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

John: I see that you are getting mixed results anyway. A couple of posters listed lion & elephant and I don't they they appreciate the cost of one of those hunts including Bongo. A Bongo today will run you 30 grand without air fare. Regarding the african stories, you are right on the money. Even though most of us hunt deer most of the time, magazines like yours offer all of us a reason to dream and plan and in my view the more african stories you publish the better you'll do. jorge

I have never been to Africa. My list is pretty big and trimming it down to three is tough. But I have to go with:
1. Cape Buffalo
2. Kudu
3. Impala
but the rest of the list in no particular order:
Leopard, Nyala, springbok, gemsbock, bushbuck, blue wildebeast, waterbuck, zebra, warthog.

I'm probably forgetting some.

As long as African Plains game hunts are available covering several animals for the same or similar price as an elk hunt, there will be a market.

I would prioritize the spiral antelopes for myself, with Nyala the priority.

Buffalo is of interest too, as usual.

AGW

JB ive been reading Sports Afield more now adays cause they run alot of foriegn hunting, that and the writers are pretty good even if im not particularly interested in a certain critter. a good hunting story is a good hunting story......and as much as i would like to hunt kudu and cape buffalo, its about as common to read about them as whitetails when talking about African hunting......if you could round up some good storries on the lesser critters like some of the various smaller preditors. JJHACK was talking one time bout calling civets ect in at night using preditor calls which i found extreamly interesting or the smaller antelopes or warthogs or what have you. i would think they would be interesting additions though not staple type stuff......not nessisarily cause they are so much target critters on safari but it seems ppl bump into them by chance more than anything and its interesting to read about them even if they arent as grand aas a kudu....

Buffalo
kudu
zebra

For reasonably affordable:

eland
zebra
sable


really, really like to add buff and leopard

Not going on my first one until next year, but this is the list

1. zebra
2. warthog
3. blue wildebeast

If I ever get a second hunt then it would be BUFFALO!

Mad Dog

Have not been to Africa YET...

1. Sable
2. Kudu
3. Buffalo

JB, an article for the first timer in Africa would be interesting also. Tom

,,,elephant,buffalo, et al.

I recall an article within the last year saying that Namibia alone gets about 5000 visiting hunters a year.

Have hunted Africa twice (with more trips in the planning), but I remain most fascinated by Cape Buffalo and eland, with all the larger plains-game types still clinging near the top of my personal list (kudu, hartebeest, zebra, gemsbok, wildebeest, waterbuck, nyala and of course sable and roan).

The smaller stuff is interesting, but not fascinating - at least not for me at this time. I suppose that could change.

And elephant is a reoccuring dream and goal. This is especially so when one factors in seemingly increasing opportunities for non-trophy bulls or cows at near-bargain prices.

Kudu
Leopard
Cape Buffalo

muledeer/DN

+1 - I have no interest in hunting the big cats, either.

Jaywalker

+ 1 with TTS on being interested in a "First Time to Africa" article. I honestly had no interest in hunting Africa until I started visiting this site. Now I'm seriously considering it. Like Mule Deer I have no interest in a lion, would love to see one but no interest in shooting one, same goes for zebra, giraffe and elephant.

1. buffalo
2. kudu
3. warthog

I'd also like to learn what happens to all of the meat. Is it possible/practical to bring any home? I assume nothing goes to waste but haven't found anything specific.

Have'nt been yet but initial planning for 08-09:

Buffalo
cull elephant
eland

Depending on where you are and the ownership or control of the land, etc..., there are different possibilities for utilizing the meat.

Some of the possibilities:
1) land owner or leasee recovers and then sells the meat into the market.
2) The game is recovered and delivered to locals, often the case with tribal trust lands.
3) For elephant especially, the meat is given to the locals and they come to the site of the kill to receive their meat. Sometimes the elephant meat is recovered from the animal and then the meat is divied up on the spot reasonably fairly, sometimes is every man or woman for themselves with many knives flashing. It works best when the meat is recovered and then divied up, imo. You will never see so many happy africans in one place as you do at the sight of an elephant kill in a tribal area.
4) often on farms or ranches, some meat is sold into the market but the workers are given some of the meat too.
5) in some concessions in Zim, the terrain is rough and the location remote and a crocodile farm recovers elephant meat to feed the crocs. Even then, the trackers and game scout will have big hunks to take for themselves.

I'm sure that I have ommitted some possibilities. BTW, most all of the game is good eating and grilled elephant meat with some salt, cooked over a fire while the rest of the meat is being recovered, is hard to beat. Especially if there is a cold beer around.

JPK

Buffalo, imapala, springbuck

(My wife and daughters would disown me if I killed a kitty...though I'd love to get lion or leopard)

I have done a little investigating into bringing meat home, and know that if it is canned or cured-and-sealed (as in jerky sealed in plastic) that it is generally considered legal. One PH also thought that it might be possible to freeze and vacuum seal some and bring it back in a cooler. But I have never been able to confirm the last, and would hate to go to all the trouble of doing it, then having some junior Customs agent who really didn't know the rules confiscate it back here. Which very well might happen, as in general the word "Africa" sets off all sorts of alarm bells in North American heads, especially if the person in question has never been there.

I have seen about all the variations JPK describes. Have never seen meat "wasted" in Africa. On my last hunt in May, a lot of it was culling on two pbig properties in RSA. The safari company had a contract for 5 tons of game meat, and it was met.

One interesting sidelight: One of the local meat sellers had a hell of a time selling zebra, which is pretty darn good in my experience, even though some cultures (especially white) have trouble with the idea--to the point of claiming it's no good to eat.

So when several zebra came in on one cull, this guy advertised it as "zebok," at a little lower price per kilo than any of the high-demand meats such as springbok, eland and gemsbok. The zebok sold out very quickly, and there were no customer complaints. In fact, within a few days several asked when the next zebok would be available!

JB

Oh, and Cape buffalo are now slightly in the lead, 24 to 21, over kudu. Second is now a tie between elephant, eland and leopard (8).

JB

Okay, I'll tie it up. Only been to Africa once, but based on that my favorite to hunt are -

1. Kudu
2. Kudu
3. More kudu

Love those beautiful grey coats striped with white and the horns are really impressive. Also like their more secretive ways hanging around dense vegetation instead of the more open savannahs.