What do you do when you fill your package early?

[mark-hunter]

If you're lucky enough to fill your package early what do you do with your extra days? Do you feel obligation to the outfitter to keep hunting? Sitting at camp is no fun. Many times you cant find an alternative.You committed to the days and do you feel the PH has a commitment to at that point "babysit" you. That situation can become akward for both parties.

The best time in Africa is when I fill up my package early, and have some extra days.
Completing the package adds stress and pressure. And when this is completed and animals are in the salt, what follows is complete relaxation and enjoyment, without any pressure.
Its like having all the time in the world!

In regular one week PG hunt, 5 trophies, spare time it is maybe one day, or two days - top.
Spare time then I spend sitting in a blind, taking photos, or driving around hunting jackals, or some extra warthog.
But then, after two safaris I realized, one day of spare time (maybe) is just too short for me.

So, what I did next, in next forthcoming two safaris is this:

I book the hunt, for X days, and then plan to go around after hunt is over for next few days.
In 2022, I completed my Eland hunt on a sunset of a last day. Then, as per my preliminary plan went to visit Etosha for next three days.

In 2024, I completed my buffalo hunt in Caprivi, had extra days, and as planned - went to visit Victoria falls. (Vic falls trip was calculated in additional days of a hunt).

Spare time in African hunting camp, is wonderful!

For me, spare time in Africa is equally important as hunting days.
I can say this after 4 safaris done.

For PH "Babysitting" I ask in advance, "after the hunt is over, can we do that"?
Hunting or no hunting, he has day rate, or additinal fee as agreed in advance.

Put your self in a perspective:
Buffalo hunt is 1000 eur per day. You are my guide. If we take buffalo early, can we do this or that, if feasible?
Now, for 1000 per day, pls tell me how to decline? I would like to hear how that sounds.
Got my point?

The trick is to ask for doable service. (not impossible)
Such as, in case we complete the hunt early, what extra activities I may have at your facilities?

 

[Altitude sickness]

Fishing and birds would be great. Or tell the PH he is free to pursue his business. Or go home. I think many have brought up in the past that it’s not fair to keep a pH held captive in camp just to entertain and feed the clients if they are not hunting, he should be allowed to go to other camps or go home. It’s not fair to the client that have a set budget. They reached the goal sooner than thought and are now being badgered into hunting and spending past their budget. I know have done it. But it was our decision. The PH was professional and did not pressure us for more. We did it one our own. On our last trip, extra time was not an issue. We got our moneys worth and hunted till the end
You could ask before booking if you kill
All DG on day 2 can o pay PH daily fees the remainder. There are scenarios where permit wise you will pay DG through the hunt.



Next time I will be taking a Shotgun for sure

 

[mark-hunter]

Next time I will be taking a Shotgun for sure

Fantastic idea!

 

[jimbo1972]

On a day 10 day 12 animal hunt I added a waterbuck and Blue Wildebeest. Even with adding them I was done at day 8. Day 9 we went to my PHs family summer house in Port Alford with plans to go deep sea fishing. 8 ft seas made us do a river trip instead and ate the best biltong pizza. Day 10 donated some meat to a local senior center and rode around looking for something cheap to shoot. No pressure from the PH.

 

[Rubberhead]

I'm a birder (bird watcher) too so that would have been a good problem. But, I went to Africa with three lists...1) must haves, 2) by-chance and 3) done-early.

The must haves were the ones I told the PH that we should try for every day. I had four and we killed nice examples of all of them.

By-chance animals were usually on the cheaper side but just not ones that I wanted to devote any real time to. So, for these animals, it wasn't the money budget that was the limiter, it was the time budget. Ostrich and diker are great by-chance animals.

My done early animal was a bush buck. Bushbucks are great "done early" animals because they usually have to be hunted differently that other plains game so you can't always expect to bump into a bush buck when hunting eland. And, like @Field28 said, they're addictive. We didn't get my bushbuck but we did see two bushbuck ewes. If I ever go back, I will make quality time for the bush buck.

Some folks mentioned fishing or bird shooting - that's a great idea but just birding around camp can be fun.

 

[Philip Glass]

If you're lucky enough to fill your package early what do you do with your extra days? Do you feel obligation to the outfitter to keep hunting? Sitting at camp is no fun. Many times you cant find an alternative.You committed to the days and do you feel the PH has a commitment to at that point "babysit" you. That situation can become akward for both parties.

It depends on where you are. I always have something to hunt for even if it is just a bigger kudu. In the Eastern Cape where I hunt there are many side trips to be had that are not too far away.
Never feel obligated to keep shooting if it's not your plan.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

If you're lucky enough to fill your package early what do you do with your extra days? Do you feel obligation to the outfitter to keep hunting? Sitting at camp is no fun. Many times you cant find an alternative.You committed to the days and do you feel the PH has a commitment to at that point "babysit" you. That situation can become akward for both parties.

I think a lot of us are coming at it from the keep hunting angle because many of us have hunted Africa several times and shot several of or most of the typical package animals. For many of us we now prefer to book a hunt targeting a specific species in a specific area for a certain experience, pay our daily rates then see what else the bush provides.

Good luck on your hunt, whatever you decide enjoy your first hunt in Africa. We only get 1 First Trip, First Kudu, First Buffalo, etc.

