Dangerous game safari info

I've done two plains game hunt with a third planned. I'm wanting to do a dangerous game hunt looking probably like 2028. I was looking at either tuskless/ nonexportable elephant or a buffalo hunt. For those that have done both what do you all recommend? I've seen a lot of buffalo hunts offered but several are priced different by horn width. That really doesn't interest me as I'm not shopping I'm looking for a hunt for the right animal. Also is a turn off for me, why should you pay several thousand more for a half inch over? Mainly would just like an authentic hunt where we would cut tracks and hunt that way.
Thanks

In free range countries you do not pay by the inch. Go hunt Zimbabwe etc., and stay away from game farms for DG.

Trentmullikin said:

I've done two plains game hunt with a third planned. I'm wanting to do a dangerous game hunt looking probably like 2028. I was looking at either tuskless/ nonexportable elephant or a buffalo hunt. For those that have done both what do you all recommend? I've seen a lot of buffalo hunts offered but several are priced different by horn width. That really doesn't interest me as I'm not shopping I'm looking for a hunt for the right animal. Also is a turn off for me, why should you pay several thousand more for a half inch over? Mainly would just like an authentic hunt where we would cut tracks and hunt that way.
Thanks

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Where do you plan to go? It sounds like you want a great hunt at a great price..... Look towards Zimbabwe

And yes avoid that whole by the inch thing. Find a hunt where you take the best you can find and go in an area known to have what interests you. Especially on buffalo.

I've only hunted one elephant so far and that was a trophy bull so no experience with tuskless but everyone says it can be very exciting and truly dangerous. We did get into a large herd and it made my hair stand on end.

You might also consider a non trophy bull elephant hunt. To me elephant is a more interesting hunt than buffalo but I'm sure you will enjoy either as long as you book a good area with a good outfit and PH. And from reports I've heard, I would avoid the night time crop raider elephant hunts.

Like mentioned, hunt DG in a free range area. Zim has the best value out of all of the unfenced countries.

ActionBob said:

Where do you plan to go? It sounds like you want a great hunt at a great price..... Look towards Zimbabwe

And yes avoid that whole by the inch thing. Find a hunt where you take the best you can find and go in an area known to have what interests you. Especially on buffalo.

I've only hunted one elephant so far and that was a trophy bull so no experience with tuskless but everyone says it can be very exciting and truly dangerous. We did get into a large herd and it made my hair stand on end.

You might also consider a non trophy bull elephant hunt. To me elephant is a more interesting hunt than buffalo but I'm sure you will enjoy either as long as you book a good area with a good outfit and PH. And from reports I've heard, I would avoid the night time crop raider elephant hunts.

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Elephant interests me more also but both would be brand new to me so would just like the input from people that have done both. I'd rather do a non trophy bull I honestly didn't know that was an option. Zimbabwe was where I was looking for the Elephant. I'm a couple years out from going just trying to get as much info as possible.

What information are you looking for? Firearm related? Time of year? Length of hunt? Outfits?

Tanks said:

In free range countries you do not pay by the inch. Go hunt Zimbabwe etc., and stay away from game farms for DG.

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Agree with @Tanks I also recommend doing a buffalo hunt first as your first DG then elephant just my experience

There are a lot of good options in Zimbabwe. I had a truly awesome Buffalo hunt with Charlton McCallum Safaris in the Zambezi Valley.

revturbo9967 said:

What information are you looking for? Firearm related? Time of year? Length of hunt? Outfits?

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Mainly was just looking to see what people recommend nontrophy elephant or buffalo for a first time dangerous game hunt.

Doug3006 said:

There are a lot of good options in Zimbabwe. I had a truly awesome Buffalo hunt with Charlton McCallum Safaris in the Zambezi Valley.

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I would love to hunt with them watched them on TV series for several years.

There can be some real good deals for non trophy/non-exportable elephants in Namibia as well. I’ll be doing that type of hunt myself this August. It will be my first elephant hunt. So I can’t compare it with other DG hunts I’ve done but will certainly report back on how my hunt goes.

