The South African Outfitter I book for is getting ready to do a US hunting show tour and has decided that due to the economy this years "show special" should be a cheap non-trophy (cull) hunt. His idea is to get hunters that want to shoot the maximum number of animals for the minimum cost. I've got mixed feelings about this and want to give him some sane marketing advice.

Plus side - 7 Day's all inclusive hunt with very nice accomodations and food. 8 non-trophy animals (1- Kudu, 1-Mountain Reed Buck, 1- Impala, 1- Blesbuck & 4- Springbuck)
At $3250... it's a very cheap way to learn to hunt spot and stalk style in Africa without the pressure of bagging a trophy.

Minus side - Long trip/flight not to bring back a trophy head. (though you could do some euro's and nice rug's). All meat goes back to rancher, so nothing for the freezer.

Per my PH a "cull" is defined as:
A female or immature male. Sometimes a male that is fully grown but with broken tip or bad ie short horns or blunt tips in case of an old impala ram. Or Even a one horned male.

Could I get some feedback or opinons please? Many Thanks.

No consideration on my part because none of the animals in Africa appeal to me in regard to hunting. I guess you could say I know my place in life and stay within my boundaries. I would pay twice $3250 to kill over a 180 B&C whitetail, but not half of that to kill any African animal. Looks like to me if you consider going to Africa, money would have to be no object, but like I said, I am sort of simplistic.

I think your outfitter has a good idea.....but in my opinion, he should offer the opportunity for the hunter to add trophy animals if he wants, on a trophy fee basis. I'm sure lots of people would like to take that trip but also take a trophy Kudu, Gemsbok, or something else in addition.

I also think his pricing is a little high for that particular package. There are lots of other outfitters offering 7 day trophy hunts with 4-5 trophy animals for $4,000-$4,500. Just something for him to think about.....

Sounds like an okay deal. Not sure why you'd have a problem with it...? Can you elaborate?

I would rather have the trophys. If I spend that kind of time and money, I want the big boys. Best thing you can do nowdays to build a hunter\outfitter relationship base is to explain how the hunter will be insured of his safety while in a foreign country. It is my #1 priority while booking any hunt out of the U.S.

Having been to Africa, I think it is an awful long way to go to not get at least one trophy. If you can afford the trip to start with, it should mean that another grand or so is worth the difference in getting trophies. If you can't comfortably afford at least that much, the other expenses are going to kill you, even with them covering your food and housing....and don't even consider flying less than what is international business class.

All that said, if you ever have a chance to go, DO IT. There is nothing like it anywhere else. Absolutely awesome in every regard.

Eland Slayer... Good feedback. I'll talk to him about adding one Trophy head to the deal and see what that will do to the price. A trophy Kudu and 7 more non-tropies for around $4200 would be a smoking deal in my book.

Bear Creek.. Like my feedback in the minus colum said. Just doesn't seem right to spend that much time and $$$ without a trophy quality animal in the end.

Sounds like a good idea to me, but then I've been to Africa twice, have a lot of the commom antelope first timers go after and I'm actually looking for a cull or management type hut as part of my next (sept 2010) trip. In fact what I specifically want to hunt a lot of are Gemsbok, tho while Ive killed a few on the previous trips, I also lost two of them and sort of consider them my "jinx" animal because of the lost ones and am just looking to hunt 6 or 8 of them and just take pictures and not really have to take home any "trophy" parts from them. (Wall space at home is already crowded and don't want to spend money on repeat taxidermied ones). Whiel this type hunt is problably not much of a draw for a first time African hunter, for a guy like me I'd like to see more of the cull hunts scenario deveolped.
Just my .02 cents

brushy creek outfitters has a lot better options for your hunt in Africa. If you look at the LSBA web site the outfitter is in town for a month doing seminars and promoting his hunts. My wife and BIL went last yr and he shot 8 animals for less than what you have mentioned and 4 of those were trophy class animals.

8 animals including 4 trophy class for less than $4200?? Sort of hard to believe. Especially after looking at the prices on their website.

What animals where included in that hunt? I'd buy one for that price...

Thanks for the feedback.. (even the stuff I called BS on).
This hunt will be posted shortly in the guides/outfitters forum.

And.. it's spawned another question on a even bigger cull hunt. Will post details later. You're not gonna beleive this one!