chris and all thanks for the advice and help.
i agree would rather have guys say no I cant deliver such quality than not, hats off to them! and yes I have had some contact with some who make outrageous promises to sell hunts none from this site and thats great.
I have been told by some PH in RSA now reputable ones that the farmers are selling acess to big kudu by the inch and even bidding them out if they know they have one, can i assume this to be true sometimes? when you guys say concesion this really means "code" for some type of farm/ranch that is high fence where you are paying the owner per animal maybe by the inch wholesale for hunting and you may or may not have the exclusive use of the property and you may have bought the rights to exclusively shoot x amount on there? thus properties that are "exclusive" result in a higher profit margin for the PH than if he goes off his"reservation" and has to pay a higher wholesale fee to some farmer. So in reality I need the PH who has the acess to the big animals where ever they may be and knows it I am figuring.
aka a "trophy specialist" who can locate the quarry and acess it and knows it and is willing also to go "mobile" to different provinces/area/concessions if such a PH exists?? I understand thats probably a pain in the butt for them and hard work compared to just hunting on there farms/turf and possibly less profit.
thus why they arent too many interested. I guess I am looking for the holy grail of PH!
thanks slowly I am catching on
and that nyala is super nice!!!!! I want one.
Buckdog,
Answers to your questions:
Yes, some landowners are indeed selling kudu by the inch. This is a pet hate of mine but it is true and sad... One of the reasons for this is the exaggerated prices being paid at live auctions for animals nowadays. Just over a month ago; a 65" kudu bull was sold at a live auction for more than $700K. Yes; you read that right...ZAR 9.2 million to be exact...
Now I will not hijack this discussion and divert it to what exactly I think of this whole auction business save to say that it is absolutely RIDICULOUS!!!
The result is that some games ranchers are now thinking - "Why should I sell a 60" kudu bull to a hunter for $3,000 if I can get $100K or maybe even $700K for it at an auction?" Others are saying: "X is my price for a kudu bull up to 55", from there on I want Y for every extra inch it measures ."
Do I agree with this?
No
Do I have a choice - other than to live with it?
Unfortunately not
The only choice I have is to avoid doing business with landowners who charge by the inch and this is indeed becoming more and more difficult as more and more landowners start charging by the inch. Fortunately - there still are some sane ones around and they are getting my business.
Before trying to explain what the term "concession" means in the local context, I think I need to give some insight into the concept of game ranching and hunting in South Africa... (I apologise if I sound long-winded)
99% (if not 100%) of all hunts in South Africa is conducted on private land - i.e. it belongs to "someone". The principle of Law is that - the owner of such land "owns" any animal that traverses his/her land and as landowner he/she is entitled to sell such animal to another to hunt - subject to the laws and regulations (license/permit requirements) pertaining to that species of animal.
Some hunts are conducted on high-fenced land and others are conducted on low-or-no-fenced land but in all instances - that land belongs to "someone". Different regulations apply to the two different scenarios:
E.g. if a kudu is on my (unfenced) land during the official hunting season, I may give permission to another person to hunt that kudu - provided that person has bought a hunting license from our Nature Conservation authorities to hunt a kudu and I may accordingly charge that person a fee for the kudu he/she hunts. It is up to me to determine an appropriate fee... If that kudu however leaves my property and now traverses the property of my neighbour - I am no longer the owner of the kudu and may not hunt it myself - nor may I allow someone else to hunt it. My neighbour may now hunt that kudu or allow someone else to hunt it and charge a trophy fee for it. Hunting on land that is not high-fenced is only allowed inside hunting season and with the necessary permit or license to do so.
If my land is high fenced, I can apply for a permit from our Nature Conservation authorities - exempting me from some of the "regular" hunting regulations. Nature Conservation Officials will then come and inspect my property to see if my fences conforms to their standards and would prevent animals from entering my property or leaving my property. They will then issue me with an "Exemption Certificate" for the game species that occur on my land. With an exemption certificate in hand, I am no longer bound by the official hunting season which typically ranges from May 1st thru August 31st and may hunt or allow someone else to hunt whatever species are listed on the certificate throughout the year. In this instance I of course still own the animals that are on my land and I can sell them to hunters at whatever fee I deem appropriate.
