Anyone know who has the best deal on buff hunts?

Generally, Zimbabwe will give you the best hunt for the lowest dollars.

You can, from time to time, find guys with leftover quota at the end of the season and get a really good deal in a good area. Last year Martin Pieters sold some buff on this website for low, low dollars. This, however, was not until late, late, late season. The hunts were carried out in Oct. and Nov as I recall. The hunts were likely just under $10k-ish, all in, which is a cape buffalo bargain.

Looks interesting, I started to save money for that, I will ask some references to Ganyana.Guille

I can offer you a 7 day hunt in Zim, normal season, for a tad under $10K. This is not a bargain by Zim standards but it's a real buffalo hunt on a real concession, and it's quite a bit cheaper than doing the same thing in other countries.

Based on past experience, late season leftover quota buff hunts can be had for $7500-8500 for 7 days in Zim. However, you may not get the area/outfitter you want, it will be hot, and the buff will have graduated from hunter ID course. Last season I was able to book clients on a buff/PG hunt, 10 days, for $6K per person but this was a special situation that stemmed from a cancellation, and the fact that there were 4 of us helped make the numbers work.

As it happens, there is room for 2 clients to join 2 of us again this year, if an opportunity arises, for buff and/or elephant this Sept/Oct.

What I would like to know is the following without any semantics.

The TOTAL COST to the client (excluding all airfares to access the hunting area) and excluding the dip pack and freight to get trophies home

Total cost (1x1 cape buffalo bull) hunt of between (5 and 7 days) actual hunting. In other words excluding the travel/arrival day & departure day

All UP (actual cost to client) not estimates or any hidden or unforseen extras.

Also which months available, which company or outfitter, and in which country

If you offer a price be prepared to accept a booking, make it a real offer, not something you heard from a buddy etc

To kick the game off

We Balla-Balla Safaris offer on our game fenced (Dendro Park Ranch - Zambia) May throught September (5-days actual hunting)

includes the buff bull fee of cource

$11,325

Cheers, Peter

9iron...generaly if the deal looks to be too godd to be true..it is. There are some real bargain prices around, both zim and moz...but you will shoot the first buffalo you see, because it may well be the only buffalo you see!

I can point you to half a dozen reputable Zim operators, and the cost will be about 10k including transfer to and from the airport, but excluding all the paperwork for trophy export and the dip & Pac itself.

Alos, unless you are hunting a ranch it is not wise to book too short a trip. It is not uncommon for the bush to 'go dead' for three days- nothing moves, nobody shoots anything...the spoor is theree but the buff/ele just seem to have vansied. If you only have five days...even in a good area, you will not have much of a hunt.

When Zim's buffalo population was double what it is now, several operators in the best buffalo areas used to offer 5 day 'specials' (five actual hunting days). These were never great hunts, and generally loathed by the PH's. Trophy quality was poor, presure was there to shoot out of the herds etc. And unless the PH was resident in camp for the season (a few were in the old days) it was usually the younger PH's who took up these hunts. The older PH's knew you couldn't make money off them. the wear on your truck going in and out was too much to make up with only five days pay...and the tips were usually poor because the guy was on a budget, and and...

I did a fair number of these 5 day hunts when I started as I was a parks officer stationed in the safari area and could just take leave and drive a short distance from 'home' to the operators camp. Close enough that I could have driven home each night (except that food in camp was better than my own fixings...). If the client was sensible and came in the day before (usual) and I got there in daylight (not always) we could at least sight in his rifle and get to know something of each other before the hunting started in ernest. Most clients suffered from jet lag, and were really only getting into the hunt by the time they climbed into the truck for the long drive back to harare.

1) see comments on beginer mistakes thread.
2) Always book at least one day in town before you leave to go hunting...even a 7 day hunt is might short if you spend the first two days looking for a rifle and some kit! (all too common these days). a) you will learn something of the country and b) you will have caught up with yourself before you start spending big money on hunting days.
3) Go for as long as you can- a ten day hunt is always better and more rewarding than a 7 day...

Lastly...no, I am not selling you a hunt. There are others that can do that...I'm fully booked for this year.

quote:

Originally posted by Buliwyf:

??????????

With your string of recent posts http://forums.accuratereloadin...0101804/m/3301008621 I'd think you were bucking for the Andy Drook memorial Pain in the Butt award! Seriously what's up with you?

Brett

It depends on what you mean by the 'best deal'.

You need to bear in mind that as with most things in life, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

You could mean, the cheapest price, the most buffalo, the best camps, the biggest adventure, the biggest buffs, the biggest or the best area....... but you're not going to get all of those things together. Consequently, you need to decide on your priorities and accept the limitations that come with them.

As Ganyana so rightly says, if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Feel free to visit www.shakariconnection.com or contact me direct if you need unbiased advice.

