I will be turning 40 this year. The wife's present is a hunt to anywhere I want to go, for under $10,000.

Looking for a challenging hunt. I am in good physical shape.

I realize you get what you pay for, but I need a few ideas.

The idea you are looking for screams AFRICA!!!!, I did my trip (April 2008)with my wife tagging along as an observer, took 8 trophy animals...everything under $10k.

I did however get my round trip plane tickets for under $1000 each, not sure how much they are now.

Boarman- Where are you located and what has got your passion on what to hunt. There are some very good combination hunts out west that are very rewarding. Several guys on here can help you out. Africa seems like a lot to get for 10K. You might be able to do it but it would be a stretch.
Think about a trophy Mule deer and a huge Elk in your trophy room. (and freezer)

I took three great animals, all free range in New Zealand for well under that last spring. I took my chamoi unguided and on public land. The cost was minimal. I paid a guide and paid trophy fees to the land owners for both my Red Stag and My Fallow buck. My best suggestion is to shop hard. That was the key to me getting the type of hunt I wanted, all free range, and ending up with a guide I liked and could afford.
Steve

That's an amazing birthday gift. I just turned 35 yesterday and didn't quite get the same gift!

Have you considered an Alaska or British Columbia hunt for mountain goat? It's the toughest physical hunt in North America and can be done for well under your budget...about $6500 plus flights, tags, misc. Another neat option is Mongolian ibex and you get to see argali country without paying argali prices.

Pegleg,
I am located in Ohio.

I would like to go out west,and hunt bear or mountain lion. A combination hunt sounds good.

I have an excellent mountain lion guide to recommend if you want to hunt in Utah. He's good enough that I would recommend him even though we didn't get a cat. It was in the middle of that snowstorm a year ago that closed the Denver airport and we just couldn't track fast enough in the heavy snow. The next hunter came in and got the same cat and it booked high enough P&Y that it is being submitted to B&C. Lots of cats in Utah.

Well now your narrowing it down, on your first post you said "ANYWHERE" and didn't specify what you were after. For bears you should go to Alaska ( you didn't say how far west) you can do black bear easily under the price, but if you want pure adrenalin, You can do "guided" INTERIOR Grzzly for about $7500-$8500, remember I said interior NOT Coastal Brown Bear, theres a big differense in Price. Besides, you can't hunt them in the Lower 48, and any Grizzly is a unique and great trophy, and you'll have to work for it too! A great hunt...consider it.

You said challenging, and under $10k. Mountain Goat in B.C. or Alaska.

I agree lion might work to,the hunt is challengeing physically, you can do a pretty good hunt for under $5k.

AFRICA!!!!!!!

A Russian brown bear hunt would be near the top of the list for me. Ron

There's not much you can do in Africa for under 10k once you include a $2500 flight, tips, and trophy shipment...not to mention taxidermy.

You can't really do a good Russian brown bear hunt for 10k either. Many of the hunts are approaching 10k without flights, tips, etc.

If you're looking for PHYSICAL hunts then either the mountain goat hunt or the Dagestan Tur hunt would be your best options. Either one has the real potential to take all you've got physically.

Boarman says he wants to hunt bear and Mountain lion, on a combo hunt...hmmm, not sure if the seasons are open at the same time.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
There's not much you can do in Africa for under 10k once you include a $2500 flight, tips, and trophy shipment...not to mention taxidermy.

I call BS!!! I hunted RSA in 2004, took 5 animals and still ended up well under 10K, including 7 days hunting, taxidermy, shipment of completed trophies from RSA, etc. Correct, things may be a bit more expensive today compared to 2004 but not that much.

So, Yukon you have a hunt currently booked with Vaughan, correct? You're going to tell me that I can't hunt with Vaughan 1x1 for 10 days taking 8 animals, including kudu, oryx, sprinbok, mountain zebra, steenbok, red hartebeest, ostrich, and damara dikdik for less than 10K? Add airfare and the total cost is only around 11K, excluding taxidermy and shipment of trophies.

If the frugile hunter wanted to go to Africa on a limited budget for 7-10 days and take 5-7 animals, it is certainly doable for under or around 10K dependent upon country hunted and animals taken. A nice 7-10 day plains game hunt can be booked from 4K-8K dependent upon some of the criteria I outlined above. Keep in mind that the shipment of trophies and completion of mounts could be extended over several years.

Boarman,

Regardless of what you choose to hunt and where, you got yourself a keeper and a gem of a lady!!!

