Africa is just not for me

[TERMINATOR]

The last person I told about my desire to hunt in Africa said, “Good luck. I’m not going where they speak, “Toot, toot, toot” and I might not come back with a kidney”.

Sounds like a very educated opinion.

I will take that under consideration

 

[mdsalern]

I didn’t say it was an educated opinion, but it relates to the reasons a person wouldn’t go to Africa.

 

[TERMINATOR]

I didn’t say it was an educated opinion, but it relates to the reasons a person wouldn’t go to Africa.

I didn’t say it was your opinion

I just commented on that person’s opinion

 

[Ragman]

this is a thread hijacking, but I can’t help myself. My bride is from NYC so I needed to buy her one of these:

Cripes, I need one of those...my wife is a Newfie!!!

 

[rookhawk]

Cripes, I need one of those...my wife is a Newfie!!!

More threadjacking. Aw jeeze, he did one for "Midwesterner Siri". Instead of talking to Siri, you talk to an AI named "Cheryl LIzinski" from Sheboyghan, WI.

I have to be honest, If I could put her AI into a girl robot my wife would be history.

 

[TERMINATOR]

More threadjacking. Aw jeeze, he did one for "Midwesterner Siri". Instead of talking to Siri, you talk to an AI named "Cheryl LIzinski" from Sheboyghan, WI.

I have to be honest, If I could put her AI into a girl robot my wife would be history.

That's hilarious.

But she has the Fargo accent... DoanChaNo

 

[Thumper Mcgee]

Most people i know are adamant on going, due to their perceived hassle of getting there.

 

[Wayne Johnson]

Same here . I'm not driving across the country for elk and mulies. I've hunted in Maine, Texas, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, and Alberta (bears) but no interest in the western stuff. I do have interest in wart hogs and bush pigs though lol

My father in law didn’t like it. He was unaware of the fences in South Africa and didn’t like hunting within them. I’ve been trying to get him to go back but he seems pretty uninterested.

"Wax On, Wax Off (the neck and primer)" -Arnold Miagi

I believed when we booked our first Africa hunt that it was a "bucket list" item and that I'd be among the one and done crowd. I'd been traveling all over the continent for the better part of 15 years prior to booking a hunt and probably had 2+ years of cumulative time on the ground in various African locations so my thoughts were there was nothing really new to see or experience other than the actual hunts (food, people, views, etc would all be old hat...) so, while I looked forward to the trip, I was really just checking off another block, etc and would likely move on to something different once it was done..

I was clearly wrong lol...

While we've definitely moved on to other things as well (hunts in LATAM, Europe, Alaska, etc).. Africa has become a once every 1-2 years occurrence now.. and will remain so I am sure for the foreseeable future.. We just got back on our most recent trip this past weekend.. and 2023 plans are already in consideration..

As for others... Ive had the privilege of "introducing" 4 other hunters to hunting in South Africa in the last 12 months.. 1 has already been back (was back on his second hunt less than 10 months after he completed the first one), the second one has already booked his second hunt for 2023, and the other two just completed their first hunt last week (we were all in country together), and both are already discussing going back either in 2023 or 2024...

I‘m living in South Africa for 40 years, have hunted a lot, hunted in Namibia and Zimbabwe as well, became long ago a PH - but still, I‘m unable to convince my cousin to hunt in Africa. He has plenty of money, could go to Africa every year, but no. Once he visited me with his family, just before Covid arrived; we were touring Kruger National Park when all of a sudden he declared 'I would never hunt in Africa, hunting in Europe is way nicer!' I couldn‘t trust my ears. He is not the only one, I know of other German, Swiss and Austrian hunters, who rather hunt a home.

Since joining this forum, I have planned a trip for 2024 to celebrate my becoming a union journeyman.

I asked my significant other and the relative I’m closest to both to go. Both gave reasons and declined.

(need to be escorted by a guy with a gun after dark

Other then game ranches I have not seen states introducing large quantities of deer every hunting season to wild areas to keep numbers up. Only in a select few instances when trying to repopulate an area due to disease.

 

[chonk34]

Absolutely. If you're a non-resident and honestly can do a time-value of money on all the outlays for Elk points, plus your hourly rate over years to decades to plan your draws, plus travel and lodging, maybe even trespass rights to hunt prime land, your Elk hunt that might take 8 years to plan out is in that $8000-$18,000 price range. You can short-circuit that by hunting places with private game departments like Ted Turner's place to the tune of $28,000 or more.

There are many people in America that are hunting out of State that in aggregate are actually spending "elephant or leopard hunt" money and they aren't aware. This is to say nothing for even a basic hunt. Loading up my two boys, driving to the UP of Michigan, gas, lodging, food for three, trespass rights, out of state hunting tags, ice, snacks, incidentals, tip for the landowner, we add it all up to go kill a spike buck or a couple of whitetail does and we are literally spending what it would cost for a 5 day RSA plains game 4 animal package.

