My summer vacation
 

This past summer I traveled to hunt in a couple of countries in Africa. Botswana has closed all of it's public lands to hunting thanks to heavy influence (bribes) from the Chinese desire for eco-tourism. I understand the head man in Botswana became suddenly very wealthy.

Fortunately there are vast areas of privately held lands that still have fantastic hunting. The main area that I hunted was many miles across in every direction. I saw elephant and lion on a few days, and even leopard twice. I will not shoot from, or near, a vehicle so the day a huge male lion bluff charged to within about 15 yards was very exciting indeed. There are some stretches of high fence but mostly just cattle fence, and the elephants simply walk through the high fence daily and leave huge holes for game to freely travel. After being outwitted by big old eland for a few years I finally found a great old bull with worn horns that hesitated long enough for a shot.

I like to hunt in Namibia also. They have very reasonable views on game and still have great dangerous game hunting in some areas. Other than the Caprivi strip, the Namibia hunts are normally conducted on huge pieces of property that are often fenced just by cattle fence that does not influence game movement very much.

We stayed for a few days in a very nice B&B in South Africa but I absolutely refuse to hunt in that country. In SA almost all property is high fenced and the PH's that I know tell me that probably 80% of the game taken in SA is shot from the back of a truck. Not my cup of tea.

I carried a .375 H&H M70 SE with a VX6 on most days and used a M70 .30-06 as a light rifle. The travel is really getting tougher on me every year. Traveling abroad with rifles is becoming such a pain that I may leave the rifles at home next time and rent one from the PH.

Maybe next time I will finally meet my leopard under the right circumstances.

Wow Big Uncle, sounds like you had a magical, exciting African safari!! I hope to go there or Australia hunting one day. Sorry that you didn't get your Leopard. Did you shoot & put something out for bait for the Leopard?

I was not spending time in a leopard blind this year. A leopard hunt usually takes many expensive hours sitting and waiting, and this year I just wanted to spend every day out spooking around the thick stuff having fun. In past seasons when I did spend long hours in a leopard blind we did not see any at all.

It was amazing to see two leopards during daylight this year when I was not hunting them. Maybe it was just the universe's way of thumbing it's nose at me. Some things are simply not destined to happen!

Other than the travel I had a great time.

Been known to take a summer vacation like that myself a time or two. Eland are an extremely impressive animal. I have a great old bull on the wall. Huge beasts.

I'd love to get a plains animal. Something with fancy antlers. But the big gun thing is over for me. I'm happy with my .308.
What does something like that cost ?

Figure approximately $1,500 round trip currently for airfare for an economy class seat from the East coast of the US to South Africa (SA) in prime season (May, June, July, August).

The hunt would depend on where, how long, and game. I believe there are some hunts of 5 - 7 days in SA that feature maybe three game animals, including one main animal like wildebeest, zebra, etc. that can be had for somewhere starting around $4,000.

That would put you in somewhere around $5,500 before tips and taxidermy. That is a deal compared to a single game animal (elk, moose, etc.) in the continental US, Alaska, or Canada.

If you go at the beginning or end of the season (April, October, etc.) you can get a big price break on both the airfare and the hunt cost. There are more leaves on the trees and bushes and the heat and insects can be a bother at these times but these hunts can be significantly cheaper. I would guess that you might be able to pull off the entire hunt including travel for under $4,000.

Of course many African trips cost more (sometimes much more) than the basic SA plains game hunt. Traveling with my wife and hunting this season was just slightly less than the cost of a new pickup truck.

That is definitely comparable to an East coast hunter going out west for Elk. In fact, it cost $1500-$2000 to butcher & get meat from coast to coast air freight.