G'day all. Just a small question to make sure I am not going around the bend.I am hunting cherisa(HHK Area)in zim this year on a seven day buf hunt.I asked if i could include hyena and bushbuck and was told I need to book a ten day hunt. When I looked on there web site it states that you can hunt buf and plains game on a seven day hunt and there are no clauses or limits to what plains game can be taken? Is it worth pressing this as I know from other hunters that there a loads of both animals which can easily be taken on a seven day hunt.thoughts would be helpful

Just because it says 7 days buffalo and plains game doesnt normally entitle you to every species of PG. This is standard in 99% of African concessions and if you want to hunt the more "valuable" species you will have to book longer. Sorry to disappoint but i doubt you will have any luck no matter how hard you press.

Dear Zhaba,
Scott450 is completely right, nevertheless, I do think you should be allowed to hunt for bushbuck in a 7 days hunt.
About Hyena, if you find any in your way trought the Chirisa Safari Area, I know they will be more than happy if you shot at them.
What HHK probably try to tell you is that you will have more chances over those animals if you book a 10 days hunt, but they shouldn´t force you to do so just to permit shooting over Hyena and Bushbuck.
You must be allowed to shoot over any plainsgame you find in your way if you are already paying for a Buff hunt and they still have it on quota at that moment.
Nevertheless, I don´t know if you got a special discounted hunt with special restrictions, but as you said, if is Buff and plainsgame... is all said.
I also want to tell you something, is not a lot of Bushbucks and Hyena in Chirisa, just average numbers, and because is Safari Area, you wont be allowed to hunt at night, neither use call for Hyena, what will make things a bit more difficult for you to hunt for Hyena. Try to focus on your Buff and enjoy your hunt and bag any other available plainsgame you find in the way.
Who will be your PH? Let me know your dates, available species and I will try to give you my best advice as I hunted Chirisa just a few months ago.

Best regards.

This might be a stretch, but why don't you just politely ask HHK your question?
Dave

i have found over the years that a lot of what you are allowed to shoot on a hunt depends on how late in the season you are hunting and how much quota they have left of a certain animal. if you hunt at the the tail end of a season and they have a lot of any given species left on quota, then whatever you want becomes negotiable.

I doubt you will have a problem with the Hyena, but they might save the Bushbuck quota for more extensive safaris which is a common proses in big game areas.

Normally the only exclusion from a "+ Plains Game" hunt is Sable. I find it a bit of a stretch to put bushbuck in a special class. Hyena aren't plains game so I think they could stick to their guns on that one.

What is unusual is to find a 7 day buff + PG. The norm in Zim is to make this a 10 day.

If you want to get legal on this, then it is clear there is no contract as there was no "meeting of the minds" on this hunt. What you reasonably expected is not what they thought they were selling. So you could start over (and psssst....there will be discounted hunts offered in Zim this year due to a rash of cancellations).

It is normal to limit certain species to be available only to clients on longer hunts. I have even seen Warthog limited to 10-day or longer hunts in concessions where the Warthog quota is small. While it may be a common animal, the quota is just too small to make available to everyone.

I hunted in Mozambique a few years ago. They had more Bushbuck than I have ever seen! Guess what, I could not shoot one because their quota was too small to allow any hunts under 14-days to shoot one.

Their website may not show any limitations, but every operator has quota limits.

If you are hunting later in the year, it is not uncommon for an operator to allow, at the time of the hunt, certain species that he would not normally allow.

So, you may send them an e-mail and ask if a Bushbuck quota or Hyena quota comes open, if they would mind holding it for you.

If that doesn't work, ask when you get to camp if will be possible.

Most operators do not mind giving certain leftover animals at the end of the season, if quota permits.

Good luck.

zhaba,

I picked up HHK's brochure at S.C.I. (why do we bring 50 pounds of brochures home every year I'll never know).

2008 hunts

hunt 11-buffalo special-US $1000/day 7 days buffalo bull and limited plainsgame

hunt 10-buffalo/plains game hunt-US $1000/day 10 days-buffalo bull and general plains game

hunt 9-buffalo/sable hunt-US $1000/day 14 days-buffalo,sable and plains game


Hope this helps. Good luck on your hunt. You will love Chirisa.

Extend to 10 days. You are there anyway and you may take 7 days just to get that great buff.
You won't regret extending the trip a few days.

zhaba,

I have to agree with Ross AKA dogcat. We sell 7 day buff hunts but I never feel that good about it. You certainly can get a good buffalo in 7 days but the pressure is on. That additional 3 days gives you a litte breathing room and a chance to relax and enjoy the safari experience.

Mark

Thanks all.I did ask HHK but got no answer. It is no problem to hunt Buf and hyena but they want me to hunt another three days at$1000.ooa day for the bush buck! They ain worth $3700.oous!I will be hunting with Matt Stanton who knows the area well and can't understand this either as he said I would be able to do this all in seven days.I have hunted with him three times and just last year we shot a buf in Omey on the umi river 37inch wide 13inch boss on the first day!Anway thank you all for your thoughts and hope to post a picture of the buf I take Cheers Jonno

Don´t mention it.
I agree Bushbuck is not worthing 3700$.
Focus on your buff, you should be able to shoot dagga boy over 38 in Chirisa. I hunted for 40 with 15 inches solid boss, it will depend a lot in the moment of your hunt. In my opinion, late season will work great for Buff and you might also have the chance to shot over left over quota of some animal.
You will also find over the average trophy size animals there in the following hunting species:

- Lion, Klipspringer, Kudu and if you are lucky you might also find some over 38" Eland.

That´s all the advice I can give you, behind telling you to be careful with rifle (might be better to hire there)

Best regards and good hunting.

These are questions you need to address with HHK. They are the only folks that can properly answer your questions..the rest is pure speculation..Kathys post is the most accurate.

7 days should be plenty of time to get a buffalo if you want a representitive bull and a couple of head of plainsgame or if you pocket book is a tad light...Of course I would rather have a 10 day hunt, or better yet a 21 day hunt. I have seen a lot of real trophy bulls taken on 7 day hunts, some of them on the first day...boils down to one thing, I'd rather be lucky that good..

For the trophy hunter wanting a record book head of any kind, time is your best friend combined with your ability to shoot and take advantage of that small window of opertunity we often get on the big ones, Rock chucks to Elephants!