Every time I explain that to dyed in the wool North American hunters they never seem to believe me, but then they go drop $15,000+ on a poorly guided hunt that is unsuccessful in the USA. I'm starting to wonder if cost/price is the straw-man objection to Africa but in fact its just an excuse and the real reasons are various.

I think your last paragraph is probably correct. There are many reasons why someone might not want to hunt Africa, but if they write it off at the beginning as too expensive, then they never really have to dig into the other reasons. My boss listens to Africa hunting books on tape all the time, but when I talk about how much a basic plains game hunt actually costs, he goes glassy-eyed and I give up the topic because I can tell he's stopped listening. He hunts and fishes all over the US with and without outfitters, so I don't think cost is the real deal-killer for him.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Good article on why people do or don't travel. In my experience speaking to other hunters, Africa and Mars are similar destinations.

Percentage Of Americans Who Never Traveled Beyond The State Where They Were Born? A Surprise

Stay-at-home survey

www.forbes.com

 

[Wayne Johnson]

WAB south east Arkansas apparently has more white tail deer than Alabama. On my 20 minute ride to work during daylight hours I see deer virtually every day going and coming. Last week I had to stop for a doe in my lane nursing a fawn then saw another fawn on her other side Two days later there was a yearling about 1/4 a mile up the road that did not make it across the road. Wayne

 

[CoElkHunter]

Good article on why people do or don't travel. In my experience speaking to other hunters, Africa and Mars are similar destinations.

Percentage Of Americans Who Never Traveled Beyond The State Where They Were Born? A Surprise

Stay-at-home survey

www.forbes.com

Wow! Those are some pretty eye opening stats. I read something years ago, where before WW2, some huge percentage (like 90+% or more) of Americans, had never travelled more than 10 miles from the town where they were born. Interesting?

 

[igotit]

Traveling to a warmer climate, meeting so many beautiful people, try new spicy food and hunting… definitely for me.

 

[Sjakon]

My brother and I have been involved in our family business and philanthropy since we were young. Dad trained us to work hard and don’t waste money. I had to talk my younger brother into hunting Africa in Feb 2020. He is used to roughing it hunting Sambar in NSW mountains and pigs closer by. For me and him the experience in Africa was wonderful and unique. 5 star service and game I had only seen in movies. I am going back in couple of weeks and plan on going once a year. I feel great but at 69 years who knows. Might as well enjoy something I really like while I can. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy sambar hunting, mostly for meat but Africa is like a dream vacation come true for folks who love hunting.

 

[Qc_BearHunter]

I went to Africa in june. At first I thought it was one in a lifetime buffalo hunt.

Two months later, there’s still not a single day I’m not thinking about going back.

 

[igotit]

I can't to to back to South Africa. Its a beautiful country and i enjoyed my hunt and time spent there.

 

[Puddle]

It's been my experience that it's not about going back, but about the sheer inertia about going the first time.

We were just at an end-of-summer party where my wife mentioned I was head back for yet another trip and the same people came up to me yet again saying just how much they want to experience it for themselves. And again, I offer to help them any way I can, and then never hear from them again.

They're jazzed about the idea of going, just not about the doing of going.

 

[Flewis]

Hunted Zambia 30 years ago, bad ph. I had mixed feelings about it. I went back to sa this year, it was great even life changing. I will be in 23 or 24 at the latest.

 

[Flewis]

Hunting Africa isn't for everyone. If you like going to a area, seeing a lot of animals along with shooting quite a few in a short time then go. If you like testing your ability against some of our North American animals then that is fine also. To tell you the truth I actually got more satisfaction out of my coues deer hunt down in Arizona a number of years ago that I have out of both of my South African hunts. I had to put in more time and use more of my ability than on either one of my African hunts just to bag my coues deer. I feel the same way about the bull elk that I have hanging on my wall or the B&C mule deer that I shot with a muzzle loader 3 years ago.

None of those hunts cost me even as much as just the airfare to South Africa was on my trip in June.

But I have also said that it is going to be real tough to shoot a rocky mountain bull elk, mule deer, coues deer, whitetail deer, grizzly, or moose in South Africa. So if those type of animals are on your priority list I doubt that a hunt in Africa will give you that warm fuzzy feeling that you will get when you first spot that trophy animal here in North America.

I’ve been elk and deer hunting pretty hard for the last 25 years or so, I do love hunting elk. It’s so hard it’s just fun. Africa, I can’t explain it. It’s just more.

 

[Backyardsniper]

I’ve been elk and deer hunting pretty hard for the last 25 years or so, I do love hunting elk. It’s so hard it’s just fun. Africa, I can’t explain it. It’s just more.

I can't wait to find out!