Can someone make "trophy fees" make sense to me?

[sea trout]

I hope y'all are doin great!
My Son and I were talkin bout the idea of a Wyoming elk hunt in 4 or 5 years together. Recently that idea has shifted to discussion of New Zealand red stag hunt instead. (IDK if it'll happen but we're researchin it).
So naturally the kind of anxious guy I am I have to start researchin New Zealand red stag outfitters right away. It looks awesome!
It appears that MOST, ( close to all!), of the outfitters down there charge different prices for red stags with different rack scores. I saw a little of that when I was researchin for my 1st elk hunt in 2015 but it was only a few outfitters and easily avoided as I picked a great outfit that hunts wild elk in the Thorofare with no trophy fees. My guide and I just tried to get a big one.
So I'm not educated about these trophy fees, and the thought of it right now just doesn't sit right with me for some reason. How can they put a price on a wild animal for it's size? Why can't the outfit and guide and you work harder to try to get a big one, or maybe get lucky and get a big one?
So does thophy fee's make sense to any of y'all? Do any of y'all see a positive benifit in trophy fee's? Any of y'all hunted New Zealand red deer?
Thanks for any answers!!!!!

 

[NCMTNHunter]

I think what you are seeing is high fence operations. When an outfit is charging by the inch it’s pretty much always high fence. There are a few free range stag operations in New Zealand but those stag don’t look like the ones you see on TV. Think Georgia bucks vs 250” high fence bucks here in the states. Those giants you see on TV shows are fenced deer.

Another time you will see trophy fees are hunts where you have a target species you are hunting and other critters you might kill along the way. So you pay one price for your target species hunt then a trophy fee for each additional animal.

 

[deers2ward]

I'm not familiar with the intricacies of new zealands hunting industry, but I think "trophy fee" has a wide spectrum of definitions across different types of hunts, outfitters, and geographic locations.

1 example is listed above...simply means you killed a species you didn't book the hunt for (ie: you paid x dollars for a 6 day elk hunt and after killing your elk, you continued to hunt and use the outfitters services and shot a mule deer in addition. These costs are laid out clearly when booking the hunt as you also have to get the appropriate licenses.

If I am managing a big ranch in TX and I have 3 monster bucks and a handful of decent shooters, it might make sense to charge everyone the same amount to come hunt a buck, with the understanding that if they kill one of the 3 monsters they have to pay a trophy fee of $3k.

I've seen places in FL that charge $150 to kill any hog under 200#, anything over that you pay Xtra for. That Xtra is a trophy fee.

Anywhere where a resource is limited, I think it is smart to get more money from the guy who kills your biggest asset that took 5 years to grow, than from the guy who shot something you have 20 more of that take 3 yrs. After all, they are running a business.

You wouldn't see it on public land hunts in the US like in the Thoroughfare because the outfitters have no ability to manage the resource other than the number of hunters they take each year.

I'd guess it is possible in foreign countries they might do it on public land though, just because in their eyes you are a rich American traveling overseas to hunt. Got to call these outfitters and ask them a bunch of questions to make sense of it, or not and move on to another one.

 

[jiminbogart]

Supply and demand. Everyone wants those big horns. They are an asset. He who strokes the biggest check gets the biggest horns.

Raise the trophy fee high enough that folks will shoot smaller animals and leave the big animals for the guys who don't mind writing the bigger check.

 

[Robust Redhorse]

In Africa, the "trophy fee" is the price you pay when you actually shoot a big game animal.

In South Africa, the trophy fee would usually be split between the outfitter and the landowner.

In countries where you are hunting government-owned land, it is split between the government and the outfitter.

 

[Ray357]

I hope y'all are doin great!
My Son and I were talkin bout the idea of a Wyoming elk hunt in 4 or 5 years together. Recently that idea has shifted to discussion of New Zealand red stag hunt instead. (IDK if it'll happen but we're researchin it).
So naturally the kind of anxious guy I am I have to start researchin New Zealand red stag outfitters right away. It looks awesome!
It appears that MOST, ( close to all!), of the outfitters down there charge different prices for red stags with different rack scores. I saw a little of that when I was researchin for my 1st elk hunt in 2015 but it was only a few outfitters and easily avoided as I picked a great outfit that hunts wild elk in the Thorofare with no trophy fees. My guide and I just tried to get a big one.
So I'm not educated about these trophy fees, and the thought of it right now just doesn't sit right with me for some reason. How can they put a price on a wild animal for it's size? Why can't the outfit and guide and you work harder to try to get a big one, or maybe get lucky and get a big one?
So does thophy fee's make sense to any of y'all? Do any of y'all see a positive benifit in trophy fee's? Any of y'all hunted New Zealand red deer?
Thanks for any answers!!!!!

That's not hunting. That's shopping. Nothing wrong with it I guess, but that's what it is.

 

[deers2ward]

That's not hunting. That's shopping. Nothing wrong with it I guess, but that's what it is.

In a high fence operation maybe. But on free range animals there are no guarantees. Just cause you bring your checkbook doesn't mean you are going to get an opportunity.

I have looked at some Ibex hunts in Spain and many seem to have rates based on SCI scores as well. It is a turn off for sure, but if you do even a small amount of research you would know these are very physical hunts in very high elevation rugged terrain. Pretty much the opposite of sitting in a deer stand and waiting on something to walk by...

