quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
As near as I can remember I have hunted with 19 PH's. Some only did part of my safari with a couple of safari having 3 total PH's. I only hunted twice with 2 of those PH's. I had Just one PH that neither Sadie nor I could ever warm up to. Unfortunately that was on a long and spendy safari in Tanzania. Dinner was a pretty quiet affair toward the last of it.

I had a PH that was too drunk to hunt the first day but we worked things out and actually had a good safari with him. Otherwise our PH's have been pretty good. A couple of younger guys have been not so polished in the personality department but some of that comes with experience.

Out of all the PH's I've hunted with I only consider two to be real friends. The others have been pleasant companions for the duration of the safari.

A PH can make or break a safari and they don't all have that ability to make lemon aide out of lemons. When you find a PH that can build up his client and keep things pleasant even if things are going poorly that PH is a very good one.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

I don’t know you outside of this forum, but you seem to be pretty cool even with a ponytail!.

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
As near as I can remember I have hunted with 19 PH's. Some only did part of my safari with a couple of safari having 3 total PH's. I only hunted twice with 2 of those PH's. I had Just one PH that neither Sadie nor I could ever warm up to. Unfortunately that was on a long and spendy safari in Tanzania. Dinner was a pretty quiet affair toward the last of it.

I had a PH that was too drunk to hunt the first day but we worked things out and actually had a good safari with him. Otherwise our PH's have been pretty good. A couple of younger guys have been not so polished in the personality department but some of that comes with experience.

Out of all the PH's I've hunted with I only consider two to be real friends. The others have been pleasant companions for the duration of the safari.

A PH can make or break a safari and they don't all have that ability to make lemon aide out of lemons. When you find a PH that can build up his client and keep things pleasant even if things are going poorly that PH is a very good one.

Mark

Mark,

You put an interesting spin on this topic as a booking agent. I know you book for outfitters, not PHs, but they can often overlap. However, would you personal opinion of a PH dissuade you from representing a certain group?

I don’t know you outside of this forum, but you seem to be pretty cool even with a ponytail! I’m just curious how your personal opinion may affect representation and or recommendation.

I do believe Steve Nganga has said he rarely has hunted with a PH more than once. He said it’s more of a business deal and he is there for a certain animal and may net return to that area.

Personally, I like getting along with my guide/PH. It makes things much more fun. Some of that “come as a client, leave as a friend” is really BS in most cases unless you hunt many times.

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
I’ve had hunts where I liked the PH or guide better or worse than others, but never had one where I remotely felt endangered or like I was being made miserable enough to want to leave.

Certainly there have been worse experiences in NA than overseas.

The worst cases were situations where I was lied to, but didn’t figure that out until I got home... even in those, I wasn’t upset in camp...

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
As near as I can remember I have hunted with 19 PH's. Some only did part of my safari with a couple of safari having 3 total PH's. I only hunted twice with 2 of those PH's. I had Just one PH that neither Sadie nor I could ever warm up to. Unfortunately that was on a long and spendy safari in Tanzania. Dinner was a pretty quiet affair toward the last of it.

I had a PH that was too drunk to hunt the first day but we worked things out and actually had a good safari with him. Otherwise our PH's have been pretty good. A couple of younger guys have been not so polished in the personality department but some of that comes with experience.

Out of all the PH's I've hunted with I only consider two to be real friends. The others have been pleasant companions for the duration of the safari.

A PH can make or break a safari and they don't all have that ability to make lemon aide out of lemons. When you find a PH that can build up his client and keep things pleasant even if things are going poorly that PH is a very good one.

Mark

Mark,

You put an interesting spin on this topic as a booking agent. I know you book for outfitters, not PHs, but they can often overlap. However, would you personal opinion of a PH dissuade you from representing a certain group?

I don’t know you outside of this forum, but you seem to be pretty cool even with a ponytail! I’m just curious how your personal opinion may affect representation and or recommendation.

I do believe Steve Nganga has said he rarely has hunted with a PH more than once. He said it’s more of a business deal and he is there for a certain animal and may net return to that area.

Personally, I like getting along with my guide/PH. It makes things much more fun. Some of that “come as a client, leave as a friend” is really BS in most cases unless you hunt many times.

Yes. I said that.

I hunted with the same PH in Zambia 6 years running. I'm glad I did. It taught me that there are several reasons why we do this.

One, and not for me, is to go back to the same place and hunt the same animals with the same crew year after year. It took that experience to figure out I wanted to experience all Africa has to offer.

