Hunting Nyala - What is a fair price?

Hi

What is a fair price to pay for a nyala?

Dox

...FAIR??? going to a lot of SCI banquets & functions I get a great deal of pricelists from African outfitters. I have seen them as low as $1600 & as high as $3000. How good the quality is on them cheap ones - I have no idea. Thats why I put all the question marks up right away. I would guess $2000 or so would be fair.

Hi Dox,
These prices are directly from our website and I know some people do not like a scale system, but there is very good reasons for.

NYALA Up to 26"$1430 26"+$1700 27"+$2000 28"+$2200 29"+$2570 30"+$2860 31"+$3570

A very good trophy Nyala start at 26 inches. 31 inches and more could be in the top 10.

Hope this will give you a idea.

..Neil, that is as fair of prices as I've seen. I'm not wild about the scale system but at least you know what you getting & a price you can budget for. I never hunted them but I definitely will keep you in mind when I make my next journey in a few years!!

Originally Posted by Leeukop Safaris

Hi Dox,
These prices are directly from our website and I know some people do not like a scale system, but there is very good reasons for.

NYALA Up to 26"$1430 26"+$1700 27"+$2000 28"+$2200 29"+$2570 30"+$2860 31"+$3570

A very good trophy Nyala start at 26 inches. 31 inches and more could be in the top 10.

Hope this will give you a idea.

Niel,

I apologize for coming across as dense, but what are the reasons you use a sliding scale on Nyala?

Dox I would start off by looking where in South Africa would you be interested in hunting the nyala. Natal might be the best option they have a good population and since the nyala is native to Natal they do very well this leads to a better price. One has to always look at your initial cost of introducing a species to your property. Obviously the higher the risk of introducing the species the higher the price because you always tend to lose some to predators and sickness especially if they are not native to the area.
So after taking this in to consideration then you look at the price.
Nyala in Limpopo would be more expensive than those in Natal for this exact reason. The quality would remain very much the same for the most part there would only be more of them in Natal that’s all.
I would say a fair price to pay for a nyala would be between $2000 and $2300 depending on the area.

Are you buying a HUNT, or are you buying a trophy? There is a lot more to determining the best 'fit' in a hunt for you, Nyala or any other game, than simply the trophy fee charged by the safari operator.

DLS thank you for saying this I feel that in this time of economic crisis that we are all out to look for the best deal price wise. However like you said there is a lot more to the hunt than just the price.

Thank you Calhoun.

Hi Pinotguy,

The two main reasons for any scale system is the following.
1. To make sure good genes will always be around, shoot all the monsters and there will not be any monsters left nor born.
2. Time is money and by spending 5 days on a 6 day safari to find a monster buck is not cost effective. On the end of the day if the monster buck is killed both client and outfitter are happy.

Hope this answer your question.

How is it not cost effective to spend five days on a six day hunt looking for a big nyala? The client has paid the daily rates has he not?

If you are shooting old bulls that grew up there then the genes should have had a few years to be spread around. How many years does it take to grow a big 26 inch plus nyala bull? Do they broom the end of their horns as much as other species, hence shortening the horn length on the old boys? If that is the case then it is the prime middle of the road breeding bulls that are going to have the best horn length.......I am no expert on nyala ..... just asking as it is common with many species.

Dox there are also quite a few hunt farms that buy a lot of animals to release on their property for the clients to shoot. Like all auctions the better the horns the more they pay, so I would imagine that is getting passed on to the consumer on the trophy fee charged after killing it.

Leeukop Safaris has a very fair price structure! There are plenty of operators charging $2400 to $3000 for 24 inch nyala.

To get back to Skylines question. Length of horn is determined by genetics and the area that they live. If they are in area that doesn't have prime habitat is going to very hard to get to 32 inches and 28 inches is truly a monster. Yes, nyala wear there horns down...but from what I've seen...since they are a species in high demand...they are usually shoot before they get even close to 28 inches. It's because the client doesn't have the time or is hunting in the wrong Province. But, where Neil is hunting...that is the holy grail of nyala hunting....I dream of hunting there and anyone who wants to hunt nyala in there native habitat, should aim for the Natal!

And for my two cents...I'd shoot a heavy old 26 incher any day...because I always respect the mature age of a animal over inches.

Yes Enysse.........I agree. I only plan to shoot one nyala in my life and a heavy horned old bull with 26 inch horns would be just ducky.

Originally Posted by Dox

Hi

What is a fair price to pay for a nyala?

Dox

I would say the average market price for Nyala is upwards of $2,000 (some charge a lot more). Prices that most Limpopo Outfitters charge for this species is usually more expensive than those in Natal - primarily because Nyla is not native to Limpopo and as such were introduced at significant cost.

Over and above price - the fact that Nyala is not endemic to Limpopo is one of the reasons why I prefer not to hunt them in Limpopo and rather hunt them in their natural habitat in Natal. The average trophy quality is better and it just feels right... hunting an animal where it belongs...

Like this one e.g... hunted on my concession in Natal...



No offense to anyone but a tiered trophy fee based on size is something I do not agree with yet something I was forced to live with up in Limpopo - specifically on Kudu and Cape Buffalo where landowners set the price in line with trophy size.

