Which Big 5 do you want to hunt?

Ok so i wile back i ran a poll with some plains game species and added the Buffalo to that list to see where the interest lies
the results were as follow
1- Buffalo
2-Kudu
3-Nyala
4-Gemsbuck
then the tiny 10

Lets see what this poll will produce

Simple - I selected all, but buffalo, leopard, and elephant in that order top my list!

dt

Is your question which one is the favorite or which one next? Elephant is by far my favorite being the most challenging and difficult hunt I've ever done, with buffalo second. Leopard may be next, can't decide on rhino but if I do decide to take one, it may have to be soon? Lion was easy and a bit anti-climatic.....

Bob

Sounds like you need to switch to a spear for your next Lion hunt!

Not that I don't want to hunt all of them but I selected lion.

If it was a one time, one off deal where I could hunt one of the five it would have to be the animal that symbolises (for me) Africa, majesty, danger and excitement.

Free range of course, none of this canned business.

Which big 5 do i want to hunt... all..
priorities though it would be buff, leopard, lion, ele, rhino in order

I have hunted a lioness which was a taxing stalk through the Kalahari bush. My next DG animal will most likely be buff from the big 5 but I am trying to go for hippo and croc right away as well. I did vote for ele and leopard as well as they are dream hunts for me.

If I may run at this from a different direction:
Among the lawfully hunted species in virtually all "user-friendly" African countries, "dangerous" animals or otherwise, there are only giraffe, leopard, crocodile and white rhinoceros, that I would not be especially interested in hunting.

1. Giraffe because I'm told the mature bulls are not very good eating plus, I am too cheap to have that giant skin tanned and shipped to Alaska - it costs $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for the shipping alone up here on bulky/heavy items.
2. Leopard because I am hyper active and seriously doubt if I could sit quietly in a leopard blind long enough to be successful (they are also sort of expensive to hunt but not too bad in the taxidermy price category).
3. Crocodile because before I will pay Dangerous Game prices, I want there to be an element of danger.
Croc are not dangerous if you brain them with a scoped rifle from a safe distance which, is the standard method of take.
And to actually get in the water with a live one is actually too dangerous for my otherwise stupid tourist sissyass.
4. White (wyd / wijd) rhino because the two or three times I've been near them, it seemed as if they could not see us - at all and their behavior reminded me of a worn out old dairy cow, munching away on the grass, devil-may-care that some goofy American is clamoring about with a large bore rifle near by.

Black rhino ?
Now that might have some appeal for me, especially with an open sighted large bore nitro double.
However, nobody I know can afford the cost of this specie, especially me.

Hippopotamus ?
I realize you didn't include this one but of Africa's dangerous game, I would really like to try for a grumpy old hippo bull on land (large bore nitro double again).
Things have not been going my way lately in the money department but I am not giving up on this one just yet, as it is not too outrageously expensive to book a hippo hunt, compared to many things in the world today.

Buffalo and Leopard appeal right now. If I ever get to take them I will think about the others.

leopard
elephant
then a grumpy old buffalo
that would be a great hunt ,to have a crack at them 3 , in one adventure.......

ActionBob said:

Is your question which one is the favorite or which one next? Elephant is by far my favorite being the most challenging and difficult hunt I've ever done, with buffalo second. Leopard may be next, can't decide on rhino but if I do decide to take one, it may have to be soon? Lion was easy and a bit anti-climatic.....

Click to expand...

bob , try walking up a lion/ lioness in the Kalahari with a bow , mate .... anti-climatic , be buggered........
you'll be thinking about it daily for a long, long time , oldmate........

I'm not a bow hunter nor a spear chucker but I fully agree a Kalahari lion hunt could prove very dangerous ... Between lions which might not necessarily be as afraid of people, ready to pounce out of the bushes, and lots of PH's waving their guns about.. Scares the hell out of me! Now if I can get my tongue out of my cheek to keep talking

I was just saying for all the build up, seeing lions in the wild was thrilling, but compared to my elephant hunt, which included suddenly finding ourselves in way to close and having to hide in the rocks while the herd slowly passed by, or having a young bull coming straight at us, truck on the ground tracking us, while we are trying to keep the trees between us and him, or finding ourselves in the midst of a herd of 50 elephants including cows and calves and in danger of being surrounded right as it is getting dark... And the many close encounters with buffalo including one jumping up at 10 feet and staring at us through the thorns.. When it finally came time to squeeze the trigger on the lion, there was a moment of chills running up my back, because it was a lion! But it was on bait 80 to 100 yards away... Nothing like an elephant walking out and then dropping him at 19 steps or like a buffalo hopping like a mosquito bit him when a 400 grain bullet goes into his chest... and having to put 5 more in to put him out for good!

So lion for me was not as climatic as the elephant nor the buffalo... So sorry guys, that was my experience and that is what it is for me... So far... Of course others have different experiences, that is why hunting is so interesting.

Again out of all, I would rank elephant way above the rest for the total experience and the challenge. But for pure fun without all the misery and at a much lower cost, buffalo. Elephant is more of an excursion!

I have to agree with Velo Dog I would like to hunt hippo on land! Except I think I would take one of my big bore bolt guns.. Likely the CZ 505 Gibbs... And I would try to work in a croc just because the two should be inhabiting the same general region so if I'm already there, might as well. These are on my short list for the next few years!

I voted for all since if I had the chance that's what I would do. But buffalo would have to be first on my list.

I love hunting buffalo. Number two would be leopard - fabulous hunt. I have never hunted elephant, and suspect I am unlikely to have the opportunity. Fortunately, I have been around them a lot. I have never hunted lion, but was able to take a photo of a wonderful trophy male at fifty meters and on foot while hunting sable in Mozambique. Every bit as exciting as the black rhino I photographed in Namibia at similar range. They are both "on the wall" in two dimensional form.

Well I have the lion and Cape buffalo! The ship with those trophies should hit New York next Tuesday. My elephant hunt is less than two months away.
I do want to do a leopard hunt in a couple of years. Pieter you need to start looking for the right spot for that hunt. Maybe you could even start feeding him now to fatten him up! Ha!
Frankly, I don't think a rhino is in the cards. They are crazy expensive and now the idea of taking one with its horn cut off does not excite me! But I have been known to change my mind.
I think a hippo would be fun to do even though it's not part of the Big5.
To me one of the neatest things is that after this hunt I will have taken 3 of the big 5 with one rifle. It is my desire that my son should have that rifle when I'm gone!

I would like a hippo on land, a cape buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard and crocodile....but at the same time I love my plains game hunting.

Only hunted elephant, would love to hunt buffalo of course and got a call from a friend who has a farm in Botsw. yesterday...4 lions had killed 6 cattle on the neighbor farm....man I would love to have go at those....

Hippo on land sounds exciting too, large bore nitro rifle material as Velo stated..

PHSC _Petrus said:

Ok so i wile back i ran a poll with some plains game species and added the Buffalo to that list to see where the interest lies
the results were as follow
1- Buffalo
2-Kudu
3-Nyala
4-Gemsbuck
then the tiny 10

Lets see what this poll will produce

Click to expand...

Looks like we are going to have to do another poll with rankings

What, no "all of the above" option?

Lion easily #1 followed by leopard#2, Rhino#3, Elephant#4, and Buffalo#5.

Try hunting hippo and croc from a macorro on the Zambezi....