The use of poison by farmers to control livestock predators is a major threat to vulture populations across Africa. In Namibia, there is now some understanding of poison use on commercial farms, but the situation in the communal farmlands is still poorly understood. Using a series of 36 questions, I interviewed 367 communal farmers to assess the prevalence of poison use across the north-west, north and eastern communal land. I found that 18% (SE 2.8) of farmers had killed a predator in the last year and 1.7% (SE 2.1) used poison to do so. I mapped the probability of poison use across the communal regions surveyed and found that poison use is predicted to be higher (up to 7% of farmers using poison) in some areas of the upper north-west. In contrast to previous research, those living adjacent to protected areas did not experience greater losses to predators and as a result were not more inclined to use poison. I found that those using poison are more likely to own greater numbers of livestock, particularly large livestock. Overall, my study suggests that poison use is approximately 12 times lower in the communal areas than on commercial farms. A number of farmers expressed that it is dangerous to use poison on communal land as the risk of non-target impacts is much higher where the land is not fenced and is communally used.