I personally do not see the sense in shooting a 24" Nyala from a conservation perspective - even if the price is lower - especially if the animals are not fully mature yet (which few of them are at this size) and as such shooting them would serve no purpose other than putting a trophy on the wall.

Shoot the big ones... they've already spread their genes... and let the young ones grow is my motto.

Skyline, we do not introduce big trophy animals for hunting purposes, as you intimate that some outfitters do. We believe strongly in managing our game populations for sustainable mamangement/utilisation purposes. I don't know how much game management experience you have. I am not only a PH, but have been in the conservation management field for 20 years as well.

The "rule of thumb" is that you should not be utilising more than 5% of your population as big trophies. As soon as you exceed this you will start having a negative impact on your trophy quality. Believe me this rule works! A big 30 inch Nyala is not necessarily and old bull and still has years in which to spread his genes.

The split rate structure gives the opportunity to the client to shoot a range of sizes at a better price, meaning that we do not only aim to take all the "monster bucks" out the system, this would be suicide in terms of sustainable management and utilisation.

We certainly DO NOT take off sub-standard immature animals. We allow good mature representative animals of the species to be hunted. If the client shoots a massive trophy then this is excellent for him/her and us, but we still give them the opportunity to take a smaller MATURE REPRESENTATIVE of the species at a better price, the decision/choice is the clients. We have never had a problem with this and doubt we will in the future.

Happy Hunting!

Niel..............first of all I did not say that YOU did put and take hunting. I merely said that there are operators who do, as you well know, and the prices paid for those released animals are passed on to the consumer with a profit margin added. We all know those places exist............they are quite common. There are even some pretty large operations that routinely add a few loads of shooters to the property for the 'season'. Not all are working on a sustainable harvest policy with breeding herds.

Secondly all your info on management applies to all game everywhere and is nothing new or astounding. Large males of any species make up only a few percent of the breeding herd, whether it is moose, bear or nyala and with many species it may in fact be less than 5 percent and in the 1 to 3 percent range........especially in free range wild conditions where natural predation is also a factor.

I also asked some more pointed questions about horn growth, age and brooming of the horns on nyala to see if what I believed about nyala was the case and it was answered by an American hunter, Enysse.

It would seem obvious that the best animal to take, as CT mentioned, is an old bull, whether he is 24 or 30 inches due to genetics and regardless of whether he did or did not wear his horns down. So if in fact the trophy bull of 30 inches that the client is directed to kill is past his prime, and has passed his genes around on your property for years, then why is it worth a higher trophy fee than another old bull past his prime that is 26 inches. They have both done their thing on your place and are now expendable. The shooting of a 30 inch bull that is a prime breeder is a loss to the overall herd when he still has a number of good breeding years left in him. The bull past his prime is not.

You are not 'taking monster bucks out of the system' if you are only shooting the males that are past their prime.

Just my point of view.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by Skyline

Niel..............first of all I did not say that YOU did put and take hunting. I merely said that there are operators who do, as you well know, and the prices paid for those released animals are passed on to the consumer with a profit margin added. We all know those places exist............they are quite common. There are even some pretty large operations that routinely add a few loads of shooters to the property for the 'season'. Not all are working on a sustainable harvest policy with breeding herds.

Secondly all your info on management applies to all game everywhere and is nothing new or astounding. Large males of any species make up only a few percent of the breeding herd, whether it is moose, bear or nyala and with many species it may in fact be less than 5 percent and in the 1 to 3 percent range........especially in free range wild conditions where natural predation is also a factor.

I also asked some more pointed questions about horn growth, age and brooming of the horns on nyala to see if what I believed about nyala was the case and it was answered by an American hunter, Enysse.

It would seem obvious that the best animal to take, as CT mentioned, is an old bull, whether he is 24 or 30 inches due to genetics and regardless of whether he did or did not wear his horns down. So if in fact the trophy bull of 30 inches that the client is directed to kill is past his prime, and has passed his genes around on your property for years, then why is it worth a higher trophy fee than another old bull past his prime that is 26 inches. They have both done their thing on your place and are now expendable. The shooting of a 30 inch bull that is a prime breeder is a loss to the overall herd when he still has a number of good breeding years left in him. The bull past his prime is not.

You are not 'taking monster bucks out of the system' if you are only shooting the males that are past their prime.

Just my point of view.

Cheers.

I tottally agree with you Skyline, I feel that it is hunting and not a supermarket where you pay more money for a better product. It is hunting and if you hunt hard for 6 days and still find a old bull thats only 26 that is the bull to take. And if the next guy that comes in shoot a 30incher good for him, all comes down to the knowledge your guide has of the area his hunting and luck. I will rather be lucky than good in anyway! Makes it much more exciting!

Skyline. . . I too completely agree with your post. I think it went straight to the heart of the matter and I don't believe it could have been said any better.
.

I have free ranging Nyala in Natal for $400.00 per day with a trophy fee of $1850.00 . Located an hour north of Durban. Good oportunity to shot a nice bull in the 28" - 30"+.

For more info send me an e-mail

I hate the sliding scale.
Unfortunatly as long as some hunters are more concerned with pumping up there ego than the hunt itself, we will continue to see it.