Nite of the Jackal

NASA

NASA

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Last night on cable was National Geographic's special on the black-backed jackal. The documentary
was an incredible parallel to the one done on coyotes. There was even a segment where two "varmint"
hunters went out, at night, (in the desert wearing full jungle camo) with an e:caller and red-lensed spot to
"get a sheep killer". They boasted they were going to target the actual killer. They finally spotted one, but he
was a little call shy. So they both whip out their hand calls and simultaneously start blowing the most hilariously
sounding calls ever. Even the narrator commented that only a jackal could appreciate that sound. And, for the
benefit of the story, the jackal immediately cooperates and turns around and trots towards the truck. At about 50 yds.
out they cut loose with what looked like .308's. Smoked him! The next morning an "autopsy" confirmed sheep
remains in the critter. Confident they got the perp, they congratulated on a "job well done"!
What bugged me was the ready acceptance that sheep remains in the stomach was sufficient evidence of the actual "killer".
Gutting a dozen vultures, ravens, fox, or hyenas in the area would have produced the same evidence. These two
gentlemen were being promoted as "professional" varmint hunters.
 
Nasa;

I missed the show but I am relived that they made the hunters the hero’s this time. Works like that usually cast a poor light on hunters. They generally portray us as evil bloodthirsty heathens drawing no distinctions between poachers and us. Only time will tell if it was the jackal was really the culprit or not but I would be satisfied with the conclusion given the evidence at hand.

I don’t know the details of the show but as a side note I will ad that if they were in South Africa the only real possibility other than jackal would be caracal. Both the Bat-eared and the cape fox are very small and could not bring down a full-grown sheep. Hyenas have all but been shot out of South Africa. The only remaining ones are in the reserves usually far away from the sheep districts. I am a far cry from being an expert on this subject but that is just my 2 cents worth. I hope I catch the replay.

Good hunting.

Q-Wagoner
 
Q- it was S. Africa. But the point I was getting at was that any of the local predators/scavengers could have fed on that carcass after it was killed. Including other jackals. To me, they only proved that the one they shot had been in the area. As far as the variety of sheep killing predators in that region, we need Lochi to weigh in with his local expertise.
Oh, and for the houndsmen among us, there was a segment on hunting jackals with (sorry) kill dogs. They had a JRT that would go down into the hole and chase the critter out the back door where the pack was waiting. Awesome.
 
Nasa;

I am sorry about misinterrupting your post. I have only been to Africa once “primarily to hunt jackal” so Lochi would definitely be more schooled in this subject than I. However I believe that he was the one telling me about the hyena situation they’re to begin with. I desperately want to shoot one when I go back in July.

Were has Lochi been any way? I haven’t seen him around in a while. I need to e-mail him to see if we are still on for this summer.

If you hear of a replay of the show, please post the time and date. I would love to see it.

Thanks

Q-Wagoner
 
Didn't know of this thread until Quinton e-mailed me, thanx.

NASA, Quinton is playing humble boy here. He has taken several jackal in SA, hunting with a guy Heinrich who knows what's cooking, so he is well informed on the topic.

Yes, we have local TV shows of the kind too. I did not view the one you refer to, but I read your sentiment and can imagine the amateurish behaviour of the "actors". On the programmes I saw here, they would be calling like a constipated elephant, miss the critter with booming heavy caibers, macho boast and finally have their dogs kill an innocent bat-eared fox or aardwolf. All this is great propaganda for us hunters of course, the antis love it.
Quinton will probably agree that there are merely a handful of serious callers in SA And these guys had their schooling strongly influenced by American callers. It would be stupid not to learn from the womb of predator calling. When Leonard was night-hunting jackal with me last year, he also mentioned the remarkable similarity between Canis latrans and C. mesomelas.
I studied the local problem animal issue some years back by reading dissertations by people like Proff. Bothma and Ferguson, then summarised some of it on my site. Check this link
http://www.affordableafricanhunting.co.za/Children%20of%20Predator%20Calling/super_predator!1.htm
Yes. of course it could be any scavenger that took the remains.
Rule of thumb is to look for signs of killing method (eg. throat) and signs of feeding (eg. intestines first vs. hind quarters first) to distinguish between jackal and caracal. Both have canines about 1 inch apart (JRT size).
Feral dogs are said to kill 7 times more sheep than Black backed jackal.
Cape fox only takes very small lambs, occasionally.
Brown hyena will take sheep and even cattle, but they are very scarce.

Two-legged predators steel millions of sheep. That's where the focus should be, although it is lately their political right to take what they think ought to be theirs (such as my car radio). But now I am whining.

Lochi.
 
Lochi, you have almost described the program I viewed. Even the part where the dogs kill a termite-eating aardwolf. Quinton and Leonard are fortunate to have had the opportunity to go to SA and predator call in veritable virgin territory. I didn't know the hyena was in trouble until Q mentioned it. Do you ever see any sign of the Cape hunting dog? I understand they are considered endangered now. Thank goodness the jackal has the same survival instincts as the coyote.
 
NASA;

This may not be my place to reply but I believe that the African wild dog has been shot out of South Africa except for maybe a small population in Kruger. They are technically “endangered” according to the Smithsonian but then again they also list the Caribou as endangered. It is undeniable that their populations are a fraction of what they once were but with their prolific breeding habits management should be easy much like our prairie dog. The number one threat to the dog is habitat loss. They cannot adapt to civilization as readily as the jackal.

As far as the jackal goes I can say with my limited experience they are very similar to the coyote. I noticed a lot of similar species as well. The Cape fox resembles the Kit fox and the Bat-eared resembles the gray fox not just in appearance but behaviorally also. I could name many others but it would be beyond the scope of this post. One last thing though, in defense of the jackal. They are not as easy as one might think. The Cape fox yes, defiantly but not the jackal. It is in less populated countries such as Botswana and Zimbabwe the jackal can be found in large populations and be seen readily in the day time. Although jackals “can” be seen in the day, they have become mostly nocturnal especially in sheep producing areas such as the Free State. They are persecuted much like the coyote they learn like the coyote and they can definitely be as tuff to call as the coyote.

Good hunting.

Q-Wagoner
 
I echo what Q said about the dogs, except that they do not breed all that easily. Social complications like litters being killed by seemingly stupid adults, and other problems make the progress slow. But there are a few other populations outside of Kruger too.
As a bow hunter I spend many days in ambush at waterholes. It is common for jackal to come in for a drink in day time, even caracal. But that is Bushveld (cattle area) not Freestate or Cape (sheep) where they are pursued by farmers, as Q said.
Check out this link for pictures and descriptions of these critters.

http://www.affordableafricanhunting.co.za/Children%20of%20Econo%20Game/Narratives/econo_game.htm

Lochi.
 
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