The universal principle is that hunters are guests on the game farm who should conduct themselves accordingly. The fact that you are a paying guest should not make any difference to your behaviour. Unfortunately, we live in an era where bad manners combined with an attitude of entitlement have become a norm in our society.

The nature of the offenses indeed questions the mentality of these hunters. Would they also act this way in their daily conduct? The universal complaint is alcohol abuse, which leads to irresponsible, rude, and arrogant behaviour. There are examples of hunters who, under the influence of alcohol, damage property, consume alcohol on hunting vehicles, and even when handling firearms, as well as unsafe firearm handling in general.

Some hunters also deny wounding shots and refuse to pay for the game or try to bribe the guide to stay quiet about the wounded game. Then there are hunters who do not want to search for wounded animals and are willing to pay for it but immediately want to try hunting another animal.

Hunters are often unprepared for the hunt because they did not practise at the shooting range beforehand. Sometimes their equipment (rifle/ammunition or scope) is not of acceptable quality, yet they still insist on hunting, often resulting in wounded game.

Hunters also disregard instructions from farmers not to shoot a certain species or gender of a species, e.g. a kudu bull or certain breeding specimens. These hunters often insist on shooting these animals. They think because they can pay, they will get away with it and merely tell the landowner to invoice accordingly.

Another example is a hunter who wanted to shoot a red hartebeest bull but shot a calf instead. The excuse was that the guide did not point out to him that it was not a bull. “Don’t worry” he said, “I will pay the price for a bull”. Such hunters fail to understand that the decision to pull the trigger rests with the hunter and therefore the responsibility for the result, is his as well.

Many hunters do not understand (or they just do not care) that firewood is a precious resource that should be used with consideration of the source. Firewood is a product that can provide a useful income for the game farm owner, yet it is often made available to hunters for free on many farms. Making unnecessarily large fires (where no one can get close to them) that consume heaps of wood is a major concern for many farm owners. Firewood is a privilege that hunters should use judiciously. If you had to buy the same amount of wood, you would probably think twice before making a large fire.

Littering is another problem that game farmers have to deal with. Hunters should only leave their footprints behind, not their rubbish. Treat hunting vehicles at your disposal with respect, keep them tidy and do not abuse it. It is expensive for game farmers to maintain and repair these vehicles.

There are also hunters who insist on paying cash because they do not want to pay VAT. This creates a problem for the farm owner who is a registered VAT vendor. He must charge VAT when he invoices the hunter, or he will be breaking the law and face prosecution. The hunter cannot expect the farmer to act outside the law.

There are many more examples of irresponsible behaviour. It is a pity that a certain group of hunters damage the reputation of other responsible hunters. There are already game farmers in South Africa and Namibia that no longer allow South African hunters on their farms. Once game farms’ quota of trophy animals has been hunted by e.g., foreign hunters, the remaining game is either culled with the help of harvesting teams or captured alive by game capture teams and sold. Other game farm owners have a philosophy of allowing only hunting groups they know or their friends to hunt and do not permit new hunters. This trend holds nothing good for hunters in the long term.