Hello from South Africa.

I couldn't seem to find a section on the Forum where new members can introduce themselves. I thought it would be polite to introduce myself - especially since I am not from the United States.

My name is Dimitri. I was introduced to hunting by my late father from the time I could walk/hold a gun. My dad and I had wonderful times in the field together and I continue that now with my own children.

I decided to join this Forum for a change of scenery from the South African Forums and to learn more about how things are done in the US.

I look forward to meeting some members online, learning about the various species you hunt in Texas and how you hunt them.

'Nice to sit at your campfire.

All the best.

Dimitri

Welcome aboard. This is a great forum. I dont think there is an intro place so you did good. You may get a few that ask you if you are conservative or liberal or if you like beans in your chili and such but ill let them do that.

Welcome to the forum Dimitri.
Glad to have you here.

Welcome aboard.

Welcome Boet!

I hope that you'll feel as welcome here as I have been made to feel when visiting your country! I believe that you'll find the vast majority here to be a friendly, helpful lot...I'm glad you're here!

Mark

Howdy! Nice to have you here.

howdy

Thanks very much for the warm welcome guys!

Other than saying that I support whoever does the best job for the people, I prefer to plead the 5th on matters political. (I think part of the charm of hunting, and maybe even hunting forums, is to escape politics and other heavy issues for a while :D).



Mark, dankie. Lekker boet. (Mark, thank-you. Nice brother)

Welcome, Dimitri! This is a fun group of (mostly) Texans. And from the folks I've met from SA, there are some similarities in humor and attitudes.

If you really want to get off on the right foot with the forum members, I suggest you start a thread about using an AR platform (in .223/5.56) on white tail deer, or ask a question about the pros/cons of hunting a high-fence ranch versus a low-fence ranch. And if you are not familiar with the differences, sit back and watch the responses.

JUST KIDDING - better these be avoided at all costs!

Again, welcome!

For second when I saw your first name I thought you were a friend of mine from South Texas.

Warm welcome Dimitri!! There's some good people on this forum!!

JR

Welcome DImitiri. I'm a big fan of your country and hope to go there again some day. Are you by chance a PH? Or do you just hunt for pleasure?

And do you hate baboons as badly as we hate feral hogs?

WELCOME, I missed the opportunities for visiting your part of the world. but watch and read every thing I can on S.A.

ta HF

Thanks Dalroo.

I don't own an AR and haven't fired one since I did my national army service many years ago. So I will leave that subject to the guys/girls with more experience.

High fence ranching is a very interesting subject. Lots to discuss there.

I guess there are topics which tend to raise the temperatures in whatever country they are discussed. In SA topics that are guaranteed to end up in heated debates are:

Hunting ethics in general
Best calibre (or caliber) for a specific purpose
Best allround calibre
Toyota vs Ford
Breeding of colour variants (that topic has died down in the last 2 years but at one stage there was not a day that went by without an argument about it) and other selective breeding
Long range shooting
Shooting from vehicles
Best bullet make
Farmed lions

I haven't been on this Forum long but from the little I have seen from browsing a few topics the tone seems to be friendly and respectful. That is one of the reasons why I chose to join this Forum and not another US Forum.

I think robust debate on any topic is healthy provided that people do not start becoming insulting or personal with one another.

What part of Texas is South Africa?......just kidding, welcome!

Thank you dkershen. We would love to have you back in SA again. Also, we NEED to have you all back when possible.

No, I am not a PH. I hunt for pleasure.

I think the difference between feral hogs and baboons is that, although both can be very destructive, feral hogs are not indigenous to the US. When their population grows at the expense of local fauna and flora then that is a good reason to dislike them and to want to eradicate them.

Although I have shot 28 different furred species in SA, I have never shot a baboon. They are intelligent and super-wary and I have had very few chance encounters with them and because they do play a role in the environment I just let them be. If I was a crop farmer I might be inclined to shoot them on sight as most crop farmers do. They can be terribly destructive. However, once you have shot one or two by chance they get the picture and become ultra-wary and then you have make careful and specific plans and be prepared to take long shots if you want to keep them in check. Even in areas where there are no crops they can cause damage. They are known to catch and kill lambs and if you don't have big dogs and an electrical fence around your property when you go on holiday then you may return to find all sorts of damage to your gutters, satellite dish, aerials etc. A friend of mine built a hanger opposite his farmhouse under which he parked his new fancy harvester with fancy built in GPS and computer. Worth a lot of money. He took his family on holiday for a week and on his return he found the baboons had visited the hanger. They had ripped out all the wiring, electricals, display monitors and anything else that could be ripped out of the harvester and tractors. He found bits and pieces scattered around the hanger and the surrounding bush and some he never found. He also found generous deposits made by the baboons all over the show. If you had asked my friend if he hates baboons as much as you hate feral pigs he would have said "no, I hate them more!"

Thanks again for everyone's warm welcome.

Welcome to THF sir!

Welcome to the THF.