Cape Buffalo Hunt Pricing

[JPmbogo]

Attended this year's DSC Convention looking at a possible buff hunt for 2021. The price differences were substantial and then there are the "deals" here and elsewhere. I see hunts for as little as $7500 and some way north of $20k. Hard to ascertain in many cases why some cost substantially more than others.

 

[CBH Australia]

Is it location and terrain? My guess is that some are game ranchs and others are more free range or wilderness areas. I expect to hunt wide open spaces tracking animals in remote locations with little or no fencing adds to the cost.

 

[375Fox]

Some of the information in this thread may help answer you question

Buffalo hunting in South Africa?

Could any members with experience hunting “wild managed” buffalo in South Africa give me their thoughts on their hunts? I see a lot of reasonably priced/much easier travel buffalo hunts advertised in South Africa, but I am wary of South African buffalo hunts because of some of the practices...

www.africahunting.com

 

[Red Leg]

Location, location, location. A wilderness hunt will typically be more expensive than shooting one on a game farm. The trophy fee may be less, but the daily rate will be much more (it is simply much more expensive to maintain a wilderness concession).

I have done both. A quality buffalo hunt in South Africa is a very positive experience. However, it is not exactly the same thing as hiking through the savannahs or swamps of Mozambique, the riverine country of the Caprivi, or the wilds of Zim. In one of those places you will hunt from a temporary camp (still quite comfortable) without a fence in several hundred miles. In South Africa you will hunt in a replica of that environment. You need to prioritize whether the animal or the hunting experience is more important.

I will note that the final 200 meters is pretty much the same as you try to work into position for "your" bull.

 

[flatwater bill]

A few years ago at SCI, I watched in awe at the auction as a buffalo hunt went for an even $30k....................it included everything....except the trophy fee! I know that locations can cause a vast difference in costs and therefore prices, but some people just want an expensive buffalo, I guess. The trophy fee was an extra 12 K ....Best of luck in your search ...............FWB

 

[mdwest]

There are a whole lot of variables that drive price differences... among the biggest is the country/location (govt associated costs in Tanzania for example drive the price of a safari up quite a bit compared to say South Africa or Namibia).. The cost of accommodation and amenities can be a factor as well... some outfitters offer true 5 star lodging, meals served on fine dinnerware, and bars stocked with top shelf brands.. other offer more basic/humble housing and less "fancy" of an experience..

It really just depends on whats important to you and what your priorities are.... Do you want a 40" buff or better.. or is the real interest for you in the hunt rather than the horns and a 36" buff will completely satisfy you? Do you want 800 thread count sheets and 5 star meals? Or is a reasonably comfortable bed and simple, hearty food more your style? Are you ok with a buff hunt on a 2000 acre high fence property where youre going to go out in the AM and pretty much know youll be on the buff in a few hours and then move on to the next hunt? what about 7000 acres where you likely wont see the fence more than twice a day, and youre probably going to have to work for the bull a bit? or do you require a couple of hundred thousand of unfenced acres where it might be 3 days before you find the bull you really want.. and youre pretty certain youre going to have to work hard and cover a whole lot of land on foot before youre able to take a shot..

The cost the outfitter incurs to give you the type of hunt you want varies greatly depending on what it is you really want to do/experience.. therefore the price to you ends up varying quite a bit as well...

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

You get Buffalo hunts, and you get Buffalo "hunts." Wilderness areas are just that, and the only real difference will be the quality of the Buff in the area due to management. I don't think I have seen better management than Ndumo Safaris' area in the Caprivi. They seem to have an abundance of true dagga boys. Great to see.
There is however a substantial difference in South Africa on the quality of the hunt. The closer the hunt is to a wilderness experience, the higher the price tag. Bigger areas, hunting self sustaining Buff herds yield a bigger price tag.

 

[mark-hunter]

@JPmbogo

As other have stated.
Location. Not only for buffalo, but for other species as well.
Location, mainly means - Country, as general guideline

If you are new in African hunting, try to get the first orientation bearings on price distribution, per country. Not only for buffalo but for other species as well

In general - for safari hunting, the rule is:
If you hunt on a hunting farm (Namibia and South Africa) the prices will be most economic.
The difference is, again in general, Namibian farms most probably will not have buffalo. This leaves South African game farm.

So, at the moment, most probably the most economic offers will be South African game management farm.

Second consideration is this:
Do you want to hunt in the fence, or out of the fence?
South Africa.
There are very large hunting farms, high fenced, which support free roaming, self sustaining herds.
On the other hand, there are opposite examples.

For hunting out of the fence, there are other countries, with few exemptions.

Third consideration.
Do you want to hunt buffalo bull, or buffalo cow?
Cow can be significantly more economic options.

