Just chiming in as so many of my friends hunters are missing on hunting opportunities in Europe…reasons?
I think Africa has greater appeal and NZ guys are simply so much better at advertising
And the centimeters/millimeters and kilograms/grams money scale scares many potential hunters away which is a shame
But Europe has such a variety of game , much better than here in states and especially for sheep hunters, you can’t find better price for wild sheep than anywhere else.
For us in States, offseason in Summer you can hunt roe deer and make wives and girlfriend happy doing touristy things in old towns, castles and also river cruises that are just fantastic
Anyway, bear season here in NW is starting and turkeys are in Full swing…what a life

quote:

Originally posted by M.Shy:

I think Africa has greater appeal and NZ guys are simply so much better at advertising
And the centimeters/millimeters and kilograms/grams money scale scares many potential hunters away which is a shame
But Europe has such a variety of game , much better than here in states and especially for sheep hunters, you can’t find better price for wild sheep than anywhere else.
For us in States, offseason in Summer you can hunt roe deer and make wives and girlfriend happy doing touristy things in old towns, castles and also river cruises that are just fantastic

100%

Come to the UK and hunt with me for Roe, Muntjac, Chinese Water Deer, Fallow, Sika or Red deer.

I only work with outfitters who don't use this sliding scale when pricing trophies. I'm not a fan of it at all!!

You want to hunt a trophy Roe, Muntjac, Chinese Water Deer or Fallow in England it's one price and one price only. That's the same in Ireland for Sika and also in Scotland for Red and Sika.

.

Picking up on this, Europe has just so much to offer from chamois and ibex in the mountains to red stags in the forests, roe everywhere, European boar and mouflon. And then you have all the small stuff and ground game - pheasant, partridge, woodcock, grouse, hare, badger and more!

There are over a million registered hunters in Europe and it is a huge industry but one which I think probably does not get heavily promoted by the European outfitters marketing into the US. Correct me if I am wrong here.

Not everywhere is priced based on sliding scales or medal scores. I have been on dozens of trips / hunts where it was one price for all.

What holds people back a bit from exploring Europe is maybe language barriers, borders and firearm regs.

My 2 cents ....

I've hunted Ireland 2x and Spain 1x. I've also hunted RSA 3x and NZ 1x.

I enjoyed my hunts in Ireland and Spain immensely and partnered the hunts with sightseeing trips with my wife.

I can understand the sliding scale/medal scores for game ranch quarry, such as red stag in NZ, but I'm very opposed to this pricing for free range game. In fact, I think it sends the wrong message about the hunting community in general, to those that are non-hunters. We say we do this sport for the primitiveness and purity of the experience, but yet we put an emphasis on trophy size by adjusting price accordingly. It should be no surprise the anti-hunting crowd keeps gaining traction with hunting and trophy bans. We hand the "blood sport" argument right to them.

That being said. Are there game conservation arguments for having a sliding scale? Sure, but we do a terrible job conveying why and when such pricing is done to promote conservation.

Is it difficult taking your own hunting rifle into Great Britain, Ireland or Scotland

quote:

Originally posted by lrich:
Is it difficult taking your own hunting rifle into Great Britain, Ireland or Scotland

Not at all. I have had a few clients come over from the USA and other countries to hunt in England and Scotland and had no issues. I acted as their sponsor to obtain their Visitor Firearms Permit well in advance of their arrival.

If hunting in England just avoid Heathrow and fly to Gatwick and fly to Edinburgh for hunts in Scotland.

I had no issues in Ireland. I traveled after my hunt and left my rifle secured with the outfitter. We arranged to meet at the airport when I departed.

I did the same thing with the outfitter in New Zealand.

On my Spain hunt, I used the outfitters rifle, as my touring was before my hunt, and I flew in/out of Barcelona, which was not near our hunting area. The outfitter let me spend some time dry firing his rifle to get the feel for the trigger. I'm sure if we wanted to live-fire at a target somewhere, that would have been fine too. I had confidence that the outfitter had his rifle zeroed for the distances we'd be shooting.

It's nice to have your own rifle, but I wouldn't get hung up on it. Most (if not all) outfitters have a quality rifle/optic for the game you're hunting. Ask them about it.

quote:

Originally posted by lrich:
Is it difficult taking your own hunting rifle into Great Britain, Ireland or Scotland

Its not difficult at all provided you allow sufficient time to get a Visitors Firearms Permit - allow minimum 8+ weeks for this - you need a sponsor to obtain this for you - either an agent or the person you are hunting with. No autos or pump rifles are permitted - you can bring an auto or pump shotgun provided its restricted to 3 shots only.

As said, avoid Heathrow like the plague - haven't done Gatwick but in Scotland Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness are easy enough with firearms - I've just done Edinburgh - no issues at all.

But yes as I suppose we are all coming to realise that travelling with firearms is a PIA - better avoided where possible - its not always (possible) though.