Mzansi Agriculture Talk caught up with Makena Ngoato, a licensed Hunting Outfitter and Wildlife Trader in North West Province, to understand the pros and cons of wildlife hunting. Ngoato is licensed as a professional hunter in North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Kwazulu-Natal provinces.
Q: When and how did you get into wildlife hunting? Was it a passion from the young age or is it something you stumbled upon as you were growing up?
A: Growing up in the dusty rural village of Shakung during the apartheid South Africa when public transport was scares and electricity was unheard of, accessing resources and storing food was different. I was born fourth in a family of five boys. My father passed on when I was five years old, my eldest brother was 15 and my younger brother was only two years old. My mother was unemployed and that pushed us into survival mode and we had to depend on what nature could provide at the time.
Eating morogo (wild spinach) back in the days was not as fancy as it is today because it was the only option we had. My second eldest brother was good at trapping and using a slingshot, he always brought home larger birds like guinea fowl and small mammals like hares. I looked up to him and wanted to be like him.
The day he left to join the army he went out in the morning and brought home several quarries, making sure we have meat when he leaves as he was not going to come back anytime soon. When he packed his bags that afternoon and left, I realised that if I needed to eat meat, I must now make a plan myself. I was not good at trapping or using the methods that were used in those days but instead, my younger brother was. He trapped doves, pigeons and other smaller birds and became the next meat provider for the family. This haunted me until I was a grown-up man. It felt like a vacuum that I could not fill.
I started working and years later, I met a man that would make me realise my dreams and change my life completely. The man used to show me his hunting pictures and tell me his hunting stories and that’s when I clicked and realised that I can fulfill my childhood vacuum. I asked him to assist and guide me to become a rifle hunter. He did and the rest was history.
Q: What animal was your first kill and how did it make you feel as a first-time hunter?
A: After buying my first rifle, I started practicing with a local hunting association and I was taught how to hunt legally and safe. During winter, I went back home and took the local cattle herders to the bush and asked them to show me where wild animals were. We went out and it was not difficult to find the first group of impalas. I saw a nice ram and with only one shot to the heart I dropped it. We were all excited but I guess I was the most excited as I finally sealed the vacuum. We shared the meat with herders and I took mine home.
Q: What are the skills required for someone to become a wildlife hunter?
A: It takes endless learning to become a hunter. Firstly, hunting is regulated by the Nature Conservation Act to make sure that people do not overhunt but use our natural resources sustainably while ensuring that property and lives are protected. Some species are protected as their numbers are low and for one to be a hunter they need to know that. In South Africa we have the Firearm Control Act that regulates ownership and usage of firearms. Hunters need to familiarise themselves with these acts.
Secondly, a hunter needs to improve his marksmanship to make sure that he gives the animal a quick and painless death. A well-placed heart or brain shot drops the animal on the spot and it also saves tracking time. Experts say one shot in the bush equals 10 at the shooting range. This means a hunter must train regularly to improve his marksmanship.
Thirdly, a hunter needs to know the names of different animal and bird species that our rich continent (country in this case) provides. You do not want to kill the wrong animal and end up on the wrong side of the law.
Lastly, a hunter needs to know the tracks and signs of animals – past and present. You need to walk into the bush and be able to tell which animals exist in the area just by picking up signs and tracks from the ground, trees, and the surroundings. When following an animal one needs to be able to distinguish its track from many other tracks on the ground.

Q: I understand that one requires a license to hunt professionally. How are these licenses acquired? Is there a course that one has to go through and how long does it take?
A: There is a difference between hunting, professional hunter, dedicated hunter, and an occasional hunter. A professional hunter is a hunting guide, a person who agrees to escort someone who is not a resident of the republic for remuneration. To become a professional hunter in South Africa, one needs to attend training at an accredited hunting academy for ten days and then pass both a general knowledge and a legal exam. Each and every province has its legal exam as their legislations differ. So, one needs to pass the exam of every province that they want to operate in.
A dedicated hunter needs to complete an exam that is set by an accredited association to earn the status of a dedicated hunter and he needs to complete a number of activities at a certain time to maintain his status. Failure to complete the activities will make him forfeit his status and privileges as a dedicated hunter. An occasional hunter only needs a firearm license and a hunting permit from the land owner.
