I hope most of you true disciples of Africana watched the Harry Selby interview on "Under Wild Skies-Africa" this morning. If not, there is a reprint in Sporting Classics magazine last month. I was amazed at how old Harry is. I guess in my mind's eye I will always see him as the mid-20s PH in Robert Ruark's books. He said he was a PH in East Africa and Botswana for 50 seasons.

Which leads me to my question: Who do you think is deserving of the title "Greatest PH of All Time" or even your "Top 5"?

I look back on a few to mention..JH Hunter,
Gordon Cundill, Capstick are but a few whom I have read about...Do we want just PH's??? Capstick left us with a wealth of great stories from his time...

Mike

Unless you actually have the chance to hunt with a particular PH, you never really get to know them.

I'm not going to hazzard a guess as to who the actual best PHs of all-time are, but here's a few I wish I COULD have hunted with or would STILL like to hunt with, but haven't yet.

1) Harry Selby

2) John Blacklaws

3) Fred Bartlett

4) Harry Manners

5) Robin Hurt

6) Don Ker

7) Jeff Rann

8) Tony Sanchez-Arinio

9) Bunny Allen

10) John Northcoat

AD

My goodness, Allen, what a stunning coincidence!



I happen to have back to back 21 Day hunts booked, over the next 5 seasons, with all 10 of your listed PH's ... in that exact order!!

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.

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I can dream .. can't I? (yes, Bunny is gone now)

Bwanarm,

I also think that if you have not hunted with a guy you don't really know him or if he would be a good fit for you personally. I did a 28 day safari recently with a PH that was probably the hardest working guy in Africa and a talented hunter but we didn't have alot of fun with him. He just was not a good fit for Sadie and I.

I have hunted with 2 PH's that I would call great. One guy you may never have heard of is Arthur Taylor in Zambia. We throughly enjoyed both a 21 and 34 day safari with him. We got our game and laughed everyday. Another guy that I only did a photo safari with but mostly does hunting is Joe Coogan. You may know him from his writing. He apprenticed under Harry Selby. I can only hope at some time I can hunt with him.

Regards,

Mark

What makes a Great PH? Is it longevitiy, haveing a famous client, being a good author? Or is it living for 50 years as a PH and having men tell stories about you.

I vote for Eric Stockenstroom, Norman Dean, Bob Langenveld, Muhammed Igbal, John Knowles. How many ae there anyway?

This reminds me of a saying that, "Not All of the Great Elephant Hunters were English but all of the Great Elephant Hunting Writers were."

Would we have ever heard of William Dalyrimple Maitland Bell if he hadn't written a couple of books on his life? What if he had written them in Portuguese or Africaans? What if he couldn't write at all and was an Arab slave?

Good points, Mickey.

Mark, Yes .. Joe Coogan! A good writer, indeed. Didn't know he was a PH. I'm sending email.

There is young PH in RSA who is a real joy to hunt with, Graham Sales. He is so intense and gives everything he has to get what you want. I missed a big bull Gemsbok on our first hunt and I was the one to calm HIM down and tell him it was okay...he finally smiled and said: "Let's go get a bigger one." I just reminded him that I was the one paying and why was he getting so bummed out...we finally had a good laugh and a great 7 days of hunting together. It's attitude and commitment that I appreciate.

Mark,
I agree that it is hard to make assumptions about PH's whom you've never hunted with. Most of them I will never hunt with because of the fact they are gone to the great hunting fields in the sky or not in the safari business any more. Doesn't mean we can't compile a list of those we would like to hunt or even sit around a fire with. My "Top 5 Old School" would be:
1. Phillip Percival - Imagine questioning him about the TR and Hemingway Safaris and what Africa was like in the good ol' days.
2. Charles Cottar - What a tough old boot he must have been!
3. Syd Downey - I think he hunted the Masai Mara way back when...imagine the quality and quantity of game!
4. Wally Johnson and Harry Manners - I listed these two together because they hunted Mozambique back when she was great hunting country and a beautiful destination to visit as a Portuguese colony.
5. Harry Selby - He just has to be on the list. Imagine his stories around the fire on a brisk Botswana evening!

"Top 5 New School" PH's
1. Robin Hurt - One of the reigning deans of the Safari world still in business.
2. Johan Calitz - Oh man to hunt big tuskers with him with plenty of time and money!
3. Lou Hallamore - Let's hunt cats!
4. Ronnie Blackbeard and Gerard Miller - a tie with these two guys, both great hunters and they know buffalo!
5. Mark Sullivan - Come on...all you guys really want to see this for yourself, don't you!

Well there is my list....greatest, maybe. Maybe not. But I'm sure each one of these guys would be a true experience and adventure! l

In order to judge the quality of a PH I think it should be first hand knowledge. Everythng in print is not true. The best PH I have ever hunted with was Paul Huggins. He knew "where the animals lived". He liked animals more than most people and if he liked you, your safari was amazing.

Randy

Randy

You bring up a common thread among the great PH's, their love of animals. Something the PETA people would not be able to understand. If you dont love and respect the animals you are hunting you should not be hunting. Phillip Percival and his "aprentice" Harry Selby had that love and in my mind should be at the top of the list even though I never had the privledge to hunt with them.

CFA

The only PH I have hunted with has been Claude Kleynhans of Mafigeni Safaris

A great fellow to hunt with. As honest as they come!



If you come away from your hunt and your PH doesn't seem like his is part of your extended family, then something went wrong!



