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Thread: Jackal control myths
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10-12-2019, 23:12 #11
- Join Date
- Feb 2019
- Posts
- 149
Re: Jackal control myths
Well my hands are tied now either way as I merely live and work on this property and do not own it and powers that be(some 50% of which are anti gun AND anti anytingtodowithhunting)have ruled in favour of keeping them. Well safe to say that should I be asked at a later stage to help maybe I'll just say "you are the experts, perhaps you deal with it in your way"
On a side note even a month ago I actually was walking and stalking them in the early hours of the mourning just before sunrise around 4.45am. They would be returning from raids at the chicken farm across us. As it's quite mountainous I would hike south up the prop to the very to hills then cut across another few kilos to a quad bike track used for guests.
Twice now I reach this section of track and start down it into the valley, to get within 50 or so meters of first one adult and recently two young uns.
The first occasion the adult was just trotting along this track when i spotted it, as I raised the rifle the bloody nylon cartridge holders velcro made a slight scraping noise. Mr Jackal bolted so fast the round only blew dust up his tail.
The 2nd chance came a week later. Same MO as before except it was already 7am when I got to the track as I chose a different route that was a bit tough going through some ravines. Thinking it's late now and I'm on my way home anyways I unload, drop the rounds in my breast pocket, make safe and hit a scouts pace home. Bloody hell same spot I find two young uns maybe 60m distant. As I pull the bolt back one sees me and bolts. The second one is lower down by a stream and hasn't yet figured out which direction its gonna go. As the cross hair lines up between its eye though it jumps forward between two boulders and its gone.
Yeah haha will be quiet weekends ahead.
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07-01-2020, 08:49 #12
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
- Location
- Bloemfontein, OFS
- Age
- 37
- Posts
- 266
Re: Jackal control myths
As someone who does predator control for an income, I can say the following:
The myth of numbers exploding when a dominant jackal is killed is wrong.
Dead jackal can't multiply, and they can't catch livestock. After a jackal is killed in an area, another would come into that area, but for the 4-12 weeks that takes, stock losses would not occur.
Keep continuous pressure on them. 3 months apart is a good period. Any closer, then they get used to a specific method.
Sort out your fences and gates. Jackal proof fences packed with rocks at the bottom works well. An electric strand at the top and as a trip wire is good.
Vary your control methods. Night shooting, helicopters, leg hold traps etc. all has their place.
Control them at the right time. I like the following 4 times to go to a farm:
June - August is best for the farmer because most females are pregnant, so 1 dead female = a few dead jackal. Pairs are very territorial then, so they get killed with relative easy by an experienced hunter.
September - November is good for very sly jackal since it's denning season. Their protective instinct over the den is what gets them killed.
December - February you'll see tons of dead jackal pics on social media since the pups are mobile and get called in pretty easily. Even Kurt Darren music and a screaming fanbelt on the bakkie would get the youngsters coming in
March - May is when jackal form pairs. Those that survived the past year will stay in their pairs and those without mates will find one and occupy a vacant territory and mate. If you kill them now, they will not get to breed, which means the population would stay relatively low. March is also a month where big numbers are shot. Think of a bunch of matric lighties at Plett Rage. They all want to fight and f#*k, getting reaction out of them is quite easy.
Lastly, if you get a jackal hunter, make sure he has the right equipment and experience. A white bakkie is spotted a mile away. I don't know of any full time hunter that uses a white bakkie. Silver, grey, black, brown, blue, red and green are the best colors for night hunting.
If a hunter pitches up without a proper chair or hunting frame and tells you that he's going to shoot off the roof with his .22Magnum fitted with 4x32 Tasco, beware.
Unfortunately those types are unavoidable and a farmer can choose whoever he wants on his farm but in the long run more damage is done than good.
Serious hunters use serious equipment.
Scopes with excellent glass/ night vision / thermal and calibers that are fast enough to kill at unknown distances at night and callers that are remote controlled so that the predator is called away from the vehicle/hunter.
Proper jackal rifles.
Both in .243Ackley
70gr Ballistic Tip at 3830fps or 55gr Ballistic Tip at 4300fps
One fitted with March 2.5-25x52 and another with an ATN Mars4 4.5-18x Thermal scope.
The right equipment.
Lightforce light, Foxpro callers, GPS, rangefinder and 4x4 vehicle in good running order.
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07-01-2020, 09:17 #13
- Join Date
- Jan 2019
- Location
- JHB and BFN
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- 47
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- 1,521
Re: Jackal control myths
Excellent and very informative info Jackal.204
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07-01-2020, 14:55 #14
- Join Date
- Nov 2014
- Posts
- 137
Jackal control myths
On our own property, also neighbouring KZN wildlife we have had proper control of jackal population as Jackal204 stated since 2015.
What have I noticed- Direct losses due to jackal that have come right down. These are losses that are due to jackal, not animals dying of other causes then scavenged by jackal.
2014 lost 24 calves 12 cows and 96 sheep.
2015 - 7 calves 4 heiffers and 14 sheep
2016 - 3 calves
2017 - 2 calves and 3 sheep
2018 - 2 calves
2019 - 1 sheep.
The proof is in the pudding.
Other than the livestock that we can physically count and check each day, have noticed increase in Oribi numbers since 2014 as we do a yearly count of oribi. Reedbuck also doing very well.
Things like pheasants and Guinea fowl also showing healthier populations.
Hares were almost non existent, we see a lot of them now.
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07-01-2020, 21:39 #15
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
- Location
- Milliways
- Age
- 51
- Posts
- 339
Re: Jackal control myths
So wait, what you really saying is that them bunny huggers are WRONG?
Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
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07-01-2020, 21:43 #16
- Join Date
- May 2010
- Location
- Right next to the pot that needs stirring.
- Age
- 45
- Posts
- 2,169
Re: Jackal control myths
I don't have a lot of sheep, so they get "kraaled" every night for predator and security purposes. There are a lot of Jackal around, but all my neighbors are game or cattle farmers. Also have cattle myself. Only once did I have a problem with a youngster that caught a lamb in broad daylight. By chance somebody with a .22 LR at hand saw it happened and shot him. The lamb was still alive but died a few hours later. (Stress?) Further than that I don't shoot or even try to shoot jackal. They are not giving any problems for 5 years now on the specific farm. I think they get enough to eat at the neighboring game farms and I am just lucky that there is/was not more of them hunting during the day.
They did kill or just ate an already dead heifer that was lying down over night struggling to calve and we did not spot her having problems earlier. But if they started on her while still alive or if they just did their scavenging job I cannot tell.
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08-01-2020, 08:17 #17
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
- Location
- Milliways
- Age
- 51
- Posts
- 339
Re: Jackal control myths
Great info @Jackal.204 and great equipment
Wow, .243 at 4300 fps.
And then you get the Omie who swears that playing RSG (Radio Sonder Mense) keep them away. (This from past weekends Rapport)
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08-01-2020, 09:09 #18
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- Jul 2011
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- BFN Freestate
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- 45
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- 12,152
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05-02-2020, 13:09 #19
- Join Date
- Jun 2017
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- 841
Re: Jackal control myths
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05-02-2020, 17:42 #20
- Join Date
- Jan 2013
- Location
- Bloemfontein
- Posts
- 112
Re: Jackal control myths
Brenneke, those will be bulletproof Trueworx machines acessorised by Trueworx . But 204 will most definetely tell you more.
Kriek
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