Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa A Survey: Favorite African Game

I had the most fun hunting kudu in the rocks, and chasing impala on foot with my bow.

The three that haunt my dreams
kudu
impala
bushbuck

honorable mention for warthog.

They were all fun to hunt, kind of like telling a father of 5 to pick his favorite kid.

1.Elephant - the physically hardest thing I've ever done.
2. Buffalo - just plain fun!
3. Lion - walked up, not over bait.

SOS

kudu
zebra
nyala

BTW JJHACK really does like to hunt the varks!! He will even shoot em' way out in the muddy green slimy water...against good advice!

jmr

The top three doesn't leave enough room for me.

But here goes:
1.) Elephant - most exciting hunt there can be.
2.) Nyala - beautiful animal in thick riverine bush that is just made for a slow, easy going walk in the early morning or especially in the late evening along a beautiful river during which you will see tons of other game. Best done where there are elephants for the added excitement, and where there are elephants, best done with an elephant capable rifle.
3.) Bushbuck - another beautiful animal and the same fun walk and stalk as nyala in the same cool riverine bush.

To continue:
4.) Lion - by tracking if possible.
5.) Leopard - just to see how much patience you have.
6.) Hyhena - its fun to start the day really early, but just stationary, listening to the bush wake up, same goes for the evening, listening as the night creatures begin to move. This applies to sitting for leopard and lion too but the hyhena hunt is more relaxed, though you never know if spots or the king will make an appearence.

I have hunted all of these animals except nyala and seen all of them including nyala. Some I've taken, some I haven't, but the hunts have all been great.

JPK

nyala, bushbuck, warthog

JB,

Kudu, Gemsbok, Eland

Planning my first trip in the next couple of years. These are at the top of my list.

Steve

gotta go with JJHACK on this one....in terms of hunting a whole bunch then warties are too much fun!

For me my number one on the WANT to hunt again is Lion. I love the adrenaline rush and total concentration that is required when hunting stuff that can kill you which explains why my others are Elephant and Cape Buffalo.

BTW, Sable hunting is NOT $10,000.00 in Zimbabwe with us, not even close and Lion hunting either the track em up or the bait em in hunts are not $50,000.00 they are $27,000.00 and this is for a good mature male. Hyenas are hunted a lot in Zim but not taken all that often because they are hunted mostly at night over bait and with calls and most hunters who come over are hunting other stuff and are tired when the evening rolls around. Most Do not want to be so tired the next day or days that they are not as focused or efficient when hunting thier primary game animals. Also missing the evening nightcap by the fire is a part of the overall experince which will be missed if Hyena hunting is a focus. I agree that smackng baboons is way fun, too.

Even though I've yet to hunt in Africa, I'll be leaving in 2 weeks to hunt the "realistic" top three on my list:
1. Buffalo
2. Kudu
3. Eland

For my next hunt (amazing how I'm already planning the second trip before I've left for the first!) I think I'd like to focus on:
1. Leopard
2. Sable
3. Nyala

This is with the realization that hunting all three animals on the second list on the same hunt might not be feasible or practical. That said, I think Buffalo will always be on the top of the list.

Test

Thanks so far, guys. Keep 'em coming!

Part of the reason I am doing this is to roughly determine reader interest in various African animals, when buying articles for SUCCESSFUL HUNTER. I am not the type of editor who does it solely on the basis of surveys, but I do want to make sure that my own prejudices do not get in the way of what readers want.

Some years ago I was told by a long-time editor (you would all recognize his name, I am sure) that the only African animals most hunters are interested in are Cape buffalo and kudu. So partly I wanted to find out if he's correct. At least so far he is: those two animals are tied for the lead at 14 votes each, far ahead of the second place animals--leopard, warthog, nyala and bushbuck--which are tied at 5 apiece.

And all of this does not mean I won't run a story about ANYTHING as long as it is interesting. Hippo did not show up anywhere so far, but I am running a hell of a hippo story in the upcoming issue. A good hunting story is a good hunting story, no matter the subject. I also just received another very fine story on bushbuck by the same guy (a veteran PH) and it will be running soon, so it is nice to see those little antelope (one of my personal favorites as well) showing up strongly.

