quote:

Originally posted by els:
My adivice is to never ever total up the true and complete cost of hunting or sex...... It will decrease your enjoyment of both....

Good post. I agree on both the post and the sig line.

Just because the hunter is cutting back on some luxuries to get to Africa doesn't mean that the others in the family are required to suffer.

Such as:

Keep driving that car that's paid for instead of getting a new one just because it's newer.

Get the McDonalds basic coffee instead of Starbucks.

Little things like that which don't affect the rest of the family.

I agree with those who say do not cut corners however be mindful of the prices too because I have seen some serious gouging. I do agree that cow ele and buff end up being cheaper in the long run if you just shoot them and nothing else but It seems so easy to justify shooting other things when there because you are there and airfare is expensive.

quote:

Originally posted by cable68:
Get the McDonalds basic coffee instead of Starbucks.

Here in Ca a basic large coffee is $1.79 at McDonalds or $2.05 at Starbucks.

My answer: make your coffee at home and take it with you.

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
I think Saeed is almost totally correct.

One place that I think you can cut corners and still have a great hunt is to book with an outfit that caters to European hunters.

As an example, many farms in Namibia take out mostly German hunters. They often spend little on advertising(shows and printed material) and get most of their business through word-of-mouth. Their prices are often far cheaper than outfits that utilize the American market

I once read a story regarding a German party whose gun handling was so atrocious that the PH had to confiscate their bolts until they actually were on game. This in the interest of personal safety of the hunter and his staff.

Also we see once again that the blue passport is subject to price discrimination. Why am I not surprised?

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:

quote:

Originally posted by cable68:
Get the McDonalds basic coffee instead of Starbucks.

Here in Ca a basic large coffee is $1.79 at McDonalds or $2.05 at Starbucks.

My answer: make your coffee at home and take it with you.

Given a price savings of 26 cents, it would take take over 200 years to do a $20k safari, assuming one cup of coffee per day.

Even saving a buck a day would require saving for 55 years.

Now I am a patient guy, but not that patient.

Like I said, if you really want to go to Africa but are struggling to do that today, figure out how to make more money. Take some chances in your life. If you bomb out, you will be right where you are today: just dreaming. But if you are successful, you can stop eating hamburger helper and start doing more African hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by tendrams:

quote:

Originally posted by GeoffM24:
so that you can be the sole beneficiary of said savings is selfish whether or not your family speaks up.

No, you missed the point. How about choosing the right wife precisely so you WILL NOT be the sole beneficiary of saving. This does not have to be an either/proposition as it is clearly a matter of reciprocity and capitalizing on situations where a husbands interests coincide with those of his spouse. To all the bachelors out there...CHOOSE WISELY!

Yawn...

quote:

Originally posted by cable68:
Just because the hunter is cutting back on some luxuries to get to Africa doesn't mean that the others in the family are required to suffer.

Such as:

Keep driving that car that's paid for instead of getting a new one just because it's newer.

Get the McDonalds basic coffee instead of Starbucks.

Little things like that which don't affect the rest of the family.

The point is there are opportunity cost to EVERYTHING. Sure the little things affect you mostly but how could that money saved affect your family, your kids, your grandkids, your retirement savings, a charity etc. There is ALWAYS an opportunity cost.

If money is a factor (and for most of us it is), then we must be willing to admit that there are some things in life that we simply can't afford.

For some such things, we have to admit that we can't afford them at all. Not ever.

For others, although we can't afford them now, or next year, or as often as we might wish, we can surely afford them once, or once in a while - as long as we have the will to set funds aside for that purpose, and wait until we have enough.

There are plenty of such things that apply to me, in both categories.

Still, I have adopted a simple approach.

Do it right or don't do it at all.

One example.

I had a friend and co-worker once, who bought a Star 9mm Parabellum. He wanted a Browning Hi Power, but needed to save for it and was too rash and impatient to do that.

So, he cut corners and bought the Star.

He wasn't really happy with it, and readily admitted that he should have saved his money until he had saved enough to by the Browning.

That was a lesson to me that I have never forgotten.

I don't think he ever managed to buy that Browning, although he could have done so, if he had simply sacrificed and waited.

Some things are worth waiting and saving for.

quote:

Originally posted by GeoffM24:
Sure the little things affect you mostly but how could that money saved affect your family, your kids, your grandkids, your retirement savings, a charity etc. There is ALWAYS an opportunity cost.

So, your rationale is that it impacts my family over time when I regularly buy expensive coffee and I should put aside the money saved by downgrading to Mcdonald's java so I can spend it on other stuff for my family and not on Africa? I can definitely save money on coffee, but the difference is I won't look back on my death bed and wish I had given my wife, kids and grandkids more memories of better coffee or more stuff with the money I saved by buying crap coffee. I will look back (and so will they by the way!) and be glad for the memories of Africa! Now, maybe in your mind that saved money is "better" spent on "stuff" to make my family materially more comfortable...but frankly the world has too much material crap as it is and thankfully neither I nor my family feel much need to add to it!