Q: Do you hunt during the day or at night and how do you prepare for hunting?
Hunting on communal land is only allowed during the day unless a special permit is obtained. Different provinces have different regulations and definition of “day” some provinces regard day as 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset while others regard it as one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset. A hunter needs to be aware of regulations of every province they hunt in.
Most private farms possess an Exemption Certificate which exempt them from certain regulations including hunting at night.
Q: How would you describe a normal and fulfilling day in the life of a hunter?
A: The best place and time for me personally is around the fire at night after a successful day. A successful day is a day of hunting an animal on foot, outsmarting it and finally harvesting it. After a challenging day we all come back to the base camp to sit around the fire and quench our thirst and have dinner. This is where we all now tell stories how we were outsmarted by animals and how we outsmarted them. It’s the moment of laughter, as we laugh at each other’s mistakes and congratulate our successes. Every hunter feels fulfilled on a dinner table eating meat from an animal he successfully harvested.
Q: So far, what would you say was your most successful hunt?
A: I have had a few but the recent one was last year in December on a private farm in Zeerust. We spotted a group of impalas at a distance, about a kilometre or more away. We checked the wind and it was blowing away from the animals towards us. This was the first good sign. We began our stalk walking in the bushes towards them but as we draw closer, we realised that they were also walking towards us and chances were that they were going to detect us first as they have stronger senses than us so we moved to the other side. We checked the wind and it was still good and we continued walking. When we reached the place where we thought it would be a perfect spot for us to execute our plan, our view of the herd was obscured. We were looking for a ram as it was December and all females were pregnant. I decided that we take the last risky move. Chances were high that they could see us as we had to cross a 3-metre-wide road with nothing to use as a cover. The hunters were reluctant but as a guide I knew that if we can execute that last move, we will be good. The wind was still in our favour so I told the team that as soon as all animals put their heads down to feed, we cross swiftly and quietly. They dropped their heads as I thought and we crossed successfully but they started moving as if they were starting to smell us. We closed the distance up to almost 80 metres and we set up and waited for a male to appear. Again, as if some super power was working with us, a good old ram appeared and I instructed the shooter to take a shot as soon the ram stops. The ram stopped and a single shot to the heart dropped him there. The whole stalk took about 30 minutes or more but it was worth it.
Q: As a hunter, is it important to study the behaviour of the animal you’re hunting and how does that contribute to the hunting success?
A: Based on the story I told in the previous question, knowing animal behaviour assists a hunter to predict the animal’s next move. If it is a dangerous game this skill can also save lives.

Q: How do you protect yourself from other dangerous animals during the hunt?
A: One needs to remain vigilant at all the times. You need to constantly scan your surroundings, assess the risks, find a safe way to do things, have tolerance for animals as you are in their area and yield when the situation requires. It does not help to act like a Rambo because you are carrying a gun. Dress up accordingly, use insects repellents, and obey all the safety rules.
Q: Some people might see hunting as cruel and an unethical practice. What would you say is the important/positive role played by hunting?
A: Hunting is conservation. Conservation is not sitting back and allowing nature to be. Conservation is getting involved and doing something to help nature take care of itself. Similarly to abortion and birth control in humans, it is not a nice thing in the eyes of many but it is necessary. Hunters harvest free range animals that have a chance to escape with their lives, unlike the ones on the shelves that we all know that they will die when they are six months or two years old. Nobody knows or decides how long a game animal can live unlike the bacon on the shelves that we all know that the piglet will be killed when it is six months old. In hunting, a six-month-old animal is not worth the hunt.
Hunters mostly take big old animals that have lived long and they do it as quickly as possible. If we do not control the wildlife population, they will finish their feed and then starve to death, we constantly as hunters assess the environmental carrying capacity for wild species and take out the excess to create a balance.
Q: What factors do you consider when choosing which animal to hunt?
A: We consider the cost. Meat hunters will look at the body size, the bigger the better. Trophy hunters will look at the horn size and other outstanding features, the more unique, the better.
Q: Also, do you specialise in hunting certain animals or you do all of them?
A: I have an unrestricted licence so I can hunt anything that I have a permit for.
Q: Is wildlife hunting just a hobby or is it something that one can make a living with?
A: I hunt for a living; it is my full-time job.
