The reason the 120" is cheaper than the 200" is simple. Its just the law of supply and demand. Everyone wants the 200" so they can charge more for it. With that being said there are very few guides in the US, aside high fenced operations, that charge on a trophy fee basis. Trophy fees don't go over well in the US. So they charge the higher average cost per hunter. But again its not an issue you will run into often if you aren't hunting in a high fenced area. Some places charge an additional harvest fee once you harvest an animal but its a per animal fee not on the score of the animal. Its a more politically correct way of guaranteeing the hunt. The guides will do everything they can to ensure you get your animal because they want your additional money. The money they charged you up front is typically to ensure they are covering the necessary expenses. Its just like an automobile dealership "packing" their sale price. They buy the car for 10,000 then they immediately add 2,000 to it on the books then again add another 2,000 for profit. Well if they have to give up the 2,000 or a portion of the 2,000 due to negotiations they will but 99% of the time they will not get into that additional 2000. Those numbers are just examples don't go to a dealership assuming they all have that type of money in their cars. Back to the trophy fees themselves though outside the US trophy fees are quite common practice. The reason why trophy fee's raise such hair here in the US is because simply we aren't used to them. If the industry had always used trophy fee's we wouldn't be having this conversation at this point. We would find it odd that places don't charge trophy fees. The best thing you can do is before you book a hunt talk with the outfitter multiple times and with references, both people who were successful and those who weren't successful. You'll find out rapidly if there are any additional fee's involved in the hunt beyond the normal rate and license.

Another way to look at trophy fee's is you are trading time for money. If you have the time to spend hunting frequently and in good area you will have no reason to pay to hunt somewhere for something. Typically the people that are paying the trophy fee's don't have the time to get out and hunt other than a few days a year or even every couple years. So they replace time with money they pay the outfitter the money and his time go towards finding the animal prior to you getting there and insuring that the caliber of animal you are after is in the area and he knows where it is at so you can harvest it with in the few short days you will be able to hunt. Its just a trade off.