I want the mysterious unknows, the third world airports, the domestic flights within. I want to step outside my comfort zone and really feel alive.

I hunt in new areas, with new PH's after new and different animals.

I was fortunate enough to hunt with Wayne Grant in 2019. We hunted in a GMA in the far NW of Tanzania right on the Rwanda/Uganda border. Hunting Leopard with Wayne would be like taking painting lessons from Rembrandt. He is truly the professor.

We enjoyed ourselves and I would hunt with Wayne again. I am looking right now for 2022 Masaailand and told him if he had the right hunt, I'd look at it. But not the same place ever again.

Africa is a big place and I wanna see it all and do it all. That isn't gonna happen going to Zim every year and shooting tuskless in the valley.

As to the OP and his question. I hunted with an American PH in Tanzania. He worked for Federico Gelinni. I found the hunt here. The area was Kilwa open area. It was the worst poached out pile of rubbish Safari I could ever imagine.

I asked Federico how many camps he had in the area. He said "one" I said, fine I want a private camp. When I got there, I was taken to a remote fly camp out in the sun. I found out the main camp had 7 (SEVEN) Chinese national hunting on a 21 day license. I was very close to pulling the plug right then, but stayed.

The company was horrendous, the driving two hours every morning and evening to get anywhere near water and animals was hard to take. The PH thought he was John Sharp, he tore his sleeves off. He acted like a cheesy actor playing the role of Mark Sullivan in a bad safari movie.

He tried to hang Leopard baits. I would never question what and why a PH is doing what he's doing. But I will say this, he couldn't get a Leopard in a tree if there were 1,000 Leopards and only one tree.

Every morning when the generator started, it was like that movie "Groundhogs Day". They never ended. I made it to the end and actually shot most all my stuff. I failed on the main reason I booked. East African Eland. Anyway, a bad dream that was.

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
As near as I can remember I have hunted with 19 PH's. Some only did part of my safari with a couple of safari having 3 total PH's. I only hunted twice with 2 of those PH's. I had Just one PH that neither Sadie nor I could ever warm up to. Unfortunately that was on a long and spendy safari in Tanzania. Dinner was a pretty quiet affair toward the last of it.

I had a PH that was too drunk to hunt the first day but we worked things out and actually had a good safari with him. Otherwise our PH's have been pretty good. A couple of younger guys have been not so polished in the personality department but some of that comes with experience.

Out of all the PH's I've hunted with I only consider two to be real friends. The others have been pleasant companions for the duration of the safari.

A PH can make or break a safari and they don't all have that ability to make lemon aide out of lemons. When you find a PH that can build up his client and keep things pleasant even if things are going poorly that PH is a very good one.

Mark

Mark,

You put an interesting spin on this topic as a booking agent. I know you book for outfitters, not PHs, but they can often overlap. However, would you personal opinion of a PH dissuade you from representing a certain group?

I don’t know you outside of this forum, but you seem to be pretty cool even with a ponytail! I’m just curious how your personal opinion may affect representation and or recommendation.

I do believe Steve Nganga has said he rarely has hunted with a PH more than once. He said it’s more of a business deal and he is there for a certain animal and may net return to that area.

Personally, I like getting along with my guide/PH. It makes things much more fun. Some of that “come as a client, leave as a friend” is really BS in most cases unless you hunt many times.

Yes. I said that.

I hunted with the same PH in Zambia 6 years running. I'm glad I did. It taught me that there are several reasons why we do this.

One, and not for me, is to go back to the same place and hunt the same animals with the same crew year after year. It took that experience to figure out I wanted to experience all Africa has to offer.

I want the mysterious unknows, the third world airports, the domestic flights within. I want to step outside my comfort zone and really feel alive.

I hunt in new areas, with new PH's after new and different animals.

I was fortunate enough to hunt with Wayne Grant in 2019. We hunted in a GMA in the far NW of Tanzania right on the Rwanda/Uganda border. Hunting Leopard with Wayne would be like taking painting lessons from Rembrandt. He is truly the professor.

We enjoyed ourselves and I would hunt with Wayne again. I am looking right now for 2022 Masaailand and told him if he had the right hunt, I'd look at it. But not the same place ever again.

Africa is a big place and I wanna see it all and do it all. That isn't gonna happen going to Zim every year and shooting tuskless in the valley.

As to the OP and his question. I hunted with an American PH in Tanzania. He worked for Federico Gelinni. I found the hunt here. The area was Kilwa open area. It was the worst poached out pile of rubbish Safari I could ever imagine.

