WANTED: Cape Buffalo hunt for 2017

There you go try the Omay! Martin runs a good outfit.
My best

I recommend Paw Print Safaris or Nyamazana Safaris Zimbabwe. Good luck.
Witold

Martin Pieters said:

I can help with a free range hunt in my 2 million acre zambezi valley concession in Zimbabwe.

Click to expand...

We have been in contact Mr. Pieters , unfortunately you were out of my price range.

Witold Krzyżanowski said:

I recommend Paw Print Safaris or Nyamazana Safaris Zimbabwe. Good luck.
Witold

Click to expand...

Thank you. Paw Print is a top runner as far as I am concerned.

John, what is your budged for the Lion?

Hi Ernest, we run into the same scenario as the buffalo. This is for 2017. I will do either or. If I do the buffalo hunt at 12k then I will still be able to afford my plains game hunt which I already have booked. This is the reason I believe I explained to you why I want to stay at 12k. Now if I do a lion hunt I would like to be at 17/18k tops. I would then ask my PH to hold over my plains game hunt until the following year. That price for lion with a good mane I would certainly do as I am concerned about the importation of lions ending and I want to full body mount him which is costly as you know.

Sentd Pm

Johnny;
First I would congratulate you for having some pretty grand plans to do some great hunts!

However you might be getting just a bit ahead of yourself.... Look at breaking these hunts down between day fees and trophy fees. You can book an all inclusive buffalo hunt for say $12,000 and a package deal on a PG hunt, then get a quote on various lion hunts, all in, etc.

Or if your wanting to combine hunts and species, look at the trophy fees for each such as buffalo and various PG, and even lion depending upon who and where your going. You only have to pay the day fees once... So say that buff hunt might break down into about 1/3rd day fees and 2/3rds trophy fees... If you get the buff before the week or whatever your booking is up, you have time to go hunt some PG for just trophy fees.

Or combine a lion and buff for a 10 day or 2 week safari.

Now I know it is fun to go back (Lord knows I know, I'm heading back for the 3rd time in 13 months!) But I spent 30 years building the funding.... In hind sight I should have gone 10 or 15 years sooner.

However there are some great efficiencies to doing longer hunts, if you can. Somewhere I pointed out the math on the cost of flights. I take my wife along so 2 plane tickets, plus domestic flights and travel and parking, etc. You can dilute that all out by spending more days and taking more animals on one trip... If you can get away and spend the money..... But it sounds like you are a master budgeter and obviously plan waay ahead!

Just another thought, I assume the field care and prep is the most important part of preserving a trophy. Certainly the first step. Then the dip and pack. Once that is all done and done well, I believe the skins will keep for years. So if your budget is tight, you could hold of on the taxidermy for a bit.

I am planning to dip and pack and get my lion home ASAP. Providing I get him, to which I am very confident. However I am not going on a guaranteed hunt so there is that risk.

Hello Bob, and thank you for your wisdom. I ve been known to get ahead of myself when it comes to hunting. Just ask my wife.lol The reason I do that is simple. It's just plain fun to look ahead!...lol. But seriously not being a "high end" client I need the time to budget my hunts, taxidermy etc. This September will be my first time to Africa as I have a leopard hunt booked in Namibia. I originally had a plains game booked on the eastern cape but to make a long story very short I asked my PH if he would hold my deposit until 2017 as 2016 is my wife's 60 th birthday year and I was told it's "her year"! No spending money on hunts.. So as they say happy wife happy life. In my research I am getting an education on African hunts etc...It's quite interesting your scenario on breaking down the day fees and trophy fees. To be honest I had not thought about that and now I will have to do some math. That's what I love about this site, so much help and wisdom for first time safari hunters like myself. I have a small deposit holding my hunt on the cape and it very well may be cost effective to "loose the deposit" mathematically. I would love to do the lion hunt in 2017 as no one knows the future of importing them back here. So I am leaning towards that hunt and that will probably be a solo hunt as I need to figure dip, crate, taxidermy etc.. And as I am sure you know a life size mount is expensive. So that will pretty much exhaust my budget. As far as keeping skins for years go....OH NO...lol I actually pay my taxidermist a little more for his expedited service of 90-120 days. i want to thank you again for your wisdom and insight, you've given me some food for thought.

