One Day...
AH elite
After our chat regarding your new .375 H&H, Bigugly, in which I hope my sharing a couple pointers helped, I am happy to share a few more pointers here
Essentially, everything everyone said is perfectly right, although some outfitters and some PHs may be a bit different because each have their own personal character, and each have their own economic incentives, but the bottom line always applies:
It is your time, your money, your safari, your choices. As long as you do not ask for something illegal or unethical (a concept that may vary based on whom you talk to), there is no wrong desire, wrong choice or wrong question. Some may or may not agree with your personal choices, and some may or may not be able to deliver what you want, in which case these may not be the right operators for your safari, but it is perfectly fine to ask.
#1 Is it acceptable to have a small list of trophy's to go after or is everyone expected by the outfitter to go after the max list possible?
Let us begin with the fact that there are typically two types of safaris these days.
Some book a turnkey package with a set number of days and a set number and species of animals. These packages may be somewhat negotiable (e.g. swap animals of equal value, if available), but in many cases, the packages are what they are, and with some outfitters animals not taken are not deducted from the price of the package. This is simple for beginners, but not ideal for folks who know exactly what they want, like you.
Some book the daily rate for a number of days and chose animals among those available and for which they pay a trophy fee when the animal is taken (or wounded). This is a lot more flexible, even though it appears a bit more daunting at the beginning of your prep work. A good outfitter/agent will make himself available endlessly on the phone to help you. I would definitely advise you to go this route.
Some outfitter/PH may try to push you toward more animals, because there is an economic incentive for them to do so, but the good ones will not. This, in a way, is one of the things you want to note when booking your safari. An outfitter attempting to apply pressure on the client, or make the client adapt to him rather than going out of his way to adapt to the client, is - in my book - a red flag.
#2 is a 10 day Limpopo safari too many days for a Buffalo, eland, Wildebeest / kudu list? Will I have too many days of down time at the end of the trip?
Two things here.
Limpopo is a great place - I have hunted Buff there - but there are other places just as great and very different in South Africa. For example, the southern areas around the Karoo are just beautiful too and hunts in the Eastern Cape are memorable. Limpopo is flatter and denser. Eastern Cape is more hilly and more open, and typically wilder. To each their own
A typical hunting day in South Africa consists of two hunts. One in the morning (7 am to 12 PM) and one in the afternoon (3 pm to 6 pm). Two criteria typically drive how many animals you take daily:
what animals density and what biotope you are hunting; and how selective you are in the animals you want to take.
I am honestly advising you to avoid hunting on any property less than ~7,000 to 10,000 acres, and to avoid like the plague hunting with an outfitter who does not own or long-term lease the land you will hunt. The last thing you want to do is commute 6 hours per day between small hunting farms (2,000 or 3,000 acres) where you take one animal quickly (and often too easily), then drive 2 hours on asphalt to the next one...
To give you a reference, a typical client hunting with a typical outfitter on typical land for typical trophy, generally takes two animals per day in South Africa. Therefore, mathematically, a 10 day safari accommodates a 10 animal package.
This being said, while Buffalo, Eland, etc. will not be hunted in wildernesses, if you hunt the Eastern Cape, a number of animals such as Kudu can be - depending with whom you hunt - truly wild animals hunted in true unfenced wildernesses in the vast mountains of the Karoo. We do this at Huntershill. In such circumstances, it may take 2 or 3 days to get a great Kudu, but you will remember this hunt the rest of your life. Limpopo does not have vast mountains ranges such as the Eastern Cape, so this will likely not happen there.
To summarize, 10 days is plenty enough for Buffalo, Eland, Wildebeest, Kudu and some could almost say too long in some very controlled environments, but I agree with Red Leg that 10 days is so much better than 5 days. You can really start to disconnect from the world (do not use your phone every 5 minutes!) and immerse yourself in the experience for 10 days. You simply cannot in 5 days; by the time you found your marks, it is time to pack and go...
Go for 10 days indeed, and keep in mind that there is a lot of animals in the $300 to $500 trophy fee range that you can hunt after your main goals are met, without exploding the budget. For example, at Huntershill you can take a Duiker for $250, an Impala for $350, a Warthog for $350, a Springbuck for $350, a Mountain Reedbuck for $320, a Steenbok for $350, etc. It may make a lot of sense to allocate $1,000 or $1,500 from your budget to a couple small animals like those after you are done with your primary animal(s), and it will easily take a few days to collect good ones.
#3. Will an outfitter look down on me if I only want a Buff and say a Sable package?
A good one will certainly NOT. Again, I will agree with Red Leg, that a good PH will actually relish the challenge of not shooting the first acceptable Buff or Sable and spending time actually hunting hard for a great animal.
This being said, it depends where you hunt. Not everyone has a lot of animals in wild settings - even though ALL the properties are high fenced in South Africa because it is a legal requirement - and some smaller places may only have a few animals for you to choose from. This is where having done your homework will pay huge dividends.
To use the famous say: "size matters". I fully recommend that you ask very candidly the size of the blocks you will be hunting. A lot of fluff can be thrown around, but at the end of the day you will have more choice, and likely a better hunt - potting in a pasture is different, even though it can produce great "trophies" by the horn length - when you hunt a contiguous block of 60,000 acres than when you hunt a contiguous block of 10,000 acres or 10 separated blocks of 6,000 acres.
Is there a big push or upsell to try and get you to shoot more animals?
Not with good outfitters and good PHs. Should you be unfortunate to be pushed toward something you do not want while discussing with an outfitter before you book, my advice is simply to say no, and stop considering this outfitter. Should it happen in the field with your PH, simply say no. Gently and politely, then more strongly if needed.
In summary....
Remember, you are the client and it is your money. While the outfitter and PH are to be treated as friendly partners, the basic relationship is still a commercial relationship: you are paying good money for the service you want.
People who accept your money owe you what they take it for, and if they do not want or cannot give you what you want, they should not accept your money. Do not hesitate to be extremely specific in what you want, and to ask specifically for it; it helps outfitters and PHs deliver on your expectations when they understand them well
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