To the poors-I salute you!

Figured I’d throw a shout out to all the guys on here who fly cattle class, don’t have a family ranch, and who will never drop a 100k on a hunt. We may not be rich, but we’re fun.

What’s the point of this post? Even in your introduction post you bring up your financials.

Do you plan on hunting in Africa? Or just here to post stuff like this?

Not many of us drop 100k on a hunt….

Btw I fly cattle class….
I also was raised to not worry or talk about others financials, or my own.
Such a boring topic.

I really enjoy that this community has many people more financially successful than I am that are willing to share their experiences and insights. I take notes and make plans. By the end of things, I’ll have saved a significant amount of money by following good advice and learning from the lessons of others without having to repeat them myself.

There’s always someone with “more”, but only you can do what you can with what you have.

Josh P said:

I really enjoy that this community has many people more financially successful than I am that are willing to share their experiences and insights. I take notes and make plans. By the end of things, I’ll have saved a significant amount of money by following good advice and learning from the lessons of others without having to repeat them myself.

There’s always someone with “more”, but only you can do what you can with what you have.

Click to expand...

The advice that I have received here would be extremely difficult to put a price on.

Hedge774 said:

The advice that I have received here would be extremely difficult to put a price on.

Click to expand...

Absolutely many members on this forum have personally taken time to email or talk on the phone with me and help me make a much more informed decision about where to hunt and who to hunt with and the real costs.

Just to be fair, guys. I totally understand the meaning of this post and respect it, but anyone who can fly to a foreign country for leisure is not poor. Most of the people I confide in call me rich for being able to drop $10K on a safari. Come to think of it, in many, many ways, I am very rich. Thanks for all you guys bring to my table!

I thoroughly enjoy reading the hunt reports of the guys that can afford the big trips. Same goes for watching their you tube videos. With this crap weather on the east coast that actually precludes me from going to the range or even outside, I've watched a few today. In the end, those dollars are doing a huge contribution to conservation and maintaining the safari tradition in Africa.

I am blessed to be apart of this great forum.
Am I wealthy, no not monetarily, but in knowledge I have gained from this forum yes !
I live paycheck to paycheck basically. But I have been blessed to be able to take 7 safaris since 2018 when I first l joined this forum. Taking 64 African animals, only needing Leopard to finish my Big 5 dangerous 7.
After a big medical scare in 2022 I realized life is short and money is not everything. Live Life and Do what you can when you can! My goal is to finish big 5 dangerous 7 in 2028. And then a big culling hunt in 2029 to make safari 9 and hit 100 animals taken. If you make your mind up to go you can find the funds to do it.
I fly coach or maybe one class up. Cut where I can to make the hunts happen.

Let’s not engage in classist BS and popular politics. I consider this site to be a place where I can convene with true hunters. I’m not concerned about the size of someone’s balance sheet. I just love hunting, and guns, and I’ve learned so much from the members here.

No ill will toward the OP; I'm sure the post came from a good place. The joy of this forum is an absence of class in spite of the differences in wealth; the money doesn't matter here. Anyone who thinks it does might be in the wrong place. Listen to the guys here who can afford anything and everything; they say it's less your money and more your priorities that determine your ability to afford your dreams. And AH is a place to share, not compare, experiences; it's not a competition, though you can tell almost everyone here has a competitive spirit, which has made us all successful and worthy comrades.

We are all fortunate to be 'Hunters'.

If we get to Africa is a bonus to be thankful for.

When I was in the planning stages of my first safari, I did not even have a safari rifle(elephant gun) and I was having trouble at the time finding what I wanted . One of our wonderful members actually offered to borrow me his 375 for my first hunt. Some real fine guys here on this forum .

Not to be corny, but I love everything about this forum. People from different locations, different backgrounds, different family types, different occupations and different life experiences all coming together over a love of hunting.

This forum holds a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds and a lot of different experiences. I’ve learned many things from some of the forums wealthy members, some of which I’ve been fortunate enough to incorporate into my own life. I’m far from the wealthiest person on AH but have been very blessed in what I’ve done and accomplished thus far in life.

I’ve come a long way from hunting and picking up roadkills to help feed the family while growing up. A lot of people have speculated or told me that I must be rich because of all the places/things I’ve hunted, and guns I’ve owned. Reality is, it’s because of hard work, prioritization of what’s important to me, and sacrifice. I realized very young that not everyone is lucky enough to see tomorrow, and we shouldn’t wait to have experiences, go places, and do the things we dream of. Earlier this week a coworker told me I must be rich and getting paid way more to have hunted Africa twice this year already, but in the same breath immediately started talking about the 38’ offshore boat they’d just bought and showed pictures of wahoo, tuna, and marlin from trips earlier this month. A paid off 2003 model truck with high mileage, no kids, and never having been married/divorced leaves a good bit of disposable income. A pension/retirement from career #1 + working well over 80 hours a week in career #2 makes it a bit easier. Coworker on PTO goes dark, I work 25-30/wk while on PTO in Africa hunting. Some people don’t settle for what life gives them and always strive for more. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, it’s up to each of us to decide how to use each of them, and what’s important to us. If you want to take a $100k trip it’s possible you just need to evaluate what’s important to you and get comfortable with being uncomfortable and work your ass off.

To all those who’ve been to Africa, and those who dream of going I salute you and wish you the best.

