Botswana Elephant Hunting

[rookhawk]

Reading a LOT of assumptions here on cost of hunts. Africa is "cheap" by most standards. You know what isn't cheap? A non-resident elk hunt. Time value of drawing tags and doing hunt research for US drawings every year. Logistical expenses of getting to public land for non-residents.

Going to Africa (real Africa) is dollar for dollar, the best deal in all of hunting.

As to elephant hunting, there are MANY elephant hunts available all-in, with lodging for 10-14 days, flights, food, EVERYTHING for $15,000-$20,000. About what you'd spend for a very high quality pack-in elk hunt in the States.

The caveat? You cannot import most elephant tusks or hides at this point due to USFWS rules. The exceptions to that rule drive those elephant costs way, way up.

However, you can get replica tusks made for about $500 if you want something interesting to display...it takes a true expert to tell that they are perfect replicas.

As others have pointed out, tuskless cows are also very reasonable to hunt and abundant in some areas. Those hunts all-in can be $12,000. It's also the absolute most dangerous elephant in the world to hunt, so there are trade-offs.

At this point, i'm aware of zero/no Botswana elephant hunts being offered. Very few will happen in my opinion. The prices will be high when first offered, $30,000-$45,000 as hunters want to run to a nation that the USFWS allows you to import the tusks and hides from. In short order, the USFWS will respond by suspending their import, thus crushing the price of those hunts, disincentivizing operators from setting up in Botswana. There is almost no money to be had doing wild, free range, dangerous game hunts in Africa. The take-home wages of the professional are much less than the wages of a US deer and elk guide. The costs there are high, the taxes and fees are incredible, and the risk that the operator will invest $100,000 he doesn't have to start a concession, only to have a world government effect his ability to operate or export trophies hunted, is way too high.

Let me put the math in context: $14,000 elephant hunt. (all in, minus airfare). Government gets $8000-$10,000 for the tag. Leaves lets say $5000. The government mandated ranger that joins the group for 14 days costs $1400. The two vehicles diesel fuel for 14 days costs $600. That leaves $3000. That $3000 has to cover 14 days of professional hunter wages, the cook, the trackers, the skinners, the maid/cleaning folks, the tents, the meals, concession fees, $200,000 in vehicles, $50,000 in camp gear, everything else.In the end, the Professional Hunter is delighted if he Nets $100-$150 per day for a hunt.

 

[ignorethefringes]

Reading a LOT of assumptions here on cost of hunts. Africa is "cheap" by the standards of people willing to drop $15,000+ on a guided hunt. You know what isn't cheap? A high end, guided non-resident elk hunt. Time value of drawing tags and doing hunt research for US drawings every year. Logistical expenses of getting to public land for non-residents.

Going to Africa (real Africa) is dollar for dollar, the best deal in all of hunting, assuming you're not interested in bringing any meat or "trophies" home.

As to elephant hunting, there are MANY elephant hunts available all-in, with lodging for 10-14 days, flights, food, EVERYTHING for $15,000-$20,000. About what you'd spend for a very high quality pack-in elk hunt in the States, although you could bring home meat and/or "trophies".

The caveat? You cannot import most elephant tusks or hides at this point due to USFWS rules. The exceptions to that rule drive those elephant costs way, way up.

However, you can get replica tusks made for about $500 if you want something interesting to display...it takes a true expert to tell that they are perfect replicas.

As others have pointed out, tuskless cows are also very reasonable to hunt and abundant in some areas. Those hunts all-in can be $12,000. It's also the absolute most dangerous elephant in the world to hunt, so there are trade-offs.

