A lot of good points already brought to the table by others. What some hunters, including myself on occasion get ourselves in a disappointing situation is we always look for the bargain. Granted it's all in our nature, but one thing I have noticed over the 16 years I have been blessed to have been a part of this industry is that you get what you pay for in most cases. Sure on occasion you may save a few hundred dollars and take a nice animal. I have seen, and heard numerous clients that didn't get the service that was expected out of the "cheap" hunt and are now hunting with us to finally get that trophy they've been after. Great ranches and operations don't get to their stature by cutting corners within their operations. This can range from a various amount of things from Feed,Food plots, ranch equipment, lodge, UTV's, etc. But these hunts are the only thing that continues to rise.....just take a look at the common lease price to hunt these days. There's so many hunters that get run off annually because someone has came in behind them and offered the land owner more money.

Yes! Oil prices are creeping back up into the 60's. Great point, it'll be getting better for everybody.

Does this mean I can go up on the prices for my Ibex?

Creek Runner what you say of the Axis hunts there mirrors what we have down here in Aus and in NZ. Water Buffalo hunts are now around the $10k mark and sell at that rate no worries thanks to a lot of interest from American and European hunters. That puts them out of reach for most aussies like myself but what's annoying is that only 20 years ago my dad hunted them for a slab of beer. They were and still are considered a pest up there and it's just the self inflated market that has made them so expensive.

NZ is another story all together, I've seen deer farms and I mean deer farms as in 20 acre paddocks side by side and each with a massive red stag and a few hinds in them. While we were there the farmer had just sold one of the stags that was pushing mid 500"s to an outfitter that was picking him up to drop him off at his "free range hunting property" for a hunter arriving from America the next day. How they can justify that rationale I'll never know.

My own pricing rationale is value for money makes happy clients, and at the end of the day that's what it's about in my books.

Since Mrs. B seems to be doing all the shooting lately our needs have changed. Now it's a good bed, private bathroom, hot showers and good meal's all provided by the outfitter. Hate to say it but I'm kinda getting used to it myself. Do they charge for this service hell yea but it's a price I'm willing to pay. With our work schedules we want to be in comfort and enjoy, mainly I want her to enjoy. As far as prices on the animals it is what it is, some have more invested than others. I've seen some outfitters that don't even have the animal they're trying to sale on their property but it will be there by the time you get there, seen this on a place not too long ago. Client booked a big aoudad ram and and the outfitter went and got it and released it on a half section he had fenced. In talking to his guides this is not uncommon. As we were sitting around the fire that evening their phones kept going off with animals for sale from other ranches. These type outfits have a high turn over in critters and have the luxury of making quick cash with no long term investment. Other outfitters have far more time and money invested.

The live sale prices right now are crazy. Not sure how anyone is buying animals and making any $$ on hunts. There has to be some type of breaking point on these live market prices.

I dont fault the ranches for the prices out there right now, hell why would you sell an animal for less when you can get more? What annoys me is I did an oryx hunt, had a blast, said i want to do it again the next year...price went up 1k....so I did a whitetail hunt, had a blast, just looked it up and its 1k. more this year....I get it but I just dont get it, a thousand dollars?!?! I think the horns in the taxedermy catolog are looking purdy good!! Lol!

I seriously doubt that all outfitters went up a grand on Oryx. I know for sure I didn't on my Ibex and WT. If I did I would not sell any. Supply and demand sets the price. If the price gets to high nobody buys and the price goes down.