Could my AR friends tell me how many of you have taken the Big Five, and when and where? I would also like to know who has taken croc and hippo in addition to the Big Five. I have taken Elephant, Lion and Cape Buffalo and am looking on taking rhino next year if all goes well, and leopard the following year, along with croc and possibly hippo.

Not quite there, half way. I've taken Cape Buffalo, leopard and Hippo all in Zimbabwe. Don't think I'll ever be able to take all 6 or the big 5. looking for croc and maybe a tuskless cow elephant next year

Use Enough Gun,

Other than the rhino I've been lucky enough to take all the animals you mentioned. As for the rhino the white variety was never really part of the original "Big 5". There may be a chance to include the black rhino that was part of the original "Big 5" in the future in your personal "Big 5" but you will need really deep pockets. The way I see it there actually is only a "Big 4" for all practical purposes at this time.

My "Big 4" as it were and the hippo and croc initially were taken between Zim and Zambia. Later I took elephant in Botswana and leopard in Tanzania.

BTW those Kruger lions are just super. Congratulations!

I'd still like that contact info. for the guy that has the simitar horned oryx and adax in RSA.

Regards,

Mark

Mark, I thought that I sent you that information a couple of weeks ago when you sent me a PM. If you didn't get it send me another one and I'll resend it to you. UEG

I have been lucky to take a Buff in Tanzania 2 years ago along with a load of plains game and croc and hippo.

I am going back to TZ next year for Elephant,
Leopard and more Buff and hopefully sable, eland and a couple of other incidentals.

I would like to get a lion in the coming years. Hopefully when my daughter is old enough to bring along, maybe Northern TZ along with plains game for her.

I would not hunt Rhino even if I had the 50 to 100K to blow on the hunt.

I know I am going to get a lot of flack for this but I feel that now days a Rhino hunt is an overpriced canned hunt which has as much danger associated with it as hunting Eland (only dangerous if they fall on top of you after you shoot them) There is not a rhino in SA that is not known by name or accounted for in some way.
How can you consider it hunting when from the time you book the hunt at the SCI convention untill you are in "camp" the PH and his staff know where the rhino is???

If hunting Rhino was still like it was 50 years ago with a decent population in thick brush, that had to be hunted and not just walked up upon and shot I would be all over it like white on rice on a paper plate in a snow storm!!!

Honkey

I agree with almost everything you said about white rhino hunting. In most cases you are right in that you know the SCI score of the animal when you book the hunt and often pay accordingly. The exception to this is a hunt on the Mkuze Game Reserve. Mkuze is a big area with a lot of naturally occuring game including a sizable rhino population. Here you pick up a track, follow the rhino into some really nasty cover and just like buff or elephant you try todetermine if he is a shooter. Ask the guy last year that got his pants ripped off with the horn if he thought it was a real hunt.

This 10 day hunt comes in somewhere in the mid 40's depending on the rhino trophy fee at the time.

BTW I'm originally from Rockland, ME and my long term partner Sadie is from Fort Fairfield, ME.

Regards,

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Honkey:


I would not hunt Rhino even if I had the 50 to 100K to blow on the hunt.

I know I am going to get a lot of flack for this but I feel that now days a Rhino hunt is an overpriced canned hunt which has as much danger associated with it as hunting Eland (only dangerous if they fall on top of you after you shoot them) There is not a rhino in SA that is not known by name or accounted for in some way.
How can you consider it hunting when from the time you book the hunt at the SCI convention untill you are in "camp" the PH and his staff know where the rhino is???

!!!

HONKEY, I too consider the White Rhino, to be a bit mild mannered to be considered to be really dangerous! Since he was never part of the treditional "BIG 5" I have no desire to take him, and would far rather hunt Hippo on dry land. Get between him and water at day break, and he becomes a guy to deal with. Believe me he can take a pile of 500/450 NE 480 gr bullets, before he gives it up, if the brain is not hit!

Your opinion, however, that the W-Rhino is no more than an expensive CANNED HUNT is in error, IMO! It can be,as you say, in some Rhino areas, but if hunted in the large areas like the MKuzi, by foot travel, on spoor, it is anything but a canned hunt! It is a bit like Elephant hunting, in that it can require a lot of walking, in very high heat, and in some thick thorn, where, also like ele, if he stands still, you may not see him at 10 feet. In this case he is no more canned than he would be in any large thorn bush area. Still I don't consider him to be a member of the so-called "BIG 5" but rather a member of the "Dangerous 7"! IMO, unless the Black Rhino comes back in huntable numbers, I'm afraid it is the "BIG-4" today, and forward!