At this point, i'm aware of zero/no Botswana elephant hunts being offered. Very few will happen in my opinion. The prices will be high when first offered, $30,000-$45,000 as hunters want to run to a nation that the USFWS allows you to import the tusks and hides from. In short order, the USFWS will respond by suspending their import, thus crushing the price of those hunts, disincentivizing operators from setting up in Botswana. There is almost no money to be had doing wild, free range, dangerous game hunts in Africa. The take-home wages of the professional are much less than the wages of a US deer and elk guide. The costs there are high, the taxes and fees are incredible, and the risk that the operator will invest $100,000 he doesn't have to start a concession, only to have a world government effect his ability to operate or export trophies hunted, is way too high.

Fixed it for you.

I'm assuming the people that regularly drop the kind of money to go pack in, guided elk hunts aren't the same ones calling Africa expensive. For $10,000 I could DIY elk/deer hunt several states for many weeks here in the states as a non-resident.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Fixed it for you.

I'm assuming the people that regularly drop the kind of money to go pack in, guided elk hunts aren't the same ones calling Africa expensive. For $10,000 I could DIY elk/deer hunt several states for many weeks here in the states as a non-resident.

I'm fairy certain I haven't spent 10k on hunting, including gear, since I got into in '12... so buying a rifle, optics, pack, boots, clothing, trips to AK, and lots of hunts in MT, CO, ID, WY, KS, OK, and UT.

 

[rookhawk]

Fixed it for you.

I'm assuming the people that regularly drop the kind of money to go pack in, guided elk hunts aren't the same ones calling Africa expensive. For $10,000 I could DIY elk/deer hunt several states for many weeks here in the states as a non-resident.

Let me give you some alternative math:

My son draws the 400:1 odds New Mexico Non-Resident Oryx tag.

100s of hours of time plotting the odds. Tied up $20,000 in tag applicaiton fees trying to draw anything.

Won the tag, I'm out $1700 for the tag.

We stay at a godforsaken, filthy hotel for $100 a night for a week. $700 total.

We drive 28 hours each way. Lots of wear and tear on car. Flat tire not replaceable. Oil change, diesel, def fluid, tire. $800.

Then you need access rights to the public, land-locked land that has most of the Oryx. That ran $2500.

Then you have to feed and water two people. That cost $500.

All-in, that amazing experience cost me and my son $6200 because stuff adds up.

We could have bought two tickets to Africa ($2000) and hunted 2 Oryx EACH for $4200. So all-in, getting on a plane, flying across the world, doing a hunt, which is the "cheaper deal"?

 

[ignorethefringes]

Let me give you some alternative math:

My son draws the 400:1 odds New Mexico Non-Resident Oryx tag.

100s of hours of time plotting the odds. Tied up $20,000 in tag applicaiton fees trying to draw anything.

Won the tag, I'm out $1700 for the tag.

We stay at a godforsaken, filthy hotel for $100 a night for a week. $700 total.

We drive 28 hours each way. Lots of wear and tear on car. Flat tire not replaceable. Oil change, diesel, def fluid, tire. $800.

Then you need access rights to the public, land-locked land that has most of the Oryx. That ran $2500.

Then you have to feed and water two people. That cost $500.

All-in, that amazing experience cost me and my son $6200 because stuff adds up.

We could have bought two tickets to Africa ($2000) and hunted 2 Oryx EACH for $4200. So all-in, getting on a plane, flying across the world, doing a hunt, which is the "cheaper deal"?

I'll give you MORE alternative math. Using elk, since that's what you said in your other post that I quoted.

My elk tag, deer tag, and license this year: +/- $1,000 OTC

Hundreds of hours studying using OnX, Google Earth, etc.: $30 for OnX. My time is free.

We're camping using current camping equipment: $0

We're driving 36 hours each way, wear and tear, gas, etc.: $1,500 (split three ways, but let's ignore that for now.)

I can drive right into the thousands of acres of public land we intend to hunt: $0

Feed and water me: $350 ($50/day for a week should be enough since, again, we're camping and not eating at restaurants every day)

That whole experience will cost +/- $2,880 for a week with an elk tag and a deer tag as a non-resident. In actuality I'll be below $2,000 for my trip this year due to splitting costs and being somewhat frugal. And, again, I can keep every edible ounce of any animal I'm successful in harvesting and bring the antlers back if I want. All at no additional cost.

