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Strategy behind multi-million Rand kudu price tag

───   SABRINA DEAN 15:03 Thu, 17 Sep 2015

Strategy behind multi-million Rand kudu price tag | News Article

Bloemfontein - One of three game farmers in a consortium that recently paid a record R9,4-million for a 12-year-old kudu bull says the purchase is part of a strategy aimed at catering international hunting trends.

Cattle and game farmer Louis van der Watt, who is also CEO of the Atterbury Group, says there are clear comparisons to be drawn between buck species like kudu versus sable antelope. 

He says if you look at the wants of international hunters, kudus are generally first or second on the list:

“A sable antelope is generally not as high on the list of what they want to shoot as a kudu. Kudus are almost always in first or second place, it’s either kudus or buffaloes.

“I’ve heard that US hunters are paying up to $25 000 for a kudu bull with horns of 60 inches or more, that’s more than R400 000. Now if a guy is willing to pay R10-million for a sable antelope and there are already 25 of them in the country, why would someone not be willing to pay the same price for the top one or two kudu bulls in the country, especially if you know that his progeny could be worth shot for more than a sable antelope would fetch.” *Louis van der Watt

According to Bloomberg, Van der Watt and his partners, Piet du Toit and Beyers Gerber, purchased the kudu bull Hercules, with horns in excess of 1,7m long, from Dries Visser. This was during the Trophy Breeders Auction in Thabazimbi at the weekend. 

Van der Watt says they are confident of at least three years of good breeding from the huge bull due to the fact that he has been so well cared for in the past.

 

Sabrina Dean/OFM News


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