Some of these high fenced ranches are small - maybe a couple of hundred acres - and others are huge - spanning thousands of acres. Some of these ranches are stocked with game bought at live auctions which animals are then offered to hunting clients and when the "stock" has been depleted, more game is bought at auctions... The so-called "put and take operations" (which I despise). Others are occasionally stocked with new breeding animals to prevent inbreeding and to create a healthy environment for all the animals that live there...
Some high fenced properties (game ranches) are being used primarily for breeding. Animals that are bred here are usually bred for horn size in the hope of one day selling exceptional trophy animals (or offspring of exceptional trophy animals) at game auctions to other trophy breeders... These landowners will typically
"know" what they have in terms of trophy quality of the various species on their properties so they will
"know" if they have 55"+ kudu on their ranches or not.
IF they were to allow anyone to hunt one of their trophy animals they will typically do so at a price - significantly higher than "market value".
Other game ranches are used primarily for hunting and contain self sustaining herds of animals in a natural environment. There may be 55" or 60" kudu on these properties or there may not and the landowner may or may not know if he has such animals. Much of this would depend on the size of the property but there are other factors that would also play a role...
With this in mind...
- Some Outfitters own and exclusively hunt on their own land.
- Some Outfitters own and hunt on land that belongs to them as well as land that belongs to others.
- Others don't own any land themselves and hunt exclusively on land owned by others.
Before I may legally offer a hunt for any animal species to any Client, I need to either be the owner of land on which such species occur or I need to be in possession of
Hunting Rights to a property that contains such species.
We refer to land that doesn't belong to us but that we have
hunting rights to as
"concessions".
Obtaining
"Hunting Rights" basically means that the landowner gives you as Outfitter permission to hunt a specific number of specific species that occur on his/her land at a specific price per animal.
A Landowner can transfer exclusive hunting rights to an Outfitter or he can transfer hunting rights to several Outfitters. As Outfitter one has an advantage if you are in possession of exclusive hunting rights - which means that your and
only your clients may hunt there in presence of a Professional Hunter that is employed by you. The advantage being that - as one regularly hunts a specific property - one gets to see what is there and gets to know what the potential trophy quality is of the various species on that particular property.
If however you don't have exclusive hunting rights to a property you will never know exactly what animals were taken (or wounded) by clients of other Outfitters while you were not there. The 60" Kudu bull that you saw yesterday while hunting for Wildebeest might well be killed by a Client of another Outfitter tomorrow - while you're hunting another concession for a different species...
And please don't get me wrong! I am not implying that seeing a 60" bull today - guarantees you will see it again tomorrow or the day after. Many of the ranches that we hunt are HUGE!
Not all Outfitters have exclusive hunting rights to properties owned by others - especially not those who are newer in the game and the reason is simple: No landowner in his right mind will sign over exclusive hunting rights to an Outfitter who does not have the clients to take off the numbers of animals that need to be taken off annually to sustain a healthy environment and generate an income.
So the answer to your question about exclusive hunting rights is
"no"; PH's / Outfitters do not make more money by having exclusive hunting rights to a property. We still pay the landowner a fee for every animal that we hunt there. The only advantage we have is that we have a better idea of what is on that particular property and what is going on - hunting-wise on that property.
I wouldn't say you have to find a PH who has exclusive hunting rights to a property but what I would say this:
- Find a PH who knows how to judge (or knows someone who knows how to judge) and is prepared to own up to mistakes made in the field.
- One that has access to areas / properties where the big ones live and in the region where they naturally occur i.e. one that is "mobile" and take you there...
There are many of them out there...
At the risk of sounding too self-assured and without blowing my own horn I will include myself into that group. I don't hunt any small properties, I have access to properties around the country and I don't do "put and take" hunting.
I know I have access to properties where there are 55"+ Kudu and I know I will be able to show them to you. I know I have access to the areas with big Nyala and Gemsbok and I know I will be able to show them to you as well.
Whether you will be able to bag them is the only real "unknown factor" in this regard as I have absolutely no idea what physical shape you're in or what your shooting abilities are. I only know I can guide you to your desired trophies...
I am not a sponsor of this site and as such I do not want to promote myself or my business here. If you've bothered to read all of what I've written thus far, please feel welcome to look me up.
And I'm willing to here - publicly - take you up on your challenge - at risk to my own reputation.
Best regards,
Chris