I wonder how many of the voters so far know that a bongo hunt also costs more than many elephant hunts nowadays?

Keep 'em coming....

JB

John: Great thread, but upon reading your last comment, I think you inadvertently "stacked the deck", in that the wish list is tied to realistic monetary concerns. I think if the list was a "stand alone" affair i.e., pure "wish", Lion would have certainly been numero UNO on my list with elephant second. As for the rest of the folks, I think lion would have been up there as well. jorge

kudu
eland
buffalo

AD

Yes, I very deliberately stacked the deck. Otherwise too many people would list their top three preference of the Big Five and I wouldn't learn anything.

Maybe three years ago I did a similar survey of North American game preferences here, but limited it to $5000 for the hunt. Otherwise too many people would have chosen brown bear or bighorn sheep.

One rule I was told, many years ago, by one of my mentors in the magazine business was to keep my eye firmly on the average guy. Not that I won't be running stories about high-end stuff, either in RIFLE or SUCCESSFUL HUNTER, but I am not going to try turn SH into GRAY'S SPORTING JOURNAL, either, or LION HUNTER'S DIGEST.
It will always have whitetail stories in it is as well. I am just going to run more African stories than the "common wisdom" (an oxymoron I have never been able to fathom) suggests is wise, and want to get more of a feel for what people are indeed interested in.

For years the common wisdom in American lagazine publishing has been that Africa bores the average guy. One editor I know justifies that view by telling people that he was informed (by whom is rather vague) that only 2000 Americans hunt in Africa every year. I told him that this was strange, as a quick check I made of the PH's belonging to their various organizations in southerm Africa came up with close to 2000--and each PH has to guide more than one person a year! That is only one example of the prejudice against African stories in the business.

I suspect that interest in Africa is rising rapidly. The price of AVERAGE plains game safaris has been remaining rather steady, as opposed to either dangerous African game or almost anything in North America. This is due to competition in RSA and Namibia rather than any drop in demand. And plains game hunting will always be the backbone of African hunting demand in America.

So yeah, I stacked the deck.

JB

John,

You brought to mind a second tier if that matters and that would be bull hippo and a big croc (as long as I don't have to get in the water to hall either one out!)

I don't know if you talked with Jochen about the same things I did but he told me 95% of his clients were Americans and that they were very good. He didn't elaborate on "good" but he seemingly is never without hunters and I met more Americans in the airport. I think there is great interest.

Jorge,

There's no question that for me lion would light the fire like no other but I dissed it because for me it won't happen.

George

prolly the oddest list of the group but.........

#1 Bongo.....saw a full body mount of one of these not long ago and fell in love...i could deal with hunting in the jungle for one

#2/#3 prolly a tie between Hippo or croc.......both critters facinate me to no end. they kill more ppl than any other big animal.

#4 also interested in hyena......facinated with their natural history aswell.

ofcourse i would like kudu, gemsbok and the like but the above are what i would take above and beyond anything else....

It'll take a few trips and some compromises on countries and trophy size, but;

1)Elephant (And buffalo)
2)Leopard (And buffalo)
3)Lion (And buffalo)

I've got to where I have the plainsgame that I wanted the most already, so will just keep an open mind for opportunities in that area.

This is what I would still like to hunt. Like ModelGuy above after a few trips I have most of the plains game.

1)Leopard
2)Elephant
3)Waterbuck
4)Nyala
5)Hyena

As mentioned above, I shot a Sable this year and it was less then 1/2 of the 10K that was mentioned above. Beautiful animal.

Warthog
Kudu
Bushbuck
In that order.

Maybe, maybe not. I would have no interest in shooting a lion if it cost $50 instead of $50,000. Same with leopard. Loved seeing them; no interest in tripping the trigger on one.

This is a really interesting thread...Thanks.

DN

have no clue on my wife's total list but i do know the #1. its dik-dik........for some reason she is facinated by the lil antelopes.