Advice:

A "cheap" hunt might be in a bad concession where you won´t see buff but you´ll pay the price of the trip.

Pay a bit more and you might have the hunt of your life.

Do your homework, ask for references and trust your gut feeling.

like everybody is saying - it costs alot more to go the 2nd time cause you didn't get anything the 1st

quote:

The older PH's knew you couldn't make money off them. the wear on your truck going in and out was too much to make up with only five days pay...and the tips were usually poor because the guy was on a budget, and and...

Buffalo hunting is like caribout hunting. I know very few people who have been skunked, but it happens more than you might think.

I have heard the term "any buffalo is a trophy" but for me, that is less than satisfying. Shooting any hard bossed buff should be no great feat. I like to be choosy unless I am shooting a buff for bait. Kinda like caribou - I see a lot of dinky caribou in any taxidermy shop.

The comments about "you get what you pay for" are not always true either. Some of my best hunts have pretty inexpensive. On the other hand, my first hunt was a cheap buff hunt. I had a PH who wasn't that great. To Ganyana's point, I think he looked at me as a budget guy who wasn't going to tip that well. Oh, well, what he didn't know was that I tip based on the quality of animals I see and shoot. Kinda like how my customers treat me. They don't care how hard I work, they care about results.

I have often said here the biggest favor you can do for your hunt is get a good PH. After all, you aren't hunting whitetails.

One more thing: check references. Be wary of a guy who has only gone once. As 505 said on another post, "Kind of like taking a virgin into a whore house." Easy to impress.

The "best deal" in hunting is finding a good hunt, in a good area and paying a fair price, although it is probably not the cheapest hunt. A "cheap hunt is a expensive walk in the bush"
Get the best area you can afford. Nearly every safari nightmare I hear are from guys that were looking for "a deal"

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
The "best deal" in hunting is finding a good hunt, in a good area and paying a fair price, although it is probably not the cheapest hunt. A "cheap hunt is a expensive walk in the bush"
Get the best area you can afford. Nearly every safari nightmare I hear are from guys that were looking for "a deal"

NEVER has a truer word been spoken!

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
The "best deal" in hunting is finding a good hunt, in a good area and paying a fair price, although it is probably not the cheapest hunt. A "cheap hunt is a expensive walk in the bush"
Get the best area you can afford. Nearly every safari nightmare I hear are from guys that were looking for "a deal"

Absolutely true!

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
The "best deal" in hunting is finding a good hunt, in a good area and paying a fair price, although it is probably not the cheapest hunt. A "cheap hunt is a expensive walk in the bush"
Get the best area you can afford. Nearly every safari nightmare I hear are from guys that were looking for "a deal"

+1

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
The "best deal" in hunting is finding a good hunt, in a good area and paying a fair price, although it is probably not the cheapest hunt. A "cheap hunt is a expensive walk in the bush"
Get the best area you can afford. Nearly every safari nightmare I hear are from guys that were looking for "a deal"

When you pay peanuts, you often get monkeys.

My grandfather had a feed, coal and lumber business that he started in the 30's and sold when he retired in the early 60's. He had a sign in the office that said:

"Quality is like buying oats. If you want nice clean fresh oats, you must expect to pay a fair price. On the other hand, if you don't mind oats that have already been through the horse... that comes a bit cheaper."

Guys I completely agree with what you all have said and have experienced this first hand. I guess what I am trying to find out is now that the shows are over I wanted to find out if there are any dates open in a good area, with a good outfit, late season preferable that has been discounted. I have a flexible schedule so taking advantage of cancellations is also a possibility.

9iron,

There are some buffalo hunts still available with good outfits in good areas. Pricing for a 10 day hunt at $1,000-$1,100 per day and a trophy fee of $2,800-$3,000.

Mark

I'd stick with Mozambique and Zimbabwe for the cheapest yet still quality buffalo hunt. Mozambique seems like it has a little more plains game in the delta areas than most of the Zimbabwe areas (excluding the SAVE). For Moz I'd look at Mokore Safaris, Bahati Safaris, JP Kleinhans (sp?) Safaris. For Zim take your pick. There's a bunch of good ones. Talk to booking agents like Mark, Wendell, and Aaron to give you some idea of what's out there and what it will cost.

Brett

Get with a good agent and get some advice from a pro. The agents deal with this everyday whereas the rest of us may go on a few hunts. There are about 150 safari outfits that offer buffalo in Africa. Most will be from $12000 to $30000 depending on where you go. Use an agent to reduce the options.

I would think you could get a decent buff hunt in Zim for around $8,000 - $10,000.

I have quite a few Buffalo hunts that I think are reasonable.

I have one is Zim that can be done for $9800 or so. All in. Transfers, Buff trophy fee, gov Levy, day rate, dipand pack. 7 days. (And Ganyana approves of it!)

