quickshot

Your story has familiar ring to it. Could you tell us the operator or at least the country?

Mark

Good topic, forgive me for being verbose...

On my first trip to South Africa, my son (who was then 11) and I stayed in two different camps. At the first camp there was a husband/wife team and the wife drank all day, she was so pissed by dinner that she couldn't talk. She also shot the camp warthog, which I thought was in real poor taste but the PH was afraid to take her out. At the 2nd location, which was the outfitters home, the outfitter/PH was a drunkard. Never ate, just drank rum, and got quite rude come dinner and in the evenings. Luckily the PH on both hunts was good, as were the areas (large, one a National Park), and trophies nice. Learned a LOT, and would ABSOLUTELY do it differently knowing what I know now (this was all pre-AR for me). And no, the outfitter was never mentioned on the forum.

Since then, had some good experiences and some okay. Spent 10-days sharing a camp w/a real nice (and found out quite wealthy) German banker and his wife in the Caprivi. One guy in Chewore kept asking me "Why would you want to shoot an elephant without any tusks?". But at the same camp, I met a guy and his wife from BC and we are in touch all the time, and I had terrible sinus pain (allergic to something there early season) and if it were not for the wives who brought meds and "mothered" me, the trip might have been a disaster.

In Zambia, I shared camp for 3-days with three guys who were staying for a few days in a camp that was being renovated, and although I had exclusivity, I made my PH bring them to the main camp. They were good guys individually, but together they acted like they were still brothers at some frat-house, that was no fun as I was hunting solo and the odd-man out. In Sapi with my two sons we had an exclusive camp, but not far away the guys from Surefire and Gander Mountain were there, plus Craig B and his daughter, all of which made for an interesting and enjoyable time.

And in every case, I enjoyed the time spent with the other PH's, and met some good guys who I would not mind hunting with. In fact, in 4-weeks I will be hunting w/a PH (Brian Van Blerk) who I met in Chewore last year.

So I prefer camp exclusivity, but with a better-class operation I would worry less about the client but ALWAYS talk with the outfitter/PH about "compatibility" if there was no choice but to share a camp. And having availability of a fly camp as a Plan-B is not a bad idea either. Of course with a "suitcase/migratory PH" - one does not usually have this luxury.

The other aspect is the hunting itself, and insuring that both parties have equal access to "good" hunting and the PH's communicate so that one party does not run into the other while in the bush, especially when on a tracking hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
quickshot

Your story has familiar ring to it. Could you tell us the operator or at least the country?

Mark

It was RSA inMay of 2002
don't want to mention names --the guilty and the lucky might not like that Ha-ha ahaha

I was 3 times hunting in Africa, every time with my cousin and we never have exclusivity.

All considered, it’s not necessarely a nuisance meeting other hunters. We had the opportunities of meeting any kind of bands of hunters from a couple of countries.

The worst were Millionaires french drunkards, not because they were drunkards (we got rid of them very early in the day) but because they can offer themselves whatever they want and without bragging have hunted what we never will hunt.

The most pitiful were Austrians abandonned by their PH ; we felt obliged to entertain them for we were the only ones speaking German, simple mercy.

We met grumblers unable to hunt correctly and blaming the PH, the outfitter and the whole world…but not themselves.

In fact my cousin and me are easy going guys, unreservedly sosialising. What we couldn’t stand are bad manners with ladies, in the bar room and when eating. Anyhow we let the idiots in their world, and we don’t give a damn to whoever if necessary …..as long as we don’t have to hunt with him. The camp is the camp, the field is our field.

I was warned not to share a camp with any cat hunters as they tend to get "better" treatment due to the prey and price they are paying. Not sure if this is real or not, but was told that by a guy who has been there a lot.

Vinny,

You aren't wrong, maybe excessive but not wrong.
It's not always the case but I think it's frequent.
As a cat is a rare game, often hard to corner, usually the cat's area is for the only use of the cat hunter. Moreover, if baits are used, baiting should be processed every morning, preferably by the cat hunter himself.
I observed last year that an animal might be more valued than cats.
A giant (I mean Giant, over 9 feet) black-maned lion was roaming in a determinated area. No way to hunt this place for it's a bongo place.
Moral : this year I'll hunt the Bongo.