Best animals to hunt on first Safari

[Sika98k]

To my mind Gemsbok are "the" Namibian animal. Wildebeest would be next on my list and warthog are in abundance. Five days could be tight for filling your bucket list but you can always go again !

 

[greyfox]

This is always a truly good method of trophy judging.
The PH has to be jabbering and shaking though.
If you hesitate and they start to grab for your gun to take it themselves is another strong indicator.

Or when he grabs your shoulder to point out a certain animal......

 

[greyfox]

I looked at "How will that animal look on the wall?" Then trophy fees, taxidermy, etc.

BTW, My #1 was a Mountain Reedbuck.

Going to Namibia next year, Kudu, Eland and Gemsbok, then see what Africa offers me......

 

[enysse]

Study what trophy animals look like before you go on your trip. Look at the trophy fees, keep a budget and after driving around and glassing, decide how you are going to spend your money. Namibia has fine gemsbok and red hartebeest, some areas have mountain zebra and kudu. I would take a mountain zebra if you get a chance.

 

[BRICKBURN]

............... I would take a mountain zebra if you get a chance.

Another on on my list for the next Namibian return..........

 

[kal]

I'm a big fan of letting Africa decide for me. I went with a detailed list of animals and ended up with mostly nothing off the list. I just took every opportunity that the bush provided.

 

[UKHunter]

I would only hunt game that is indigenous to that area, then from that list I would select a couple of extra animals each.

You may decide on more but with time pressure you cant afford to be picky on animals. Whereas if you shoot only a couple of extra animals each, you can be more selective in the animals you take.

You don't want to pull the trigger on something then wish you hadn't as it doesn't meet the expectation you had. It would be better to take only a couple each extra and hunt hard for a representative of that species which you can look at on your wall and be happy with. Instead of looking at more animals on the wall and thinking when I go back I want a better one of those, etc. That's how you start hunting trophy animals of species twice and your paying double for something you should have held out for on the first attempt.

This is of course my opinion only.

 

[Muskox man]

My list so far consists of Giraffe, Blue Wildebeest, Kudu, Gemsbok, Red hartebeest, and Zebra (Hartmann's Mountain). Is this to ambitious for 5 days? All this discussion is helping a lot. Thanks to everyone.

 

[billc]

Your going to need some good luck to get that done and a lot of luck if your son is hunting 2x1 with you. Is that both your animals together or just yours. The kudu and mtn zebra would be the hardest for sure in 5 days but you never know what is around the corner. It will really come down to your needs for trophy size to be happy.
Everything goes right there is days you can harvest 2 or 3 animals in one day but also times when you get nothing in a day.

 

[Muskox man]

This would be both our animals combined. I'll just hope for the best and plan for the worst.

 

[UKHunter]

Perhaps go with that list but select a couple of 'must have' animals each. You can focus on these first and then try and get the rest of your wish list after if you strike lucky early on.

 

[billc]

as a combine list you maybe able to pull it off. I would check and see if there is anyway you can still hunt if you would get a giraffe down. That can take a whole day if they don't have a team that can take care of that besides your PH. I would not pass on a good springbuck if your in the right area. If you get most your list but only a kudu or a mtn zebra I would say you did well get them all and you did great.