 

[LivingTheDream]

I hunt birds, if there is no bird hunting I change flights and go home.

One trip I did just sit by a fire, drink coffee and read books for an entire day. It was really nice.

 

[hseII]

We were sitting in camp after lunch about 1 month ago...end of the hunt...and the PH says do you think you could hit that baboon down there...it was over 300 meters and he brought a suppressed rifle over and I killed the baboon...then we took it over to the lake and fed the crocs and videoed it. That was really interesting and cost me nothing.

Wait?,
So you traveled to Africa with your can?

 

[Green Chile]

No I used a camp suppressed gun for that shot. I had never shot it before but I dry fired a few times and my PH told me the ballistics as I ranged the distance. You only get 1 shot on baboons.

You can travel to Africa with your legal suppressor. It's a common thing.

 

[migrabill]

I was in RSA on a 10 day hunt. After 6 days I had 8 animals down (there were 7 on my original list). Day 7 we went to Pilanesburg Park and day 8 we had a “souvenir day” in town. Both days were enjoyable and got me out of accumulating a much bigger bill. I ended up getting 10 animals.

 

[Hunt anything]

@jimbo1972 , is that the Shrimp Basket on the Kowi River in Port Alfred? Or the pizza place down towards the ocean? Both places are fabulous!

Who did you hunt with?

 

[deewayne2003]

In Zimbabwe this July I put my tuskless down on day 3, then spent day 4 watching the butchering process which was fascinating.

Pressure off and back to having fun, spent 3 days fishing and happened upon an excellent bush buck and impala.

Dumping buckets of blood into crocodile infested water to attract catfish was interesting.

Never any pressure to shoot more and couldn’t have asked for a better first trip.

 

[V.Veritas]

It depends on where you are. I always have something to hunt for even if it is just a bigger kudu. In the Eastern Cape where I hunt there are many side trips to be had that are not too far away.
Never feel obligated to keep shooting if it's not your plan.

@Philip - would you mind listing some of the side trips you recommend in the Easter Cape? I might find your list useful next year.
Thanks.

 

[Rare Breed]

always budget for a bit more than your anticipated package will cost.. that way if a target of opportunity comes up, or if you tag out early, you have options.. .

depending on the year we've done different things... sometimes we just keep hunting (budgeted money is still available and we dont want to just sit in camp).. sometimes we'll do an additional excursion or two (theres always a "sanctuary" of some sort nearby (close to where we hunt there is an elephant sanctuary and a primate sanctuary).. or we'll hit Pilanesberg National Park for a day.. etc.. or just go to the nearest city and do some shopping or have a nice meal in town, etc.. sometimes we'll focus on low cost - nuisance type animals that are not just fun to hunt, but also help out the outfitter.. we'll spend an afternoon hanging around camp resting so that we can go out all night to jackal hunt.. etc..

This is good advise. I took two 7 day safari’s last year. The first to Windshoek was for my Rhino. After I took him I decided to continue hunting and took three nice cull animals that were exciting to hunt then a trophy blue wildebeest The key was my bringing some extra funds in case I both had time after my primary animal and opportunity animals

 

[Pablo]

I took all my animals and had two days left back in July. Our PH took my wife and I to Marakele National Park and toured it one day. We really enjoyed that. The last day we went hiking on a neighboring ranch to see a native cliff shelter and a big cat refuge. It was a change of pace and very relaxing. Even our PH enjoyed it.
I would do a trip to Vic Falls and go fishing on my next hunt.
Best of luck!

 

[npm352]

Just do what Cam Hanes says to do:

 

[HTK Safaris]

I think most of the comments go into the direction of going out and tag some more animals whether it's trophies or cull animals or predator control. In my personal opinion I would hate it to sit without options. We have a few solutions for our clients regarding this problem:

Things to do while in Camp:
-Continue hunting if you have a budget left
-Cull hunting if you have a smaller budget (there will always be some meat needed in villages close by)
-Bird Hunting and Predator Hunting
-Spa day in camp to get you ready for the long flight back
-Relaxing Game Drives with Sundowners
-Bush Lunch/Dinner to spend a little bit more time out
-Visit the local village and hand out some meat to the people
-Spend a day in camp relaxing
-Join some of the other hunters on their hunting vehicle

On your way to the airport: (maybe leave a day or 2 earlier)
-Elephant Sanctuary Hartbeespoort
-Lion and Safari Park
-Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre
-Chameleon Village Shopping Centre
-Kimberley Diamond Tour
-Day trip to Pilansberg Game Reserve
-Day out shopping for the ladies

Add on if you have a lot of time left: (if there is availability on short notice)
-3 Night Kruger National Park
-3 Night Cape Town Wine Tour
-2 Nights Madikwe Game Reserve
-2 Night Tswalu Game Reserve
-3 Nigths Camping Mabuasehube Botswana

 

[Philip Glass]

@Philip - would you mind listing some of the side trips you recommend in the Easter Cape? I might find your list useful next year.
Thanks.

My folks will often tour Addo Elephant Park and Pumba Game reserve. Some have gone deep sea fishing from Port Elizabeth as well.

 

[HerbJohnson]

Good suggestion from a world of experience. Thank you ALL for your input. Safari!!