Congrats on turning 40, I bet you wish you could turn 40 every year!!

I agree with graybird,Sorry Yukon, I know we're Alaskans but, I just hunted Africa for under $10K with my wife tagging along, and bagging 8 trophies. of course that doesn't include taxidermy, but hell its still reasonable. (IMO)

You can call BS all you want but if you're basing info on a hunt from 4 years ago, you're behind times. The hunt you list here with Vaughan is a little over 9k without figuring tips, incidentals, any travel, any shipping or taxidermy. Those last tidbits will probably double your cost.

I don't leave out things like $2500 airfare, tips, shipping, etc. when figuring a budget...especially not a 10k budget.

He's looking for a western hunt anyway so that simplifies the discussion. If you shopped around you could probably do a mountain goat hunt AND full size taxidermy for close to 10k. That would be a great birthday present.

quote:

Originally posted by AKsheephunter:
I agree with graybird,Sorry Yukon, I know we're Alaskans but, I just hunted Africa for under $10K with my wife tagging along, and bagging 8 trophies. of course that doesn't include taxidermy, but hell its still reasonable. (IMO)

You got flights for 1k (and that's not counting your flight to the Lower 48)...that's far from realistic for a budget estimation. It's low by at least 1/2. You are definitely not including trophy shipments either as you have no idea (at this point) what that will cost you. Also, taxidermy really adds up but can be paid over time. It still busts the budget.

My main point is that it is difficult to hunt Africa for under 10k when you include all of the things that add up. It's a lot more than daily rates and trophy fees.

I'm 100% for everyone to try Africa and most people could do it if they cut back on a few luxuries, drove an older car, whatever. I think it's great that he gets 10k to hunt for his birthday. Keep us posted on your choice? The rest of us are just having hunt withdrawals.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
You can call BS all you want but if you're basing info on a hunt from 4 years ago, you're behind times. The hunt you list here with Vaughan is a little over 9k without figuring tips, incidentals, any travel, any shipping or taxidermy. Those last tidbits will probably double your cost.

I don't leave out things like $2500 airfare, tips, shipping, etc. when figuring a budget...especially not a 10k budget.

He's looking for a western hunt anyway so that simplifies the discussion. If you shopped around you could probably do a mountain goat hunt AND full size taxidermy for close to 10k. That would be a great birthday present.

My figures are of today's prices because I'm doing the needed research for such a safari. For the animals I listed aboce, excluding any tips, airfare, etc. Just talking about the hunt alone is in the neighborhood of $8,800.

Now let's just say a typical 7 day PG hunt using Vaughan's 2008 current pricing:

7 days @ $450/day = $3150
5 common Namibia animals (price/animal):
Kudu = $900
Gemsbok = $425
Red hartebeest = $450
Springbok = $350
Mountain Zebra = $750
Include a $200 trophy prep fee
and you have a grand total of $6225
add your airfare $2500 (est.) = $8725
tips are in the eye of the beholder/hunter (we all tip differently)
Leaving you $1275 for dip/pack and shipment of trophies back to the USA

As I mentioned, completion of trophies can be done as funds are available and agreements are made between hunter and taxidermist being stretched over a couple of years.

This is based upon an ala carte hunt. Package deals can be booked much cheaper, which is what I did my first safari.

This would be a great hunt for a first time hunter in Africa!! So, don't say, "There's not much you can do in Africa for under 10k once you include a $2500 flight, tips, and trophy shipment..."

quote:

The rest of us are just having hunt withdrawals.

This is absolutley 100% true!!!!!!!!!

Well, that proves my point which is why I said, "There's not much you can do in Africa for under 10k once you include a $2500 flight, tips, and trophy shipment..." Don't get fussy, just read it as I wrote it. Trophy shipments and flights alone are 5k or more.

Just to throw something interesting in here...you could do a PAC elephant bull hunt in Zim for 9k (not including flights & tips) with one of the best elephant PHs on the planet (Buzz Charlton) or a tuskless hunt for about 2k less than that. That's real bang for the buck and there is no taxidermy, shipping, etc to screw it up. I would do that over a PG hunt anytime.

And I do have hunt withdrawals...as I type this from Sacramento of all places!