Finally, if you want to hunt in wilderness (total African wilderness), day rates will be much higher, and overall hunt expense will be much higher.
For wilderness hunting, check Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, North - East of Namibia - Caprivi strip (Zambezi region).

 

[flatwater bill]

I have not found the "you get what you pay for" cliche to always hold true on any African hunt. I have hunted many different areas and properties. Almost always had good hunts. But I hunted a 22000 acre spread in the Limpopo which seemed huge...it may have the size of Montana for all the game knew. They were wild and self sustaining and I never saw a fence. I also twice hunted large open areas of over a million acres. On one, only three little roads provided access : the1600 sq miles was unhuntable and unaccessable leaving about 5000 acres to actually hunt. On another large conservency, the land was heavily populated, heavily poached, and heavily hunted by black dignitaries barging right into the middle of hunting plans. Another large conservancy had open flood plains and standing animals with a pick and choose hunt modus. There is often more soliditude and less competition on ranch hunts. And some advertised here are over 100000 acres. The point Bigger wasn't always better for me. If a fenced RSA area checked out well, I wouldn't hesitate to hunt buff there.......best of luck.....FWB

 

[Nyati]

Took me three and a half days to shoot mine in the hills of a very large Game Reserve in KwaZulu/Natal.

If you do your homework, you wont have to pay $20K, and still get a very good hunting experience.

 

[AES]

In my mind, the biggest variable is often the charter situation. $5k of flights can pretty dramatically change the $ magnitude of hunting a single buffalo.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

We have access to several concessions, including one of our own. Prices vary due mainly to what we are charged and the distances traveled. One other factor is the availability and quality of the desired trophies in that concession.

If our Zimbabwe lock down was to cease tomorrow, we could do a quality buffalo hunt at prices ranging around $7,200.00 to $7,800.00 trophy quality would range from 36" to 47" (we only hunt solid boss). We have one area that we could do for less than $6,000.00, but the buffalo are either n the concession in good numbers or almost none at all, timing is everything.

 

[mark-hunter]

Lon, these are very good offers!

 

[JPmbogo]

Lon, these are very good offers!

Again, as I have added elsewhere, if we could only get there and back.

 

[John Telford]

Supply and demand! There are only so many wild concessions available vs the more than plenty game ranches so it stands to reason that concession holders will be able to charge more (and rightfully so) vs game ranches. Both have their space in the market each with its own value proposition I guess at the end of the day it is what you are prepared to spend which equals the demand.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Supply and demand! There are only so many wild concessions available vs the more than plenty game ranches so it stands to reason that concession holders will be able to charge more (and rightfully so) vs game ranches. Both have their space in the market each with its own value proposition I guess at the end of the day it is what you are prepared to spend which equals the demand.

John, you are correct, but as long as apples get compared to apples. I will never in my life forget one hunt for Cape Buffalo. A hunt that I regret to this day. It is in fact still the only Cape Buffalo where we have been able to be successful on day 1.
After looking for tracks in the morning, we never found much in terms of freshness or size what we were looking for. We broke for lunch, and I instructed the trackers to carry on looking for tracks over lunch time, while we broke.
Trackers managed to find a small mob of bachelor bulls, near an old, dilapidated, unused shed. They were lying down. After lunch, we met up with the trackers, and we used a dry river bed to get to within range. Looked over the small bachelor group of maybe 5 or so bulls, and found a bull we deemed good enough.
The hunter made great shots with his double rifle, and till this day, is still without a doubt the best handler, and shooter of a double rifle among hunters that I have guided.
He was happy, but in conversation with him, I could sense that he wanted more of the experience. I learnt that day that I will never put the trackers on the track again, just to try and gain some time. The battles of pursuit, is ultimately what you are paying for, and being apart of it.
Ultimately, a Cape Buffalo hunt, is just as much about the experience, as what it is about the animal, or should be. Till this day, I feel like I robbed him of an experience. I vowed never to do that again.

 

[Andrew Short]

John, you are correct, but as long as apples get compared to apples. I will never in my life forget one hunt for Cape Buffalo. A hunt that I regret to this day. It is in fact still the only Cape Buffalo where we have been able to be successful on day 1.
After looking for tracks in the morning, we never found much in terms of freshness or size what we were looking for. We broke for lunch, and I instructed the trackers to carry on looking for tracks over lunch time, while we broke.
Trackers managed to find a small mob of bachelor bulls, near an old, dilapidated, unused shed. They were lying down. After lunch, we met up with the trackers, and we used a dry river bed to get to within range. Looked over the small bachelor group of maybe 5 or so bulls, and found a bull we deemed good enough.
The hunter made great shots with his double rifle, and till this day, is still without a doubt the best handler, and shooter of a double rifle among hunters that I have guided.
He was happy, but in conversation with him, I could sense that he wanted more of the experience. I learnt that day that I will never put the trackers on the track again, just to try and gain some time. The battles of pursuit, is ultimately what you are paying for, and being apart of it.
Ultimately, a Cape Buffalo hunt, is just as much about the experience, as what it is about the animal, or should be. Till this day, I feel like I robbed him of an experience. I vowed never to do that again.

