Why are daily rates more for hunting Dangerous Game than for hunting Plains Game?

[Neale]

I was just wondering why the day rates quoted for DG are far more than day rates for PG given that you are staying in the same camp and probably the same PH. eg. often day rates for Buffalo are twice the day rates for PG. Also, if you successfully take a Buffalo on day 2 and then hunt plains game for day 3-10 are the whole 10 days costed at the DG rate?

 

[Royal27]

Pretty simply put it is because DG hunting is dangerous, and therefore a premium is charged as hazard pay.

As far as the day rates after the DG animal is taken it is because you've contracted for the 10 day hunt as part of the price. The outfitter needs to know what they will make in order to set pricing in the first place.

 

[Hank2211]

In addition to the danger, I would also say that hunting dangerous game is almost always more work than hunting plains game. Whether you are tracking buffalo or elephant, building blinds for leopard or lions, the days are not typically sent behind the wheel and are longer, and it demands more of the PH and his team than a plains game hunt.

 

[Neale]

Thank you for your replies

 

[billc]

Also sometimes you may have 2 Ph's and more trackers plus other staff helping.

 

[Divernhunter]

Maybe this also. Since the hunt is much more expensive people who go on them have more money and the outfitter can get more for daily rates. That and the above answers.
In short because they can and people will pay them.

 

[ActionBob]

I agree with the above posts but I do think it goes deeper than that.

It is a somewhat different discussion for South Africa than some of the wilder areas. I had some pretty frank discussions with an outfitter on this in RSA. He, and many, outfits were contracting with landowners or lease holders to hunt their DG. This was really more for buffalo... He claimed he was actually not making anything on the trophy fee on his buffalo, and was strictly counting on the daily rate to make a profit on DG hunts. And he did not say it, but I'm sure tips helped keep his camp going as well... He was hoping the clients would shoot some PG where the real profit is. I wanted a two week hunt with DG and PG and when he saw my list of PG was long enough, he was happy to discuss day rates.

Another outfitter in RSA who offers premium PG hunt areas, and has in the past few years started to offer buffalo in an APNA by Krueger, but has very expensive buffalo hunts... Claims to not make anything on them either and is doing it to 1. keep his good clients coming back to him rather to go elsewhere for buffalo. 2. Hoping they will hunt some PG while they are there.

As for places like Moz., Zim., Zambia, Tanzania, and others such as Central and West Africa.. They costs are a lot higher just getting supplies in... On my Zimbabwe elephant hunt, we were in tents that have to be put up and taken down seasonally. As does the generator, solar panels, plumbing... Then they actually hauled in ice and fresh produce every few days... It was easy there as it was only a 4 1/2 hour drive one to get there! Compared to 10 or more in other areas like the Selous. In RSA, even on a DG hunt, your PH is going to pull up to a pump to fill up with fuel and some attendant is going to check the oil and wash the windshield. Tires and such will be fixed in a shop. In Zim we had to refuel out of big drums hauled in. Patch tires out in the wilderness and pump them up by hand.. If the parts were not on the truck, we were not getting them anytime soon!

As for the two PH's... I will do my best to avoid that and when I see that is standard practice for an outfitter or required in an area.. I simply don't choose to book there, unless for a very specific reason. As Bill would point out, personal choices and having those choices available is a good thing! Understood it is required in many cases, such as the raised lion hunts in RSA. But it is my desire to not be going through the bush with a marching band! We already have the tracker, PH, hunter, observer and often a required government scout. Now add a second PH and his tracker and it is parade! But I do recognize it as an added cost that has to be paid in those instances. I have learned to ask specific questions as to whom will all be along on the hunt

 

[siml]

Danger is definitely a major factor. But I would say the main reason for higher cost on a DG hunt, is that it costs a lot more to operate a DG area.

 

[BWH]

All very good & interesting replies/responses.

 

[Red Leg]

These are businesses, and like most businesses today, you would likely be stunned at the narrowness of their profit margins. There are two basic business models - one for fenced properties, and the other for remote areas. In remote areas, DG is often what makes the concession go from a profitability perspective. Camps in Zambia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe are often relatively difficult to get to and to sustain. Other than the wilderness experience, they could never compete with the South African (and to a lesser extent, Namibian) game farms as general plains game destinations. You can draw a bit of an analogy with the price difference of a 10-day wilderness elk hunt, and shooting the same animal behind a fence in Texas or Missouri. Therefore, it is the DG which pays the bills, and one of the reasons that ever greater restrictions on the importation of DG - particularly elephant and cats - has the potential of driving much of Africa's wilderness hunting industry out of business.

 

[dobber]

One of the things i could think of, and i may be wrong
PG animals = single ply TP
DG animals = triple ply TP
Tend not to have the crap scared out of ones self at the site of a springbok 20 yards away, Lion on the other hand additional clean up required

Any way you look at it, if questions about rates, discuss with the outfitter, if no good reason given, then find one who can answer the question.

 

[Brent in Az]

Because dangerous game animals can turn you into a very ugly spot on the African soil.

 

[Brent in Az]

Hunting dangerous game always commands premium prices. Day rates in RSA can be a few hundred dollars, whereas day rates in premium Tanzania hunting blocks, can be $3000 or more per day, regardless of what you are hunting.

Many a hunter and PH, have been killed, or seriously wounded, over the decades. Many women have been turned into widows, and children left fatherless. Many surgeons have made alot of money putting anatomies back together, as best they can.

Imagine being a PH, crawling through the dense brush and long grass, looking for a gutshot Leopard, that is waiting to extract the proverbial "pound of flesh" in it's vengeance. Maybe a 1700 pound wounded Buffalo coming for you in the thick Jesse, hoping to gut you with his fishook horns? Better yet, an angry cow Elephant that is determined to turn your group into human hamburger.

In my opinion, dangerous game PH's don't make enough money.

 

[RogerHeintzman]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is insurance. I bet when the PH lists DG PH on his application, the premium becomes premium!

 

[Hogpatrol]

Back in my working days, I was paid an hourly rate. Once a year we had the option of "volunteering" to handle explosives, caps and blasting duty. We were paid 75% more for hazardous duty. When I think of DG hunting, it reminds me of the lyrics of a popular Talking Heads song, "this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around. No time for dancing, or lovey dovey, I ain't got time for that now."

 

[Hank2211]

Back in my working days, I was paid an hourly rate. Once a year we had the option of "volunteering" to handle explosives, caps and blasting duty. We were paid 75% more for hazardous duty. When I think of DG hunting, it reminds me of the lyrics of a popular Talking Heads song, "this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around. No time for dancing, or lovey dovey, I ain't got time for that now."

Now wasn't that a great tune? I will now think of it every time I chase some dangerous beast through the brush!

 

[Royal27]

Now wasn't that a great tune? I will now think of it every time I chase some dangerous beast through the brush!

Hank,
I will now think of both that song and you every time I see an ostrich now...

 

[Hank2211]

I'm thinking of putting a bounty on ostriches . . .

 

[BRICKBURN]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is insurance. I bet when the PH lists DG PH on his application, the premium becomes premium!

Premium to the point of impossible.

 

[Petrus Geldenhuys]

there are some really good replies here and there is not much to add. i especially liked the 1ply and 3 ply comment....ha ha brilliant @dobber