North American Hunts Vs African Hunts

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Dearhunter61

New member
All,

I was just wondering if some of you can provide some info here. In another post it talked about how inexpensive it was to hunt in Africa.

One respondant said if they had the money they would spend it hunting in the U.S and not go overseas which is what I would love to do as well.

My dream hunt is one for Elk and Mule Deer. I live in TX so there would be travel involved as well as the cost of the hunt.

I want to take my Father-in-law because he is my hunting buddy and I would like to pay for him. I also want to have a legitimate chance to have success. So that means paying for guide service. My father-in-law is getting older and we simply do not have the time nor the money to spend 4-5 years hunting/scouting an area effectively to do this without a guide and everyone I have spoke to that has success says it took them 3-5 years before they found a place where they have success and go back to each year.

I researched all of this this past December and a hunt like I described the cheapest I was quoted was $4500 per hunter but most were around the $6K range per hunter and that did not include travel. So you can see it is getting a little expensive!

So my question is do any of you know of hunts in N. America where you can go on one of these hunts at the price that the Africa hunts are posted at? I have seen some of these for as low as about $4k per person which includes 5 animals. This does not include airfare either so....

Also one of the hold backs to hunting without a quide is you have to enter drawings hoping you are drawn....

Please if someone can provide quality info it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Also one of the hold backs to hunting without a guide is you have to enter drawings hoping you are drawn
Click to expand...

There are plenty of areas here in CO that you can buy an over the counter elk tag as well as a mule deer. If you just want to come up here and hunt elk buy a cow/doe tag they are the most affordable. Do your home work and you can find some landowners that will charge a trespass fee to hunt elk on private property. There are still plenty of bull tags left over every year that you can pick up OTC as well.

If you want a trophy bull of 300+ B&C points be prepared to pay $6K or more. Are the guided hunts you are looking at have the tags included? More than likely what they are selling you is a landowner voucher and you still have to pay the license fees on top of the hunt so figure another $526 per tag for bull and either sex, plus $5-10 for the required habitat stamp. Plus then you have tips to consider for the guides and cooks. Processing fees for the meat care so you can get it home, not to mention any taxidermy fees you might pay. I'm sure Gas prices are not done going up so driving or flying is going to be more expensive either way. I spend close to $1000 to hunt elk myself every year just in expenses and I'm a resident.

What kind of shape are you in, better yet what kind of shape is your father in law in. Are you prepared to exert yourselves above 7000 feet. Even guided hunts can be tough if you are not in shape for the mountains. Hell I live here and it gets very tough for me if I haven't put the workouts in pre-season. Make sure if you commit to an elk hunt you put the cardio in or else you will have a miserable time.

While Africa looks good on paper like with any hunt there are hidden expenses. I went to AK to hunt black bear last year unguided. I had a free place to stay, free boat and pickup to use as well. By the time I got done with airfare, equipment expenses, hunting and fishing tags, gas, food, hotel (overnight layover), and taxidermy I had about $4500 in the whole trip. I can't say what other expenses you might have going to Africa, as I've never hunted there, but I'm sure things will add up quickly.
 
Money is no object dreamin'...
I would have a dedicated "ME" hauler. I would haul all my own gear and would utilize all the folks I know of from these years on outdoors forums. I would pay for them to hunt etc. I would take the time to try to build lifetime friendships from these hunts. Ram and big sheep. Big bears, Hogs from all parts of the nation. I wouldn't mind spending nearly the cost of guided hunts but I would rather just "Go Hunting" with my buds. I have ZERO interest in a typical "paid hunt" anywhere for any game where I am just a shooter.
I think providing them with an expenses paid way to share some of their precious knowledge with me would be a win-win and gratifying for all involved.
Brent
 
diy-ers have have been hunting all over the u.s. and canada for cheap for years now.......i recently went on a hog hunt that cost me nothing but 2o bucks for a plat book and 6o bucks in fuel, unfortunately i did not have a shot, the boar had to turn just another hair to the right and i would have had a shot, but he went left instead:D
 
Hunting in Africa looks pretty attractive, but airfare and firearms duties can easily double the advertised price tag. And then there's the taxidermy fees. As taylorce1 stated, CO has a lot of OTC deer and elk tags. So do MT, ID, and WY. NV, UT, and NM have applications for big game tags. Once you have the tags, you will get about 300 lbs or so of info packets from guides, who use the list of successful applicats to fill up their open spots. Professional guides know where the game is and have the gear to get it out once you shoot it, so the money paid is not exactly a gift to the guide. But in any of those states (in WY a non-resident cannot hunt in a wilderness without a guide), you can get an outfitter to do a drop camp and save a bunch of money, if you are so inclined. A typical mule deer hunt can run $2500-$5000 per person, up to $6000 per person for elk. Antelope is usually the cheapest big game to hunt at about $2000-$3000, and in MT and WY you can get combo hunts as the seasons overlap.

Or you can do a self-guided hunt, and get a lot of help from the wildlife department in the state you choose. A lot of the western states is BLM land, and you can ride or drive to just about anywhere you want to hunt.
 
Yes, it just plain costs a lot of money. But honestly, how many times are you going to do it? If it is once in a lifetime, start planning and saving a couple of years out while you do your research. Do not be swayed by the slickest website. A good outfitter will send you a reference list of previous clients you can contact. A great outfitter will send you a reference list of both people who did and who did not get an animal.

If you call a guy who went with outfitter X, but did not get a bull, and he tells you that outfitter X ran a great camp and busted his rear trying to get the client a shot - you probably found a good one.

My hunting partner and I are on the 5 year saving plan for a pack-in elk hunt. We are still too far out to start selecting guides.

Good luck
 
Thank You

I want to thank each of you for your responses. And yes davlandrum based on what you all confirmed it is going to be a once in a lifetime hunt for me. Simply because of the cost and the fact that I can not get a lot of time off at one time so it will be imperative for me to get a good guide to help put us on game or at least give us the best chance to get on game.

I appreciate all of your responses!
 
http://www.elkplanet.com/

This large ranch in NW Nebraska offers a lot of hunt for the money. I spent one whole day scouting their fallow deer since I wanted a big trophy but not a penned animal. I observed a number of elk at long distance. They were plenty wild and spooky.

I'm not an owner nor in any way affiliated with this ranch; simply sharing info with you.

Good hunting to you.

Jack
 
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