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TROPHY FEVER
By Dave Fulson
As
an outfitter who both guides clients and outfits
hunters to big game destinations around the globe,
I am responsible for answering questions concerning
all aspects of each hunt I advertise. There are of
course the usual “How much, how many days,
what month, what do I bring and what are the accommodations
like” questions that, as they rightfully should,
come up when a prospective client and I discuss a
potential trip.
Without
a doubt though the most often asked question I have
to answer is “How big?” Followed in a
majority of cases by the infamous “I only want
the biggest” quote from the prospective client.
So
lets spend some time today examining that scenario
from several different angles:
First,
lets look at the animals we hunt. Every species of
big game animal on the planet has a certain criteria
that record book organizations use to rate its trophy
quality. Elk, moose, deer and the like are judged
by the combined inches and mass their antlers acquire
during their lifetime. Upon harvest, the animal can
then be measured and scored. If he meets the minimum
score of whatever record-keeping organization you
choose to request entry into, than his score and
the hunter’s name will forever be listed within
the pages of that record book.
For
animals like Kudu, sheep, oryx or bison, it’s
the horns. The bears and big cats use the skull size
officially, but unofficially the squared size of
the skin or nose-to-tail measurement of the hide
is what determines trophy proportions.
Elephant
and wart hogs use tusk measurements (elephants by
the tusk weight) to qualify trophy status.
My
point is that hunters and hunting organizations have
come up with extremely detailed methods to separate
the average specimen from the exceptional trophy.
It
is a fact of life that just as in people, some animals
may have better trophy potential than others of the
same species. The reason the Empire State Building
stands out is that it is far taller than it’s
neighbors if you judge it by height. Pamela Anderson
has bigger, ah, well you know, than most women walking
down the street and along with a pretty face you
might say she is a better specimen than the average
female you encounter. Trophy animals, by their very
definition, are much more rare than the average specimen
that a hunter is likely to encounter on a trip.
If
every hunter in camp, for example, said “I
want at least a 57 inch Kudu”, then you’d
better have a hell of a herd of huge, never-hunted
Kudu, or expect most of the hunters to go home disappointed.
It’s the same for a mountain goat in Montana
or a Sable in Zimbabwe.
The
really big ones are rare in numbers and due to the
fact that they have survived predators and hunting
pressure for the number of years necessary to grow
to trophy proportions, they are infinitely smarter
and more wary by nature, than the other animals in
the local herd.
Sure,
everyone who hunts would like to take a record-book
animal each time they go out. Yours truly included!
But my experience allows me to realize that this
has never been, and never will be the case with any
species of animal no matter where you hunt.
Now
for the good news! Trophy animals and even record-book
quality animals are still out there. Some will be
taken by hunters who were simply in the right spot
at the right time. Reading a story about a 14-year-old
kid from Jo’burg shooting a Rowland Ward Kudu
ten minutes into his first morning of hunting still
gives me heartburn, but Lady Luck always plays a
big part when an exceptional animal is bagged.
Thankfully
though, many of the best heads are taken by sportsmen
who were specifically looking for a quality animal,
had researched the area they were hunting and its
trophy potential, and were determined not to settle
for a lesser animal than they had set their sights
on.
Reasonable
expectations are a good starting point. Hunt hard,
put in the hours, hire the best P.H., hike from dawn
till dusk and use the best equipment money can buy,
and all your efforts still won’t result in
a trophy if you’re hunting an over-crowded,
over-harvested concession where the average head
taken is 2 1/2 years old!
Research
the species you want to take if a record-book animal
is your goal. Where is the best area for trophies
according to recent record books? Are there specific
P.H.s or outfitters who consistently take trophy
animals, and if so where do they operate?
Another
consideration is how much does the hunt cost? Fact:
The top outfitters operate in the best concessions.
They use the best equipment, hire the best trackers,
spend more time scouting, and none of that comes
without expense.
Good
outfitters, whether it’s an operator in Texas
or a professional hunter in Africa, know that they
are good. Their record on trophy animals shows it
and their repeat business and good referrals from
past clients is a testament to that fact. Their hunts
are priced accordingly.
Each
year, dozens of times, I get a call from a prospective
client who wants to spend bargain basement prices
for top-quality trophies and service. My conversations
with fellow outfitters and professional hunters tell
me that I am not alone in my experience.
The
old cliché, ‘You get what you pay for’ is
never more true than when hunting is considered.
Do
not think that you can expect quality hunting (if
you use an outfitter) for cheap prices. Many, many
times I guide clients who have been burned by fly-by-night
operators who lure in clients with low costs, and
the promise of great service and trophy animals only
to find that both the service and hunting were of
poor quality.
It
is far less expensive to hire a top outfitter and
put your hunt in his capable hands than it is to
do several lesser hunts where the financial output
grows with each trip, but the trophy sought never
comes to bag.
Here’s
the main question each hunter must answer in his
own heart if he has aspirations of being a ‘trophy
only’ hunter: ‘Can I look at this hunt
as a success even if I go home empty handed?’ My
experience is that unfortunately, for the vast majority
of people I have hunted with over the years, the
answer to that question is a resounding “NO”.
Hunting
is not like buying a truck where you put down your
money and drive it home that day. Thank God. But
you can’t prove that to a growing number of
people who think that they are buying an animal when
in fact they are paying for the services that will
enable them to enjoy a great hunt. A huge difference.
