FIREARMS | HUNTING STORY
A Game of
Zebras!
Michael Nitsch and Simone Helmich of Team Winz, hunt for Zebra in Namabia
Up early for a check zero; always a must after a long journey with your rifle!
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very natural experience evokes emotions. Especially when hunting, it is completely different feelings. Given there are pro and anti hunting factions, the reactions are often very different, especially when it comes to Zebras! People feel differently when looking at the hunting of large game. One might react with anger and rejection, another enjoys it and perhaps envies the hunter. When it comes to a game of Zebras, the emotions drift far apart and even among supporters of the hunt, it creates a lot of discussion. So, before I tell you about this hunt in Namibia, we must ask ourselves the question, what is the reason?
FOR AND AGAINST A Zebra provides unbelievable culinary delights and the species are not endangered! Also, the hunting and control of the species is just as necessary in many parts of Africa, as is keeping wild boar numbers down in Germany. However, on the other side of the coin, they look like horses and also their exotic appreance is pleasing, so it’s easy to see why the anti-hunters feel the way they do. Other reasons do not seem plausible to us at all. If we take a
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closer look at the Zebra, we find out quickly that they do have their origin in the horse, but have already developed in a different direction. Today, we distinguish them essentially in the three types: Plains, Grévy’s and Mountain species. None can be ridden, nor trained to pull a cart though attempts in this direction have existed in the last centuries, but this has been achieved only with a handful of exceptions. As a supplier of valuable game, however, the zebra has served our ancestors and people to this day. It’s the Zebra’s exotic colouration that leads to discussions among the hunters, a subject that puzzles us and is open to conjecture even to this day. Why are they so strikingly marked, there are a few theories and there is probably a mixture of the following opinions? The stripes protects it from the dangerous tsetse fly, since these with their facet eyes cannot properly see the animal. They are used for recognition within the herd because it is proven that each pattern is unique, just like the human fingerprint. They help in temperature regulation, while the black attracts the sun, the white reflects and thus creates a cooling air turbulence. Or
even as a form of mass camoflauge, as it‘s impossible for predators to recognise a single animal in a herd.
WINDHOEK In February, my partner Simone and I flew to Frankfurt and then on to Windhoek, as it was high time to visit our dear friends at the Hummelshain farm. With a little luck, this season brings the much needed rain and you hunt in a colorful flowering landscape. Unfortunately, it had not yet arrived and fodder had to be supplied to the cattle and local game animals. Shortly before our arrival, it had started to rain and nature was bursting with energy. Sitting here in Germany, you can hardly imagine how important and life giving rain can be. In the faces of our Namibian friends one could read the relief. The water stored in dams would last for a long time to supply all needs. First thing the next morning we were on the shooting range to confirm our rifles were zeroed. Once done, there was the question from our guide; what did we want to hunt? Simone promptly replied Zebra, as she had always been fascinated by this species. They are not only graceful and difficult to stalk, they also deliver excellent game and a