Fatback said:

There can be some real good deals for non trophy/non-exportable elephants in Namibia as well. I’ll be doing that type of hunt myself this August. It will be my first elephant hunt. So I can’t compare it with other DG hunts I’ve done but will certainly report back on how my hunt goes.

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I would love to hear back from you after your hunt. I appreciate it.

Buffalo hunting is quite addictive. I don’t think anyone on this forum would say you made the wrong decision by choosing to hunt Buffalo over Elephant or vs versa.

I’m doing Zimbabwe trophy elephant this summer after having done two trophy buffalo (Zimbabwe and Mozambique). You might want to consider trophy buffalo and non-exportable elephant in Zimbabwe or Namibia. Talk to sponsors on here and get an idea of budget / time (number of days) / etc. enjoy the planning.

Buff or ele, trophy or not are both awesome hunts IF done on a wild place. As others have stated hunt a place where inches are not worried about and the PH does NOT know what measured buff is on the property. Leave camp early look for tracks, cut and have a great stalking/walking hunt where nobody knows what's at the end of the track. And animal can and may cross a road and be in a none following allowed area. Not stopped by a fence.

At least that's what I did and totally enjoyed both buff and ele hunted that way. Certainly my recommendation.

MB

Many outfitters offer DG hunt packages. My first DG hunt was with JKO outfitters out of SA. He doesn't charge by the inch and he hunts in SA, Zimbabwe and Uganda. I got a beautiful trophy buffalo.

Almost anyone with experience based on what you’re saying and already hearing ….
You hunt Buff in Zim
Depending on budget I would look at a combo hunt with Tuskless Ele ( won’t add much to your cost) and maybe even Leopard (which will double your overall cost)
Do not hunt SA for Buff on a game ranch. It’s simply not the same and not what you are looking for based on your description

Trentmullikin said:

I've done two plains game hunt with a third planned. I'm wanting to do a dangerous game hunt looking probably like 2028. I was looking at either tuskless/ nonexportable elephant or a buffalo hunt. For those that have done both what do you all recommend? I've seen a lot of buffalo hunts offered but several are priced different by horn width. That really doesn't interest me as I'm not shopping I'm looking for a hunt for the right animal. Also is a turn off for me, why should you pay several thousand more for a half inch over? Mainly would just like an authentic hunt where we would cut tracks and hunt that way.
Thanks

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Any of the free range areas offering Buffalo won’t have different prices by size. You might also see multiple different prices on the trophy fee, and this typically signifies 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th cost. Typically there’s a sliding scale that each additional buffalo (or duplicate animal) goes up a little in price. Some outfitters and areas MIGHT have some non-trophy/management bulls or cow buffalo on quota. These are typically set aside for the cat hunters who need bait and is the outfitters bait allocation on those species.

It’s possible to combo Buff/Elephant on a single hunt. Tuskless in an area like the Zambezi you’ll want at least 10 days, so potentially adding a couple extra days over a 7 Day buffalo hunt, plus the trophy fee. Non-Exportable can also be added or a Trophy Bull. Look at your outfitters trophy fee price list. You might find the difference between Tuskless and Non-Exportable is only $1500-2k and the difference between Non-Exportable and a Trophy bull is 3-5k. In that case I personally would spend the extra $5k and shoot a trophy bull. If there’s a bigger gap between them it might be worth shooting a Non-Exportable.

The two countries I’d suggest looking at first are Namibia and Zimbabwe.

If I were you, I would hunt DG in Zimbabwe or Mozambique.

I second what others have told you. Hunt in a free range area for dangerous game. It’s a very different experience than a game farm. I’d choose buffalo over elephant. I’ll likely never take another elephant. It was a good hunt but just didn’t create a spark for me. I’d look at Zimbabwe or the Caprivi for buffalo. Keep this in mind. You don’t pay by the inch in free range concessions but you do pay for the area. Part of the cost may be potential trophy quality, but usually higher cost areas have more game and better anti-poaching. There are very marginal areas sold at low prices but they can be a very tough hunt. Stick to well known areas and reputable PHs to get the best experience. If you aren’t concerned about exporting the trophy. Namibia offers non-exportable buffalo bull hunts in Caprivi. This allows hunting a top area at a significantly reduced price. Also a very stable country.