Cull Animal

In several of the hunting reports I've read that the P.H. has asked the client to remove a certain animal from the heard due to a injury or illness. Is the client charged for taking these animals? If not what becomes of them? Is the client allowed to ship them home ?

If the outfitter/PH has asked the client to take the animal under those circumstances, then no the client would not be charged. If the animal is sick, I'd guess that the meat would not be consumed. If injured, then the meat would be used. Now if the client wants to keep the animal, I could see where he may be charged for a normally reduced trophy fee.

You will occasionally see outfitters offering cull hunts where non-trophy quality animals will be taken. If you don't care about having trophy quality, these can be quite a good deal. Whether or not the client will be able to take any of the animals home is a bit of a case by case basis.

It's going to depend on the situation. I had several opportunities to shoot a buffalo on my trip that was being culled due to injury or simply because they had suddenly turned bad and were injuring others in the herd. The price for those types of hunts was reduced but it was still substantial.

One killed due to illness or because it has a badly infected wound from fighting or an errant shot can't be taken for food but if it's a trophy animal you are still going to pay something for it, maybe even full price. It all depends on the situation. If they are on private land the owner may ask that it be taken and not want a dime for it or they may want full or reduced price and then your outfitter/PH makes their call on whether or not they'll charge you above what it's costing them.

Whether or not you can take the trophy home will depend on many factors. Sometimes you might be asked to shoot an injured/ill/wounded animal but there are no permits for the trophy available.

This is defiantly one of those "it depends". In my case I had the opportunity to hunt some warthogs that were to used to feed the staff. I was not charged and I did get to keep the tusks. They were younger warthogs so the tusks weren't impressive but still make nice souvenirs for kids back home. I know I enjoyed the cull hunts just as much.

brushmore said:

This is defiantly one of those "it depends". ............

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Excellent examples thus far.
Cape Buffalo vs Warthog. $13,000 vs $400 You can see why the policy might be different so a general question about "animal" will not work.
Injured ; you are just the trigger man. No cost.
Rations; you are just a trigger man. No cost.
Trophy; Taking a "trophy" home - meaning any part of the cull. That will certainly be on a casey case basis with the Outfitter.

On my hunt this last May we were hunting for impala. I had missed one shot at a very nice one and we were in the process to get back into position to take another shot when the land owner notified us that he had seen a very nice trophy impala that was limping and asked if we would look at him and decide if I wanted to take him. It took us a while to find this animal and once we did my PH said that he was a very nice one and comparable to the one that we had been stalking. It took us a while to get into a shooting position and I took the impala. He was indeed a very nice one.

That night I was talking to the PH and the safari operator and asked them if that impala would be considered as a cull/management animal since the landowner had asked for us to check him out and possibly shoot him, I was just kidding but the operator said that he would consider the impala to be one of my management animals. I didn't push the issue since I was very happy with what I had and really didn't think that I could do much better but they were willing to work with me on him. As it turned out he was the largest of the three impala that our group shot that trip.

JimP said:

That night I was talking to the PH and the safari operator and asked them if that impala would be considered as a cull/management animal since the landowner had asked for us to check him out and possibly shoot him, I was just kidding but the operator said that he would consider the impala to be one of my management animals. I didn't push the issue since I was very happy with what I had and really didn't think that I could do much better but they were willing to work with me on him. As it turned out he was the largest of the three impala that our group shot that trip.

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This brings up a great point. This outfitter did the right thing and reduced a price as he had asked for the animal to be shot, although it doesn't necessarily sound like he was going to (I'm making a guess - please forgive me if I'm wrong). Point being, make sure you negotiate/understand the lower/no animal cost before you pull the trigger. Don't make assumptions, or it could cost you.

Royal27 said:

.............. Point being, make sure you negotiate/understand the lower/no animal cost before you pull the trigger. Don't make assumptions, or it could cost you.

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Where did you learn that lesson?

BRICKBURN said:

Where did you learn that lesson?

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it was a small lesson, but an important one.

I also learned that the operator or PH needs to tell you that the animal is a cull or management animal before you pull the trigger or you better be ready to pay for the animal.

I actually did that on my second black wildebeest. The owner of the farm wanted them off the property and told my PH then me to shoot all that I wanted to. But after I shot my second one as a management animal and we found out that he wanted all of them gone it was too late to shoot any other animals. But a lady in our group did manage to take a nice young bull out of the herd as a management animal and she was tickled pink.

I shot a few, no fee, no trophy either.

