If money were no object I would hunt everywhere all the time. But since money is an object, I save to hunt in Africa, leaving hunting in Europe aside. For someone living in Europe, hunting in the USA is more expensive than hunting in Africa.

Quote from 458 "Actually, as wonderful as African hunting can be, it reinforced my love of hunting close to home."

Hey Phil, if I was surrounded by Moose and Brownies like you, I'm might feel the same!!!!

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Originally posted by Wink:
If money were no object I would hunt everywhere all the time. But since money is an object, I save to hunt in Africa, leaving hunting in Europe aside. For someone living in Europe, hunting in the USA is more expensive than hunting in Africa.

hell, for someone living in the US, hunting in the US is more expensive than hunting in Africa!

Welcome to the illness for life I am forever looking at new animals to hunt and places to hunt but always in the back of my mind is Africa. Its like the movies were the drums start to beat in my ear and a whisper tells me to go back,I break out in a cold sweat and start looking at Africa again I have only managed to get to Zim three times but it seems to be nowhere near enough

The tremendous game herds in Africa, and the incredible variety are just overwhelming to someone from NA. You just, you just, never mind. No words for the feeling. Everything seems to be more real, and intense. I felt more alive...

It's a reason I enjoy the old books by PH's, they can convey the feeling. Read a chapter by Pondoro or Ruark, or even something more modern, like Will's two or something by Boddington. Then, sit back in your recliner and close your eyes for a minute, and you are back there.

Another year before I can return. Gonna be a long year.

Rich

Rich, you are right about the old ( and many new) books on Africa. So many of the E African PH's were educated in the English tradition and understood how to string thoughts and sentences together.

Sorry to Hijack a thread, but I have read several posts referring to the cost of hunting in the US being compatible to hunting in Africa. Is this the case for US citizens hunting in their own states or are they referring to top notch, guided hunts in top areas.

I know in Zim, hunting used to be a cheap pastime for locals, however now most outfits charge the same trophy fees for locals and foreigners.....Local of course will often take non trophy animals for meat which are obviously cheaper....

Just wondered about the cost of hunting in the US....hell maybe one day it will spoil my love of African hunting........

ZF,

In the US if you live in or near good game country you can hunt very successfully DIY at mimimal cost. What jdollar was referring to was the cost of guided hunts. The cost of a single species hunt can far exceed a 14 day multi species hunt in Africa. This is an extreme example but I just sold a sheep hunt for one sheep at $50,000 plus. A big brown bear in Alaska can be over $20,000. An elk hunt in the best places for the biggest bulls can run over $30,000 for a five day hunt. Africa is a much better deal if you are considering bang for the buck.

Mark

Yes.

Mark is 100% correct. DIY hunts are very inexpensive , if you can draw a tag. Here in New Mexico, drawing a tag for a good area is nigh on to impossible. If you want to go on a guided hunt, no problem. Just whip out your checkbook. It's about 5K to open, then up to whatever you want to spend.

Africa is a much better deal all around.

Africa is the best and I am anxious to get back on the tracks of a buffalo. An elk hunt is still appealing to me but I never get around to doing anything about it. On the other hand, I'll be in Reno next month shopping for another buffalo.

I can afford to go to Africa every year, but I have other places I like to hunt as well. This year I hunted moose in the Yukon. A big moose is a hell of a trophy. So is a big elk. A lion and an elephant are great trophies, as are leopard and buffalo. But let's face it, a run of the mill buffalo is a lot easier to shoot that a 6x6 elk or a 60 inch moose.

The memories of the hunt in the Yukon this year are of days in the saddle, wood in the woodstove, listening to the wind blow the canvas tent, and seeing that huge bull step out into an opening and the guide exclaiming, "Look at the junk on his fronts!" I blew about 15k on that hunt, but I can guarantee you I am not wishing I would have gone to Africa and shot more of the same old same old.

I do hunt for trophies, and if my TR only had Africa stuff it would be pretty boring. Elk, moose, sheep, ibex, caribou and others sure add variety.

Africa is great, but so is New Zealand, Alaska, Canada, Scotland, Mongolia, Australia, and lots of places right here in the USofA.

I though the Judge's whitetail was a spectacular trophy. Come to think of it, I don't remember thinking that of anything else he has posted. Maybe he hasn't posted anything else or maybe I didn't see it, but that whitetail sure stuck in my mind! Or maybe it is because it is bigger than any I have shot...

Growing up as a child, reading all the books, Rourke, Hemingway, Roosevelt etc. and dreaming striking it "rich" and going someday, I always thought an African Safari was a rich mans dream. My life was limited to Whitetails, and then later "Tangos".

A few years ago I decided to look into going elk hunting out west and stumbled across this site and discovered that a multi-animal PG hunt in Africa was less expensive than a guided elk hunt out west. That included airfare and observer fee for my GF.

