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Hunting >> Hunting in Africa & hunting dangerous game
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Schauckis
.300 member


Reged: 17/07/07
Posts: 151
Loc: Finland
Large PG hunt suggestion?
      #186120 - 20/07/11 02:52 AM

When looking at budget price safaris, the PG hunts are always a viable option.
Having been on two thus far (Zim and Namibia) I have had no complaints.
I'm a man of no high means and consequently I have to plan carefully, and make the best of special offers/packages.

Should one wish to conduct a reasonably priced PG hunt focused on larger species, what would be your suggestion:
- location (country)
- species
- caliber for a recoil-shy person. Not looking for the smallest that can kill them all but less in recoil than the .30-06. (O.T. in view of cost and packaging; but I'm always curious as to guns and calibers!)

Duration say 10 days; 7 at a minimum.

Size of the animals:
consider all up to and including giraffe and eland; and the smallest bigger than the impala/springbok sized animals. Honestly, I have no desire whatever to travel 24 hours around half the globe to take $400 shots at animals the size of roe deer when I can go off the coast to Estonia and shoot them almost for free. The most I like is hunting animals on four feet that are about the size of white-tailed deer or bigger.
I have taken two kudu so perhaps surprisingly I have no great desire to go after one more.
I do enjoy hunting wildebeest - have shot blue. Any suggestions including reasonably priced wildebeest would be nice to hear. Have not shot black but they seem expensivish. Suggestions on reasonably priced black are welcome. Ditto zebra.

Country-wise I'll exclude RSA at this point of time.
The daily rates can be low, indeed, but the trophy fees on most species seem to be set for people who cannot do any cost comparisons. Also the sundry costs are often surprisingly high making RSA not cheaper than the competition.

I've noticed that the trophy fees on giraffe and eland have been on the increase. Eland is seldom, I suppose, outright cheap although it can be relatively reasonably priced.
What explains the expensiveness of the giraffe today?

At the beginning of the post I mentioned special deals and packages. I think this is an excellent idea for one who knows what he/she is after. Should the package not be quite to your liking, most outfitters seem keen enough to swap/add some animals and still keep the total price very fair.
This is of course not the case if you add some glamour game (e.g. sable or roan) or the bigger fellows (in practice giraffe and/or eland).

I am not after ideas how to cut costs as such. Having done my reading of NitroExpress.com, having done two trips and having a couple of friends that are very experienced safari hands I have a good picture of the cost structure of a safari and what I wish to or not wish to pay for on future trips.

- Lars/Finland

--------------------
A.k.a. Bwana One-Shot

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tophet1
.400 member


Reged: 15/09/07
Posts: 1873
Loc: NSW, Australia
Re: Large PG hunt suggestion? [Re: Schauckis]
      #186136 - 20/07/11 07:54 AM

Lars,

For best value for money I would recommend a cull hunt. These are sometimes offered towards the end of the hunting season as a management tool in areas where game numbers are excessive.

In the past I have been offered a cull hunt for Bluewildebeast that fell through when the land owner sold up before my arrival. From memory I could have shot 6-9 blue wildebeast (The poor mans buffalo) in Kwa-Zulu Natal for day rates over 5 days (plus I had already planned for other game).

I would not discount South Africa just yet or Namibia. Both of which you are familiar with. The trick is to find these opportunitys which are often word of mouth and last minute. These culls occur and the land owners would prefer you pay day rates to do it, than them having to pay a cull professional to come in or for themselves to do it.

I haven't seen too many cull hunts for larger animals and I'm not confident you would get a giraffe. I have seen cull hunts for Gemsbok offered. I would start spending a lot of time contacting every taxidermist (who are a bit of a hub of info and gossip as everyone comes to them) operator and P/H in southern Africa. Spell out EXACTLY what you want (including the giraffe) and get them to make an offer. Do not accept their opening price. You will be surprised what pops up.

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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member


Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Re: Large PG hunt suggestion? [Re: Schauckis]
      #186140 - 20/07/11 08:56 AM

Lars, one of the reasons that giraffe are expensive is because there simply aren't a whole lot of them, so the law of supply and demand kicks in.

I would suggest contacting several outfitters in Namibia and ask them to put together a hunt specifically for the animals you wish to hunt, then stick to that program. You may be amazed at the hunt for value offers you find, especially toward the end of the season.

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NitroXAdministrator
.700 member


Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39889
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
Re: Large PG hunt suggestion? [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #186181 - 20/07/11 09:52 PM

Lars

Just my opinions.

1. If you want to hunt specific animals, tailor your hunt to achieving those species. I would pick countries where those species are native and readily available.