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

A New zealand red stag is my dream deer over moose elk caribou or any African safari hunt. I doubt I make it there because of all those fees but if I went I don’t believe I would regret it.
I say go for it but call jim shockey to shoot you straight.

 

[TJay]

In New Zealand they use an SCI "medal" scoring system where a medal such as Bronze medal equates to size or range of sizes. Outfitters charge you a basic fee for the hunt and then charge you accordingly for a Gold medal stag, Silver medal stag etc. At least I think that's how it works. It would be a cool hunt but expensive for sure. Just getting there and back and the cost of shipping your trophy back to the US not to mention the whole scoring system thing. A friend of mine looked into a Bronze medal hunt tax guts feathers the whole shooting match was about $16,000 grand and he was planning a pretty bare bones hunt. I think it would pretty easy to spend 20k on a trip like that.

 

[buckmanmike]

If you question the situation and still uncomfortable after research, go with what feels right.

 

[huntfish]

New Zealand hunts are not high fenced. As stated above, they use the SCI system and charge accordingly to the size. They are physically demanding especially Tahr or Chamois. Some areas have elk also. Shipping a European mount of stag and elk back to Atlanta cost my dad $1700. Guide made a mistake judging stag so dad got a Gold Medal at a reduced price. Stag hunt and an additional elk ($2,000) ended up in the $10,000 range for the hunt alone.

 

[across the river]

I hope y'all are doin great!
My Son and I were talkin bout the idea of a Wyoming elk hunt in 4 or 5 years together. Recently that idea has shifted to discussion of New Zealand red stag hunt instead. (IDK if it'll happen but we're researchin it).
So naturally the kind of anxious guy I am I have to start researchin New Zealand red stag outfitters right away. It looks awesome!
It appears that MOST, ( close to all!), of the outfitters down there charge different prices for red stags with different rack scores. I saw a little of that when I was researchin for my 1st elk hunt in 2015 but it was only a few outfitters and easily avoided as I picked a great outfit that hunts wild elk in the Thorofare with no trophy fees. My guide and I just tried to get a big one.
So I'm not educated about these trophy fees, and the thought of it right now just doesn't sit right with me for some reason. How can they put a price on a wild animal for it's size? Why can't the outfit and guide and you work harder to try to get a big one, or maybe get lucky and get a big one?
So does thophy fee's make sense to any of y'all? Do any of y'all see a positive benifit in trophy fee's? Any of y'all hunted New Zealand red deer?
Thanks for any answers!!!!!

I have never been to New Zealand, but even the free range ranches in Texas have similar pricing for the most part. In most of these places you will see more deer, or in your case stags, than you could imagine. They are in the business to make money obviously, and
to manage the property for the long haul. In order manage the property, and maximize profits, they almost have to do it like that. There are only so many “world class” deer (or stags)on a place. If a place charged the same for a 120” mature deer that they did for. 160+, then you get all of the 160” plus deer shot along with the young 140” deer that really has potential to be something. If you instead charge less for the 120 or 130 “cull” buck that you have a bunch of, than you do the 160” deer you have fewer of, you can plan harvest numbers ahead of time, book hunts, and manage accordingly. As someone mentioned above, it is supply and demand. They charge more for the bigger stags that they have fewer of and less for the smaller stags they have more of to skew the demand toward the smaller stags they need to harvest more of. The same reason a management hunt is cheaper in Texas than a trophy hunt, even though the management deer is a trophy to a lot of people. This allows them to manage their place, while still making money on the smaller animals they have more of to remove. I think you go for the experience understanding that you aren't climbing up a tree on your place in Georgia and knowing in won’t be “hunting” like it is here. I don’t have an issue with charging more for the bigger stags because it is a business and it allows them to manage their property as they see fit. It’s not high fence, or shooting fish in the barrel or anything like that, so I wouldn’t take it as shooting a deer in a pen. I would take it as going for the experience and balance how big of a stag and how much I want
to pay against each other. If you have never been to Texas to hunt, I would say a “management” hunt for a 120” cull buck is worth it just for the experience, but you have to go in knowing that if a 180” deer walks out you just get to watch it. If you go with the lower priced stag, you may likely see one you can’t shoot( unless they have you card on file?) but you have to be ok with that going in and understand why they are doing it that way on their end to begin with.

 

[LTFDretired]

I would not want to travel that far to hunt in a fenced in zoo. Enjoy if you want to try and can afford it.

 

[Robust Redhorse]

Have a look at various "fundraisers" such as SCI dinners, Wild Turkey Foundation conventions, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Wild Sheep Foundation, Pope & Young, Boone & Crockett, etc.


In 2007, me and my best friend scored a 7-day safari to South Africa that included 4 "trophy fees" for a total of $700 at the Greater Atlanta Chapter of SCI annual fundraising dinner.

(Now we ended up shooting everything in sight after we got there and paying trophy fees, which is exactly what the outfitters wants you to do, but it was absolutely the best trip of any kind I have ever been on)


You don't even have to be there in person anymore:
https://www.onlinehuntingauctions.com/auctionlist.aspx



Do your research, so you understand as much as you can about the hunt you are bidding on, but sometimes these donated auctioned hunts can be fantastic!

Mine was.