If one was looking to book a hunting safari through an agent; who are the most professional agents in the game? Agents that value discretion, client confidentiality and good old fashioned honour. And have access to Outfitters with the same values and whom hunt on premier concessions.

+1 Roger Whittall Safaris

I've used Mark Young and he was honest and up front with everything. Nothing unexpected came up. Went off smooth.

Nyae Nyae bull elephant raffle
https://www.tsumeb-gimnasium.c...hant-hunt-in-namibia

I have used Mark Young for three North American hunts and found him to be honest and knowledgeable about the outfitters and guides he represented. He and Sadie are very conscientious about things going smoothly. They were just as concerned about post hunt feedback as pre hunt prep.

Have only used one agent, John Barth. John and Merrona are very capable.

Adventure Unlimited

I've used John Burrell at the High Adventure Company since 2003 and have sent a pile of other clients his way, not an unhappy customer among us.

http://www.highadventurecompany.com

Jeff Neal.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Have only used one agent, John Barth. John and Merrona are very capable.

Adventure Unlimited

Agreed. I have been many hunts using AU. They have always been outstanding.

Tommy Morrison.
Jeff neal.
Mark young

I've only used one booking agent once, that was Mark Young. I had a very good experience.

Another solid vote for John Barth/Adventure Unlimited

I've used..

Mark Young
Jeff Neal
Wendell Reich
L. David Keith


All were good and provided what I wanted in a hunt.

I have used Greg Brownlee, Mark Young and John Barth.

We used Mark Young at Mark's Exclusive Adventures this year for our first trip to Africa. I'm very glad we did and have already booked another trip for 2019. Cannot imagine wading through all of that without his help and solid advice.

Mark Young

I have booked and hunted with Aaron Nielsen as well.

I consider them both great options.

As with both Mike Jines and Larry Shores, I EXCLUSIVELY use Adventure Unlimited.

I've had only two bad experiences hunting, one Tanzania and I used an outfitter from AR and the other, no comment... Neither were through John.

Many of you guys should give outfitters and agents OUTSIDE of AR a chance. The hunting universe is much larger than the guys that post here. You may be missing better hunting in better areas for less or the same money.

I would argue the "hunting universe" is rather small when you "exclusively" use one booking agent.

quote:

Originally posted by Heym 450/400:
I would argue the "hunting universe" is rather small when you "exclusively" use one booking agent.

That actually makes my point. Those that use John, understand.

But, use who you wish, go where you will. Zero skin off my nose.

Wendell Reich is the only booking agent I have used. One time. I was happy how he handled things.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by Heym 450/400:
I would argue the "hunting universe" is rather small when you "exclusively" use one booking agent.

That actually makes my point. Those that use John, understand.

But, use who you wish, go where you will. Zero skin off my nose.

Why don't you give us a sentence or two on why you believe John's service is above and beyond instead of pretending you're in a exclusive club. You do him no favors by acting like it's a secret only privy to his current clients. Maybe it will encourage someone looking for a hunt to contact him.

quote:

Originally posted by Heym 450/400:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by Heym 450/400:
I would argue the "hunting universe" is rather small when you "exclusively" use one booking agent.

That actually makes my point. Those that use John, understand.

But, use who you wish, go where you will. Zero skin off my nose.

Why don't you give us a sentence or two on why you believe John's service is above and beyond instead of pretending you're in a exclusive club. You do him no favors by acting like it's a secret only privy to his current clients. Maybe it will encourage someone looking for a hunt to contact him.

OK, I'll play. It's certainly no private or exclusive club.

I'll give you just two situations of MANY that has earned my loyalty.

One; In 2010, I started talking about a Bongo & LDE combo hunt with CAWA, in CAR. I wanted to go in 2011. John began communication with Erik Mararv immediately. John knew enough about my desires that he knew I had to hunt LDE during the rut, when their capes are long and black. That only occurs roughly late December-Mid January. (roughly) Also, Bongo need to be hunted during a full moon. I don't know why, but they do.

