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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,173 Likes: 18
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,173 Likes: 18 |
Yep!
As I mentioned earlier, predators are naturally much less common than prey. It's a simple biological principle. In good buffalo country you'll often see far more buffalo in a day than you'll see big bears in 10-day hunt.
The trick in either instance is seeing the right one--but the odds favor buffalo hunting, especially over interior grizzly hunting. I read somewhere that the average success rate on interior Alaskan grizzlies is about 50% (which matches my limited experience on two hunts), while in buffalo hunting it's close to 100%--and maybe over, since some places allow more than one to be taken. In fact, I don't know anybody who's gone buffalo hunting and not gotten a good bull.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 35,900
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 35,900 |
Simply comparing the likelyhood of seeing animals when hunting those that live in herds with those that live solitary lives in vast areas of wilderness is naturally going to different.
To paraphrase Ferris Buehler "if you have the means, I highly suggest both" Uuhh....yeah! Anybody who wants to can force me to go on either one and I would not be complaining either way!  Either one is the pinnacle of "it's all good".
The 280 Remington is overbore.
The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 24,628 Likes: 28
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 24,628 Likes: 28 |
Rabbits is best... ![[Linked Image]](http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee202/bridgershooters/Varmints/101_0010_zpsc90a516b.jpg)
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 35,900 |
Schrapnel did you shoot that one on the way to the range? 
The 280 Remington is overbore.
The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Joined: Jan 2006
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 18,453 |
....must have lived near a nuclear power plant..
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 35,900
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 35,900 |
.....in New Jersey  The Mighty Wabbit that ate Ocean City! Saved by Schrapnel on the way to the range!
The 280 Remington is overbore.
The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,946 Likes: 20
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,946 Likes: 20 |
I would like to take this thread in a slightly different tangent as a lot of folks mentioned that buffalo hunts are less expensive than grizzly hunts - and then go on to compare the cheapest SA or Zim buffalo hunts with the top Kodiak and Peninsula brown bear hunts.
I know some good young Alaskan outfitters who's prices for grizzly hunts are less than any recent buffalo hunts anywhere in Africa and would like to hear from someone with experience what the total cost of a buffalo hunt in Tanzania with some of the top outfitters like Robin Hurt would be ?
Phil Shoemaker Alaska Master Guide, Alaska Hunter Ed Instructor FAA Master pilot www.grizzlyskinsofalaska.comAnyone who claims the 30-06 is not effective has either not used one, or else is unwittingly commenting on their marksmanship.
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Phil:
That would be interesting to know. I would wager that the best East African cape buffalo hunts with World famous celebrity-like professional hunters are more expensive than the lower priced interior mountain grizzly hunts. I'm sure they'd be more expensive than my mountain grizzly hunts, anyway. It would be interesting to know what a East African buffalo hunt with on of the celebrity PH's is selling at.
Maverick
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,173 Likes: 18 |
I've been on a couple of higher-dollar buffalo hunts, one in 2002 and one in 2011. The first was a 10-day hunt in Botswana's Okavango Delta (which is no longer possible) and included 5 head of plains game (kudu, tsessebe, warthog, impala, red lechwe). The cost of the hunt at that time was around $30,000.
The second was in the Selous Reserve in Tanzania in 2011. Could have taken more than one buffalo but didn't, as the one I killed was the biggest I saw. Also took impala, zebra, Lichtenstein's hartebeest and blue wildebeest. The price was in the same ballpark at the Botswana hunt.
From what I understand the prices for northern Tanzania buffalo hunts are higher, as the buffalo there are along the biggest on the continent.
In both instances, there were cheaper places to hunt buffalo, but from what I've been told by the PH's involved (most of whom were from Zimbabwe) Botswana and Tanzania are considered the "wildest" parts of wild Africa available for guided safari hunts--and all said they would rather guide in those countries than anywhere else.
It's too bad the Okavango (and other public portions of Botswana) are now off-limits to hunters, as it was indeed a magnificent experience. When I hunt in Africa I usually also spend some time at one of the great game parks, to see and photograph the wide variety of big game, smaller mammals and birds, but the Okavango was as magnificent as any park I've visited.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,973 |
I've been on a couple of higher-dollar buffalo hunts, one in 2002 and one in 2011. The first was a 10-day hunt in Botswana's Okavango Delta (which is no longer possible) and included 5 head of plains game (kudu, tsessebe, warthog, impala, red lechwe). The cost of the hunt at that time was around $30,000.
