Mtn_Infantry
AH legend
- Joined
- May 11, 2021
- Messages
- 2,535
- Reaction score
- 5,656
- Location
- Texas
- Media
- 34
- Member of
- DSC, SCI, NRA, WSF, DU, NWTF
- Hunted
- Zambia, Zimbabwe (Matabeleland North: Hwange & Matabeleland South: Marula/Plumtree), Namibia, South Africa (Limpopo, Free State, North West, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng)
The Big 5 is the Big 5. There’s no poor man’s version of it.
IMO calling a wildebeest the poor man’s buffalo is just a sales tactic and I’ll admit taking one my first Safari because of the PH saying that. I’ve now shot more than 6 blues and a couple blacks, they’ve all fallen to a single shot and none have gone that far post shot. The same can’t be said about the Cape Buffalo that I’ve hunted and shot. My experience is there’s nothing similar about them.
You can however do the Big 5 more affordably by doing a CBL over a wild lion, a buffalo cow over a bull, a rhino dart over a wild black rhino when a permit pops up once every few year, or a Tuskless over a 100lber. There’s really no inexpensive way to hunt a leopard aside from getting lucky. All that said, does the inexpensive Big 5 give you the same experience as the traditional Big 5? Only someone who’s done both can comment.
IMO calling a wildebeest the poor man’s buffalo is just a sales tactic and I’ll admit taking one my first Safari because of the PH saying that. I’ve now shot more than 6 blues and a couple blacks, they’ve all fallen to a single shot and none have gone that far post shot. The same can’t be said about the Cape Buffalo that I’ve hunted and shot. My experience is there’s nothing similar about them.
You can however do the Big 5 more affordably by doing a CBL over a wild lion, a buffalo cow over a bull, a rhino dart over a wild black rhino when a permit pops up once every few year, or a Tuskless over a 100lber. There’s really no inexpensive way to hunt a leopard aside from getting lucky. All that said, does the inexpensive Big 5 give you the same experience as the traditional Big 5? Only someone who’s done both can comment.
