Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Big 5 cost

How much would it cost to hunt these(not fenced)? And how much would taxidermy cost(cheapest route possible)?

hope you win the lottery......
you'll need it

asking cost of big 5 and then asking about cheap taxidermy? WTF, I'd say go away now already....

$200,000+, and more than one trip......


maddog

Not "cheap" but cheapest. I could always just get the hides or euro mounts or something.

Are you from Oregon?

TN

That would have been my second guess.

ignore I think is best.

I have no idea and probably couldn't go to Africa for the "cheapest 5" but I'll bet that the taxidermy bill alone for the big 5 would buy a decent house.

Already did that......

The cheapest way to do it would be to visit a national park and shoot them all with the rifle you brought into the country for some cheap hunt. Then rather than taxidermy, take a digital photo quick, before you're arrested--or shot.

Cowboysforlife34, no offense here, but I don't think these old boys think you are for real. I will give you a hint...one doesn't ask how much it would cost to hunt the big five and then wants to know about cheap taxidermy. That's about like buying a Ferrari and being concerned with the car's MPG.

Just an idea, why not film your hunt, and forget about the taxidermy? That way you can relive your entire hunt at a fraction of the cost.

A quick semi-educated (read and figure only) guess from me is around 300 should cover it all nicely.

I always figured that this is in the "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" category.

Yup.

It varies, but as of a few years ago in Zimbabwe, a DG safari cost around $1500 per day plus trophy fees. For that figure about $5,000 for buffalo and $10,000 for elephant. A lion will run at least $10,000 more and a leopard about $5,000. If you try for all four, you'd better book for 28 days. Don't forget taxes and tips, etc. Also maybe a $3,000 charter fee for flying from an airport to the hunting area, in addition to maybe $2,500 for regularly scheduled airlines from the USA.

Also you will want to shoot some bait animals and there are also trophy fees for plains game you will encounter. Might be several hundred dollars for impala and warthog and $7,000 for sable.

Ask a good booking agent for a cost workup. To take all the big four probably requires at least two safaris. Maybe more. I have missed on leopard in two attempts.

As for rhino, the train has left the station. In 2006 I could have shot a white rhino for a trophy fee of $40,000. I passed and you can't do it for that now. Even that was behind a high-fenced area in RSA. Best to shoot a hippo and a croc instead. They cost about $3,000 each when I hunted.

As for taxidermy it depends on what you want. It ain't cheap. A friend of mine shot the last legal black rhino in Kenya, with a long bow, in 1976. He has a full body mount. Impressive.

A worse problem is that the Obamunists have outlawed importation of elephant parts from Zimbabwe and Tanzania, the two countries where there are the most of them to hunt, at least for now. I suspect to find importation of lion trophies will also soon be outlawed.

So if you're serious, go soon. I suspect we'll live to see "big 5" hunting limited to shooting buffalo. And, despite all the stories you may have read about the Cape buffalo, hunting them is about like hiking in the hot sun for five or six days followed by shooting a big cow, if you're at all a good shot.

That is always how I've felt regarding cape buff...

Flame suit on!

You're going to need it...