Working for your benefit for more than 70 years
Fifty hunters met at the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria on a Saturday morning, October 1, 1949, to establish the Transvaal Hunters Association. At that stage, game was shot on an unbridled basis and a hunters’ association was seen to be in a position to change the situation around. Right from the very beginning, conservation was part of the activities of the Transvaal Hunters’ Association. The authorities fully supported this development and the Administrator of Transvaal became the patron of the Association. Other honorary members included the provincial secretary, governor general of Mozambique, minister of Lands, deputy commissioner of Police, the conservator of Fauna and Flora and the head of the National Zoological Gardens.
The Association obtained hunting opportunities in Bechuanaland [now Botswana], Angola and Mozambique for its members. In 1957, the Association changed its name to the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association. Membership numbers increased to 286 with members in the Transvaal, Orange Free State, Natal, Cape Province, South West Africa and Rhodesia.
The Association made donations to the National Parks Board for “Operation Rhino”, the Hungarian emergency relief fund, Pietersburg Municipality Game Park and Wildlife Management Chair at the University of Pretoria.
Membership numbers grew systematically and when the Association reached its sixtieth year it had more than 30 000 registered members represented by 69 branches. By 2015, SAHGCA had over38 500 paid-up members and 74 branches nationwide. SAHGCA also provides support to branches of the Namibian Hunters and Game Conservation Association.
The main objective of the Association is to serve the interests of hunters, sportshooters and game farmers in South Africa through service excellence by:
In profound acknowledgement to the Almighty, Creator of all life and with sincere appreciation of the universe in the sublime totality thereof, I hereby pledge myself as a hunter and a member of the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association to:
