I'm in a polling frame of mind.

Maybe because we can't seem to choose a president in the good old USA, where election day has become election forever day, after day, after day, after day . . . .

Anyway, I like to go to different places, different continents even, and hunt different game.

I like to experience different cultures and hunt different local game animals in different ways.

The only continents on which I have not hunted are Australia, where it's possible, and Antarctica, where it's not.

I have hunted most in North America and Africa.

The only big game I have hunted repeatedly in the same places are Cape buffalo, lion, leopard, red deer, elephant, whitetail deer, mule deer, eland, sable, impala, hyena, hartebeest, kudu, hippo, warthog, oryx . . . .

Oh, well.

I guess I have hunted all of these in different places as well.

The trouble is, one often has no choice but to make a choice, and a choice opens one door, but closes innumerable others. Slams them shut, in fact.

Do you like to hunt in the same place repeatedly, or move around from place to place, at the expense of other places, or both?

Question:
Different or Same or Both

Choices:
I like to find a place I like and go back time and again.
I like to move around and find new places and hunt what is there.
I can do both, and choose to do both.

 

There are many places on my bucket list, but I’m going back to Argentina once this pandemic simmers.

I’d love to go to many other places, but I do have “family” and friends there. The past five or six trips, I didn’t really “hunt” after the asado and splitting a case of shells. I suppose I was working and having fun.

Beyond that, I’d still love to get a Cape Buffalo and kudu. I’m young enough to hope for better days unless a buss runs over me.

My preference is to move around and see new places. I thoroughly enjoy the adventure and experience that goes along with visiting new places; with each new place there are new sights, sounds, smells, game, and friends.

Unique adventures off the beaten track are what really get me going!

I like to find a place that has everything I am looking for-a wild place with many quality animals and diverse terrain and flora.A place that lets me walk a lot after the game I choose to hunt.Also important is the country.It needs to be a friendly country.Once I have found such a place and I am satisfied, I don't need to look elsewhere.

So many places to see and opportunities to hunt new game in new terrain in the finite amount of time we have been given. I'm a bit of a hunting vagabond myself. I have returned to the same country and the same outfitter but usually to a different area/concession with different targets of opportunity.

All those who wander are not lost.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
So many places to see and opportunities to hunt new game in new terrain in the finite amount of time we have been given. I'm a bit of a hunting vagabond myself. I have returned to the same country and the same outfitter but usually to a different area/concession with different targets of opportunity.

All those who wander are not lost.

My philosophy is exactly as above. There is such a cornucopia of hunting opportunities out there that I want to experience as many as my time will allow.

Mark

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What Russell and Mark said.

Hi Michael,

I have been to 4 African countries while on 5 different hunting trips. I hunted South Africa with the same PH, however we were in different areas.

Currently looking out to maybe, Zambia, Mozambique, the Namibia strip (have not been there before), Zimbabwe (again it would be a different area than before). For my next traveling adventure, I am looking at possible in 2022. My wife has the next trip to plan and we are hoping that the Cvid virus will be behind us by then.

How I see it is when booking an international hunt, you are expecting the person you book with to know the area and provide his expertise to make your experience the best it can be.

With that, I want to go to different areas and hunt different animals. I am not a record book person, so having the biggest and best is not expected. I do expect to have a reasonable chance to secure nice representative of animals hunted.

Example on my last hunt we came across a very nice black wildebeest and I turned him down. I have already taken two nice black wildebeest on prior hunts and passed on this one. The PH was disappointed, however I explained that I have taken some before and that I was looking at taking different animals on this hunt.

I know that I am becoming picky, however how many zebras, impalas can one take. I have drawn a line in the sand and I am now passing on animals that I have taken more than two of. So now the pocket camera is ready for such run inn while out walking the trail.

As stated by a couple of guys already, show me something different. I will happily hunt with the same outfitter repeatedly, but I want to see a different camp / estancia, and some different terrain. Too much out there to limit ones self, IMO.

In over 15 international hunts, I've returned to the same camps / lodges only twice in Africa and twice in Argentina. I think this is especially important to me in Argentina, as I find the duck and other bird hunts virtually the same once I'm in the field. So why not experience a different estancia?

Great OP.

Each to his own. I personally feel travelling the world hunting different species that will give you different experiences is the way to go.

If money is no object then its a different matter, otherwise although the species maybe different one can have the same experiences. For example hunting a $8,000 Ibex or $25.000 Marco polo will offer very similar experiences in Kyrgyz.

Just my 2 bits!!