It's all cool for people to drop the cash on an Africa hunt if that's what you want, but let's not try and justify it as a cheap alternative to hunting here as a non-resident. If you're comparing top end North America hunting you might as well compare it to top end Africa hunting. I'm sure that price can go up real quick.

 

[rookhawk]

I'll give you MORE alternative math. Using elk, since that's what you said in your other post that I quoted.

My elk tag, deer tag, and license this year: +/- $1,000 OTC

Hundreds of hours studying using OnX, Google Earth, etc.: $30 for OnX. My time is free.

We're camping using current camping equipment: $0

We're driving 36 hours each way, wear and tear, gas, etc.: $1,500 (split three ways, but let's ignore that for now.)

I can drive right into the thousands of acres of public land we intend to hunt: $0

Feed and water me: $350 ($50/day for a week should be enough since, again, we're camping and not eating at restaurants every day)

That whole experience will cost +/- $2,880 for a week with an elk tag and a deer tag as a non-resident. In actuality I'll be below $2,000 for my trip this year due to splitting costs and being somewhat frugal. And, again, I can keep every edible ounce of any animal I'm successful in harvesting and bring the antlers back if I want. All at no additional cost.

It's all cool for people to drop the cash on an Africa hunt if that's what you want, but let's not try and justify it as a cheap alternative to hunting here as a non-resident. If you're comparing top end North America hunting you might as well compare it to top end Africa hunting. I'm sure that price can go up real quick.

Bottom of the line "africa hunting" and "top of the line" africa hunting have little variability on price whatsoever. Canned hunts being off the bottom of the spectrum of anyone's taste palate, moving up to high fence, to low fence, to no fence, to wilderness areas, there is little difference in price. However, the wilder you go, the less certain you will be of what you find. Higher the fences, higher the certainty in Africa. Trophy quality and legal exportability being a driver of high cost.

For example: if you wanted to hunt ethical, free range, fair chase lion in Africa with no hope of exporting the taxidermy, you could legally do it for the same price as an American Cougar hunt.

But I think your elk hunt is a pretty fair estimate. $2800 for a week of joy in the woods hunting an elk if you draw the tag. Pretty good. Ignoring the air flight, you could certainly do the same in Africa, albeit you'd have 5-7 tags included, would eat like a king, you'd have every imaginable convenience at your tent camp, etc. Africa is a bargain.

If you asked for equal services rendered in the US, Canada, or Alaska, as what you would get in Africa, the bill would be astronomical.

I guess that's what I'm trying to convey, In Africa, you're paying almost nothing for the services, food, accomodation, expertise, and guiding. You're paying for logistics (airfare) and you're paying for government licenses, surcharges, and taxes. That's where the money goes. If you're not hunting dangerous game...way less surcharges. If you're not exporting taxidermy, way less fees there.

Here in my area of the midwestern USA, I cannot deer hunt with my kids for the price of hunting in Africa. To gain access to land in my state (lowest public land percent in the nation) I could enter $1000 drawings with 1:400 draw odds for "access rights" to hunt the public land, not counting tags. I could buy a mediocre annual lease for $5000-$10000. I could buy a hobby farm of 120 acres for $600,000. Those are pretty much the paths where I could hunt deer locally with my kids. I can of course go to WI by begging the youth hunting organizations up there to let an outsider in for their annual doe hunt...we do. (total costs for T&E plus licenses...$1200) I can beg friends to let us hunt a doe on their hunting farms they bought for $1,000,000 (we do) but of course to be given such a gracious opportunity, we pick up ~$1000 of expenses each time we visit which is a token.


Or I could move to Montana and shoot in my public land back yard with shall issue tags, easy peasy. Of course, I'd have a 90% salary decrease in all likelihood and my kids access to education may be limited, in return for a pretty righteous childhood in idylic landscapes. These are all the tradeoffs.

