In Grayal Farr’s piece on St. Vincent Island he wondered if anyone ever hunted zebras. I knew they were sometimes used as lion bait but hadn’t really thought about the matter much. Reader (and writer you should read) Tom McIntyre writes: “Curiously, I just completed a feature story on this very topic, which will appear in Sports Afield”.
You’ll have to wait for the magazine to read the whole thing, but he writes an eloquent tribute to the beauty and toughness of these wild equids, reminding us our ancestors revered such animals as quarry. “Why does the most recognizable African big-game animal also happen to be the one that seems to earn the least respect from the hunters who pursue it on safari? It is certainly no fault of the animal’s. There is probably none other as visually arresting; and when it comes to stamina and sheer toughness, few equals exist…I find nothing trivial or ad hoc about hunting them. Zebras are never an afterthought on a safari for me, but a deliberate goal”.
Even some hunters seem to have difficulty with the thought of hunting certain species. I found the same thing to be true when I went hunting kangaroos.
A big red kangaroo is difficult to stalk, and their pelts make striking trophies (at least to me). But even many hunters questioned why I went on a hunting trip for them.
They certainly are not rare; on a good day’s hunt we would encounter hundreds of kangaroos. It must just be that some animals seem more like “zoo” or “cartoon” animals than others.
I have a shoulder mount of a big red ‘roo; the most common reaction is: “You didn’t really SHOOT that, did you?”
I have never hunted zebras but there is an outfitter offering a wilderness backpack hunt for mountain zebra in Namibia. It is probably the least expensive wilderness hunt you can do in Africa today. The zebras are supposed to be wary, live in the mountainous plateaus of Namibia and require long days of hiking and stalking. Sounds fun…