I’m not rich by any means! However, I save and make sacrifices to do the things I like and love to do. I’ve been blessed to hunt 4 times in Africa and I’m planning/saving for my 5th trip in 2028. Never in a million years I thought I would ever make it to Africa, and I did. Live and make those dreams become reality!

Said it before, say it again; I'll never go to Africa. The reason is I don't fly; won't fly. Mass transit stopped being tolerable for me years ago. Plus the desire isn't there. I just like the entertainment.

TheRookie said:

Figured I’d throw a shout out to all the guys on here who fly cattle class, don’t have a family ranch, and who will never drop a 100k on a hunt. We may not be rich, but we’re fun.

Click to expand...

I also fly cattle class, but cattle class plus for the extra leg room. I'm still waiting on how much my trophy shipping will be for the final sum of my 41 day trip in 2025 with 4 different outfitters.

I'm hoping it will still be under 70k total amount from planning to receiving my IIRC 33 taxidermied animals of the 42 animals hunted.

BTW, This trip took 2 years to plan, 18 months to prepay each outfitter, 2 months to coordinate flights and pre-approved rifle permits, splurged on meet and great service, on my 4th trip ~$2200.00USD. And never went over, but close, to the $12,000.00USD budget per outfitter, that includes day fees, trophy fees, tips, extra non hunting sightseeing activities, at least 1 or 2 extra animals per outfitter, and a few gifts for outfitter's staff members.

I had a separate budget R18000+ (~$1000.00USD) for additional tips, souvenir shopping, to purchase extra ammo, and to spend an afternoon - early evening hosting/dining out with friends. Plus another not fully used $3,000.00USD for Car rental fees from home to Dulles International Airport and return home, fuel, meals, and other incidentals during the trip.

Animals to be taxidermied was sent to my East Cape, RSA outfitter. That bill for was $18,000.00USD I went a bit over zealous on taxidermy, but the bill wasn't due till the following a year later.

I still have a few months before my crate(s) will ship to the US. I'm dreading the costs but I am using the opportunity by putting money aside to pay for the shipping costs.

LOL....I have a love/hate relationship with members of this forum. Love: because their is such a wealth of information to be gained from members. Hate: (damn enablers, sponsors, and Deals and Offers, LMAO) because as a whole they open up the practicality of being able to afford and plan the unconventional trip.

Seriously, the AH community is top notch as most members are more interested in one's bank personality, one's hunting and/or fishing experiences, etc, than one's financial spreadsheet, clothing brand, etc.

If I hadn't found and joined the AH community prior to my first trip who knows how that trip would have gone or if I would be planning a fifth trip for 2027.

Contrary to what my friends think I don't consider myself monetarily rich, just comfortable with my retirement income and plan my trips accordingly, with practicality; Why fly twice in one year when that second airfare can be save applied to pay for more animals or add a second or third outfitter. Why fly business class when being practical means fly economy plus and use the savings for additional animals or a third or fourth outfitter.

Granted I am retired, with little else to spend time and money on.

Josh P said:

I really enjoy that this community has many people more financially successful than I am that are willing to share their experiences and insights. I take notes and make plans. By the end of things, I’ll have saved a significant amount of money by following good advice and learning from the lessons of others without having to repeat them myself.

There’s always someone with “more”, but only you can do what you can with what you have.

Click to expand...

+1

Hedge774 said:

The advice that I have received here would be extremely difficult to put a price on.

Click to expand...

Hedge774 said:

Just to be fair, guys. I totally understand the meaning of this post and respect it, but anyone who can fly to a foreign country for leisure is not poor. Most of the people I confide in call me rich for being able to drop $10K on a safari. Come to think of it, in many, many ways, I am very rich. Thanks for all you guys bring to my table!

Click to expand...

+1 both quotes.

Hogpatrol said:

I thoroughly enjoy reading the hunt reports of the guys that can afford the big trips. Same goes for watching their you tube videos. With this crap weather on the east coast that actually precludes me from going to the range or even outside, I've watched a few today. In the end, those dollars are doing a huge contribution to conservation and maintaining the safari tradition in Africa.

Click to expand...

+1

Mark Biggerstaff said:

I am blessed to be apart of this great forum.
Am I wealthy, no not monetarily, but in knowledge I have gained from this forum yes !
I live paycheck to paycheck basically. But I have been blessed to be able to take 7 safaris since 2018 when I first l joined this forum. Taking 64 African animals, only needing Leopard to finish my Big 5 dangerous 7.
After a big medical scare in 2022 I realized life is short and money is not everything. Live Life and Do what you can when you can! My goal is to finish big 5 dangerous 7 in 2028. And then a big culling hunt in 2029 to make safari 9 and hit 100 animals taken. If you make your mind up to go you can find the funds to do it.
I fly coach or maybe one class up. Cut where I can to make the hunts happen.

Click to expand...

+1

Rimbaud said:

Let’s not engage in classist BS and popular politics. I consider this site to be a place where I can convene with true hunters. I’m not concerned about the size of someone’s balance sheet. I just love hunting, and guns, and I’ve learned so much from the members here.

Click to expand...

+1

SCHUNTER73 said:

Not to be corny, but I love everything about this forum. People from different locations, different backgrounds, different family types, different occupations and different life experiences all coming together over a love of hunting.

Click to expand...

+1, ×2