Can I shoot 2 Elephant in Zimbabwe?

[Altitude sickness]

Im sure D&Y can get you into a bull and cow slightly under $40K

 

[tidbit824]

I don't think CMS will meet that budget goal. Maybe Dalton & York would offer a special? Maybe someone here? This is a good place to ask as between the members here, we know all of the operators. It would probably have to happen in Zim.

CMS is 10k above this figure...

 

[tidbit824]

Im sure D&Y can get you into a bull and cow slightly under $40K

I'll give them a look...do you have their contact info ?

 

[tidbit824]

Thx, I found it.

 

[Tanks]

Three years ago, I added 7 days and a tuskless to my leopard/buffalo hunt with CMS for $10K, all in. It was a great deal at the time.

 

[Green Chile]

Hopefully you can make it work. At a minimum, you are saving the flight costs and extra travel days. In my world, that's a real savings from missed work. Travel days are such a hassle...can't work, can't hunt...just lost time.

 

[tidbit824]

I don't think CMS will meet that budget goal. Maybe Dalton & York would offer a special? Maybe someone here? This is a good place to ask as between the members here, we know all of the operators. It would probably have to happe

Hopefully you can make it work. At a minimum, you are saving the flight costs and extra travel days. In my world, that's a real savings from missed work. Travel days are such a hassle...can't work, can't hunt...just lost time.

Green,
I am way past the "missed work" days...but i do remember figuring those days into my hunting plans. Haha
Now it is more of...I just do not want to make that LONG flight more than i have too.
For sure...LOST TIME.

 

[Green Chile]

I hear you. I'm running a small business and missed days are unrecoverable...a real fixed cost...but I look forward to hearing how this turns out for you. First ele hunt or just taking more of them? They are an addiction for some of us.

 

[tidbit824]

Oh...this is my first trip to Africa. I have been saving the best for later in my life. Hunting in the USA has left me with a " poor taste" in my mouth.
All the BS of purchasing points and waiting for the "draw." Having to bribe a state to give me a tag is senseless to me.. and i am tired of it. Not to mention all the questionable outfitters. Many iof these hunts are just riding around with a gun. Now not all but many are steallng our dollars.
I have hunted all over the USA with many professionals who give wonderful service and some good success. And some who are not very good at all...let the buyer beware.
I am in the process of putting together a good grizzly hunt. Probably in Alaska as i just hate to give my hard earned dollars to somebody who
does not really care about my success. I have a family member who went to BC for stone sheep...yes he was successfull...but if you heard his story you would probably never go. He told me he was glad he only had to go once and would NEVER go to BC again...it wasa money thing.
So the grizzly may be my last American hunt. Might go for another goat but i m gettin old and not sure my legs can take that kind of use. A big brownie would be nice but the pricing is so high as to put me off. So I have to find alternatives...hence Africa.
Your dollar definitely will go further there.
Just an old man thinkin out loud,
Geo

 

[Green Chile]

Good for you. Don't let anyone give you a hard time for not doing plains game and building up to it. My first trip to Africa was for tuskless with CMS 20 years ago. Now I can't get enough of it.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Oh...this is my first trip to Africa. I have been saving the best for later in my life. Hunting in the USA has left me with a " poor taste" in my mouth.
All the BS of purchasing points and waiting for the "draw." Having to bribe a state to give me a tag is senseless to me.. and i am tired of it. Not to mention all the questionable outfitters. Many iof these hunts are just riding around with a gun. Now not all but many are steallng our dollars.
I have hunted all over the USA with many professionals who give wonderful service and some good success. And some who are not very good at all...let the buyer beware.
I am in the process of putting together a good grizzly hunt. Probably in Alaska as i just hate to give my hard earned dollars to somebody who
does not really care about my success. I have a family member who went to BC for stone sheep...yes he was successfull...but if you heard his story you would probably never go. He told me he was glad he only had to go once and would NEVER go to BC again...it wasa money thing.
So the grizzly may be my last American hunt. Might go for another goat but i m gettin old and not sure my legs can take that kind of use. A big brownie would be nice but the pricing is so high as to put me off. So I have to find alternatives...hence Africa.
Your dollar definitely will go further there.
Just an old man thinkin out loud,
Geo

When do you want to leave? Do you want 2 trophy bulls? A trophy and non trophy bull? How many days do you want to hunt? What’s your target trophy size?

I know of an outfitter with some quota this year that will accommodate multiple elephants on a single hunt. Shoot me a PM and I’ll connect y’all.

 

[tidbit824]

Ahhh,
I am way past listening to others in what and where I should hunt.
Yes, plains game. That can take up a lot of your time. Think I will put that into play later on as I would like to get some of this other stuff first: elephant, buffalo and probably a leopard. Roan, sable, eland, waterbuck and so on will be huntable for many years to come...we hope? Time changes most things and pricing/cost is sure to be affected. There are more hunters running around Africa than could be imagined...kinda like our interstate highways...who would have thought. But this is sure to cause more demand on the ranches that supply these demands ...thus up goes the cost.
I think you should hunt what you want when it is available to you. Lions will be huntable because hunters are willing to pay those HIGH costs. Not me but I do understand it. Years ago you could hunt Gobi argali for under 10k: Just try and do that today. The point is there will be hunting. Go when you can go and hunt what you want. I'm trying. Haha
Any thoughts?
Geo

 

[tidbit824]

When do you want to leave? Do you want 2 trophy bulls? A trophy and non trophy bull? How many days do you want to hunt? What’s your target trophy size?

