The additional benefit of trophy hunting is as mentioned the economic impact in the area.  So although I'm not a trophy hunter in the strict sense I'm not against those who are they might actually be better "conservationists" than a meat hunter.

the chef

[cch]

When we were there my PH said he was never hungry enough to eat a zebra. When my buddy shot one we wanted it grilled up. Everyone that ate it said it was the best meat that we had on our trip. My PH snuck some and the next day he told me that a zebra would never go to waste again. He had never tried it in 15 years of guiding?

[Johan van Niekerk]

Many people are reluctant to eat zebra due to its close relation to horse. In SA horse meat is not something you can buy at the local butcher. In Europe, horse meat is freely available and often on the menu. That said, even if the PH himself are reluctant to eat it, the locals generally have no such hangups. And yes, they do eat baboon too. Lion is rarely eaten, elephant meat is fantastic. I've had a lot of elephant biltong (dried meat) before and it is really good.

What I want to know is whether or not bear is any good?? You guys ever say "Man that bear loin was awesome" ?

[COOCH]

Johan IMHO no bear meat is not any good I've shot a few and do not care for it.But zebra on the other hand Bring it on and don't call me late for dinner.

[kota-man]

I've eaten Blesbok, Implala, Kudu, Wart Hog, Gemsbok, Bush Buck, Nyala, Reed Buck, Buffalo, and Zebra...AND drum roll please..."man zebra loin is the best!"  and I mean it.

[J-dog]

Zebra is awesome! I love zebra - not done the elephant but would love to try it. Had Giraffe biltong that was really good and I carried many days in my ruck as a snack.

Nothing goes to waste there though - we are way more wastfule of our meat,

J

[J-dog]

Kudu is good as well - the one I did not get to try was Eland which they say is some top rate meat. Really did not throw my opinion (key word "mine") at your question. But if you look historically at how hunting these animals has been what has saved them from extinction in many areas. hunting them is a good thing.

People all have their preferences at what they think is huntable to them or not but then you cannot put your ideas on others - me, I USED to think I dont want to kill a wolf - I liked them as creatures - thought they were cool and wondered why someone would shoot one?. But then I got older and learned they need to be hunted, as does everything else.

J

[eugeneb]

Had some kudu, eland, gemsbuck (oryx), springbuck, warthog, ostrich, impala ... my best was the springbuck and gemsbuck (suppose a lot depends how the meat is prepared) ... also delicous was the gemsbuck testicals in Namibia (seriously, like bone marrow ... looks like meat/mince balls when prepared) ... the worst I tried was leopard ... hard to describe the smell, could not even take a bite ... everything the meat touched (other meat, grill and utencils) just smelled this very strong odour ... difficult to describe ... the meat also had a light colour to it

[Wile E. Coyote]

Another vote for Zebra! Also as a testomony, one night we had grilled steaks from all the plains game we killed and all the guides and PH's went for the Zebra first.

[Boesman]

Jason, I'm with you on the Lion and Elephant. I understand their commercial value is what keeps them alive as species. Because of that I am grateful to the trophy hunting fraternity who pay top dollar to hunt these beasts. Me - I'm happy to hunt run-of-the-mill antelope, not for their trophies, but for the sheer thrill of getting my own meat.

[briandean]

For interest sake - the South African Bowhunter Magazine is presently running a series on how conservationists will cause the extinction of many wild animals in South Africa. Someone mentioned earlier about the need to hunt to sustain wildlife - especially as humans have erected fences - causing 'unnatural' boundaries - leading to overpopulation etc.  http://www.africasbowhunter.co.za/   I think there is an option to subscribe to the electronic version. b.t.w. I have no stake in the magazine :-)
Great thread this - I'll try any meat - mammal, insect, reptile, bird you name it.