Hunting

So at the meeting I had last Saturday regarding my Africa trip, I heard a few things about the game farm we will be staying at. First off, it's 3000 acres and by the looks of it, rather dry and barren. The most interesting thing I learned, was that there is a price for each of the animals you may want to hunt. I guess I just assumed that you went hunting and shot whatever you found or whatever was in season, like in the US. Not the case. It appears you choose what you want to hunt, per this price list, and then set out to hunt that particular animal. I'm not sure if you get a refund if you don't get the kill, but I'm guessing not. I'll find out for sure when I go, because I'm very curious. Here are a few samples of animals and costs:

Sable (looks like a mink) $15,000
Giraffe $3,500
Zebra $1,000
Ostrich $500
Wildebeest $850
Nyala (looks like a cross between a deer and a yak) $2,500
Jackal $50
Porcupine $50

You can see that the jackal and the porcupine get no respect. I mean, come on, a porcupine can be dangerous, can't it? I know I wouldn't mess with one. I was surprised that you could even hunt some of the animals you can. Wildebeest, sure, their ugly and by the looks of the Discovery videos I've seen, plentiful, but Zebras? I never would have though of hunting, basically, a pony. There are a bunch of other animals on the list, most of which I've never heard of and would have to look up so I could tell you what they were and to be honest, not that interested in writing "some sort of deer" after 20 different animals. I did mean to mention the warthog was $300, which seemed about right, but I'd love to know how they came up with the other prices. The park we stay at doesn't have all of the big 5, which is Cape Buffalo, Lion, Elephant, Cheetah, and Rhino (not going to try to spell the whole name). They do have Cape Buffalo, but I don't think you can hunt them there, you'd have to go to a park right next to where we stay. There, you can hunt a lion, which, again, I didn't know you could do. You can also hunt a Cape Buffalo there as well, but I'm not sure about the rest of the 5. There are a bunch of other "fees" for the hunt, but the animal prices interested me the most. I'd like to think that we could do the same thing in the US, here is my suggestion:

Deer $1,000 (because so many people like to hunt them and maybe we could cut some of the budget deficit this way. It would probably just drive the deer population higher than it all ready is, which is way to high in Iowa, so maybe the cost should be adjusted)

Crow $.05 (I know, they have a purpose, but I'm sure a zebra does as well and they shoot them. Plus, I bet there are a shit load more crows than zebras)

Neighbors cat who shits in your kids sandbox. We pay you $50 (nuff said)

I'd say raccoon, skunk or possum, but it appears there is a lot of poaching here in Iowa, because they are all over the road and I'm not sure the population could handle a hunt.

I'm not a hunter, so I'll leave that to those that enjoy that. I will try to find out what it cost to hunt a lion, because that price would interest me the most.