Originally Posted by
buffybr
I've also hunted both Africa and Alaska. Completely different hunts.
My Alaska hunt was DIY with several friends for Caribou. It took us 4 days to get from our homes in Montana to our hunting camp. That included a 45 minute float plane flight from King Salmon, AK to our drop camp, with at that time no communication with the pilot's home base. Alaska can be just as remote as Africa.
As non-residents in the area we hunted in Alaska, we were only allowed 1 caribou each, so on my Alaskan hunt I shot a total of 1 bullet.
I've so far made 4 trips to South Africa and Zimbabwe to hunt. I can get from my home in Montana to a hunting lodge in South Africa in basically 2 days. On my various South African hunts, I have driven the length of that country, from Port Elizabeth to the Botswana border. I would not want to walk alone at night in some of the South African cities, but I wouldn't want to do that in some of the cities here in the US! Other than driving on the wrong side of the road, daytime driving in South Africa was no more dangerous than driving here at home.
On each of my African hunts, I have basically shot different animals, and although I have shot 2 or 3 animals of certain species, I have shot animals of 30 different species. In almost 50 years of hunting in North America including Alaska and multiple hunts in Canada, I have only shot 15 species of animals. It's not that numbers are important, but Africa just has many more species of animals to hunt.
So on my Alaskan hunt, I fired one shot and killed one animal, and on one of my African hunts I was able to fire a few more shots and killed 14 animals.
Both Africa and Alaska require quite a bit of travel time getting there. Hunting in either place can be in remote areas, far from modern medical facilities. Both hunts will probably cost $10k or more, but at least with plains game species, you will be able to shoot several African animals for the cost of 1 Alaskan animal.
And as for keeping our $$ here at home, what we as hunters spend in foreign countries is just a drop in the bucket compared to the billions of dollars our politicians give to other countries in foreign aid.
I'm trying to wrap my mind around your post here. I think we look at hunting differently. I admit I'm more of a do it yourself guy. But I've been to a few camps over the years. I don't look at hunting as a bang for your buck venture. So much as an adventure all of it's own. To me trips have a life of their own which starts with the planning, and organization of gear. And ends when I'm through cleaning and repacking my gear. So to me driving to Alaska, setting up camp, and hunting a Caribou would only be the first part of an excellent trip. Having a PH lead me around, and point out animals to shoot would seem less of an adventure, and more like a guided tour. But different strokes I guess.
Then there is the spending your money at home argument. This is about helping Americans in their struggle for life. It has nothing what so ever to do with foreign aid. Which by the way the United States is shamefully below it's agreed upon .7% of GNI.
ATB