On PAC elephant hunts –

How do the permits/licenses work? Are they just for one or two elephants, or is it for all that come on to the property causing the damage/problem?

Does the elephant belong to the government after it’s killed?

Thanks -

If there's a long list of egregious offenders I think you can shoot more than one. The outfitter controls it, you pay for it. The community owns the critter. I have seen PAC lion hunts posted here that were exportable. The agents here would know best

The idea is you are supposed to shoot one of a group of marauding elephants. The others will take off and give the place a wide berth for a month or so. We always try to shoot a bull, never cows with calves. The only time you can ethically/legally take two out of the same group is if the second one charges and you have no option.

The idea is not to kill every elephant that has ever tasted corn!

Most operators won't allow you to take two PAC on the same hunt anyway. If you want to shoot more than one, you book two back to back hunts and you will likely hunt a different area for your second PAC.

Nothing can be exported...although you can sidestep this by getting the trunk turned into a rifle case and you will be able to export that, with the right papers.

CA Safari Hunter,

I'm sure what Russ said is all true with the people he works with but with our PAC hunt the fee $8,000 for '09 covers everything plus one bull. Our operator gets 6-8 permits from the villages each year so one hunter with enough cash could take them all if he wished and could stay as long as it took to kill the elephants. More realistically a guy might want 2 or more bulls and the same would apply. He could stay as long as it took.

It really is a heck of deal. Two bull ele's for $16,000 and no extra costs, no trophy shipping or taxidermy either. $8,000 per ele, airfare and a tip if you feel so inclined. A 7 day buffalo hunt will cost way more than that when you total all costs.

Mark

Mark, Are your hunts for a set number of days?

Gunny,

No and you can book them ahead of time with the caveat that if for some reason the operator does not get the PAC permits you will get a full refund.

Do a search for "Pretty good for $7,000" if you have not seen the pics from this year's PAC hunt.

Dean Kendall our operator has been working with these villages for several years so the relationship is solid and it would be unlikely that he would not get the permits.

Mark

What Im trying to say is ,rather awkwardly, if you go on a hunt and plan ten days until you leave what happens if you kill your elephant on the second day? Is there an extra charge for hunting say plains game for the other eight days?

In the spirit of a free market, we charge $7500 for a 7 day PAC hunt, of which $4K is refundable if you don't get your bull; if you want to double dip, then it's 14 days and you just double up the money, and you will have two hunts not two ele from the same group on the same night; and yes, if you finish up early, we hunt nearby private land for PG (there typically isn't much PG in the same area as the PAC because the same people growing the crops are also meat eaters), the only addl cost being the trophy fees. Sable, Eland, Kudu, Zebra, BWB, Impala, Oribi, Duiker, Grysbok etc. all available. This is a great way to take a Sable without being held to a king's ransom on daily rates. Or you can go fishing on Kariba for tigers.

We also do a PAC/leopard combo out of this camp. Both species in this area.

Finally, we have some two-way elephant tags that allow you to export your PAC, you decide once it's on the ground. But then the trophy fee jumps to $12K instead of the $4K PAC fee.

I find this a very interesting topic!

I always figured I could never afford to hunt Elephant. While $7500-8000 is still a lot of money for a civil servant like me, it is much more reasonable than I thought. I saved up for my upcoming Leopard hunt for several years, now I'll start saving for a PAC elephant!

Of Course I'll need a new rifle too.....

My thought is that once Zimbabwe changes owners all this PAC will become a thing of the past. Enjoy yourself now! Does anyplace else in Africa do this? I think not.

There are a few cheap elephant hunts in Caprivi. I'm paying 11k to hunt a non-export bull ele in Caprivi. It's a bit more than Zim but I get to see a new area and hunt ele where it is normally 3x more expensive than what I am paying.

If you do get into a PAC situation in Namibia, those PAC are exportable. To my knowledge, that's the only exportable PAC in Africa...at least on a semi-regular basis.

Yukon, who are you hunting with?

Regards

Stu

Vaughan Fulton is the Namibian operator. Wendell Reich is the booking agent and he is a member here. Both guys routinely get high marks.

All of the answers you've been given are right -but they mainly apply to Zimbabwe. Each African country and sometimes individual game depts have their own policy, rules and own interpretation on the term PAC and to make matters worse, it's a much abused term.

For example, in parts of Botswana, the landowner and now his nominee is allowed to shoot any Elephant that comes onto his land, and these are often sold or referred to as PAC.... a better/more accurate term would be non exportable because it refers to any Elephant rather than one that has been identified as a problem animal that either attacks people or raids crops etc.

Another way the term is often abused is when an area, often a fenced area holds Elephants and one is making a bloody nuisance of itself by tearing up water pipes etc........ not really a problem animal, just an Elephant doing what Elephants do, but the landowner who might be facing an imminent overpopulation problem, might decide to let someone shoot it to make his life easier and make a few bucks. It's not unheard of for these guys to sell the hunt as a PAC hunt, when it's not really the most accurate of terms.......

So it really depends which African country and sometimes which area you're referring to..... and I suppose, who's selling the hunt

I'm not for a moment suggesting anyone here or mentioned here does these things..........

Yes... "PAC" seems to be the generic terms used, but even in Zim a "Meat Bull" or as Shak said a "Non-Export Bull" if often a more appropriate description. True "PAC" needs to be shot by Parks, is not paid for (no money to Council), and are considered illegal - although this is a grey area...best to be careful and make sure that what you are hunting is on a Parks TR2 form.

Thanks Yukon

Regards

Stu