The second was in the Selous Reserve in Tanzania in 2011. Could have taken more than one buffalo but didn't, as the one I killed was the biggest I saw. Also took impala, zebra, Lichtenstein's hartebeest and blue wildebeest. The price was in the same ballpark at the Botswana hunt.
From what I understand the prices for northern Tanzania buffalo hunts are higher, as the buffalo there are along the biggest on the continent.
In both instances, there were cheaper places to hunt buffalo, but from what I've been told by the PH's involved (most of whom were from Zimbabwe) Botswana and Tanzania are considered the "wildest" parts of wild Africa available for guided safari hunts--and all said they would rather guide in those countries than anywhere else.
It's too bad the Okavango (and other public portions of Botswana) are now off-limits to hunters, as it was indeed a magnificent experience. When I hunt in Africa I usually also spend some time at one of the great game parks, to see and photograph the wide variety of big game, smaller mammals and birds, but the Okavango was as magnificent as any park I've visited.
With that much money a guy could do two Alaskan hunts with me [for example; a Dall sheep hunt and then an Alaska/Yukon moose hunt] and would have some money left over to put toward a substantial down payment on a brown bear hunt or a mountain grizzly hunt or mountain goat hunt. Thirty grand is a lot of money. Those present-day hunts in Tanzania are supposedly the "truest" form, in the sense of what Africa once was. I used to date a linguistics major who, afterward, was stationed in Tanzania. She befriended the daughter of a professional hunter [I've long since forgotten what is name was, though] and according to the tales she used to recite in letters and photographs sent, it seemed to me that Tanzania remained relatively wild. Yes, it's too bad about Botswana, and Kenya, too. Back in the day, those two countries and Tanzania were the Valhalla of African hunting expedition destinations. Politics ......
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New Member
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New Member
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Bear first and later Africa hunting.
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Posts: 29,786
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 29,786 |
Rabbits is best... Don't laugh, I get a lot of pleasure leisurely wandering about shooting rabbits with cannons.
These are my opinions, feel free to disagree.
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Campfire Regular
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must be a Rhosgobel rabbit
"The liberals preach tolerance and diversity until presented with an opinion other than their own."
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2006
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I would have to go Grizz myself. I've often thought that a Grizz/Moose combo hunt would be the [bleep] and may very well do one to celebrate my 50th a couple of years down the road.
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Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 96,121 Likes: 1 |
Can't fathom a reason to pick Africa over Alaska.
"Dear Lord, save me from Your followers"
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,973
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Posts: 1,973 |
Well, those East African hunts that Mr Mule Deer mentioned do seem interesting. But solely based on the 30K price for the East African affairs and based on the average American citizen's personal economics, I think most Americans would opt for Alaska, rather than Africa. That still doesn't negate the fact that the East African hunts seem to be pretty exciting, in a historical sense.
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Posts: 60,173 Likes: 18
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,173 Likes: 18 |
Most Americans opt for somewhere else in Africa for buffalo, these days usually Zimbabwe or South Africa, where the price can be half as much as in East Africa--and also usually includes some plains game.
Personally, I try to balance Alaska and Africa. Right now Africa is ahead by one trip. But I also like Canada a lot too, and have hunted up there from Quebec to British Columbia as many times as I've been to Africa AND Alaska together--and grizzlies can be hunted in Canada. The coastal bears get pretty big, even though they're not called "brown" bears.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
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Posts: 1,973
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Posts: 1,973 |
Yeah, the Bella Coola region has always produced some rather nice coastal bears. They seem to be rather dark, just like their brethren in the Panhandle of Alaska.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 11,562 Likes: 2 |
Many people can/have hunted multiple species in Africa for the same cost of a single specie Alaskan hunt,
My pick? Grizz.
I decided 3 years ago the talking part was over, that fall I was in Ak with Grizz tag in pocket, Only thing that came home was the tag,
I'd do it over again in a heartbeat, Backpacking up a mountainside is what curls my toes,
YMMV.
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,612 |
Yeah, the Bella Coola region has always produced some rather nice coastal bears. They seem to be rather dark, just like their brethren in the Panhandle of Alaska. Yep, I live in the area between the Panhandle and Bella Coola and the bears are typically big and dark on the coast and a bit lighter and smaller inland. Hope to draw a tag either this spring or fall.......
Gerry.
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