I'll be glad to hunt the long grass with Claude or Jill Kleynhans, any day!

Bwanarm,

I agree it would be great fun to share a camp with some of the old and present day "Greats". Just imagine the education you could get.

actually this August I will be hunting with Calitz's outfit and perhaps I will get to speak with him. Joe Coogan had alot of nice things to say about Harry Selby. I hunted this past year with a PH that shared a camp with Sullivan for 3 months. He has a great deal of respect for him and thinks the stories of unethical behavior are grossly inflated.

Regards,

Mark

Mark,
I think everyone but Allen and a few others took this one too literally. There are and have been thousands of Professional Hunters operating on the Dark Continent. Some got more press than they deserved, some who could be great still toil in obscurity! But, if you have read the classics on Africana, who would you most want to hunt with? Sky is the limit! And even if you don't read and want to put in your two cents worth, feel free.

Don't know how you guys could have left out George Hoffman. A true gentleman, great hunter, and rifle nut. I would have really liked to have hunted with him.
Ralph

PS - Could it be that he sometimes used a Remington?

Any one hunted with John Sharpe? Bob

I have hunted with Mr. John Sharp, and in my opinion, he is truly a great PH who I hope to hunt with again in the near future.

I deliberately tried to avoid listing any PH that I've hunted with personally, because it's too easy to get into a "my PH is better than YOUR PH" discussion, which would be a pointless direction to go with this thread, I think.

AD

My favorites that I have hunted with are Mark De Wet and Gary Tonks. I have hunted with other PH's and would not list them here. Gary's dad was Lou Tonks a well known PH in the Eastern Cape. All of the above have been written about in favorable terms. There are many old guys I would love to meet if not hunt with.

I can only really speak from the PH guys that I have hunted with ... John Coleman of South Africa ...Experience, skill, laughter ... the only chap that I would go after a wounded lion with .. and expect to walk away later ...

I think Finn Aagaard should be part of any list of great PHs, in part because he could write so well about it.

.........Maybe!

AD

My favorite PH is the one I'm hunting with next.

My second favorite PH is the one I had the best time with in a previous hunt.

Speaking of Bunny Allan what about a safari with him and Bror Blixen? What a grand time that would be with two of the all time best. (According to Great Africana Literature)

richardpowell,

You named John Coleman, I had the pleasure of "apprenticing" (more like following) with him for a year, this man knows Leopards and Lions. I speak under correction though I seem to remember Jeff Rann learning a thing or two from John. John is originaly from Zimbabwe and was a control officer before becomming a ph. He hunted, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa over 3 decades.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Fred Bartlett in the mid nineties, in camp, a true gentleman though there were too many people around to get a one on one chat with him that we were all bustling for.

What about Regie Destro, George Harrington and... and...?

Vaughn,

I'll bet that hunting with Coleman for a year was INTERESTING. When I first hunted with him in '77 he had just moved up from Rhodesia and I may or may not have been his first client in South Africa. Certainly among the first. In fact I did kill both a leopard on one safari and a lion on another .. I keep in touch with members of his family .. and occasionally I hear from Win ... The man appears to have slowed down a bit .. 'Course he must be around 70. I had tea with his Mum and sister in White River in 2002. I'd like to hear more about your experiences with the man ... He should write a book .. All those guys should write a book, actually !!!

Needless to say I would pick my old buddy George Hoffman, not to say that Mark Selby, Harry Selby, Harry Manors, weren't in the running... Todays young bunch would include Pierre van Tonder,Alan Vicent and a host of others..

Like asking what is the best all around caliber for big game...

One PH of the old school was Willie Englebrecht in Botswana. I never hunted with him but we did have the chance to break bread in the bush. Willie is gone now, but he was memorable character.
Younger PHs that I think highly of are: Glenn Munger, Clive Eaton and Chris Dandridge all Of whom work with Mark Kyriacou in Botswana. Mark himself goes back a ways.

richardpowell,

You probably remember John's funny arm (not straight) from a wounded Lioness (rancher shot it) that he had to follow up on when doing control work...and when following up it mauled him and how his dog saved him from a serious if not fatal situation.

Soon after I had met John, I was tagging along on a Leopard hunt and a couple of days into the hunt after dinner he called me aside. Now John is not a big man and he was also a little past his prime but he let me know in no uncertain terms that if he wanted my opinion he would ask for it. It was a little heated and I was in my early twenties (full of piss and vinegar) and lacking experience. I could probably have taken him on but the old boy and I say that respectfully, let me know that it would not be a quick n easy story. I did not press it further and needless to say John's hunter did go on to shoot a good Tom (without my "advice"). From then I learnt to look and learn.

Ha! I do remember that crooked arm .. He showed it to me .. he was doing a bit of bow shooting back then, and laughed as he pointed out that the string wouldn't hit his arm 'cause of the bend... One time he had a tracker that took a rand for an evening out .. went on a bender that lasted for days .. and wasn't around when the cat needed to be skinned ...!!! We had to restrain a livid PH when the varmint slunk back .. Ha! Ha! John was never one to back down from a scrap .. nor was he in any mood to allow anyone to treat him poorly ... I consider him to be larger than life .. a fantastic PH ... and I wouldn't have messed with the dude with my .375 ... I suspect that you chose ... wisely ...

If the PH is worth anything at all he will be carrying a 45-70.

If not he's just a guide.
C

Now I know you are full of shit!

Mike