These species/groups are my favorite. Probably in this order:

1. Sambar
2. pronghorn antelope
3. North American elk free range
4. greater kudu
5. roe deer
6. predators (love trapping, and hunting them).
7. I have taken one free range wild sheep, If money were no object sheep and goats would be at the top
8. baboons because they are brilliant
9. zebra same reason as baboons
10. any gazelle type animal.


Things I'll probably hunt again, but I am not over the moon about.
1. whitetail deer
2. mule deer
3. oryx
4. blesbok
5. turkeys
6. Probably several others, rodents like prairie dogs, ground hogs and other vermin control type stuff.

I enjoy both.

I’ve been to numerous places and hunted different areas and game.

I also think hunting ducks on my family’s place is about as good as it gets.

In Africa, I think I’ve returned to the same concession twice total.

I’ve hunted the same places in NA more than overseas.

I just enjoy hunting.

It's always great to see new places, hunt new species, or at least different terrain. But there's always a risk that it won't be what you expected.

There's a comfort in going back to someplace you know, with people you know, in my case, usually looking for something I didn't get last time. Before I go back someplace, I always go back to my diary of that trip to commit all the names to memory and go back through the photos so I will recognize them. Yes, there is turnover, but some are usually still there. And it's always great to see the smile on someone's face when you greet them by name on arrival.

I'll continue to do both.

what I'd like to do and what I gotta do are not the same thing.
I have seen something like 90 square miles of my area on foot, and can go into detail on each and every draw, mountain view, spring, creek, trail, and old logging road in this area.

I’ve hunted in Namibia five times, all with the same PH, Jan du Plessis. While I keep returning to hunt with Jan, we’ve hunted a bunch of different properties. Most of our early hunts were on his home ranch for Gemsbok, Kudu, Springbok,Baboons and Zebra. We’ve hunted on a neighbors ranch for Blue and Black Wildebeest. Yet a different ranch yielded Red Hartebeest and Warthog. A fourth ranch has yielded Eland and Waterbuck. All four ranches have resulted in “drive by” shootings of Jackals and nuisance Baboons. The beauty of my arrangement with Jan is that I get to hunt with a guy I greatly admire and trust and at the same time I get the variety of hunting different properties for different species.

Since this is the African hunting forum I chose the different location each time. Joyce and I were always looking at seeing and experiencing new locations.

As I stated in the Mozambique Leopard hunt report looking back I think we used hunting as an excuse to see progressively more remote parts of multiple African countries.

That said, here at home, we mostly repeat the same meat hunts but I throw in a smattering of draws to see and experience different hunts.

Cheers
J&J

It’s good to change things
Different countries and different areas is almost a must for hunters
At the same time it’s good to hunt some places couple three times as you get to know the people and countryside and therefore you get more comfy hunting
Also it is good to hunt different species more than once to experience successes and failures and not just “ I got this, next please “...

quote:

Yes, there is turnover, but some are usually still there.

The turnover that I have experienced, for the most part, has been due to AIDS. I remember losing a head tracker with one PH, and in another country/location with a different PH, a head chef/cook, to the disease. There one year and gone the next. I also remember driving by a large crematory in Zimbabwe and commenting on the thick black smoke rolling out of the smokestack, and the PH telling me that it ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to keep up with demand. And, seeing new cemeteries everywhere.

AIDS is a huge issue in all of Africa. A minor worry to me hunting dangerous game. I've heard of people bringing blood, but that's ridiculous. It would never be where you needed it.

Need to convince the Africans to use condoms, but that's problematic. First, no man likes a condom.

Second, I was in country [not to be identified] hunting with a substantial contingent of troops, both military and game department on an anti-poaching operation. They beat the crap out of a man and woman after they found condoms and accusingly asked her why she had them. She said that was for when she had her period. The authorities found that disgusting and beat the crap out of both of them.

A little bit of education is in order.

AIDS has not curbed the population of African countries .. it seems that by the time one succumbs one has already replaced oneself and then some. I suppose it has skewed the age distribution some.

In RSA at least, the use of antivirals is widespread and those infected are surviving at a high rate.

In the other countries, I think Malaria has taken a bigger toll. RSA doesn't really have a malaria problem.

I recall walking into one of the men's bathrooms at Hwange years ago, and lo and behold there was a entire open CASE of condoms sitting on the counter for anyone to take! The brand? BLACK PANTHER. But, fortunately (or unfortunately-you choose) made in Korea.

When I was an officer in the U S Army in the early 1970’s, we’d get free condoms with our C Rations along with free 3 packs of cigarettes. One expression you’d hear was “50% of the Vietnamese women have VD, 50% have TB. Nail the ones who cough.” Another expression was “Spend a nickle save your pickle.” Politically incorrect but sage advice.