As everyone in the passive game capturing business can attest to is that Impala can sometimes be very temperamental in their willingness to make an appearance, when attempting to capture them.
They are very sensitive to disturbances that affect their routine and will often change this routine for weeks on end until they feel safe again.
These disturbances are often related to climate changes, such as rain and or fluctuations in temperature. Then of course there are human disturbances of which, we, in our industry, are always guilty of in our attempts to capture this finicky antelope.
This video is of our first catch after two weeks on the same property. At first, we had a quick catch and thereafter everything went south.
We unfortunately intervened and replaced their water supply in order to have it in the boma.
We regretfully altered their pathways to and from the boma according to what we thought would be best. And finally, the landowner, with good intentions though, disturbed the animals in such a way that we were forced to relocate the Valboma to another area on the property.
At the new site, we were careful to disturb as little as possible and set the Valboma quickly and effectively.
And then the weather changed. The temperature dropped to 7 degrees and it started to rain. Our capture was halted and delayed for a week.
Finally, we were able to resume our contract and on the first evening, we were able to catch these Impala ewes.
We have learned from our mistakes and will continue to improve our methods. Now if someone can just teach us how to control the weather!
~Pieter Hattingh