So, CAWA had nothing available, during a full moon, when the LDE capes would be prime. The first available was December 30th 2012.

Do you honesty know of another agent that would voluntarily forego their commission for more than a year, just to be sure that their client was in the field during for prime conditions of both species?

I don't.

Two;

I had a 21 day full bag Tanzania safari booked with Wayne Grant for mid-September-mid October, this year. I would just be getting home right now. I am fighting a terrible ligament injury from cycling overuse right now. The ligament is very painful to apply direct pressure to. It is in my upper-hamstring, lower Gluteus maximus area. I booked the safari over a year ago. I was working on getting better then, athletes have injuries all the time and we simply work through them and move along.

This one was very different, I was and still am possibly facing the end of a cycling career that has been 30 years. I'm not a pro but a pretty fast Masters class guy.

Anyway, the thought of sitting through the flights was daunting. I called John about four months ago and told him I didn't think I could do it.

He calmly said "Let me get in contact with Wayne" To make a really long story, really short, John pulled off, filling my spot with another client and moving my Safari till 2018, for no fees of any kind.

To give everyone their full due, Kathi also was able to move my tickets for just 700.00.

I was made whole by competent people. (So was Wayne Grant)

I have an incredible full mount LDE and Bongo because of John's diligence and knowledge of his game. I hunted with Mike Fell and shot the place up pretty good, killed everything on license.

More about John and CAR. He actually didn't even want to talk to me about it until 2010 because of the civil/ paramilitary/ government issues that flare up from time to time. He told me when the time was right and it was "As safe as CAR will ever be."

Its not a secret club, he's a normal guy who has a loyal clientele. He represents himself and his outfitters well. Many guys we all know the names of here, come and sit-work in John's booth at the shows. There are lots of agents who don't even have their own booths, they hang out at other guys booths.

So, those and MANY other situations are why I feel as I do.

I'll bet Larry can give you a hat-full of his reasons as well.

Regards,

Steve

Steve is right . John has helped me out so many times it is ridiculous. I won't repeat those stories. Rather, I will explain how I met John, became friends with John and became his first client.

John worked for another booking agent. I was a pretty big client. The agent sent John to accompany me on a deer hunt in south Texas. We hit it off instantly.

After a while , John started to confide in me about some of the things going on in the other agency that he was not at all comfortable with. John was correct. These were bad things. Totally unacceptable things. Prior to this, I had become suspicious of what was going on. I showed up on a couple of hunts where I had paid in full many months before departure. The outfitter didn't have my money. This was clearly a red flag. After John raised his concerns, I knew it was a problem.

After numerous discussions, John flew to Florida for a face to face. Things were so bad at the other agency that he felt he could no longer have his name associated with it. I pointed out to him that when it imploded, there was little doubt that they would blame John even though John had nothing to do with the things that were going on. I had already seen an indication of this.

John said he wanted to leave as he could not be associated with such activities. I told John that he had to leave. John asked if I could help him structure his business such that he would never get into the kind of trouble the other agency got into. I told him how to do it. It was quite easy.

John formed AU. I booked a trip to New Zealand as his first client.

Since then he has send me on who knows how many trips all over the world. I have total faith in John and Merrona. They will tell you the truth no matter what it does for their income.

When one travels all over the world to hunt, issues are bound to arise from time to time. John and Merrona have always been there for me, no matter what. Let me recite a few examples.

1- on numerous occasions, I have inquired about going to a particular place only to be given the true story on the area and or the operator. There is no telling how much time and money that this has saved me. Ultimately, he has been proved right every time.

2- when African politics beat up, he has often been able to get me a lot more information than is readily available to the general public as it relates to my hunt or potential hunt.

3- I have been in the middle of a hunt when the government closed things down. John was on it immediately. I lost less than a day.

4- when outfitters were going to jerk me around, John put an end to it immediately.

5- John has called me numerous times when there was a cancellation offering it to help out the other party for no fee. How many would do that?

I have to admit that it is fun to yank John's chain. For example, we were sitting in Maun having lunch after being picked up at the airport by the outfitter. I couldn't help myself. I sent John a text saying that I thought they were supposed to pick me up at the airport. He lost it briefly...until I started laughing.

