Kudos to Dale
Phil Taunton
Friday, December 12, 2008
Dale Berry of rural Burlington just loves to bowhunt and made an enjoyable trip to the African country of Namibia, where he was able to harvest a Greater Kudu and a Gemsbok.
These animals are a native species of antelope. The Kudu was a real trophy and measured 55 1/2 inches from the horn base following the outside of the curl to the tip of its horn, which makes it roughly the equivalent in score to a Boone and Crockett whitetail deer here.
Namibia is located on the western edge of Africa just up from South Africa. On his trip Dale also saw a menagerie of animals, including ostrich, giraffe, blue and black wildebeest, wart hogs, honey badgers, both mountain and Burchells Zebras, Monitor Lizards and one of the world’s heaviest flying bird, standing over 46 inches tall, the Corrie Bustard.
Namibia was at one time a German colony and the country is rather well developed. It has good roads, schools, and some industry. Its citizens, including native Bushmen, do not own cars. They walk or use ox carts to get from place to place. Taxis are a common means of transportation, with as many as 10 or 12 taxis operating in a city the size of Burlington. Namibia is a semi-desert country for the most part, greatly resembling much of the American west. The land Dale hunted was on the edge of the Kalahari Desert.
Much of the native cuisine Dale ate on the trip had a German flair to it, such as puff adder — a sausage made from the colon, liver and kidney of an array of various critters. I know this dish would need several secret ingredients and spices preceded by some strong ale to suit my palate! Other than many different types of sausages, Dale’s party ate a great deal of steak and potato meals. Steaks, from native game such as Springbok, Eland, Ostrich, Red Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Gemsbok and Kudu were cooked over an open fire each night. They called this type of cooking a Bree, the African name for barbeque. Dale’s trip, with flight time over 26 hours, covered a little more than 10,000 miles each way.
While on my way over to the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operation Corporation and Green Team’s youth deer hunt early last Saturday morning, I listened to one of my favorite outdoor shows, called Field and Stream Radio. The host mentioned that a “Song of Africa” gets into your blood and you want to return. I thought of Dale’s trip and hunting in general. Some people think of hunting as a sport, but it’s really more than that. Hunting is a heritage and tradition that provides exercise and food for the body. More importantly, it is nourishment to the soul. An Outdoors Adventure’s “Tip of the Hat” to Dale and special thanks for his contribution to this story. Hunter’s dilemma, Part II
“A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than by a mob of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.”— “A Sand County Almanac: Essays on Conservation,” Aldo Leopold
There are ethics, and then there is the law. Anyone who hunts deer or pursues any species of wounded game might be faced with this dilemma. An animal has been mortally wounded and jumps the fence or flies onto property the hunter doesn’t have permission to hunt. Near Melvern or John Redmond, it might even go onto a refuge area. What actions can be legally taken by the hunter to recover this animal?
Kansas Statute 27-3728 states that trespassing onto property you don’t have permission to be on is permitted by licensed hunters in order to pursue a wounded game bird or animal, except if the owner or authorized agent of said property asks the hunter to leave, the hunter must leave immediately. If the person fails to leave such land when told to do so, they are subject to provisions of the criminal trespass law. The most current version can be found on the legislative website, www.kslegislature.org. And please remember regulations vary in different states and on federal land. It is the hunter’s responsibility to know the law.
Another thing to keep in mind is that it is unlawful to waste game. Hunters are obligated to make every effort possible to retrieve game whether wounded or dead, even if it goes onto someone else’s property. This is a Catch-22 if there ever was one and can lead to all sorts of situations and confrontations if not handled right.
My “guesstimation” is that in order to avoid any conflict with an adjacent landowner, always receive permission before pursuing wounded game onto another’s property. You might even talk to these property owners weeks in advance of your hunt.
If you can’t find the landowner and you believe the animal is mortally wounded, leave your firearm or bow at the fence or boundary line. As a hunter, and not one who is involved in criminal trespass and uses “recovery of game” as an alibi, if the landowner is adamant that you don’t pursue the wounded animal on said property, leave the property and call your county sheriff. That’s the quickest way to get in touch with the area Natural Resource Officer. Together, you both might be able to talk to the landowner and recover your quarry. Even though I value property rights over that of the hunter, I for sure wouldn’t want an animal to suffer or go to waste.