Normally an obvious sick or mortally wounded animal are taken on sight at no charge (PH/owner discretion), this is different from a cull animals that is just not making the grade. Usually culls are discounted to encourage them being taken, to remove those genes from the pool. I have taken them at n/c as well, but it depends on the circumstance and the PH/owner.

It also depends on country. RSA and Namibia, you typically wont get charged for a wounded or sick, but those animals are the property of the landowner . But places like TZ, Moz or Zim, where they work on a quota system, the animals have to be taken accounted for. It may be taken allotted as a subsistence animal for camp meat in the quota register, but if you want to export it its your trophy and there is a trophy fee. You definitely want to clarify with your PH before the shot.

I was in Zim quite a few years ago and picked up a massive impala that I thought would look cool in the garden. PH told me that was fine but I would have to pay the trophy fee to export it. I left it right there.

This is definitely a case by case situation and communication is critical. The PH's should always be striving to promote clear and open communication in these regards. In RSA at least, it has been my experience that this is all driven by the property owners and managers.

I believe we see offers now and then, and I have had a similar offers made to me personally... Where you can cull a number of animals, like 5-10 at a cull hunt price and then pick one to take as a trophy.

As for sick and injured animals;

In one case were actually driving through the non-hunting part of a property and I saw a black springbuck with a broken leg. I pointed it out and the PH wanted me to shoot it.. But the property manager had to see it personally first. When he finally did (by driving around, not getting out), he told the PH to shoot it... But by then it was gone and not to be seen again... I would have loved the chance to get out and stalk it and do put it down.. But the manager was driving and it was lunch time so we had to forget it I believe that manager had that attitude that a hunter is just there to collect trophies... I got zero impression that this guy had clue what hunting is about. He was pissed off when I nor my wife would shoot a kudu off the truck. And he had no interest in letting us get out to stalk it. Had a great PH, but I think his hands were tied on that property... Valuable lesson to me. Ask lots of questions about the properties out of normal control by your outfitter and PH. Especially where they send their own guy with on the hunt. ... and Especially in RSA.

On my last buffalo hunt, we came across an old cow moving very slowly... The PH wanted to put her down but he had to go through channels so we would not be charged for it.... A day later we had the green light and the PH told me to shoot it on sight... Of course we never saw it again. But that situation was understandable.

Excellent points about that Quota system and country.

Excellent points so far.

In Namibia if you are charged a fee for taking a non-trophy or cull animal and if no part of the animal is exported a government tax of 15% will apply to that animal.

Is this also the rule for South Africa? What about other countries?

For me management hunting consists either taking non-trophy animals or cull animals.

- Non-trophy animals are selected old, setback, abnormal, broken horn or tusk male or female specimens which can be exported.

- Cull animals are selected old or immature male or female specimens for population management which may not be exported.

The old definition of a cull animal, was one that (for whatever reason) was worth nothing or only worth the meat on it. This was usually on sold by the PH to a pro meat buyer.

I have recently seen on here, a cull hunt advertised where there was a fee of $800 for a female Kudu. In fact all the animals listed had a price on them. For me this is not a cull hunt but a non trophy hunt and I called it as a misleading and deceptive advertisement.

You can get very cheap cull hunts. Plains game populations have exploded in South Africa and for some reason prices have gone up as well. No doubt due to the high level of management now employed with these animals.

Just shop around and don't be duped by additional fees from less than honest operators..

^^^

Another great point. By the purest definition culling is to me the removal of excess, or old and no longer servicable, animals. For true culling I should actually get paid, not have to pay. BUT, if you can pull a Tom Sawyer and get someone to whitewash the fence for you, why not?

And to be clear, I'm not saying I wouldn't pay to shoot a cull animal. I guess I like to paint.

I would have loved to cull hunt while on the recent trip to SA. No culls available at the time....but I would have gladly paid a small fee to do it!

I had a situation on my first safari in the cape like this. My PH and I came across an old cape kudu bull with a really bad limp. His horns were maybe in the mid 30's so definitely not considered of trophy length but he had about 6" of ivory at the tips of his horns. I engaged in conversation with my PH about about if he would be a cull bull or not. My PH did not have the authority to decide if he was or not. I volunteered to take him even at a discounted trophy rate or as a cull animal but he could not get the outfitter on the phone. I was not going to pay a full trophy rate on this animal as I had the day before taken one trophy kudu bull. In the end I was not going to take the risk of paying trophy rates on an inferior animal so I passed on he animal. The decision is yours as you are the trigger man. If uncertain on what or if you will be charged do not shoot. Of course that night at the lodge the outfitter was all about the idea of removing the old bull for free.