But my conclusion is the same: Africa is very, very cheap. I cannot get more adventure per dollar anywhere in the world.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

But my conclusion is the same: Africa is very, very cheap. I cannot get more adventure per dollar anywhere in the world.

I think the main point @ajricketts was trying to make is for the DIY crowd on the forum even, especially the western folks, even $400 for a hunt is quite a bit. I think all in my last elk hunt cost me $30 in gas, and $50 or so for a tag... I did the mount and butchered the meat myself. So yes for what you get in terms of services rendered and experience Africa is cheap, but it's not a cheap hunt nor cheap compared to hunting opportunities available to the average Joe.

 

[rookhawk]

I think the main point @ajricketts was trying to make is for the DIY crowd on the forum even, especially the western folks, even $400 for a hunt is quite a bit. I think all in my last elk hunt cost me $30 in gas, and $50 or so for a tag... I did the mount and butchered the meat myself. So yes for what you get in terms of services rendered and experience Africa is cheap, but it's not a cheap hunt nor cheap compared to hunting opportunities available to the average Joe.

Subtle Correction: The average Joe that is a citizen of a western state. Non-resident hunting is not a deal unless you're inviting me and my kids to crash at your place and you happen to have abundant game, great land access, and over the counter permits for rifle?

By the way, huge fan of Randy Newberg, This forum, and the DiY mentality. I just find it to be very, very expensive to do things that are free.

 

[ignorethefringes]

Bottom of the line "africa hunting" and "top of the line" africa hunting have little variability on price whatsoever. Canned hunts being off the bottom of the spectrum of anyone's taste palate, moving up to high fence, to low fence, to no fence, to wilderness areas, there is little difference in price. However, the wilder you go, the less certain you will be of what you find. Higher the fences, higher the certainty in Africa. Trophy quality and legal exportability being a driver of high cost.

For example: if you wanted to hunt ethical, free range, fair chase lion in Africa with no hope of exporting the taxidermy, you could legally do it for the same price as an American Cougar hunt.

But I think your elk hunt is a pretty fair estimate. $2800 for a week of joy in the woods hunting an elk if you draw the tag. Pretty good. Ignoring the air flight, you could certainly do the same in Africa, albeit you'd have 5-7 tags included, would eat like a king, you'd have every imaginable convenience at your tent camp, etc. Africa is a bargain.

If you asked for equal services rendered in the US, Canada, or Alaska, as what you would get in Africa, the bill would be astronomical.

I guess that's what I'm trying to convey, In Africa, you're paying almost nothing for the services, food, accomodation, expertise, and guiding. You're paying for logistics (airfare) and you're paying for government licenses, surcharges, and taxes. That's where the money goes. If you're not hunting dangerous game...way less surcharges. If you're not exporting taxidermy, way less fees there.

Here in my area of the midwestern USA, I cannot deer hunt with my kids for the price of hunting in Africa. To gain access to land in my state (lowest public land percent in the nation) I could enter $1000 drawings with 1:400 draw odds for "access rights" to hunt the public land, not counting tags. I could buy a mediocre annual lease for $5000-$10000. I could buy a hobby farm of 120 acres for $600,000. Those are pretty much the paths where I could hunt deer locally with my kids. I can of course go to WI by begging the youth hunting organizations up there to let an outsider in for their annual doe hunt...we do. (total costs for T&E plus licenses...$1200) I can beg friends to let us hunt a doe on their hunting farms they bought for $1,000,000 (we do) but of course to be given such a gracious opportunity, we pick up ~$1000 of expenses each time we visit which is a token.


Or I could move to Montana and shoot in my public land back yard with shall issue tags, easy peasy. Of course, I'd have a 90% salary decrease in all likelihood and my kids access to education may be limited, in return for a pretty righteous childhood in idylic landscapes. These are all the tradeoffs.

But my conclusion is the same: Africa is very, very cheap. I cannot get more adventure per dollar anywhere in the world.

