SOUTH AFRICA: Kuche Safaris - Free State - August 2024

Mark458 said:

There are way too many outfitters out there with great reputations that you can choose from. Why would you give this outfitter a chance given all the bad reports. My 2 cents

Click to expand...

Arty0802 said:

I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier in this thread or another. My wife and I had planned to go to Africa for our honeymoon, but when Covid shut down international travel between '20-'21 we had to make other plans. Fast forward a couple years, this hunt opportunity fell into our laps at a DU State Convention Dinner so we jumped on it. Being our first time, we didn't know what we didn't know. Learning occurred and we know better for next time (currently booked for '28 with Marius at KMG Safaris). This forum has certainly been an invaluable resource.

Click to expand...

Mark458 said:

I'm not criticizing you in any way. If I came across that way I do apologize. There has been way too many of these donated or discounted hunts that seem to be such a great deal that people just can't refuse. Some are legit from reputable outfitters and others turn out good from newer outfitters trying to earn a good reputation. Your experience unfortunately represents a lot of outfitters that treat hunters like an endless resource and just move on to the next one. Your next hunt with KMG Safari's will be a great experience.

Click to expand...

Arty0802 said:

No offense taken at all. You are 100% correct. I am humble enough to admit we should have been more leery. But sometimes hard lessons are the ones that stick.

Click to expand...

Arty0802 said:

I am humble enough to admit we should have been more leery. But sometimes hard lessons are the ones that stick.

Click to expand...

Arty0802 said:

No offense taken at all. You are 100% correct. I am humble enough to admit we should have been more leery. But sometimes hard lessons are the ones that stick.

Click to expand...

jt13 said:

Over two years now. Sent another email about taxidermy and they blew me off. Basically "We'll get to it when we get to it. We have too many clients to keep track of everyone and respond individually with your wait times."

Click to expand...

Sabre said:

Yeah, for what it's worth and to add to what @Mark458 said, I don't think anyone here is criticizing you. Likely we all just want to caution you and future hunters against going there thinking they have reformed immediately. Which it sounds like you already felt that way too.

I'm very happy for you that you got your trophies.


As a friend of mine used to tell me when I learned a lesson the hard way and it cost me money, "Sometimes you gotta pay to go to school"

Click to expand...

Arty0802 said:

Yep.... Sounds about right.

I wish I could be more helpful. The best thing I can recommend is to message/call him via WhatsApp and write another email to Ducks Unlimited. They seem to take the issue somewhat seriously. I can't say that it will make your items get to you any faster, though.

Click to expand...

Sabre said:

Maybe the more DU members that buy their hunts at banquets that complain might make a difference to how they operate. Or, maybe DU will reconsider using their hunts in the future. That could result in some real change.

Click to expand...

Rem280 said:

Sad thing is I know someone that booked one of these hunts because of Ducks Unlimited. Shared this thread and he still had faith. IDK what ever happened.

Click to expand...

NYDoc said:

Just got back from one of these DU Kuche Safaris. I can't express how happy I was with the overall experience. As a first timer and inexperienced big game hunter I did hundreds of hours of research and preparation in the 18 months leading up to this trip. After reading several post about Kuche my expectations were managed. However, these expectations were greatly exceeded. My PH Cornel couldn't have done more to accomodate the varying levels of preparation in my hunting party. He sought different concessions for specific game, he paid attention to my individual requests, he was completely professional when my wish list suddenly changed on the last day of the hunt. Jan, his tracker was superb. The accomodations were rustic, yet clean and adequate. We stayed at the Lemphalale property in Limpopo.

The concessions ranged from 2500 to 22,000 acres. Big enough that the high fence was truly a non-sequitur.

Based on many of the comments here we chose not to have our taxidermy and shipping done with Kuche. I had expected more pressure or a change of attitude when we told our PHs. Nothing could be further from the truth. They maintained their professionalism, worked extremely hard to put us on the animals we'd hoped for and willingly worked directly with our chosen taxidermist and exporter.

I think Kuche is the perfect introduction for first timers. If you win one of these DU auction my advice would be to go and have fun.

Click to expand...

NYDoc said:

As a first timer and inexperienced big game hunter

Click to expand...

NYDoc said:

Just got back from one of these DU Kuche Safaris. I can't express how happy I was with the overall experience. As a first timer and inexperienced big game hunter I did hundreds of hours of research and preparation in the 18 months leading up to this trip. After reading several post about Kuche my expectations were managed. However, these expectations were greatly exceeded. My PH Cornel couldn't have done more to accomodate the varying levels of preparation in my hunting party. He sought different concessions for specific game, he paid attention to my individual requests, he was completely professional when my wish list suddenly changed on the last day of the hunt. Jan, his tracker was superb. The accomodations were rustic, yet clean and adequate. We stayed at the Lemphalale property in Limpopo.

The concessions ranged from 2500 to 22,000 acres. Big enough that the high fence was truly a non-sequitur.

Based on many of the comments here we chose not to have our taxidermy and shipping done with Kuche. I had expected more pressure or a change of attitude when we told our PHs. Nothing could be further from the truth. They maintained their professionalism, worked extremely hard to put us on the animals we'd hoped for and willingly worked directly with our chosen taxidermist and exporter.

I think Kuche is the perfect introduction for first timers. If you win one of these DU auction my advice would be to go and have fun.

Click to expand...