All I can say is I was and am hooked on Africa and have been there every year since and intend to keep going there as long as I am healthy or until the cost of guided hunts in the US become more realistically priced. While I understand the general costs/expenses guides/outfitters incur by simply operating in the US and everyone has the right to operate at a profit and charge what the market will bare, consumers have the right to spend their money where they feel they get the most value for their money.

Now, if there is a US outfitter that can offer a 2x1, ten day, 3-4 free range elk per hunter for $7500 total, or a Gemsbok or Pronghorn (Springbok) cull hunt for $3500 I'm all ears.

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Originally posted by m3taco:
Growing up as a child, reading all the books, Rourke, Hemingway, Roosevelt etc. and dreaming striking it "rich" and going someday, I always thought an African Safari was a rich mans dream. My life was limited to Whitetails, and then later "Tangos".

A few years ago I decided to look into going elk hunting out west and stumbled across this site and discovered that a multi-animal PG hunt in Africa was less expensive than a guided elk hunt out west. That included airfare and observer fee for my GF.

All I can say is I was and am hooked on Africa and have been there every year since and intend to keep going there as long as I am healthy or until the cost of guided hunts in the US become more realistically priced. While I understand the general costs/expenses guides/outfitters incur by simply operating in the US and everyone has the right to operate at a profit and charge what the market will bare, consumers have the right to spend their money where they feel they get the most value for their money.

Now, if there is a US outfitter that can offer a 2x1, ten day, 3-4 free range elk per hunter for $7500 total, or a Gemsbok or Pronghorn (Springbok) cull hunt for $3500 I'm all ears.

my sentiments exactly. can't figure out why a 5 day elk hunt with maybe an 80% success rate for a really nice trophy is $5000 PLUS THE COST OF LICENSE AND TAGS. gas, food, camp help, equipment, etc. is just not $1000/ day expensive. supply and demand ultimately rules but that's why i prefer to spend less money for a completely different experience in in Africa. more bang for the buck. i have shot moose in Alaska on DIY hunts but no way would i pay $15,000 guided( and i am too old to haul a moose out of the bush to DIY again)to shoot Bullwinkle again. but 2 cape buffalo in Zim for $2-3000 less than that- color me gone!!

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Originally posted by zimFrosty:
Sorry to Hijack a thread, but I have read several posts referring to the cost of hunting in the US being compatible to hunting in Africa. Is this the case for US citizens hunting in their own states or are they referring to top notch, guided hunts in top areas.

I know in Zim, hunting used to be a cheap pastime for locals, however now most outfits charge the same trophy fees for locals and foreigners.....Local of course will often take non trophy animals for meat which are obviously cheaper....

Just wondered about the cost of hunting in the US....hell maybe one day it will spoil my love of African hunting........

It depends, I can shoot a whitetail in my backyard with a bow for a $40 tag and hunt pheasant all season for that same $40. I just had a rifle license for whitetail deer in Pennsylvania which only cost $100 but I didn't get a deer. Now if I want to go to Wyoming for Elk the guided hunt would cost me $6,500 plus about $1,100 for the tag. Add airfare, shipping the trophy back and taxidermy and I'm looking at $10,000. You can do a 2-3 day Pronghorn Antelope hunt for $2,500. A mule deer hunt out west for $3,000-$4,000. A bear hunt over bait in the Eastern US or Canada for a few thousand. Hog hunts in Texas are a great deal at less then a thousand all in for multiple hogs. Grizzly bears and moose in Alasaka are $10,000 and up up up. Forget about hunting big horn sheep. You can try and draw tags for Gemsbuck in New Mexico but I think the tag alone is $1,300 and the whole hunt costs more then a plains game safari in Africa.

There is nothing like hunting buff in Africa and I haven't won the lottery so can't speak about other DG hunting. With that said, in terms of the hunting experience, I will take DIY hunting for elk in Montana or moose in Alaska over hunting in Africa any day. Africa hunting, especially for PG, with the PH and all the staff is just too controlled for me. You don't have to have much of any hunting skills to take something and it just feels like my part comes down to pulling the trigger. I much prefer the experience of hunting on public land here in MT or AK where I have to rely on myself to do the hard work from finding the game to getting it out and everything in between. Maybe when I get too old to do all that by myself Africa will pull even or ahead. Hopefully I can afford an elephant hunt at that point!

Africa took the shine off of hunting in NA for me for a little while. As IS tried to describe, its the quantity of game, the exotic scenery, flora, fauna, the smells, the campfire smoke...and all that which is indescribable.

But the shine came back to hunting at home. I guess I finally realized that I love blondes, brunettes, and red-heads... I live in BC, so I can hunt bighorns and stone sheep with a $50 tag, elk, whitetails, muleys, blackbear, etc, and have some of the nicest scenery and terrain right out my back door, etc, etc, etc. I love hunting here and Africa just the same and love the differences between them.

Cheers
Chris

Not at all. I've had a blast hunting deer and hogs this year.

Now it might if I could afford to go to Africa every year.

