If you totaled plane fare, shuttle flights, tips etc. That is the total hunt cost what would average lion hunt cost? If you were going to save up for a lion hunt how much would you have to have in hand before you were ready for your hunt?

els:

the plane fare is a round-off error. I would plan on 55K, but it is easy enough to add up thte numbers. A lot depends on the total bag.

Ernie, there was a big lion right in the Kalsiga camp with Kirk and I. I could have shot him for a $8,000 trophy fee, but he'd bugged out into the Omay by the time we had located his tracks for the second time. I think that's what I'd plan if I were after one. Now, if your talking MGM, you might need to look somewhere less thick, but a lion's a lion when you've shot one in the wild like that.

els
You did not make it clear weather you wanted a "lion" or a big huge trophy lion.

I did an elephant, buffalo and lion hunt with Russ Broom's outfit. The hunt was a low budget, late season quota clean-up. I took two buff, an elephant, some plains game, and on the second to last day a male lion.

The trophy quality of the lion was poor but the experience of taking a lion in the wild was outstanding. The kill included my taking a second shot with my lion only twenty yards away and looking me in the eye. And the follow-up was through heavy bush with the lion's wounded roaring to guide us. When all is said and done I would not trade my lion for any other.

Anyway, my entire hunt cost about 30K including flights and everything.

On a hunt like this you have little chance of finding an MGM lion but you may get to take a fair one. And when you feel your heart rattle against your ribcage as the the lion you shot voices his displeasure, big manes are the last thing on your mind.

Jason

To add slightly on what JBrown said;
IMO there is only one way of judging a "trophy" lion and that is age.

If he is old enough, the mane doesn't really matter for me. An old scarred up boy with a scraggy mane is a better trophy than a younger one with an MGM mane. Of course if you get both in one then thats' a bonus. Chances are the older the lion is the better the mane is up to the age of 9-10 years old.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the lion shown roaring at the front of the MGM movies is a youngster and poorly maned.

Bill Quimby

I can't rember if he was young or old but you are right, he is poorly maned but....you know what we mean by MGM

quote:

Originally posted by els:
If you totaled plane fare, shuttle flights, tips etc. That is the total hunt cost what would average lion hunt cost?

In Zim today you can still get a lion for $35K. Make it 40 K to include 2K in air ticket and 3K in tips.

quote:

If you were going to save up for a lion hunt how much would you have to have in hand before you were ready for your hunt?

Since the prices go up radically every year, this will be a constantly moving target for you. It may cost you less to borrow the money and hunt lion now.

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the lion shown roaring at the front of the MGM movies is a youngster and poorly maned.

Bill Quimby

$37,500 excl tips, taxidermy and airfare, RSA, adjacent to Kruger Park, excellent chance of a mature full-maned Lion. First rate PH, lodge accommo, buff, sable, ele also avail on same hunt.

But this is probably the last year we can do this...seems wild lions, once they cross over from Kruger, somehow become sacred in RSA.

els,

I can think of 3 differnet areas where you have a real chance of shooting a good lion and the total cost of the hunt would be around $40,000 to include the hunt costs, lion and bait trophy fees. So to answer your question I can't see how you could get by with budgeting less than about $50000 total since because I know you will want to take some other species other than lion and your bait animals.

Mark

So far, my average cost is $36K. But then I haven't got one in either the Caprivi or Tanzania. Where to next? I'm thinking and saving money for the next try. And didn't see any in Moz--although I couldn't get a tag there on my trip in '04.

N'gagi: That's a beautiful lion with a beautiful mane on the MGM logo you've posted, but it's not the lion I saw roaring at the start of an MGM movie the other day. Is yours from something that was printed?

Bill Quimby

It's the official MGM lion. His name was "Slats". He was raised on a lion farm near where I live. The one you mention in more modern motion pictures is a shorter maned lion as you mentiond. But this was the one that started it all. Here is a link to the lion farm:

Lion Farm

That lion farm is pretty interesting.Did you see the guy riding that lion!I wonder how many people have tried that.

Yes, it is really fascinating. Look at that line of two year old lions. You think there may have been just a "little tension" among that group of adolescents?

Frankly, I feel sorry for the man, named, "Mr Gay."

He most certainly was a man-among-men to control those things. I'm sorry it was bowled over long before I was ever born. I did however drive through the Lion Country Safari with my family in a Country Squire Station Wagon, and watch all the African Animals sleeping in the shade, as the AM radio tuned to a special frequency, told us what we were looking at.

Lion Country Safari


Mom, was scared to death, so all the windows were rolled up, the AC cranked and M&D were chainsmoking the whole time. As I gazed through the blue smoke, I knew some day, SOME DAY, it would be ME, and Mopane Smoke, instead of Pall Malls looking at them....

Sorry to Hijack...really.

N'gagi,

That was great. I can just see it!

N'gagi:

You are correct. A lion named "Slats" starred in MGM's first logo in 1924. There have been four other lions since Slats was retired in 1928, each with less hair than the previous lion. The current lion IS youngish and poorly maned. Its image has been used in various MGM logos since 1957. Good ol' Slats was so impressive that hunters still remember him 78 years later, even though the current lion has been around for close to a half century.

See below for the history of the MGM lion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Lion

Bill Quimby

thanks for the responses. The price does seem to continue to go up faster than inflation doesn't it.
e

From what I'm hearing lion hunting will soon become a thing of the past in Africa. If it is going to take long to save the money, the opportunity may be lost. My PH made it sound like it may be now or never.