Russ:
You should reread my comments before thrashing me for "making flying statements about being ripped off." I said the ONLY services provided were, PHs, transportation on the ranch and care of the meat. No accomodations, no booze, no food, no airport pickup or anything else. The price comparison was apples to apples. The only variable was we were tourist not locals. For the same services and same hunt the markup was almost a 1000%.
When you listed the extra expenses for tourist vs local, you forgot to factor in the cost of The Outfitter for the tourist hunter.
I still say 1000% markup for the same services is a "Rip off".

TJ, I reread your post i e if it were cheaper more hunters. Who (as a consumer) wants more hunters. The higher demand means higher prices, means more hunting pressure, means less quality and quanity. I enjoy seeing game that is not of trophy size (if the property will support the larger quanity) I am not looking for the lowest common denomitator. Africa is still the best bang for your buck weather it be DG or PG. Look at the cost of a desert big horn hunt, probably the most expensive hunt in the world.

jstevens, as to the booze, I was only going by the web site. I also think some people were not informed and equated the Euro with USD.
As to the rate of exchange dropping from say 10R to 1USD down to 6 to 1 all I remember was all the complaints from the PH's and Outfitters of how costly it was for them to travel to the USA and I said they never had it so good since the hunts etc were priced in USD.

Pricing has very little to do with the nationality of the hunter, assuming he is foreign. This particular operation prices in Euro's, add 20% to get to dollars, and note they EXCLUDE sales tax. Even then, Namibian trophy fees are very reasonable, especially for Oryx and Hartebeest.

Yes, pricing for local hunters in RSA and elsewhere is much lower than for foreign hunters. Foreign hunters need to be picked up at the airport, expect everything to be provided including booze, and by law must hunt with a qualified PH. Local hunters provide their own vehicle, hunt with a tracker, self-cater, are interested in meat not trophies, and in many cases process their own meat. If you work it out, the profit is about the same for both, if you cost out the PH's time, the catering, booze, and vehicle expenses. Profits from either type of hunting are rather small considering the massive investment it takes to buy and develop a suitable property.

Fact: between 5 and 8% of a herd can be counted on as decent trophy animals each year. Each animal needs 12 ha in the typical hunting areas such as Limpopo drainage. So with 1000 ha, you can support 90 large antelope sustainably, of which 5 to 7 can be taken as trophies. That's $6000 on an investment of R3 to 5 million, ie $500,000 to 750,000, if we assume the day rates just pay the running costs. This is not enough to make the venture pay, so many operations augment their "own" trophies with near-mature bulls bought at auction. These prices are published, and they are high, sometimes higher than "going" rates for trophies. Thus these "trophy" animals must be sold for top dollar to make any contribution to the economics at all.

So in other words, the foreign client gets three star service, front row seats, free drinks and food etc and pays more for that. The locals get what's left over, do it yourself style, and they pay less. (Someone has to shoot the old females, and the surplus adolescent males...).

Add to this the fact that the greenback has lost 40% of its value over the last two years against the rand and namibian dollar. Prices have not gone up by that amount, the outfitters are eating most of the devaluation. If the greenback doesn't recover, expect to see more and more prices quoted in Euros.

So please, let's not make flying statements about being ripped off. If you want to get ripped off, go hunt red legged partridge in Spain, elk in New Mexico, or catch Salmon in Scotland. Or just sit at home and count your money, sparing the rest of us.