At some stage donation hunts were very popular with outfitters. But that was during a better economic climate. The outfitter would donate a 5-7 day hunt with a few animals thrown into the pot. As a rule the buyer of the donation hunt would upgrade to 10-14 days, and hunt a few more animals not included in the package. This was great for the outfitter as they had the chance to hunt with new clients and at the very least break even on the hunt. If the upgrade was substantial, he even made money out of the deal.
This has now all changed. An outfitter who used to donate a lot of hunts to SCI, Dallas & Houston did so again in 2009. In total he donated 8 hunts for the year. During five of the hunts he made huge losses as the buyers of the donation hunts only hunted what was in the package. There were no upgrades at all.
With 2 donation hunts he almost broke even as there was a little bit of an upgrade. On only one of these donation hunts did he actually make some money. Overall he is still at a huge loss due to these donations. Some of the hunting organizations in the USA actually require an outfitter to donate a hunt or hunts before he is allowed to exhibit. This outfitter has now cancelled all his exhibition spaces at USA shows. He is using his client base to do so-called “house parties”, and is donating a hunt to the host of the party.
“House parties” offer better opportunities than the big shows. Although big shows have huge numbers of visitors passing through, the negative is that every outfitter is competing with huge numbers of outfitters. At a “house party” he is the only outfitter, giving him a better chance on success. The cost of big shows is also massive, placing the outfitter in a predicament if he does not do well at these shows. “House parties” is a cheaper option. The outfitter gets the opportunity to interact on a more personal level with prospective clients, and get to treat them, giving prospective clients more of an insight to what kind of person the outfitter is. In all cases the host has either hunted with the outfitter before, or knows him very well, providing prospective clients with the opportunity to get a one-on-one feedback with regards to the outfitter.
Big shows can cost between USD60,000 and USD100,000 (in total – not each one) if an outfitter attend at least the most important five or six of them. For USD30,000 the outfitter can do 30 “house parties” with average 20 clients at every party.
During the good financial times it might have been lucrative to attend the big shows. This no longer is the case. The outfitter in question booked only 2 hunts in total at Reno, Dallas & Houston for 2009, apart from the 8 donation hunts. He booked 12 hunts during 5 “house parties” while he was in the States.
I fully understand that SCI, Dallas & Houston need to top up on their funds in order to serve their members, and therefore donation hunts has become very important to them. However, one also needs to consider the other side of the coin. No outfitter is in the hunting industry for charity alone. Most (I hope) love what they do, but they are also in this industry to make money. And if that benefit is not forthcoming from exhibiting at the big shows, then attendance/exhibiting must surely be reconsidered.
Personally I think that “house parties” is the way to go. The benefits outweigh those offered by the big shows by far at this point.
