There are various posts around on the subject but mostly just general comments on the meat, hide or head being put to good use.

What does actually happen to all the meat from animals shot on safari and skins/heads that the hunter may not want?

In particular who 'owns' the meat, how is it distributed if not used by the PH or key staff?

Does all the meat from say old buffalo, tough old specimens of plains game, crocs, hippo, giraffe, etc get used?

Obviously most hunters could not take meat back to their country of origin other than maybe biltong for some I guess?

Skins, horns and teeth, who gets those the hunter doesn't want and what use are they put to? I assume the hunter has first choice on taking any of these parts of the animal?

When in Germany many years ago I tasted a range of African plains game meats that had been brought back by a hunter - obviously back then the restrictions were not what they are today.

Just interested to hear a bit more in depth on this subject.

Depends on country and outfit. In RSA the safari company likely has its own outlets for everything, from biltong to restaurants/butchers swapping out game for pork, sausage, etc. In other countries, meat is consumed by staff, locals, subsequent clients, and so on according to their customs and laws. Rest assured that it doesn't get wasted.

Skins and horns find their way to market, even if that is to furnish replacement capes, tanned back skins for coasters/whatever and curios of various sorts. Diseased animals may be turned into dog food or fertilizer as are bones. Maybe used for baiting big cats or bushpigs.

The hunter does not "own" the meat. Not being USDA inspected, import to the USA isn't allowed. Europe allows biltong import eg. ostrich, kudu and so on available in London where my bro lives.

You asked, but don't worry that it will be flung into the veldt...

We shot en elephant very late one afternoon.

There was no time to cut it up, so we left it for the morning.

In the morning we all went back with the crew.

We finished by lunch time, and the only thing left for the vultures was some blood and the stomach content.

They took EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING.

Nothing gets to waste from an animal in Africa.

The curio shop I visited in RSA was slap full of animal products. Flat skins, giraffe hair bracelets, giraffe bone bracelets, Zebra skin coasters, throw pillows, hippo tusk, warthog tusk and more.
While touring a park we stopped buy a grocery store to buy some steaks for the grill. There was a rack full of biltong. It contained 15 or 20 different variety's.

When I was in Zim. There was a client hunting lions. So my buff went to be lion bait. Minus the tenderloins which were for dinner, the balls were made into an appetizer. The staff took the heart liver and stomach and had them for supper.

No meat is ever wasted in Africa..... what isn't or can't be taken by humans for meat is left for hyenas and vultures etc who also need to eat.

I have always wondered do people eat Lion, Leapord, Hyena and other predators?

quote:

Originally posted by Singleshot03:
I have always wondered do people eat Lion, Leapord, Hyena and other predators?

Some do but I wouldn't recommend it....... predator meat is VERY often full of more parasites than you can shake a stick at because they'll eat any old kak.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
We shot en elephant very late one afternoon.

There was no time to cut it up, so we left it for the morning.

In the morning we all went back with the crew.

We finished by lunch time, and the only thing left for the vultures was some blood and the stomach content.

They took EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING.

Nothing gets to waste from an animal in Africa.

Botswana elephant; the local village, Mababe, the locals were so damn lazy the entire elephant just rotted.

They get diamond money in Botswana, not so hungry there.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

Botswana elephant; the local village, Mababe, the locals were so damn lazy the entire elephant just rotted.

They get diamond money in Botswana, not so hungry there.

Steve

Steve

There might be more to it than that..... It depends on a variety of things in Bots but (for example) if an elephant is shot on a destruction order/PAC permit in (for example a privately owned area in the Tuli Block), you are usually not allowed to take the meat by law and the carcass has to stay there until the GD come along to take the tusks and by then, the meat is buggered...... But as I said, even the hyenas etc have to eat.

What are you going to call it ? Some friends were visiting the area for an event. They asked if we would take care of their two young children for the evening. We said no problem .They asked what are we having for dinner .We told them venison .They said that's ok but would we mind if they weren't told it's from a deer .OK.
Come dinner time they tasted a new flavor , what is this ? Thinking quickly , 'it's roast beast ' A few minutes later 'what is it really ? I thought of the cut of the meat[loin] , 'it's roast loin' Their eyes got a lot bigger when they thought I said 'roast lion '

quote:

No meat is ever wasted in Africa..... what isn't or can't be taken by humans for meat is left for hyenas and vultures etc who also need to eat.

This applies universally, while a human might not benefit directly from an animal that has been shot, the environment will so there is no actual waste.

I've eaten, among many other things, lion and leopard, but not hyena. In fact, Charl told me last year that they usually just bury a hyena carcass as they can't get anything to eat it! As Saeed and others have pointed out, nothing is wasted.

I ate a bit of lion in Burkina - tasted like shoe leather. Very tough meat. Every local came to get a peice of lion meat - was definitely the choice meat for the locals.

In Botswana at times we were shooting tons of plains game. The local lion breeder did not like feeding his lions any stale meat and by stale I mean 12 hrs. A good bit of meat was feed to hyenas and vultures.

Botswana is the only place in africa I have been to where they seemed to be plenty of protein to go around.

Mike

In Namibia & South Africa, particularly, plainsgame meat is sold to butchershops/meat markets and help$ the outfitters bottom line. As all others said, generally NOTHING is wasted, incl. all entrails & offal.

I saw it used for three purposes; to feed us, to feed the staff, to pay bribes. Meat disappears fast and the only thing I saw not eaten was stomach content and the blood that soaked into the ground.

We were in the Zambezi delta and the blood soaked sand was carted off and spread and the garden.

Meat to USA- A friend of mine works for Hormel, a big processed meat company in the US. I was telling him how much I like the Kudu meat, he asked the man in charge of international sales if there was any way to get it imported, He smiled and said "Kudu is the best thing you will ever eat" and it can not be imported due to there being no inspection standards for it.

Mark

quote:

Meat disappears fast and the only thing I saw not eaten was stomach content and the blood that soaked into the ground.

Same experience for me with the exception being the blk mamba & a cobra that were killed.
In Namibia on private land the game is owned by the landowner & they use it to feed themselves, the staff, their clients & sell the rest.
Joof & Marina Lamprecht of Hunters Namibia also provide the meat for the local school free of charge.

I was watching one of Boddington's videos and the Zim PH explained that they take over 10 tonnes of meat a year. After staff and camp use, the rest is sold as packed biltong.

Sevens: Interesting you would bring up the meat to be used as a bribe. We did just that on our way back to Bulawayo one year from the lowveld with a hind quarter of impala, when some Zimbo police questioned the documents that my professional hunter had for our hunt. It was just a ruse to get some meat, as they already had a fire built off of the side of the road where the police blockade was set up for roasting purposes!