It's an over the counter, can buy it ever year, tag.

That's a pretty expensive flight to ignore ($1,000+ I imagine pretty easy)

I don't care what makes the cost go up, they are going up regardless. You said cheap, and cheaper than non-resident elk hunting here.

Or, you know, for less than $500 each you could buy an over the counter, non-resident deer tag in places like SC, TN, GA, WV, etc. and walk onto public land and hunt deer, likely with a several deer limit.

Also, for a guy like me anyway, bringing home the meat and feeding my family for a while is very important. That's no option with those Africa hunts.

You're trying to compare apples to oranges. If you're looking for the adventure of an Africa hunt, and to be treated like a king, go for it. But if you're just talking about hunting opportunity then there are a lot of options here.

You're looking for something different than I am, and that's fine.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Subtle Correction: The average Joe that is a citizen of a western state. Non-resident hunting is not a deal unless you're inviting me and my kids to crash at your place and you happen to have abundant game, great land access, and over the counter permits for rifle?
By the way, huge fan of Randy Newberg, This forum, and the DiY mentality. I just find it to be very, very expensive to do things that are free.

The problem I've learned with broad statements is that people can easily shoot holes in them. In that spirit: CO has NR bear tags for $101.75, and Elk tags for $661.75, you can get a pretty sweet tent at REI for $300. Got some pretty great public lands here and 290,000 elk so...

 

[kiwi hunter]

hey fellas theres a place down here called new zealand,,no tags,,no restrictions and tons of public land all for the sake of acquiring a free license
for this you can chase red,,chamois,tahr goat,even wapiti but there is a bit of cost there as they are located in a fairly remote region,,also wallaby,fallow,ive just named the south island as most of you would be interested in chamois n tahr+

 

[e300winmag]

Kiwi Hunter - The south island sounds amazing and is on my bucket list!

I have been fortunate enough to hunt Africa several times and will be going back next year. Africa is more wild and more game rich than most places in the lower 48. The game densities are definitely higher than most regions of Alaska. Africa is one of the most beautiful places on earth and gets into your blood once you have been fortunate enough to experience its beauty. There is NO comparable hunt in the US to an African safari. Try it once and likely you will be hooked!

 

[kiwi hunter]

Kiwi Hunter - The south island sounds amazing and is on my bucket list!

I have been fortunate enough to hunt Africa several times and will be going back next year. Africa is more wild and more game rich than most places in the lower 48. The game densities are definitely higher than most regions of Alaska. Africa is one of the most beautiful places on earth and gets into your blood once you have been fortunate enough to experience its beauty. There is NO comparable hunt in the US to an African safari. Try it once and likely you will be hooked!

you can hunt africa right up to the day you die,,not so with nz,,im hitting seventy this year and hope to hunt tur within 12 month as its supposed to be one of the toughest,,ill be pleased to be your hunting buddy when you make it down here

 

[BrentD]

A tuskless hunt isn't too expensive in the grand scheme of things $10-15k.

My wife told me I can hunt anything in the world but an elephant. I genuinely would love to as it's meant to be one of the most challenging tracking hunts you can do in the world. Tracking/stalking is my favourite style of hunting.

African guys I have spoken with say that eland would be second in terms of challenging tracking hunts. More difficult (though less dangerous) than buffalo.

Anyway great to see science winning over disney emotion. My sister inlaw is travelling to africa later this year. She's one of the people that thinks hunting is cruel but animal violence is ok because she doesn't have to see it. I told her that her eyes may soon be opened wide!

I have tracked and killed an eland in Namibia. It was definitely exciting.

There is a lot of misconceptions here about Africa. I've only been there twice, so I am clearly no expert, but it is enough to recognize those misconceptions as misconceptions.. I went out into the Kalahari (not hunting) in South Africa on one trip and hunted Nambia on the second. In neither trip did I feel the least bit in danger from anything, though that might have changed had the lions roared in the Kalahari. Africa is a huge place, as someone mentioned, multiples of times bigger than the USA. Mercator projection flat maps don't relay that very well, but look at a globe sometime.