I know of an outfitter with some quota this year that will accommodate multiple elephants on a single hunt. Shoot me a PM and I’ll connect y’all.

Mtn,
Thx for chiming in.

I cannot go this year...recovering from surgery as we speak.
This will be in 2025...one bull and one tuskless. Probably near the end of the season as the anxious clients are gone and I like a slower paced hunt with little pressure. Trophy expectations are as expected: Whatever the country offers. If you let numbers and inches get in the way you are sure to be disappointed. Just my thoughts.

Any recommendations are welcome.
Thx u
Geo

 

[sureshot375]

I hear you. I'm running a small business and missed days are unrecoverable...a real fixed cost...but I look forward to hearing how this turns out for you. First ele hunt or just taking more of them? They are an addiction for some of us.

I’m the same way. Each day of missed work cost more than the day of hunting. In my business my time is the only thing I sell. I need to make a career shift, but it’s not easy to do when you do well at what you do.

Before my first elephant hunt I told my buddy, this is going to go one of two ways. We are either going to say well that was cool and check it off the list, or we are going to become total addicts.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Mtn,
Thx for chiming in.

I cannot go this year...recovering from surgery as we speak.
This will be in 2025...one bull and one tuskless. Probably near the end of the season as the anxious clients are gone and I like a slower paced hunt with little pressure. Trophy expectations are as expected: Whatever the country offers. If you let numbers and inches get in the way you are sure to be disappointed. Just my thoughts.

Any recommendations are welcome.
Thx u
Geo

Shoot me a PM and I’ll connect you with someone you can chat with.

Certain parts of Zim (Zambezi Valley) have a much higher density of them. There are outfitters who have Tuskless on quota and offer hunts for them but rarely if ever kill any in their area because they’re not as common. I know this outfitter has quota for tuskless and a bunch of non-trophy permits (which aren’t that far apart cost wise) but not sure how often they get into tuskless since they’re around Vic Falls

 

[tidbit824]

I’m the same way. Each day of missed work cost more than the day of hunting. In my business my time is the only thing I sell. I need to make a career shift, but it’s not easy to do when you do well at what you do.

Before my first elephant hunt I told my buddy, this is going to go one of two ways. We are either going to say well that was cool and check it off the list, or we are going to become total addicts.

Sureshit,
That sure rings true as when I started to seriously hunt pronghorn. I made 6 maybe 7 hunts and I did get some good animals. But you gotta put in the work. You can go to multiple states and collect several animals in a year. I still like hunting antelope. I am thinking of doing a crossbow hunt...I have just never done that. Take the wife and go to dinner & shop. Kinda makes me want to do it tomorrow. My wife is better at this stuff than I am.

When and where was your first elephant! Photos please. And would you do that hunt again? Just asking ..

 

[Green Chile]

Any thoughts?
Geo

Prices do climb of course but some things become more affordable with supply/demand. Sable and buff in SA have gotten cheaper AND better as the breeding programs have become more successful and widespread.

 

[sureshot375]

Sureshit,
That sure rings true as when I started to seriously hunt pronghorn. I made 6 maybe 7 hunts and I did get some good animals. But you gotta put in the work. You can go to multiple states and collect several animals in a year. I still like hunting antelope. I am thinking of doing a crossbow hunt...I have just never done that. Take the wife and go to dinner & shop. Kinda makes me want to do it tomorrow. My wife is better at this stuff than I am.

When and where was your first elephant! Photos please. And would you do that hunt again? Just asking ..

My first ele was in South Africa in the Greater Kruger in 2021. I would do it again, but it is very different than a traditional elephant hunt. The terrain is more akin to a photo safari area rather than the thick stuff usually reserved for hunting. It would be great for anyone who wants to hunt elephant but can’t walk 15 miles a day. There is also a lot of politics to hunting there. My hunt was for a bull up to 30 or 35 lbs, but fully exportable. That was in the days of Covid, and my hunt was the least expensive exportable elephant I’ve ever heard of anyone hunting. I suspect it would cost double now if they are even hunting elephants there.

By buddy and I killed 2 elephant and 2 buffalo hunting 2 on 1 in just 6 days. We spent another 5 or 6 days hunting with a friend of mine in Limpopo.

 

[Green Chile]

Kruger ele hunts technically need to be done by local hunters not foreign hunters. They actually aren't a greater bargain than say Zim. You also are told by the ranger which ele you can shoot. It's nothing like a regular ele hunt according to PHs I know that guide them.

 

[Green Chile]

To be even more clear about the Kruger hunts, a PH friend that I respect a lot who hunts there sometimes and is a sponsor here told me that he could never in good conscience bring me over for a hunt like that. It's just not the experience you are looking for...we have to sometimes shoot in front of the tour buses, there's no tracking, it's over quickly, etc.