I asked Federico how many camps he had in the area. He said "one" I said, fine I want a private camp. When I got there, I was taken to a remote fly camp out in the sun. I found out the main camp had 7 (SEVEN) Chinese national hunting on a 21 day license. I was very close to pulling the plug right then, but stayed.

The company was horrendous, the driving two hours every morning and evening to get anywhere near water and animals was hard to take. The PH thought he was John Sharp, he tore his sleeves off. He acted like a cheesy actor playing the role of Mark Sullivan in a bad safari movie.

He tried to hang Leopard baits. I would never question what and why a PH is doing what he's doing. But I will say this, he couldn't get a Leopard in a tree if there were 1,000 Leopards and only one tree.

Every morning when the generator started, it was like that movie "Groundhogs Day". They never ended. I made it to the end and actually shot most all my stuff. I failed on the main reason I booked. East African Eland. Anyway, a bad dream that was.

I hope you didn’t think I took your opinion out of context. I like and respect your reasoning, as it would be boring to some to keep hunting the same stuff in the same areas.

I’m guilty of going to Argentina with the same outfitters for countless times over 15 years or so. I don’t really go to hunt much (well, there was a girlfriend there for about two years), but also worked in various roles. The dove hunting, while fun, got boring. I would split a case with one of the owners after the asado having fun. Pigeon shoots were a different matter all together. I really liked those!

I can see the desire to hunt in a foreign land with someone you know and not gamble on a high dollar experience. I did have a bad experience on an auction hunt in South Africa, but will admit my father was at fault. They were two alphas and my father had heard from a buddy that the outfitter wouldn’t negotiate on prices. I tried to explain that a donated hunt is just that and the extra animals and days are almost expected. They got into it at times, but seemed to get along better the last night after a bunch of Amarula. I liked the guy and enjoyed hunting with him alone.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
As near as I can remember I have hunted with 19 PH's. Some only did part of my safari with a couple of safari having 3 total PH's. I only hunted twice with 2 of those PH's. I had Just one PH that neither Sadie nor I could ever warm up to. Unfortunately that was on a long and spendy safari in Tanzania. Dinner was a pretty quiet affair toward the last of it.

I had a PH that was too drunk to hunt the first day but we worked things out and actually had a good safari with him. Otherwise our PH's have been pretty good. A couple of younger guys have been not so polished in the personality department but some of that comes with experience.

Out of all the PH's I've hunted with I only consider two to be real friends. The others have been pleasant companions for the duration of the safari.

A PH can make or break a safari and they don't all have that ability to make lemon aide out of lemons. When you find a PH that can build up his client and keep things pleasant even if things are going poorly that PH is a very good one.

Mark

Mark,

You put an interesting spin on this topic as a booking agent. I know you book for outfitters, not PHs, but they can often overlap. However, would you personal opinion of a PH dissuade you from representing a certain group?

I don’t know you outside of this forum, but you seem to be pretty cool even with a ponytail! I’m just curious how your personal opinion may affect representation and or recommendation.

I do believe Steve Nganga has said he rarely has hunted with a PH more than once. He said it’s more of a business deal and he is there for a certain animal and may net return to that area.

Personally, I like getting along with my guide/PH. It makes things much more fun. Some of that “come as a client, leave as a friend” is really BS in most cases unless you hunt many times.

Yes. I said that.

I hunted with the same PH in Zambia 6 years running. I'm glad I did. It taught me that there are several reasons why we do this.

One, and not for me, is to go back to the same place and hunt the same animals with the same crew year after year. It took that experience to figure out I wanted to experience all Africa has to offer.

I want the mysterious unknows, the third world airports, the domestic flights within. I want to step outside my comfort zone and really feel alive.

I hunt in new areas, with new PH's after new and different animals.

I was fortunate enough to hunt with Wayne Grant in 2019. We hunted in a GMA in the far NW of Tanzania right on the Rwanda/Uganda border. Hunting Leopard with Wayne would be like taking painting lessons from Rembrandt. He is truly the professor.

We enjoyed ourselves and I would hunt with Wayne again. I am looking right now for 2022 Masaailand and told him if he had the right hunt, I'd look at it. But not the same place ever again.

Africa is a big place and I wanna see it all and do it all. That isn't gonna happen going to Zim every year and shooting tuskless in the valley.

As to the OP and his question. I hunted with an American PH in Tanzania. He worked for Federico Gelinni. I found the hunt here. The area was Kilwa open area. It was the worst poached out pile of rubbish Safari I could ever imagine.