All this is not backed by my haveing taken the W-Rhino,personally, or in fact any of the "BIG-5" other than Cape Buffalo, or the Buffalo, and Hippo from the Dangerous 8. It seems I can't leave the Buffalo, and hippo alone long enough to take any of the others. I would be a holder of all the "Dangerous-7" if I could afford it, but alas, Im poor!

Mark and Mac,

I do not dissagree with either of you. I was perhaps speaking in far to general terms based on my personal knowlege of 2 rhino hunts that an aquaintence went on, one in SA and the other I belive in Lesotho.
Something intresting happened in Lesotho, when he arrived from the states he found "his" rhino had been shoot the day before by a tribal leader and was offered a female rhino to shoot or another male which was considerably smaller.

Once again I have not personaly hunted Rhino so perhaps my broad statement was innapropriate.

Mac, it is nice to hear someone else holds Hippo hunting in high regard. I have not been able to shoot one on land yet, and have only shoot one in Tanzania in the water. However my first time in Africa, in Zim my wife and I were mock charged while taking pictures on the cheredzi river. That experience made me respect the power and speed that hippo have not to mention the bad temper.

Mark, funny thing my wife is from Rockville MD!!

Take care

I have killed all of the big five but elephant and rhino. I have also killed a hippo up close and on land--the only way to hunt one, IMO--but never a croc.

I have hunted but so far never killed an elephant for the simple reason that I haven't yet been lucky enough to find one big enough to shoot. I will hunt elephant again later this year, and maybe croc and hippo too. I don't see much point in hunting rhino these days.
Even a black rhino wouldn't have much appeal to me.

Not just the white rhino, but also the black variety used to be considered more stupid than dangerous. They can be quite dangerous, to be sure. Still, their menacing reputation stems mostly from the days when they were as thick as tsetse flies. They were easily and frequently stumbled upon and spooked into charging, which they almost invariably would do.

Nowadays, the hippo on land has replaced the rhino for most of us. I think the hippo, when stalked on land, is just as or more dangerous.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Could my AR friends tell me how many of you have taken the Big Five, and when and where? I would also like to know who has taken croc and hippo in addition to the Big Five. I have taken Elephant, Lion and Cape Buffalo and am looking on taking rhino next year if all goes well, and leopard the following year, along with croc and possibly hippo.

I think I have answered this before for someone, but I'll do it again.
I took the Big 5 in the '70's. Black rhino in Kenya (last permit issued), leopards in Zambia, Lions, elephant and buffalo in several countries. I guess that one advantage to be old! Only one I have found however.

quote:

I guess that one advantage to be old!

AfricanHunter: I think I'm in the same boat as you, except no Black Rhino.

I took my first Cape Buffalo in Botswana. Took lion, leopard and a few more buff in Tanzania as well as a huge hippo. Took my elephant last year in Botswana.

Hoping for a croc next month in Mozambique.

Regards, D. Nelson

I just received an e-mail that the first of the Black rhino permits was used in S.A. I believe that 5 were approved earlier this year.

I have the big four plus hippo.
Not looking for a rhino. I've
shot wild cattle that were more sporting than
a White Rhino. I did track some White Rhino (3) in SA in March of 1988 until I caught up with them. I took a picture as turned and disappeared in a cloud of dust. They are BIG!
Sneaked up on some others and took pictures in the Matopo Hills Park west of Bulawayo just before the bastards burned it in July of 2001. Those were pretty tame compared to the SA ones.

Rich Elliott

I have taken the big 5, and I must say that my experience with the white rhino was nothing like what many describe. I hunted in thick thorn bush and did more walking and tracking than I did for elephant. I had a sporting hunt in every sense.
Elechaser

I received this email just yesterday:

Dear Friends and Clients

Thormahlen & Cochran Safaris had the privilege to Outfit and guide the first black rhino hunt in 30 years. To protect the client's privacy, I attached a photo of myself with the rhino bull after being hunted.

T&C Safaris would like to thank the Mpumalanga Parks Board for their dedication in getting CITES tags for a black rhino hunt, and African
Field Sports for trusting us with their client.

Kind Regards
Peter Thormahlen
Thormahlen & Cochran Safaris

I've taken 6 of the 7 but never - repeat - never a rhino. I've been around both black and white and neither, especially the white would I consider to be a hunt. More like shooting a cow in a pasture. What I really wish is that the powers that be, would erase the term big 5.

I have not taken either Rhino, and would only want to shoot a black Rhino, and thats not in the cards, I waited to long and missed the boat on that one....

The White Rhino to me is as close to domestic as an animal can be, have no desire to shoot one, turned down several opertunities early on and one chance to dart one, Im not a darting kind of a guy .....

I do the Mkuze hunt for rhino next year and I will be honest about whether it's a hunt or not.I'm then off for elephant in Botswana at Qorokwe, one of Calitz's concessions. I've taken buffalo, lion, hippo, and leopard.