Not here. In my minimal experience I'll take a BC hunt anytime over an African one. Though yet to come, I suspect I will say the same for Alaska.

Agree Africa changed my priorities back home. As Rich said, it is that abundance and variety of game in Africa that makes it indescribably appealing. I hope to go back for a buffalo in a couple of years.
I really can't see spending $8K to hunt a moose, put up with foul weather and clouds of mosquitoes and slog around in boggy tundra wearing hip boots, when the same money puts me in Namibia hunting all sorts of gorgeous plains game under sunny skies.
But maybe that's because I'm getting older.
I find the Africa effect fades a little though, and I'm actually thinking about getting out after rabbits and squirrels again (with a flintlock).
Same thing happened to me with an Alaska fishing trip several years ago. I couldn't get interested in Oregon trout for the longest time, but now I enjoy getting on the water despite their smaller size.
We're all individuals, I guess.

When I lived in RSA, I used to daydream about hunting in North America. Now that I live here, I dream about Africa! It's natural to want to experience distant shores.

I have to say, for the most part hunting in NA is a low yield activity. Some years we go withous seeing a bull elk, or any elk. I have struck out on antelope and mule deer as well. Perhaps if I paid to hunt private property the payoff would be higher.

To compare the two: Africa has a lot more variety as well as density of game; the weather is more pleasant; the terrain, vegetation and birdlife is more interesting; if hunting in the real Africa, the presence of DG species spices things up a lot; and you don't run into other hunters around every second bend in Africa like you do on almost all public land here in the USA.

The one thing I do like about hunting close to home is that it's almost free, and it's very rewarding when you do score. So I still get out every year for deer and elk. I do enjoy chukar hunting immensely here in OR, as well as duck hunting.

Then again, the bird species I enjoy hunting the most is the Francolin, followed by pigeons.

Indeed it has. I use to get the shakes in July. We could start deer hunting in Aug, but the odds were low. Then off to Colorado with a million other hunters and all the garbage that goes with it. Spend up to $3,000 just to go out for a mule deer and drop it at 8am opening morning. Freeze your butt off, drag it deal with all the other factors and then come home and have to spend a few bucks to fix something on the truck etc. The 3 grand was DIY. After chasing elk for a long time and doing DIY, I looked into private land and the prices are stupid. I did it a few times, as well as the guided routine--a joke half the time.

After Africa, I only hunt hogs in Central CA.
Africa I have only had great experiences with PH's and camps and food and equipment. There is alot of game and lots of hunting in warn weather. For the price it is a no brainer and as I get older, I like to not do all the work.

Plus, if I want to just take a day to relax, no problem. The flight is a bit long, but it takes me at least 13 hours to drive to Craig Co. So now when I go to Co, I go to take four wheeling trips and a camera--in the summer.

Regards, PG

No, Africa has not ruined me from wanting to hunt in NA. I can hunt deer, coyote, turkey and pheasant close to home (self guided) for the cost of ammo and fuel. I can't see the quantity and quality of game I saw in Africa, but I'm not paying for it either. If I compare Africa to one of those ridiculously priced guided hunts, then Africa wins hands down.

I have become a fair weather hunter in more recent years, so the advantage that Africa has, besides game variety, is the weather. You can go when the weather suits you.

If Africa was a three or four hour plane ride, I would go every year. That is about as long as I can stand to be on a plane these days. That said, I am planning to go back. The hunting is great and the value is there, but I would not want to live there. The US is still tops for me in that category.

Somewhat.
But I"m looking forward to retiring to either OK or TN where I can do some rabbit, hog, & turkey hunting and a bunch of crappie fishing.

I keep thinking about giving up the deer lease so I can save faster for Africa. My wife keeps talking me out of it because the time in the woods is such a stress reliever and more enjoyable to me than the actual deer hunting.

It has caused me to rethink a few hunts that I wanted to do that would have been $3K to $4K plus travel for one animal.

Africa, is different, I have hunted all my life, Different continents, various species,But Africa has my " Hunters Soul" in her grasp. Things have never been the same for me after my first African Trip, I go through the motions, but my heart longs for the Mopane & Jess
I am planning a trip for 2011, buffallo or leopard not sure which one. I am sure several of you understand my sentimemts. Mo das

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Although You really shouldn't compare because they are two completely different hunting experiences.

This is how it is for me too. I still love hunting wt deer, waterfowl, squirrels, sika deer, turkeys, trapping, frog gigging,...you name it!

However, as far as directing large sums of $ goes, Africa wins. Everything else for me is pretty much DIY kind of hunting, with little invested other than time, and gasoline.

I can hunt deer, elk, moose and bear at home without draws and just for the price of fuel and tags.Mule deer and antelope or drw only. I like Africa, like buffalo and elephant and the wild varieties of game.

I wish I could hunt Africa without the PHs. I haven't adjusted to haveing my hand held, and sometimes feel like my function is as a shooter instead of a hunter. For what its worth, I feel the same way on all guided hunts.