Seems that I have quite a few Buffalo hunts that run about $13,000- $14,000 when you add all the fees including transfers. Matetsi, Zambia, Save.

The transfers can sometimes be substantial.

I have a couple in Zambia in the $16k range.

All the way up to Masailand $26k includes 2 Buffalo.

You get what you pay for, but there aresome deals to be had.

Ive been wanting to go to Matetsi for some time now but these hunts are going for a bit more than others, hopefully towards the end of the season something will come up

9iron

If your looking at something less expensive than the 7 day hunt Wendell has offered you should be very cautious.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by 9iron:
Ive been wanting to go to Matetsi for some time now but these hunts are going for a bit more than others, hopefully towards the end of the season something will come up

Unless you are someones very special customer, you will never see it. It will get sold to a return customer or someone that has been loyal to the agent or the safari outfit.

Agree with Dave Fulsom 100% !!!!!!!!
You get what you pay for.
7 days is THE MINIMUM you should consider for buff !

Dave and Mark are spot on I did 5 days in the Omay and I lucked out 1:45PM last day.

9iron.

Dave,Dogcat,Steve,cewe,sdirk,Mark are all telling it true. As to a brother in law deal.... ya'gotta be related. The deal..You won't see it ..old loyal customer gets that one.

You may get what you pay for but never get what you don't pay for.

Cheers

Aaron Neilson of Global Hunting Resources is advertising some good Zambian packages in the Luangwa valley. Packages also includes Hippo and Croc.

Dogcat has a very valid point. Just about every short notice or end of season 'specail' I have ever done (weather for myself or another operator) has gone to a friend or a repeat customer.

quote:

Anyone know who has the best deal on buff hunts?

i know i am late reading this thread but by best deal do you mean cheapest deal or do you mean best experience with likelihood of success

they are very seldom the same thing in my experience

quote:

Nearly every safari nightmare I hear are from guys that were looking for "a deal"

my point exactly

Hunt with a reputable PH Company and you will have the memories to last a lifetime.

I hunted with www.cmsafaris.com fifteen months ago and am still recalling little things that added to the hunt quality. There are other reputable companies out there, this was the company that fulfilled a fifty-year old fantasy to hunt Cape Buffalo in Zimbabwe for me.

Rich

Some of my hunts have been "once in a lifetime hunts", where I just wanted to experience that one time -"sounded like fun". Case in point - my last hunt was a feral camel hunt in the deserts of Australia (it was a lot of fun). Same as a hippo and crocodile hunt, or shooting a giraffe - I just wanted to do it once.

However, if I got a real "deal" and the outfit checked out as being reputable, I MIGHT be persuaded to do a hunt that I would not have actually planned to do. You usually get what you pay for, but not always. Anybody got a $3,000 buf hunt?

Hunting is just like any other product or service that is for sale. There are some people who will hunt regardless of the price. But just like gasoline, price goes down - people drive more; price goes up - people drive less. Airfares go up - people fly less; airfares go down - people fly more. Hunt prices go up - people hunt less ; hunt prices go down - people hunt more !

As I said in my earlier post, you can probably get a decent buf hunt in Zim for $8,000 to $10,000 with a reputable outfit and a good chance of getting a decent buf. Anything under $8,000 and I would carefully check references. Then as was also posted you can find a hunt for $26,000+ and they will happily take your money (and you will probably have a great hunt!).

(I apologize in advance if I have offended anyone!)

quote:

Originally posted by ivan carter:

quote:

Anyone know who has the best deal on buff hunts?

i know i am late reading this thread but by best deal do you mean cheapest deal or do you mean best experience with likelihood of success

they are very seldom the same thing in my experience

I would say a compromise of all 3 best experience with likelihood of success at the best price.

quote:

Originally posted by RBHunt:
Some of my hunts have been "once in a lifetime hunts", where I just wanted to experience that one time -"sounded like fun". Case in point - my last hunt was a feral camel hunt in the deserts of Australia (it was a lot of fun). Same as a hippo and crocodile hunt, or shooting a giraffe - I just wanted to do it once.

However, if I got a real "deal" and the outfit checked out as being reputable, I MIGHT be persuaded to do a hunt that I would not have actually planned to do. You usually get what you pay for, but not always. Anybody got a $3,000 buf hunt?

$3k would be about what the ph spends in maintenance for his truck. Thats definitely not my goal.

During my research I would like to go with reputable outfit and area and avoid certain premiums that I know can be avoided sometimes, suchs as charters, amount of days although my last 7 days buff was tight we sure had lots of fun, also sometime an open slot can be filed by discounting one way or another to make the total a bit less. Im not sure about you guys but, I fly on point and dont think of the after the hunts costs until they are up meaning the taxermy, freight etc. and although I may be looking for discounted price if I have a good experience and my team works as I expect the tip is in accordance.