were taken in Zim this season, vs last season? I heard that quotas were reduced but have not seen any overall figures. Also curious whether all the quota was taken given the (much) higher prices.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
were taken in Zim this season, vs last season? I heard that quotas were reduced but have not seen any overall figures. Also curious whether all the quota was taken given the (much) higher prices.

And much shorter season as some concessions did not get their quota until very late.

How are the quota's worked out for an area? Are there game surveys conducted before the season starts?

Re quota setting ... in Parks areas it used to be unilaterally set by Parks based on their take of the area ... rigorous game counts were not done as parks for the most part does not have vehicles that run or gas to put in the few that do. They certainly don't have aircraft at their disposal. Then at some point (maybe 7 years ago) they started to collaborate with the operators in some fashion to arrive at quotas. Quotas in many areas were reduced in the last couple of seasons due to high predation by lions, as well as overhunting in some areas... too many soft boss animals shot borrows from the future.

On private conservancies there is still an official Parks quota document but I think the numbers are pretty much set by the owner/operator. Which is a reason not to "indigenize" the remaining conservancies.

Of course for CITES species there is some international oversight of quotas. Not sure who has the upper hand but from informal discussions it seems that CITES has the last word.

The puzzling thing: I don't see a lot of "late season leftover" buffalo hunts advertised here on AR, but in practice most of this ends up getting sold to South African hunters at "local" prices. Whether that's a matter of practicality or a conscious decision by the operators not to advertise these low priced hunts in the lucrative foreign markets, I don't know. There have been some offers related to Save to move that quota but that's a special circumstance, and the prices are still well north of $10K.