Johnny rest assured if you leave your deposit behind, it will go towards a "deal" for someone else! LOL.... Just look at it as "paying it forward" towards a deal you might get some day.

And yea that wife tax has to be paid sooner or later... Usually mine comes due with interest and penalties if I'm late! 2016 is my wife's year as well... She is planning to do the 27 mile hike up the mountain to Machu Picchu in Puru. She was good enough to put it off until 2016 so I can hunt lion this year. It will a few months belated 50th for her.

Leopard for your first African hunt! Wow.... Definitely most the beautiful creatures! Don't get scratched! I keep telling myself that I am going to put off leopard until last. Thinking it is the least physical, one of the most expensive, no apparent danger of it being closed....... And one of the most dangerous, or at least of getting wounded..... My thinking is that if I were to endure some nasty injury or scars, if I wait until I'm older, I won't have to live with it as long! How is that for weird logic?

Man that's pretty twisted..LOL.. I ve done my share of the physical hunts when I was younger mtn goat, dall sheep, big horn sheep. Tahr, you get the picture..lol. Now at age 57 I m ready for the easier hunts...Hey I shot my brown bear charging at 40 yds I think a brownie can do more damage then a leopard, not that s what I m hoping for..lol. Actually as far as leopard prices go if you hunt in Namibia it's a lot cheaper than Zim or mozimb...Just do your research. I got a damn good deal for the price with a little negotiation. And he takes some very good cat's. Near 100%. You climbing that mountain too?

johnnyblues said:

Just do your research. I got a damn good deal for the price with a little negotiation. And he takes some very good cat's. Near 100%. You climbing that mountain too?

Click to expand...

I will really be looking forward to your hunt report!

That Mountain! Damn I love looking at mountains, being in the mountains, spending time in the mountains,,,, almost as much as I hate hiking in them! Actually the hiking doesn't bother me, it's the damned lack of oxygen! About 10 years younger ago we went to see the oldest living things on the planet, the bristle cone pine trees in the Sierra Nevada's. It was a couple mile walk with really only a little further climbing... But we forgot water so I told the wife and kid to continue and I would go back, get the water and catch up... so I pushed along and eventually caught them as they were resting on a bench with a sign explaining why those trees live so long and don't burn... loved the bottom line... There is not enough oxygen to sustain fires!

I actually got altitude sickness the last time I was in mountains.. but I went on a 6 mile hike that turned into more of a jog (keeping up to my 16 year old), right after we got off the plane. I think I would have been fine if I had waited a day or 3.... That Machu Picchu hike, they do have you acclimatize a couple or 3 days first and I think they do the hike over 4 days, so it takes about a week, if I got it straight. So yea I just might do it... If I do, and if it goes well, perhaps some goats and sheep will be next. Ibex maybe?

So for now, just moving from a "really hate" to "hate it a tad bid less" relationship with my treadmill. Really looking forward to some warmer weather to get back outside and riding bike and just walking. Seems to go a lot quicker that way than that damned machine.

Hey good luck and enjoy!

Well johnny you will be in good hands and we will get it all figured out by the time your ready. Be it a lion or buff and what ever plains game you want we will make it happen. You will get a great hunt at a great price and get all the same quality you here others talk about.

Looking forward to working out a fun trip no matter what you pick to hunt.

billc said:

Well johnny you will be in good hands and we will get it all figured out by the time your ready. Be it a lion or buff and what ever plains game you want we will make it happen. You will get a great hunt at a great price and get all the same quality you here others talk about.

Looking forward to working out a fun trip no matter what you pick to hunt.

Click to expand...

Ok Bill. Let's see what Pieter comes up with as you know I've been speaking to you and a couple of other outfits. Keep me posted on the lion situation.

Thanks for all your help and patience, as well as everyone's help and advise here. Great web site.

Consider Mokore Safaris in Zimbabwe, with the well known Duckworth family, contact Neil Duckworth. Its unfenced wild Africa where you'll see lions, elephants, ALL kinds of plainsgame and...some nice dugga boys. My wife & I cannot wait to return.