I read earlier on here "have you ever been on any hunts which the outcome isn't fortold" and started wondering if African safaris are guaranteed harvests or not. I actually don't know, as i've never been on one. So any answers would be appreciated. Thanks

So are African safaris guaranteed hunts or not?

Well the majority of South Africa&Namibia is fenced. Your going to get your animal.

Hunting in Africa is no different in that regard than hunts in Texas. Some folks offer garantees and others don't. IMHO, if there is a guarantee, then it is not hunting.

The outfitter I use is guarantee. Even the Rhino hunts are money back if no trophy shot

Are you seriously that naive? You have a tough time finding animals in heavy brush on a 500ac HF in Texas - so you think you are "going to get your animal" in 300,000 HF acres in Africa?

I think you have rung the bell for the stupidest comment I've ever read on THF.

Axis and John, where did you hunt in Africa or Texas in a high fence area less than 200 acres?

Africa isn't all high fenced, much of Namibia and South Africa is not, the majority of Texas isn't fenced either, just the hill country and some parts of South Texas.

And to dispell another myth, the odds are that you will get your animal, but they are not guaranteed.

I never got a warthog, and warthogs are among the most common of game. Actually tried very hard to get a warthog and it didn't happen.

Kudu were also tough.

I hunted mostly wild areas, but we did some springbok culling in a fenced area.

I had about 18 blown stalks on zebra before I got one in a wild area, I could have just as easily not got one.

The odds are in both wild and fenced areas of Africa you will take a representative animal of all the species on your list.

Same as any area that has ample trophies in an area. Quality management and limited hunters increases trophy size, same on public, private or high fence.

Overhunting, no management same on public private or high fence.

More or less, your bound to get SOMETHING.

I hunted in RSA, mostly in Limpopo. We hunted low fenced and high fenced places. The smallest was about 3500 acres in very mountainous. Ain't nothing easy or garanteed - in fact, on the 3500ac place we saw a big Kudu one afternoon that LO had never seen and we never did find it again in the 7 days we spent on that concession.

I've hunted HF ranches all over Texas from 175 acres to over 5000. Even doing axis doe hunts on some of the smaller places (175-400), we gad times where we never saw or got a shot opportunity even after a whole weekend.

We have a winner. I have personally lost deer on a small 100acre HF place. My dad and uncle have lost 1 maybe 2 on a 90 or 130acre HF place.
Thanks Roo Basher. That's some good info
IMPLIED FACEPALM well NO DUR?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?
Is it guaranteed or "your bound to get something"? I'm sorry man but you've had 2 really stupid comment on the same post within 20mins of each other. That's really hurting your credibility and/or respect on here.

Guarantee?

What are we talking about exactly? No game no pay? Or that the death of animal is guaranteed?

Almost everyone in Africa is no game no pay. A similar situation to many hunt in Texas for exotic wildlife. Unless you are on a package, but in the case of my warthog I got an ostrich instead. So I shot the same number of animals they just did a trade.

Is the death of an animal guaranteed? No. On any sizeable hunting property in the world it wouldn't be.

I personally have no interest in hunting a small property. I have done it once before and I won't do it again.

Would I cull wildlife under that kind of situation? Of course I would do it, as I have killed my own cattle, sheep and goats on our small pastures when necessary. This isn't hunting, and shouldn't be labed as such.

Hunting doesn't have a guaranteed end to the story.

YUP. If it does then it's not hunting..

Read my signature:

I have hunted an array of HF and LF ranches all around Namibia on 2 separate safaris. I shot a lot of animals, but nothing is guaranteed. You will shoot things, but it wont necessarily be what you are looking for. The easier hunts were actually the ones held on LF places. All that matters is the pickiness level of each client. I saw every species of animal I wanted to kill over all that time, but did not necessarily kill what I wanted. Never got a burchells zebra, lechwe, giraffe, or nyala not because we couldn't find them, but we could never locate a solid mature animal.

Five trips to Africa, both free range and high fence, and I have yet to take a bushbuck or waterbuck. I have of course seen both, but never had a chance at a trophy male of either.

My last hunt in RSA I chased hunted Kudu for 5 days straight before I ran across a good bull, found him the morning I was leaving. 60k LF place in the Richmond Valley

I know several folks that had to go back a couple times for Leopards.

4 trips still have not shoot all of the animals that I have wanted to take is Africa. I think it is what you make it who you hunt with etc. Most of the ranches are large and it is a real hunt.

I can't wait until I have 4 trips of hunting in Africa.

I have only been hunting once. Flew into Windhoek, hunted for 10 days in the Khomas and Kalahari and flew out through Johannesburg.

Lived in Djibouti in East Africa, no love for that place. Well all of Africa is interesting in even dank armpits like Djibouti.

Africa is like hunting in any other place (and let us use Africa to mean places like Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, not South Africa which is more like a super-sized version of Texas in most places). Africa's habitat supports several species of animals, however, most of those species are more specialized in where they like to live. You will most likely see some sort of animal as you go around hunting, but it may not necessarily be the species you are after. When I was there, I saw common duikers and baboons everywhere. Never saw a red duiker or bushbuck like I wanted, but saw eland, hartebeest, impala, warthog, oribi, and a few other animals I was not after. The cape buffalo, which was my main focus lived in an area that only it and common duikers lived in. I spent 4 days hunting buffalo without success, took a day off and hunted a different area for plainsgame, then went back to buffalo and didn't shoot one until the literal end of day 6. I took day 7 to just enjoy Africa and flew home day 8.