And being a big place, you cannot say Africa is like XYZ, and expect that to apply to the entire continent of how many countries? Africa is like the USA in that some places are more interesting, less dangerous, more wild, more remote, than others, only much more so, because there is simply much more of it.

If you haven't been, you certainly should look into it in detail, but do not assume that one hunter's experience is like all hunters' experiences. Do you homework and find something that will work for you, but don't expect it to be Wyoming. It's not. It's Africa. That's why you should go, for something different.

I do not know if I would ever go back. With $10k in my pocket to burn, I would probably go back to Alaska first because it is Alaska, I haven't seen the Brooks range or killed a caribou, and I like the north more than the desert, but not because the hunting is more or less challenging. They are just different places with different situations. And I'd never hunt elephants, even if I could afford it. But I would be sorely tempted to hunt cape buffalo. THAT would be a lifetime experience for sure.

 

[geetar]

An elephant hunt would be an amazing adventure. Close range, dangerous hunting if done right.

It puzzles me why Rinella and others are so offended by African trophy hunting and allude they will never take part in it?

. If Rinella dug into it he may find out it’s no more trophy hunting than what he does. From what little I know which is not first hand experience when elephants are killed the whole village shows up and takes all the meat and hide and hunter takes the head and tusks. I’ve never been to Africa but I have a hard time finding Rinella’s American hunting to be of any higher morals than a guy going to Africa and putting a large chunk of money into their economy and then feeding a large village on the kill. I’d think a Meat Eater would get that.

 

[geetar]

I would love to. A Tuskless Hunt could be in my budget but not a bull hunt anytime soon

If you ever get a chance or maybe you already have. Read Bryce Towsleys article on the tuskless elephant hunt. I believe it’s “ Working mans elephant hunt “

 

[rookhawk]

. If Rinella dug into it he may find out it’s no more trophy hunting than what he does. From what little I know which is not first-hand experience when elephants are killed the whole village shows up and takes all the meat and hide and hunter takes the head and tusks. I’ve never been to Africa but I have a hard time finding Rinella’s American hunting to be of any higher morals than a guy going to Africa and putting a large chunk of money into their economy and then feeding a large village on the kill. I’d think a Meat Eater would get that.

Indeed. The more I listen to Rinella (I do like him, he's entertaining) the more frustrated I am with his biases nested in ignorance. Two things he constantly brings up that I just want to choke him over: His snyde remarks about crossbows (Idiot: Gen Y and Gen Z decide if hunting will continue to be legal...crossbows are THE gateway to get youth into hunting) and his remarks about Africa.

Africa IS a very big place and there are some goofy put-and-take mentality places in South Africa, I get it, silly. However, there are places where I have hunted 10km a day in heavy bush for a week, seen many elephants as close as 15' (where I couldn't tell which end I was looking at...that dense), seen lions, leopards, buffalo, ate like a king, caught tiger fish on a fly rod, and distributed 5000 pounds of meat to a STARVING village that was so happy I was the hunter willing to come to their village as their sole legal source of protein for that YEAR.

The other weird thing is this misconception about the meat. If the meat doesn't go the villagers, where do you think it goes? To get you to a remote place where you are 5 hours from a power pole or fuel station, you have a LOT of people in your camp supporting your hunt. What do you think you, your outfitter, your PH, your trackers, skinners, cooks, scouts, rangers, and odd-job guys eat? You eat what you kill, it just doesn't come home with you due to USDA rules.