This really isn't rocket science. There are those here that hunt Africa as much as they want to, their bank accounts are flush. I think for most of us, there is an element of working it into the budget so we can "afford" the hunt, whether it be every year, or every other year, etc.. The fact that I do have to make some comprimise on what I spend in order to hunt Africa makes the hunt "extremely" valuable to me.The sweat equity I put into the hunt makes it that much more special to me. My family does without nothing they want or need by me going to Africa. As an example, I have a chevy truck, 2007, long wheel base 4x4 crew cab loaded. I could of bought a cheaper truck and it would do all I wanted or needed. It is paid for, 60,000 miles. I will keep driving it, saves about 800 dollars a month, in 10 months that is 8 grand in the bank. I keep making the payment to myself and put it in savings. Simple and easy. I go to Africa about every 2 years, on the off year I take my wife wherever wshe want to go, italy, canada, wherever. She's happy,,, and she is happy for me to make my hunting trip which she has no desire to go on,,, just not what she likes,,but family commitments are covered before I go hunting...Africa is a drug and I will do what I have to feed the addiction

quote:

Russ,

I think you need to do a little more research. Alaska Air and its partner BA do offer an excellent mileage program that is very easy to use.

I have done the research .. tried to use my AK miles to get to Africa on 3 occasions and they could never offer me a seat, even if I was flexible on departure and return. On the other hand, I have flown DL and UA (SAA) several times on miles and not had as much difficulty getting a seat. I ended up using my AK miles to take my family on vacation, and still have some left that I will use for a domestic trip.

AK itself does not fly to Africa. That is the root of the problem. DL (from Atlanta) and UA (and their partner SAA from NYC, Dulles) do fly to RSA, and I think they offer 3x the flights that Alaska/British offer.

I am sure you CAN get to Africa on Alaska/British, if you book long enough in advance, and are willing to detour through Heathrow, but I usually don't firm up my travel until a few months prior to departure, for various reasons, and I try to avoid traveling through Europe with guns.

It's probably too late, but not having kids saves $450,000.00 per kid you don't have. Unless you add college.

That's several safaris ain't it.

quote:

Originally posted by SG Olds:
It's probably too late, but not having kids saves $450,000.00 per kid you don't have. Unless you add college.

That's several safaris ain't it.

I wonder how much you save for each wife you don't have......

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Drink water and not beer or whiskey, dont eat out, dont eat meat, dont smoke, round up each transsaction to the next dollar and deposit the difference in a cookie jar... make craigslist your new best friend and get rid of all that shit laying around your garage...etc etc etc

May sound like a joke but it's not.

I about had to quit reading this list when I got to the "dont eat meat" part. Im not a rabbit

quote:

Originally posted by SG Olds:
It's probably too late, but not having kids saves $450,000.00 per kid you don't have. Unless you add college.

That's several safaris ain't it.

Having gone on several safaris and shooting everything in Africa that I want, I will take my daughter every time. No contest.

quote:

I wonder how much you save for each wife you don't have......

I wish you had not even brought that one up...I'll go take a Rolaid...and...some Pepto Bismol now thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by Mad Dog:
If you can be happy with pics, some capes and some euro mounts, you will save a ton of money over shoulder/full body mounts. I did the euro/capes thing in 2008. For 2011, we are having the hunt filmed, and I have no intention[at this time ] of shipping anything home.


Mad Dog

Very good choice. I bet you will be able to take some extra animals for your savings?

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:

quote:

Geoff:

11. Look for sea freight rather than air freight for the trophies. I have saved 2/3 on some crates!
Definitely cheaper although I've never tried it.

FWIW Another poster here and myself combined our trophies into one shipment after our 2009 PG safari to RSA and got a quotes on shipping, the same crate was quoted at $4,300 by air and $2,800 by sea freight (those are total costs to move the crate from there to here all inclusive).
That crate is somewhere at sea as this is typed headed for the US.

Europeans mounts or none at all. That would be hard the first time, but when you pay the taxidermist, pay for shipping, pay the broker then start over again for the next batch it starts to make more sense. The taxidermy and freight can easily cost as much as a PG hunt. Would you rather have more heads or more Africa?There's ways of shaveing a few bucks on airfare.

Here's one that won't be popular, quit buying guns.Half of the guys that can't afford Africa have more guns than they can shoot, and are still adding on. I'm lousy at following my own advice, but I don't have to choose.

Someone already said to put your efforts into makeing more money instead of looking for corners to cut. That's probably the best advice of all.

In addition to guns you could also add ammunition, bullets. I have more ammo then I will shoot in a lifetime. It is sorta like my wife who buys a new pair of shoes because they where on sale. I buy ammo because it is on sale.

quote:

Originally posted by Singleshot03:
In addition to guns you could also add ammunition, bullets. I have more ammo then I will shoot in a lifetime. It is sorta like my wife who buys a new pair of shoes because they where on sale. I buy ammo because it is on sale.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with that affliction.