In terms of price, Namibia is often very competitively priced. Eland is reasonably common there. I could have taken an eland in Namibia but at the time didn't want another one. I shot mine in the West Nicholson area of Zimbabwe back in 1994.

Black Wildebeest really is South Africa. Unless it is an introduced animal to the hunting area.

Giraffe would probably be in Zimbabwe. Don't remember seeing any in Namibia when hunting there. If I really wanted a Giraffe I would head there.

I haven't hunted in Bots, Moz, Zambia, East Africa so can't comment.

Regarding the "small critters", duikers, klipsringers, reedboks, dik diks, steenboks etc, don't knock them. Often a nice trophy of opportunity. I am becoming more interested in taking trophies of these species in the future. Still don't have a roebuck either! So that's a big trophy for me oneday!

I suppose what I would do if I was you. I would look at what I have taken, do I want to hunt any again? What new species am I interested in? Which species of strong interest?

And plan from there.

For me, I would like to hunt nyala, bushpig, black wildebeest, sable, some of the small guys, perhaps another kudu and eland now as well, plus a lot of other species. More zebra, bushbuck, impala etc. I just like the hunting as well.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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Schauckis
.300 member


Reged: 17/07/07
Posts: 151
Loc: Finland
Re: Large PG hunt suggestion? [Re: NitroX]
      #186214 - 21/07/11 04:26 AM

Thank you so far.
As usual, well thought-of responses to keep up a good discussion!
My initial post was purposefully slightly vague.

Some initial views on the responses, and maybe to keep the discussion going on:

Country-wise the best options for the budget hunter seem to be Zim and Namibia. The price/quality ratio tends to be excellent in both.
Based on more experienced hunters' views, this is not necessarily always so in RSA. Many opine that the hunting in RSA is so industrialized that it has taken the sport out of it. Granted, this is for sure not categorically so. Perhaps one should keep a more open mind anyway.

As an extension of this line of thinking, John certainly hit the nail on the head in commenting about the native animals. Where plenty, often reasonably priced (subject to demand).

The cull hunts would be an option especially if one is looking for quite a limited number of species, yet a high number of game taken at low cost. My biggest concern here is the sporting aspect. I.e. culling is quite something else than a selective trophy hunt.
On the topic of trophies I think that one needs to be cautios here, too. If trophy size/quality is immaterial, i.e. no heads to be shipped home, then a female hunt or a cull type hunt could be a very valid option.

Broadly speaking, I have been eyeing the late season offers.
You spot one and contact the outfitter requesting whether some less desired animals could be swapped for something more desirable, or add +1 of those that you really want. This way at least you get to shoot what you want to pay for or rather the other way around: no need to pay for what you don't want. On both my safaris I did a bit of tailoring like this.
In this regard I agree very strongly with John that one should carefully consider what one has already taken and whether one wants any more. And to have quite a clear priority order on the animals not yet taken.

A note on the giraffe: where I was hunting in Namibia there were giraffe like jackrabbits!
This is perhaps area-concentrated, i.e. there are areas that are significantly much more giraffe-poor than others.
In Zim where I shot one they were not that numerous but the price was still reasonable enough for me to take the deal.

For me, the most fun to hunt have been zebra, blue wildebeest and giraffe. Ready to take on those any time!
Impala was actually also quite fun on the last day in Zim when we tried to get within handgun distance. Alas, no success.

- Lars/Finland

--------------------
A.k.a. Bwana One-Shot

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SafariHunt
.333 member


Reged: 02/01/03
Posts: 468
Loc: Pretoria RSA
Re: Large PG hunt suggestion? [Re: Schauckis]
      #187879 - 13/08/11 02:24 AM

Lars,

I think the most inexpensive large plains game to hunt is wildebeest be it balck or blue the blacks prices have dropped considerably in South Africa.

And you will get to hunt on two different type of terrain one open with almost no trees and the other thick bushveld.
A lot of people put down South Africa as well but there are a lot of places that are still rough and hard to hunt. We have one of those and a lot of people go back not expecting it to be that tough. Giraffe will always be pricey because they take so long to fully grow same as eland bulls you want to shoot an animal of 6 years plus.

There are always delas to be had just ask around and be specific in what you are after you have nothing to loose.

--------------------
"Sleeping under the African sky I can see nothing wrong with this world!"

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MClark
.224 member


Reged: 21/02/10
Posts: 14
Loc: Arizona, USA
Re: Large PG hunt suggestion? [Re: SafariHunt]
      #188042 - 17/08/11 01:51 PM

Schauckis

PM sent.

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