Quote from previous post, "Die Keiler's prices seem cheap but that is because they deal mostly with european hunters."

I am looking into doing my first African hunt and came across Die Keiler. In researching past threads I saw this one and this comment. I am curious why an outfitter in Namibia would have cheaper prices because they deal mostly with European hunters. What the heck does that have to do with how they price their hunts? Rufous

rufous:
I'm not sure about Namibia but I guarentee RSA has two prices. One for locals and one for tourist. The local price we paid in RSA for 2 hunters, 2 wart hogs, one day was $165US. The tourist price would be about $1000US. $200 day per hunter plus $300 per hog. Can you say "Rip Off", children! I have proof in the form of a bill for the hunt and the price list for tourist.

It is well known that resident hunters pay less, no quarrel there BUT I'm pretty sure it isn't trophy hunting but more on the lines of a meat hunt. Here in the US, meat hunts for hogs or deer tend to be much less expensive than trophy hunts for same.

I have only hunted two times in South Africa and I am by now means a South African expert. But I have noticed US hunters tend to focus on two things. Quality lodging & The size of trophies. One must realize many of these animals are bought at auction, and the larger higher scoring trophies command much higher prices.

Many European hunters value older animals with chipped worn down horns (even broken horns) over higher scoring uniform record book horns. I have also noticed many Europeans do not cape or mount their trophies.

As far as charging two different prices, A US hunter has to "Legally" hunt with a guide in South Africa or Namibia and you will pay a much higher price! But let not forget the same rules apply to African hunters wanting to hunt in Alaska. A Alaskan hunter can fly out to one of the best Brown bear areas in Alaska for $2500 and a African hunter will have to pay a guide $15.000 to hunt the same place. I agree it's a rip-off, But let not forget it's the law.

The price I quoted did not include lodging, just the services of a PH,transportation on the farm and preparation of the animals. There was no limitation on the size of animals we could take. If it was to small, we passed. We hunted with 2 other outfits and there was no difference as far as trophy vs nontrophy. We made the decision.
The first day we were 2x1 and the second day it was 1x1.
Most of the PHs who worked for big outfits made $65US per day. I'm sure that's for a young PH with no name recognition. They have to provide their own transport and trackers.
After the lodge found out we were from Ak. they wanted to change the price to the tourist price. My friend who booked the hunt for us, argued and won.
I have no problem with folks making a fair profit on any service. However, I do have a problem with over 1000% markup for the same services just because we were not residents.
My friend was furious when he saw the price list for tourist.
After finding this out I saw ads in the magazine Magnum for hunts for R200, thats about $34US per day. That was with accomodations. No PH and no trophy fee. So if you add in the cost for a PH, lets say $100US, thats $135/day. For non DG of course. Compare that to the daily rate of the larger outfits. At that price more folks could afford to hunt in Africa.

Die Keiler does not have cheaper prices over all. I am hunting with Vaughan Fulton this fall and decided to check his prices vs DK. Vaughans daily reate is about $25 more but most all of his trophy fees are much less one example warthog DK euro 360 converted to USD 428 Vaughan $300. DK's pricing is in Euros which is about 1.19 USD. Also DK's daily rate does not include whisky or whiskey.

What is Vaughan Fulton's website? Rufous.

I hunted with both Helmut Halenke and the Redeckers in 2003, couldn't have had a better hunt. We took a 54 1/2 kudu, 42" oryx, gold medal steenbok, hartebeest, as well as mountain zebra. there are indeed numerous leopard on the Redecker farm, fresh tracks every day. The hunters kill several a year, but he had a number of kudu die of rabies, so wasn't taking hunters that year as baiting would be impossible. As for the whiskey being included, I sure as heck didn't pay for any and killed a bottle of J&B with Friedrich in a late night session a couple of nights. They are both the kind of people that feel like family by the time you leave. they do have more European hunters, but I was very pleased with my hunt. I would be glad to provide a bit more info if some are interested. Another plus is that I returned on the eighth of June and one August 1st, my trophies were in Dallas at the airport, which is different than what I hear from many hunters.

Anybody been there? They look like they cater almost exclusively to Europeans.

I hunted with Helmut Halenke in 1997. I had a very enjoyable hunt there. His wife, Anke, is one of the best cooks I've known. Great people and they have recently added large tracts of prime hunting land to an already substantial network of hunting farms.

I hunted mountain zebra on farm Westfallenhof with Fredrick Redeker. I had already completed my hunt on Fredrick's brother's ranch which is not part of Die Keiler and I only hunted Westfallenhof one day. Fredrick had more trophy class kudu than you could shake a stick at, they were everywhere. I was only there one day but from what I saw his place had it all: great facilities, great food, great help, lots of game, beautiful property with varied topography and most importantly a large(30k+ acre) property with NO game fences.

Fredrick said they have a good many leopard on the property. I was able to see a nautral kill that a leopard had left in a tree. After I got back from Namibia I met a hunter who had hunted westfallenhof in 2000. He had killed a leopard in broad daylight while stalking zebra.

I know very little about the other ranches in the Die Keiler group but if they are as good as Westfallenhof I would be happy to book with them.

Die Keiler's prices seem cheap but that is because they deal mostly with european hunters. They have a website at http://www.natron.net/keiler/main.html

Jason

[ 07-06-2002, 09:50: Message edited by: J Brown ]

At the SCI 25th convention in Las Vegas I spoke with some of the people involved with Die Keiler and some other hunting farms involved with them. They seemed like decent people. I have their 1997 price list and it looks like their prices have gone down some. Next year I'll be hunting with Leopard Lodge again. Like Die Keiler they tend to cater to primarily German hunters and their prices are very reasonable.