The recent influx of White Rhino offers (not green hunts) in the outfitter section seems conspicuous to me and leads to a series of questions.

1) What is the deal with the recent influx of offers? Has the market for these animals collapsed? Is there a surplus of supply? Has something changed from a legislative standpoint?

2) The offers started with a cancellation hunt on 11000 acres with 27 rhino's for a rhino bull not to exceed 19" for $31k, later lowered to $29.5k

3) 2 weeks later, a hunt on 20000 acres was posted with a multitude of different size bulls for different pricing.

4) The same day, a hunt for 1 "Adult White Rhino Bull" on 16000 acres with no size restriction or sliding scale pricing was posted for $28,500. This hunt raises a another question, it appears (by the sliding scale pricing and size limitation) on the other 2 hunts, that they keep fairly tight reigns on the sizes of these Rhino bulls. Are you going to be able to hunt for and shoot the largest bull you can find on the property, or will you be limited (directly or indirectly) in the size of the animal pursued/taken?

Brad,
I wondered and thought the same thing (and I'm sure many others)
To me personally, sliding scale on such a thing should be gone. To me it denotes specific value of the horn (extrinsic value not value to me as a "trophy"). Value, that probably should not exist since there is no legal market for said horn....
It is probably the touchiest subject in the hunting world...

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Value, that probably should not exist since there is no legal market for said horn....

The face value per kg of Rhino horn ought to be the TF at minimum but would be more accurate if the total cost of the hunt were to apply.

But because there exists a high demand and because it is illegal, there is a black market price and a hefty one (approx. $70,000/kg) at that.

The same criteria is applicable to elephant ivory and when China forcibly applies the promised ban, ivory will continue to be sold at probably double (if not more) the current going price.

It comes as no surprise therefore that a Rhino has long since and is still considered to be regarded as a "walking bank account".

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Has the market for these animals collapsed?

I would think so, to some degree.

The folks that can afford to hunt rhino often have business interests that can suffer if they are the unlucky one the anti's latch onto and villsinize on the internet.

No, the short answer is they are priced per inch on the horn. It is a pricing model that has been around since we started hunting them. One I do not agree with, but it is the way it is.

The ranchers answer is simple. He has to keep that animal safe for you to hunt him, and it cost him a lot of money. The longer he lives, the longer his horn, the more expense to keep him alive.

It depends from ranch owner to ranch owner what you will pay.

The Rhino hunting world can be dark and dodgy and constantly changing. Make sure you know and trust the guy you entrust your money with.

I tend to think that the influx is more due to the fact that there may be quite a few old old rhinos that are getting to the point where their going to be dying due to natural causes (old age). If that's the case I'm glad to see it as it's good for the conservation/farming efforts working.
As to the cost per size, as a simplified argument, it's not really different than the difference between a ford 250 and a dodge 2500 trucks. They both have basically the same use but not the same price.
In the end if people don't like it they won't pay it so the market will decide.

Last year they started dropping prices because the fear of an import ban, or so I was told.

The expense to keep them without a market for them legally is why lots of folks are getting out of it.

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Originally posted by crbutler:
Last year they started dropping prices because the fear of an import ban, or so I was told.

The expense to keep them without a market for them legally is why lots of folks are getting out of it.

A great example of "if it pays it stays".

Does anybody pay over $30k for a de-horned rhino? For what, to "complete the big 5"?

Are green hunts (darting) still legal, I thought these had been banned but perhaps there are still provinces where this is allowed?

I really don't want to start a but....

White Rhino hunting seems like a really poor substitute for Black Rhino...I've been on multiple properties in SA and the damn things seemed like a Holstein out to pasture. I guess I'm somewhat of a purist, not that I'll ever be able to afford a Black Rhino, but I don't see them as a proper substitute.

Could it be that they want to sell them BEFORE they get poached?

Better something than nothing, and it's expensive to keep Rino........alive.....

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