I asked Federico how many camps he had in the area. He said "one" I said, fine I want a private camp. When I got there, I was taken to a remote fly camp out in the sun. I found out the main camp had 7 (SEVEN) Chinese national hunting on a 21 day license. I was very close to pulling the plug right then, but stayed.

The company was horrendous, the driving two hours every morning and evening to get anywhere near water and animals was hard to take. The PH thought he was John Sharp, he tore his sleeves off. He acted like a cheesy actor playing the role of Mark Sullivan in a bad safari movie.

He tried to hang Leopard baits. I would never question what and why a PH is doing what he's doing. But I will say this, he couldn't get a Leopard in a tree if there were 1,000 Leopards and only one tree.

Every morning when the generator started, it was like that movie "Groundhogs Day". They never ended. I made it to the end and actually shot most all my stuff. I failed on the main reason I booked. East African Eland. Anyway, a bad dream that was.

I hope you didn’t think I took your opinion out of context. I like and respect your reasoning, as it would be boring to some to keep hunting the same stuff in the same areas.

I’m guilty of going to Argentina with the same outfitters for countless times over 15 years or so. I don’t really go to hunt much (well, there was a girlfriend there for about two years), but also worked in various roles. The dove hunting, while fun, got boring. I would split a case with one of the owners after the asado having fun. Pigeon shoots were a different matter all together. I really liked those!

I can see the desire to hunt in a foreign land with someone you know and not gamble on a high dollar experience. I did have a bad experience on an auction hunt in South Africa, but will admit my father was at fault. They were two alphas and my father had heard from a buddy that the outfitter wouldn’t negotiate on prices. I tried to explain that a donated hunt is just that and the extra animals and days are almost expected. They got into it at times, but seemed to get along better the last night after a bunch of Amarula. I liked the guy and enjoyed hunting with him alone.

I understood your statement. No problem.

quote:

Later Steve told me the reason he hunts with me is he trusts me and he feels safe in my hands.

Those characteristics should apply to every PH.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Looking back on many hunts to Africa and other places, I was thinking about PH's and guides that I connected with and those I did not. I have only have two true disasters - one with a PH and one with a mountain guide.

I have had a few that, after the hunt, I promptly forgot their names and some aspects of the hunt as we never really "connected".

I have had several where I felt within a day or so that I could hunt with this guy every day and every time I come to Africa or wherever.

Why is that???

I felt a great connection and had a super hunt with Dean Kendall, Thierry Labat, Adam Parkisson, Jason Roussos, Lance Nesbitt, Jacques Strauss and a couple of others. We hit off, my wife enjoyed them and we had great adventures.

On the ones I never connected with, it was like they were just going through the motions and really just putting in the days to get paid or that they had something else they would rather do or that they would never really take to us. Not sure why that is.

What do you think?

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:


On the ones I never connected with, it was like they were just going through the motions and really just putting in the days to get paid or that they had something else they would rather do or that they would never really take to us. Not sure why that is.

What do you think?

quote:

Originally posted by clayman216:
YES. Hunted through an outfit in Namibia who assigned a young PH to me. My interaction with owner of safari was that I wanted to hunt plains game and a trophy Eland. Also that I wanted a fair tracking hunt with no shooting from truck or other nonsense and was assured that was nothing allowed by his PHs. First evening the young PH wanted me to shoot a trophy Eland from truck and I refused. Downhill from there. This guy had good field skills and ZERO people skills. He was rude, indifferent, always on his cell phone, no sense of humor and hard to be around. Wound up getting a large Eland and it is still on my basemen5 floor, couldn’t put it on wall because I don’t even want 5o think about that trip. He is #till around and I have wRned a few people about him. My only negative in 13 Safaris. I enjoyed all safaris except the one I mentioned and have mad3 many friends and met many great hard working people.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Mark,

You put an interesting spin on this topic as a booking agent. I know you book for outfitters, not PHs, but they can often overlap. However, would you personal opinion of a PH dissuade you from representing a certain group?

I don’t know you outside of this forum, but you seem to be pretty cool even with a ponytail! I’m just curious how your personal opinion may affect representation and or recommendation.

I do believe Steve Nganga has said he rarely has hunted with a PH more than once. He said it’s more of a business deal and he is there for a certain animal and may net return to that area.

Personally, I like getting along with my guide/PH. It makes things much more fun. Some of that “come as a client, leave as a friend” is really BS in most cases unless you hunt many times.

quote:

I've never had a bad PH. Some were more patient with my questions about birds, plants, trees, etc. than others.