I thought Africa would be like hunting in a zoo, but I found it not to be so. You will see animals, but it is very possible to go home without your main animal.

Ok thanks y'all

That's a complicated question kid, and it depends on the country, the animal, the property, and the arrangment made. First of all, while there is high fence everywhere, with the exception of RSA the properties that have them are HUGE, involving at least tens of thousands of acres. You'll see more in RSA. While they occur in Namibia they are the exception.
For most plains game, on free range land, there will be a very good chance you'll get an opportunity that is decent but you'll be hunting multiple species and will have a license ( tags ) for them all. Getting 5 of 6 is not bad. I've hunted for Eland three times and never got one. Had to hunt for Sable twice and didn't collect on a Blue Wildebeest X 1. Stuff like Bongo is tough hunting and a 50 to 75% chance. Also unless you have a package, the hunting is on a daily rate which you pay no matter what and a trophy fee per animal. For packages what you shoot is what you collect.
Dangerous game is a bit different and if it's the prime animal and you don't get it, many outfitters want you back and will offer a discount on returning. Dangerous game is expensive and competive and the outfitter and booking agent doesn't want a black mark on him. For the hunters it's not their first rodeo and most are experienced, with the exception of cape buffalo. With elephant, most PH's don't want an amateur and are not likely to get one considering the nature of the beast. Guys who are going after specific animals, tuskers in the 80+lb range are willing to pay anything, can afford it, don't care what it costs and will hunt at least once or twice a year. Leopard is also hard hunting with no guarantee. Craig Boddington, the famous hunting writer went several times before he bagged one. Many times leopard can be an opportunity hunt, offered at the time of the hunt or IF it presents itself. Finally there are PAC hunts which means problem animal control. These are hunts that usually become available at the time of your hunt. Instead of game rangers taking the animals they'll offer this to a hunter present for a set fee if he collects.

Excellent explanation "quartierleblanc". All I want to add to this is in Africa there are animals HF can't control(unless you bury it real deep) such as warthog which goes under and also leopard and monkeys which can go over any easily.There are also small antelope species like dik-dik or steinbock which are already present inside most of the high fenced areas.

Doesn't sound like the hunting in Zimbabwe that I've done. You book a "package" of dangerous game and plains game; or maybe just plains game. Ele, cape buffalo and leopard/lion have their own packages. You can shoot one animal or a dozen as opportunity presents itself of the plains game and if the stalk goes in your favor. If you do wound your cape buffalo or any other game animal and it cannot be retrieved, you pay the trophy fee for it - simple as that. There are no refunds or promises of guaranteed kills. We hunted on the Save Conservatory which is roughly 1 million acres with a single fence around its outside perimeter and NO cross fencing. We hunted a small 23 mile by 17 mile section of this conservatory. Except for a few animals that the PH wants to protect because they are recovering from a disease like distemper, you hunt without "permits" for specific species of animals. Different countries over there have different rules. At the end of the hunt, you square-up with the PH/game managers on your trophy fees, dipping/packing fees, and tips.

I think the gotcha with "guarateed" or package hunts in Africa is that the package doesn't really garantee the quality of animal you are going to take.

For example, if the package garantees you a Kudu, you are probably going to get a shot opportunity at a Kudu. But it may only be a 35-40" animal. Some outfitters may say to the first time, inexperience safari hunter, "There's your Kudu" and bam, you get your trophy - only discover after you get home that it isn't really that much of a trophy - at least, horns-wise.

Now if an outfitter offers a package with a garantee that the animals will all be gold-medal, then I am all ears! And some do, at least for some species.

When we booked our trip, it was clear between us and our PH that we were interested only in gold medal class animals. And the PH was fine with that - it is what he wanted to hear from his clients, and fits in with his hunting.

We paid more - but 6 out of 9 animals were gold medal, and the remaining were high silver (and zebra wasn't rated), almost gold. All animals involved lengthly stalks, often pursuing a single animal for miles that met the criteria.

The "gold" criteria we had in place wasn't so much about the horn size, but involved the idea that we wanted the hunt to be challenging.

And while it is true that many areas in RSA are high-fenced, that comment is really misleading. A 100,000 acre parcel high-fenced is really like no fence at all.

That is not to say that there aren't areas in RSA that have only 1000-2000 acres under HF with hundreds of animals on it. You can get a pretty cheap package hunt on those places. But most of the outfitters that we checked into aren't like that - you can hunt a week and never see the fence.

I think most people that say HF in South Africa isnt a big deal just dont care about the fence being there. Many ranches in SA offer hunts for animals not indigenous to the area and are only there and ALIVE because of supplemental feeding, water and that fence. I am not saying that is true across the board, but it turns me off of S Africa. I just dont get going to Africa and hunting a fenced place. I would rather hunt 4 solid animals free ranging than 20 behind a fence, even if its 200k+ acres. I've tried to convince myself to just do it, but I can't at this point in time. To me, its the principal. I know many wont agree with me, and I have no problem with people hunting those areas, its just not for me. Texas I would and DO hunt high fence quite often, but for Africa it just doesnt jive with what I expect from an experience there. Any put and take turns me off in a place as majestic for hunting as Africa... maybe I just read too many books LOL

I gotta agree with bhtkevin on this topic. Im like him in that I guess I read too many books as a kid about Africa being wild and untamed.