This is my biggest fear and one large reason I haven’t chosen an outfitter yet. I dont really care about trophy size at all but what i do care about is the experience and memories of my hunt.
I want to “hunt” and not feel as if the hunt as been put on or “put and take”. I have no reservations about hunting a game farm if the hunt is done appropriately but that’s difficult to know before booking...

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

This is my biggest fear and one large reason I haven’t chosen an outfitter yet. I dont really care about trophy size at all but what i do care about is the experience and memories of my hunt.
I want to “hunt” and not feel as if the hunt as been put on or “put and take”. I have no reservations about hunting a game farm if the hunt is done appropriately but that’s difficult to know before booking...

Andrew, and that is how it should be, and exactly why I told the story.
That is where reputation and experience comes in. I'm not going to get into a price debate, but there is no way that an animal that was born on a piece of land, lived and survived on the same said piece of land for 10+ years are going to be sold to a hunter for the same price as a Bull bought at an auction and offloaded before the hunter arrives. The one lives off the land for 10+ years, and therefor demands a price equal to the time invested, the other is simple economics of bought at price X, and sold at price X + Y.

 

[Red Leg]

This is my biggest fear and one large reason I haven’t chosen an outfitter yet. I dont really care about trophy size at all but what i do care about is the experience and memories of my hunt.
I want to “hunt” and not feel as if the hunt as been put on or “put and take”. I have no reservations about hunting a game farm if the hunt is done appropriately but that’s difficult to know before booking...

You might find this hunting report of interest to you.

SOUTH AFRICA: Up Close In The Limpopo - Hunting Cape Buffalo With Phillip Bronkhorst

The morning started like many buffalo hunts anywhere with the fresh tracks of a small herd crossing a dirt trace cut through the bush. Phillip Bronkhorst, Pieter Taylor (one of Phillip's PHs), our tracker Josias, Rickey (a young videographer in training), and your faithful correspondent bailed...

www.africahunting.com

I have had the very good fortune to hunt wilderness areas for buffalo in the Caprivi and a couple of times in Mozambique's Zambezi Delta. My last hunt was in the Limpopo region of South Africa with Phillip Bronkhorst. It is not the same as hunting from a remote camp, but it was a very positive experience.

With respect to cost, from my experience, once you look at the all-in investment, costs for a buffalo in Zim, Mozambique, or South Africa are pretty close. It shouldn't be surprising, because outfitters try their best to be competitive. The trophy fee for a bull in Mozambique or Zimbabwe may be considerably less, but the daily rate will be much higher, etc.

A couple of other thoughts about hunting South Africa rather than a wilderness area. In a wilderness area, your PH will work as hard as he can to find you the best animal he possibly can in the time allowed. On a game farm, he will be working hard to find you the best animal he can that fits the farm's management plan. That creates subtle differences in the hunt. Also, European type tiered pricing is becoming ever more pervasive in South Africa. In other words a bull up to X inches will have one price, anything over that will be more expensive - often, significantly so.

Finally, as Marius @KMG Hunting Safaris alludes above, there are buffalo hunts and there are buffalo hunts. I watched a hunting show a while back where the PH was making a bit of theater in approaching what was obviously a bought and released old bull standing miserably on a freezing windswept hill on a small farm somewhere in the Eastern Cape. The TV hunter took home a bull - but damn. There is another video clip somewhere here on the forum of a bull running up to the land cruiser clearly expecting to be fed. The PH was working hard to convince the hunter and the camera that they had been charged.

As my hunting report indicates, you can find a great experience in South Africa. Phillip did a great job as would Marius and several other sponsors of this site. I also tend to believe one really does usually get what one pays for. Rather than shop pricing, I would urge you to shop outfitters. Find the three or four who clearly offer what you want to experience. Then look at the relative costs of those hunts.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

A couple of other thoughts about hunting South Africa rather than a wilderness area. In a wilderness area, your PH will work as hard as he can to find you the best animal he possibly can in the time allowed. On a game farm, he will be working hard to find you the best animal he can that fits the farm's management plan. That creates subtle differences in the hunt. Also, European type tiered pricing is becoming ever more pervasive in South Africa. In other words a bull up to X inches will have one price, anything over that will be more expensive - often, significantly so.

There are a lot of areas that use this model, but there are some gems out there within South Africa that genuinely allow an open hunt as far as size is concerned. These are generally the bigger areas. I prefer to support these areas. Personally, I hunt Buff on the following rules, and in order of importance. Hard boss first, then shape( drop) then width.