Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Cost wise Africa vs. American Elk ?

Have we got this ironed out yet? Ive done both the Africa and the DIY western thing. Probably will be hated by both sides now�.

I will admit I'm impressed. But I'd be more impressed if it was your avocation rather than vocation. And you guys want to talk about "ego?"




Nice try to re-frame the discussion as DIY local hunters being parochial and small-minded. But you missed my point.

I am curious about Africa, and would like to see it some day. But up to this point it's been about other priorities like getting three kids through college. When I do go I'll be just as happy tripping a shutter as I would pulling the trigger.

Because having someone else take care of me, cook my meals, lead me to animals, and tell me when to pull the trigger is not what I want to get out of hunting. I'm not knocking it but pulling the trigger is not why I hunt. If I'm going on a trip where everything is taken care of, I'd rather have my wife along to enjoy that and she doesn't hunt.

When I hunt, I want to be the one who figures out where the animals are, how to stalk within range, and when to pull the trigger.

And I want the outcome to be in doubt. Listening to guys talk about prices and which/how many animals you can kill for X dollars is a turn-off for me.

And I want some solitude. Kind of hard to get that on a safari.

It has nothing to do with curiosity about other parts of the world.

I've done and continue to do both, even this year in fact. I already have a 14 day hunt in South Africa completed, just waiting for September to start my DIY seasons. Love both types of hunting and very different at that!

smokepole,

I made hunting part of my vocation because I knew then I'd do it as much as I wanted, along with writing, the two things I wanted most to do when young. Believe me, it did NOT come easy, and was just as conscious a choice as your decision to hunt the way you like.

I don't know who the "you guys" are you mention. I also don't know why you go on and on about how you prefer to hunt, when I don't think anybody on this thread who travels to hunt ever mentioned anything specifically about you, or your preferences.

My comments concerning people who've expressed contempt for pay-for-lay hunters were about some OTHER people on the Campfire who HAVE expressed contempt, in one way or another. I hadn't read anything like that from you.

Fair enough. Looking back, I see you aren't one of the guys talking about ego, I apologize.




That's true, no one has asked about that. What I am offering is an answer to your question about why some guys look down on a hunt where the outcome is dependent on the skills and work of others. Apparently, "you guys" are having a hard time figuring that out, as evidenced by your question.

And the answer is as I said before, that it's all about what an individual wants to get out of a hunt. For some, going on a safari and having someone else figure out the logistics, find the animals, put them on the animals, and tell them when to pull the trigger takes away the reason they hunt. So they can't understand why others would pay good money to do it that way. That's where the disdain comes in.

I can't speak for others as to why they hunt, the only way I can illustrate that is by giving my own reasons. I hope that's OK with you.

I'm addicted to big mulies. Killed tremendous bucks, 1 guided, 3 DIY, craploads of DIY aoudad, some big whiteys DIY. I'm also lucky enough to have hunted Africa twice and there's no experience like it that I'm aware of. I worked my azzz off to afford to be able to do it, and if someone looks doesn't like it, well, I could give a ratzazzz ( I happen to like that about myself).

Some of the best people I've met in my entire life have been while hunting.

Am I one of the "you guys"? Ha. I only chimed in because I caught wind I was being referenced as a dick on a topic comparing Africa to Elk hunting.

I've never tried, nor have interest in a safari. Don't have a problem with anybody who does. I do have an ego (who doesn't?) and I'm also addicted to hunting elk.

GH, you're one of the guys that can get it done on your own. You should be proud of your accomplishments. That's not easy to do, especially the quality of game you kill. I respect that. Hell I've had 4 knee surgeries. There's no way I cold navigate that country like you do.

I love to hunt, and will continue to do so in whatever form or fashion (legally of course) that I feel like doing, even if that means culling whitetail does (TX private land MLD ground) safari style from a vehicle. Killed 17 in one day (7-08/120 BT's)and it was loads of fun. Gave all the meat to Hunters for the Hungry....they gave me a "high five."

I do believe jealousy is the biggest reason people use condescending remarks and attitudes towards guided hunts, especially when a real corker is killed.

I agree that ego is involved for me in finding where animals are, getting myself into a position to get a shot, and then making that shot. I'm accountable for the success of my hunt, or lack thereof, in every aspect. That's a big deal for me, and I've failed vastly more often at getting game than I've succeeded. I increase my chances of success with effort.

Should the guy who sits in his idling truck at historic elk routes all day, and happens to get a shot at animals that somebody else pushed that way get the same bragging rights as another guy who scouts and finds the animals, hikes several miles to get to them when the season opens, gets into position, makes a good shot, does the work of hauling all the animal out?

It is all hunting, and the guy in the truck would argue that he is hunting smarter rather than harder, but the difference lies in leaving it to chance, or taking control of the task. I see it similarly with paid hunts and guides. I know that if there wasn't some small guarantee of success paid for in cash, guys wouldn't spend small fortunes hunting with guides, no matter the locale.

Isn't the point of guided hunting, except where it is mandated by law, largely to pay to have a greater chance of success? It certainly doesn't give the guys who do it all on their own the justification to be dicks about it, but it should give them more bragging rights, shouldn't it?

The complaint that guys hunting near where they live have some advantage that others don't doesn't mesh with the reality of life. We all choose to live somewhere. If you choose to live back east, and then complain about the cost of western elk hunts, or the unfair advantage that locals have, you must realize that you can move to and live where ever you choose. That holds for much hunting around the world.

Yes but in a good way... What's the saying, "Im not conceded, just convinced", but if you didn't "have a problem", the Africa Clowns comment sure didn't come out that way. I respect you and the rest of the DIY hunters and a hunter you are, but in reality, IDGAF, what anybody else thinks of my "hunting" or whatever anyone chooses to call it. Done both, love both. Enough said. j

This hits close to home for me and it has nothing to do with Africa. I'll scout for elk year round and be thinking ways to make public land DIY elk hunts successful in future years. It's low budget. I suspect that it is not so much different for Greenhorn, Smokepole, and some others.

We've seen the guys that kill a cow on a guided hunt, or on a ranching for wildlife hunt, or a guided hunt on a private ranch, then post 15 photos of it along with their entire history, want to know where their statue will be built, but then not mention that the hunt was guided or private or both. After being on the forum a few years you begin to figure out who those guys are.