I'm a foodie. I'm also open to eating ANYTHING. I've been lucky to eat at some of the top restaurants in the world. I've tried it all. Easily, 3-4 of the top 10 meals I've ever consumed have been in the bush in Africa. (Braised Buffalo Tail, Bushbuck marrow on garlic bread, Hippo Steaks, Waterbuck Skewers) You'd think Rinella and his culinary curiosity would get him to actually go try something rather than critique. All his assumptions and statements on his podcast are just wrong.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

. If Rinella dug into it he may find out it’s no more trophy hunting than what he does. From what little I know which is not first hand experience when elephants are killed the whole village shows up and takes all the meat and hide and hunter takes the head and tusks. I’ve never been to Africa but I have a hard time finding Rinella’s American hunting to be of any higher morals than a guy going to Africa and putting a large chunk of money into their economy and then feeding a large village on the kill. I’d think a Meat Eater would get that.

Kinda hard to put words in anyone's mouth but... Rinella has said he would hunt Africa on numerous podcasts. Also his brand is kinda hunting for the every man, relatively speaking he does a lot of small game and whitetail hunting on his platform and has done few hunts that your average Joe couldn't do, to my knowledge the only guided hunts he has done on meateater were BC grizz and Muskox, those are probably on par with Africa in terms of cost.

Rinella has also articulated that he doesn't like feeling like just a hired gun, that I think is the biggest issue for him with Africa and to be honest mine. If I was to hunt Africa I would go into it knowing nothing about the ecology, nothing about how to navigate the landscape, and I would be seeing all those critters for the very first time (Rinella has said in his books and podcast he feels weird about killing the first of something he sees). My guide we be the one doing the "hunting" I would just be tagging alone, then once I killed a critter I wouldn't do the field dressing and meat care (something done in every meateater episode), the field dressing would be done by a team of locals (sure it helps the economy, but Rinella articulated in the SA episodes that he hates feeling like a colonial), and then you wouldn't keep any of the meat for your own personal use. Rinella has said several times his worst hunt was a guided Red Stag hunt in Scotland on The Wild Within, pretty similar circumstances.

Africa just isn't a DIY, for the meat hunt, it's not in their brand. Sure there is nothing morally wrong with it but it just doesn't make sense for them. Remember they are running a business, just because he hasn't done something on the show doesn't mean he is against it personally. Randy has never hunted Africa, Randy has also never done hunts back east, why? Because his sponsors are interested in targeting hunters who want to do western big game hunting and have asked him to make that his focus.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

@rookhawk Rinella's buddy Remi has done DIY Africa on Solohunter, I think if we do see a meateater episode in Africa it would look like that... I think it could be a great series of episodes and really show a nuanced view of African, I also think you would have to be super careful about how you did it and portrayed it and would need to focus very specific species.

Search youtube
S:4 E:4 HUNTING ALONE IN AFRICA with Remi Warren

 

[Deleted member 28227]

The other weird thing is this misconception about the meat. If the meat doesn't go the villagers, where do you think it goes? To get you to a remote place where you are 5 hours from a power pole or fuel station, you have a LOT of people in your camp supporting your hunt. What do you think you, your outfitter, your PH, your trackers, skinners, cooks, scouts, rangers, and odd-job guys eat? You eat what you kill, it just doesn't come home with you due to USDA rules.

I'm a foodie. I'm also open to eating ANYTHING. I've been lucky to eat at some of the top restaurants in the world. I've tried it all. Easily, 3-4 of the top 10 meals I've ever consumed have been in the bush in Africa. (Braised Buffalo Tail, Bushbuck marrow on garlic bread, Hippo Steaks, Waterbuck Skewers) You'd think Rinella and his culinary curiosity would get him to actually go try something rather than critique. All his assumptions and statements on his podcast are just wrong.

Check out this thread with you have a chance
https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/donating-meat-what-are-your-thought.289664/

Pretty interesting spectrum on the opinions of meat. Some people find it most moral only to kill to feed yourself and family some find it moral to hunt and provide food for those in need. Either position is morally defensible IMHO, ethics are personal so I don't think you can throw shade at someone who says they personally don't want to kill critters they aren't going to personally eat. (I've not seen Rinella say that, but that is the position you are alluding to)