Larry's story reminded me of how I found John.

In about 2002? heck can't even remember, My desire to hunt Africa went into overdrive. I had been 3-4 times but didn't have structure, didn't know the game and needed someone I trust to counsel me.

I had just joined SCI and sat at my desk one day. I began calling EVERY booking agent in Safari Times in the book, beginning on page one and just kept going.

I didn't even get to talk to many of them as they never returned my calls.

John answered, I shared my desires with him. He spent as much time with me as was needed. We figured out what I wanted to hunt together (cuz I didn't know much back then) and he developed a plan.

When it came to Lion, he gave ME CHOICES, Bootie Bothma, a time tested very successful pro and Alister Norton, a young PH fun loving and full of piss and vinegar. He gave me the pros and cons of TZ vs Zambia. I chose Alister.

As Larry says, To John and Merrona the experience and ease of flow are more important than the money. At least thats how their service makes you feel.

I used Tom Addleman for my first African safari and everything went smoothly. http://www.huntingforadventure.com/

I would feel good about booking through him again.

Some friends and I booked a British Columbia hunt through Jim McCarthy years ago. It turned out great but we were misled about some of the hunt details and that left a bad taste.

quote:

Originally posted by jjbull:
I used Tom Addleman for my first African safari and everything went smoothly. http://www.huntingforadventure.com/

I would feel good about booking through him again.

Some friends and I booked a British Columbia hunt through Jim McCarthy years ago. It turned out great but we were misled about some of the hunt details and that left a bad taste.

Had a similar experience with McCarthy. He lost out on a lot of money because of it.

These days I receive regular, unsolicited emails from Rick Kennerknect, ( Global Sporting Safaris ..? ) promoting his hunts etc. Until then I had never heard of this agent, nor have I ever read any comments here about him.
Would anyone here like to offer thoughts or views ?

Apologies if this is a bit off topic.

Buchanan Hunts, Michelle Buchanan, is an up and coming agent. She and her brother, Andy, kind of work together. He films a lot of hunts that are booked through her, I'm sure you have seen some of the video clips here on AR. I have booked a hunt in the forest of Cameroon through her and she is handling all of the paper work which is a tremendous amount. She actually stays in camp with the hunter on some of the hunts. They will be at DSC so you might what to go by and talk to them.

Mr. Shores and Mr. Ahrenberg,

Thanks for taking the time to explain....

I too have used John Barth and have been more than pleased with his work. I was originally signed up for a 21 day Tanzanian safari through another agent, but was getting strong signals that things were not on the up and up. John came to the rescue, suggested I take a close look at Zambia and ultimately booked me on a highly successful 21 lion safari.

I used Aaron Neilson on an antelope hunt in Colorado & things went great.
Also used him on an ele hunt in Namibia that I had to cancel due to business issues. He was able to get me my deposit back.
I would certainly use him again.

I have used Wendell Reich and Jeff Neal, both have been great.

Blair Worldwide!

Sorry, terrible joke!

Keith Atcheson

Greg Brownlee

Used him in 2011, kept in touch, booked again through him for 2018.

I've talked/e-mailed with a few, kind of "tire kicking" all them seemed very professional and knowledgeable. Only time I've actually booked through an agent was with Arjun Reddy, and I've been very satisfied with the service. Planning on using him again if he's got outfitters in countries I'm interested in.

Some of the best booking agents started out under RTG here in Corpus Christi. They are all stand up and straight shooting.

Mark Young
Greg Brownee
Wendell Reich
John Barth
Aaron Neilson
Atchesons

Not necessarily in that order

Wendell Reich and Aaron Neilson, both were great.

I personally have never used a booking agent. I do know Aaron Neilson very well from other walks of life though and have always found him extremely honest even when honesty was difficult and extremely straightforward. Thus if I had a need for one...Aaron would be one of my first choices.

I have used Adam Clements / Mark Young /Arjun Reddy. Would use all of them again