A quick introduction.

B.Shannon

AH member
Joined
Aug 3, 2013
Messages
21
Reaction score
22
Location
McKenzie, TN
Member of
North American Hunting Club Life Member, NRA Life Member
Hunted
United States; OH, MI, TN
I am new to the site, and have enjoyed the last few days of looking around. I have my regular hunts in Tennesse lined up along with a guided hunt down on the Southern border of Texas for is season. But I am planning on going on my first safari next year. After much reading I ordered a Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H Mag. My only issue now is do I plan a all out once in a lifetime hunt, or do I choose a smaller, less costly hunt and plan on return trips. The one I am looking at offers (1) Blue Wildebeest, (1) Impala, and (1) Warthog for $3255 plus airfare.

For those of you that have been, does this seem like a good start animal wise, and cost wise? Or do you have any other suggestions to start out with? Thank you in advance.

Good hunting,

B. Shannon Shaw
 
gday Shannon welcome and enjoy the site mate .
look around at some of the deals in the hunting deals and email the different outfitters on here and soon you will click with one or more of them ,theres lots of them on here and they will advise you on any and all of your questions .
and even if you book the one time hunt of a lifetime adventure . you will want to go back time and time again . you will hear that from all the great members on here ..
if your not going till next year you have a bit of time to decide what and where you want to hunt and of course who with .
this is the start of the fun and it only gets better from here mate .
now the imnportant stuff how about some pictures of the animals you have already hunted and maybe some short stories of the hunts themselves .
enjoy every moment on your planning and hunting of your African adventure
 
Welcome to AH B.Shannon! Bluey gave some good advice take a look around, theres a lot of good outfitters and agents on here and most will be glad to meet or beat the price you listed for the animals on that list. take a look at the hunting deals page there is some great offers on there as well. Where in Tn. are you from I'm from Northern Alabama myself. If you have any question feel free to ask and the great members of AH will try to answer them for you. As far as what you should plan first is up to you, you and only you know your know your hunting skills I myself had taken Grizzley, Black Bear, Moose and Bison before I ever took my first African Safari and I still started with Plains Game gets you ready for the big buggers no matter what you decide you've got the Rifle that'll do it all. But the first thing you should plan for is your second trip back you're going to love it in Africa. Bob
 
Shannon, welcome to AH. The above information is great and the people on this site are helpful. Look at the advertisers on this site. Go to their websites. Start comparing them by any number of qualifiers. If you have a question about them just ask and you will get responses good or bad.

If you have the chance look at going to the Dallas Safari Club convention in January. If it is closer there is an African Hunting Show in Atlanta. I don't know how it compares to Dallas but I'm sure it is good. You will get to meet outfitters there. There will be donated hunts that will sell for quite a bit less than list price. Go around and meet the outfitters. Find ones you like. See if they have donated a hunt for the show. Look at buying their hunt at a discount. Then you might have extra money to buy additional animals to hunt, take your wife or son, etc.

I don't know if you belong to SCI or if you live close to a chapter. They may also have an annual convention with donated hunts to Africa.

Best of luck in planning your hunt. That is a lot of the fun. Plan on making multiple trips. It is contagious.
 
With that package you have a few of the typical species hunted on a first excursion.

Do some comparing as suggested above.

With only three trophies on the list above you will be taking more, unless you are a very controlled trophy hunter.

The species listed sure don't require a 375 but it will work.

Good luck with your planning.
 
Welcome Mr. Shaw! You've received some good advice already, I'm not sure I could add to it, but I'm sure I can pile on.

Most folks I know who have gone to Africa, including Craig Boddington, did so on their first trip with the intention that it be there "once in a lifetime trip." I can tell you after about 5 minutes into my first day of hunting, I was already thinking about how I was going to get back.

Concerning the package you mentioned, it seems in the ballpark of the typical "beginners" package but it would depend on the number of days of hunting to say if it's a good deal. Frankly though I'm certain you'd want to go after more than what's on that list.

One of the rules of life my parents taught me was, you get what you pay for. Please for your own sake keep in mind that if one of the many packages you see seems to be to good to be true, it probably is. As one outfitter told me once, a cheap safari can quickly become a very expensive walk in the bush.

As far as what type of hunt to go for, they're usually broken down between plains game (PG) and dangerous game (DG). Most first timers go for a PG hunt, and I'd probably suggest that to. It gives you a chance to get a feel for Africa without risking the somewhat larger investment that DG is. Having said that, there has certainly been those that have gone to DG first and it went well.

I'd also give a plug to attending SCI or DSC. You will get to see a lot of outfitters all in one place. You will get to meet them in person and get a feel for who you're dealing with. And you'll be able to do a better comparison in real time as to what all the outfitters are offering.

And, finally as a shameless plug, if you come to DSC we are having our 2nd annual AH dinner on Friday night which you'd of course be welcome to attend!
 
Welcome to AH B.Shannon!
 
Welcome to AH!
 
Welcome B. Shannon! Where exactly in Texas are you hunting this season?
 
Thank you, I am pleased to have found this site.
 
I'm living in Paris, close to the Kentucky line. Sort of in the middle between Nashville and Memphis. About 40 miles North off of the I40. It's just a small river resort/retirement town. And we have just bought a lot down on Lake Edward just outside of Middleton, TN. We're wanting to have a retirement/summer home built there. It has a nice little 56 acre lake there, and some public lands not to far away to hunt on. So what part of Alabama are you at? I run the 10 a few times a week most weeks.

I'm thinking plains game might be a good start, and build myself up. I really would like to try a elephant hunt, but with a daughter in college, and one who is not yet one, I just can't see paying the 30-40k. But that is my ultimate goal.

What all have you taken while you've been over there?
 
Welcome to the forum Mr. Shannon, and as has been previously mentioned check out the outfitter section and contact as many of them as you can for some great deals. I'll send my recomendations via PM
 

Forum statistics

Threads
53,613
Messages
1,131,117
Members
92,666
Latest member
ModestaHac
 

 

 

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

Early morning Impala hunt, previous link was wrong video

Headshot on jackal this morning

Mature Eland Bull taken in Tanzania, at 100 yards, with 375 H&H, 300gr, Federal Premium Expanding bullet.

20231012_145809~2.jpg
Living life like a lion for 1 day is better than living life like a jackal for 100 years.
 
Top