There
are many hunts in Africa that allow the client to ‘pay
as you shoot’, where you do not pay a trophy
fee if you don’t take an animal. These are
not guaranteed hunts, but you simply don’t
pay for the animal until you successfully harvest
one. You will still pay a daily rate which will cover
the outfitter’s camp, food, travel, and staff
expenses, but it allows you to wait until the trophy
you desire appears, or your allotted hunting time
is up.
I
enjoy this system and feel that it allows the hunter
to feel less pressure to take a lesser animal because
he feels a need to justify the expense of a pre-paid
trophy fee.
I
recently got a phone call from a friend of mine who
in my opinion reflects the necessary qualities of
a true trophy hunter. This gentleman is in his mid-fifties
and has a great deal of North American big game experience
as well as plains game safaris to Namibia and South
Africa under his belt.
The
dangerous game bug finally bit him and he booked
a 14-day buffalo/leopard safari with some plains
game mixed in with a popular P.H. in Zimbabwe’s
Zambezi Valley.
This
guy is a dedicated trophy hunter. He sets his goals
after doing his homework, making calls, researching
his areas and outfitters and consulting up-to-date
record books for entries of no later than ten years
to date. He also puts a reasonable timetable together
for hunting days to allow for travel, weather, mechanical
breakdowns and the other unseen things that can affect
a hunt’s outcome.
He
returned from Africa with pretty much what I expected
him to return with: very nice trophies that capped
off with a beautiful Cape buffalo that would make
any hunter’s mouth water. He tracked hard each
day for seven days, passed broken-horned bulls, experienced
stalks ruined by lady elephants, fickle winds and
bad luck, but never gave up and he trusted his P.H.
that it would finally turn their way. Boy did it!
They kept at it until they found a herd bull that
had all the qualities he wanted and then executed
a stalk and shot that resulted in a huge buffalo
and the completion of a dream for my friend.
A
big croc, beautiful Kudu and a trophy waterbuck also
found their way into the salt, but one trophy shot
I expected to see was missing from the photos.
Equally
important to our hunter was a big mature leopard
in addition to his buffalo. The same effort was put
into baiting the cat and building blinds as was put
into the buffalo hunt. During the 14-day hunt, my
friend had three cats in the tree but never touched
the trigger. The first was a very large female and
the second a smaller male which made for easy decisions.
But leopard number three was a very decent male,
although not the filled-out tom the valley is noted
for. After carefully weighing his options and number
of hunting days left, our sportsman flipped the safety
back to ‘on’ and enjoyed the splendid
sight of a leopard feeding in the early morning light.
A
trophy male never came during legal shooting light
and my friend left Zim without his cat. A successful
hunt? I’ll let him answer that. “I knew
leopard are never a sure thing when I booked the
trip. I had dreamed of taking a leopard for years
and I wanted one in the worst way, but I was prepared
to hold out for a really mature tom, or go home without
one, rather than take an animal that I would not
be completely satisfied with, just to fill a tag.
But I still had what I consider to be a great leopard
hunt, and the vision of those beautiful cats on my
bait branch will live with me forever!”
That
to me at least, is the essence of what it takes to
be a trophy-only hunter, the ability to go on an
expensive hunt, do your best, and come home happy
if, for whatever reasons, you come home with an unfilled
tag.
Your
dream hunt could be for a Gemsbok in South Africa,
an elephant in Zimbabwe or a lion in Tanzania. No
matter the species, you will have to determine what
constitutes a trophy in your own eyes. As an outfitter
by trade, and an avid and far-traveling hunter by
choice who also enjoys tagging good trophies, let
me leave you with a personal observation and a thought
or two:
Too
many hunters today have tunnel vision that focuses
only on the moment of conquest where they imagine
themselves standing triumphantly over a now-deceased
candidate for “The Book” Things like
sunsets, good conversation around a campfire, seeing
new country for the first time, meeting and making
new friends, and the like, are all lost in the mad
scramble to get one bigger than the next guy.
I
hate to hear a client define his safari experience,
one of life’s grandest rewards, in terms such
as: “Eight out of ten made Book”. Willingness
to hold out for a superior animal you will cherish
forever is a good thing. Trophy Fever, however, is
not.
Record
books are fine for reference and I believe they have
their place, which in my opinion, is more to recognize
the animal that eluded predators and hunting pressure
long enough to grow to larger proportions than most
of his clan.
But
record books alone should NEVER be the single determination
of what a trophy is. A trophy ‘hunt’ is
more important to me than a trophy animal. The experience
should count for more, or at the very least, as much
as a final tape measurement on some score sheet.
Hunt
more for the love of the sport. Sometimes you will
bag a true trophy, sometimes; most times in fact,
the animal eludes our best effort. For the animal
the game is truly life or death. For us, it’s
not nearly so important, so accept the hunts where
a record book animal is not bagged as a wonderful
opportunity to be in the woods, instead of some form
of failure.
Searching
for a mature buck or bull and holding out for such
a trophy is a wonderful thing. I highly respect those
who consistently do it, and to a man, they are all
fine Bushmen, and generally really good guys to hunt
with. They combine skill, knowledge, patience, respect
for the game sought and a great deal of sportsmanship
in their efforts. When they succeed, they do so in
a humble manner, knowing that they gambled against
the odds and won.
When
they don’t connect, they tip their hat to the
victor and go away knowing that they played the game
fairly, and to the best of their ability. This is
the essence of a true trophy hunter. Lets all work
to make sure he’s not a dying breed.