Yukon, I went thru a tavel agent got a round trip ticket for me and the wife for $1039 ea. Fairbanks to Salt lake city, Salt lake city to dallas, dallas to Dulles to Joberg, same way back (April 2008)...I'm sure they are more now, who knows. Aside from plane tickets, all accommodations (8 days) tax,trophy fees, tips, even $1100 in souvenoirs...total cost: $6975

Thanks Boarman, this threads turnin' ugly...look at my previous post ...go do the griz hunt....CK

I would go for the cat. A trophy hunt here in Utah will run around $3,000-3,500. Figure $500 in air, $500 in lodging, $500 in incidentals means you can do it for less than $5,000. Then you take the other $5,000 and purchase a landowner deer tag for a plains unit in Colorado and pay the trespass fee to get on ranches to hunt a muley. This will run under $5,000 including travel and tips. Now you have 2 great hunts, not just one. (I am always a sucker for a mature mule deer buck.)

Or you can go hunt black bears and sitka blacktail deer on Prince of Wales Island. This also allows you to fish for late-run salmon and halibut. Total cost on that will run less than $7,500.

These are just a couple of hunts which I would like to do, but never will.

On my 40th the wife let me take off half a day and go squirrel huntin'!

Whatever you do, ENJOY it to the fullest!
From all the planning, to the actual hunt, to the retelling of the stories a thousand times, around a thousand campfires!

Dave, thats because she saving up to take you on your African Dream safari when you turn 45....hehehe

For 10k, do you have the option of doing more than one hunt or one hunt only?

Some other options I was thinking of were muskox (you would be the only guy on your block with one), caribou are fun and you could shoot a couple with maybe a chance at a wolf, pronghorn hunts are fun and they are cheap as far as guided hunts go, you could do a combo hunt in New Zealand for under 10k, nice guided elk hunts (horseback even) are under 10k with guaranteed tags, water buffalo way out in the Australian bush are about 7500, red stag in Argentina are well under your budget at about 5500, etc. etc.

There are many options to consider. Prices quoted are just hunt prices as there will be incidentals to consider and transporatation of course.

Graybird,
You are correct...she is a keeper.

Yukon Delta,
I could do a couple hunts, as long as I keep under 10k. I like the idea of combo hunts.

This post has given me many more options than I could have thought of !!

It's nice to know that with a gift like that, you can hunt in a number of different countries for small game through the largest of game. You might also consider getting on the booking agent's email lists for discounted hunts. There will be a number of hunts this year that are discounted because the original client lost their deposit and can't hunt for whatever reason. You can save up to 50% on some hunts.

I would just say to not get in a hurry and book right away unless you're sure it's the right hunt for you. Do some research and you'll find something nice.

I was basing my thought on Russian bear hunt with info from a couple of years ago. You could get two bears for 11,000 then. In this picture these hunters got two bears each for 11,000, but that was a couple of years ago. I don't know what they cost now. Ron

The pricing I see in several catalogs is 8-10k for a Russian bear hunt. Keep in mind that a good Alaskan coastal brown bear hunt is now 18k so it's still about 1/2 the cost of an Alaskan hunt. The experience is different too.

Keep in mind that particular photo has some tricks to it. The bear to his right has a foot that is at his knee level. He also looks a little short. They don't make 12' brown bears.

Photo "tricks"? I think they placed the bears there, hid the wood bases behind some drift wood and took a photo. I doubt they were trying to trick anyone, just take a very impressive photo. They succeeded, as that is an excellent photo.

Boarman- I was also thinking that you could try to find a cancellation hunt for sheep in Alaska. Now that would be worth the $$$$.

Trick is probably the wrong word. It is a very impressive photo. I only meant that the photo is deceptive (unintentional?) as to the size of the bears. I don't know the guy in the photo.

I know the guy very well he is a very good friend of mine. Yes he is short, but they are very big bears.
The picture was not intended to be "fake" many pictures were taken like these. I do think that the Russian bears are every bit as big as our Browns. Ron

I'd look at a real wilderness adventure in BC. Choose your game (and mountain goat would be a good choice) but do a remote horseback hunt in beautiful country. This, in fact, is exactly what I am doing this fall. Similar situation, though my wife suggesting that it was time for me to do a nice hunt again. The last one, in 2003, was to South Africa. While we had a good time, it was just too easy, you were going to get the animals you wanted as the game was there. Not my kind of hunting. Hence my trip this year with these folks below. A fly-in, horseback hunt for elk and moose with a few other critters thrown in if time allows. Goat in the East Kootenay's would be a great hunt for sure.

http://www.stonemountainsafaris.com/