He was the SCI Professional Hunter of the year back in the mid 1980's. I forget waht happened but he fell out of grace, so to speak. Hadn't thought of him in years. Similar to the Van Der Mullen affair, he couldn't say no when asked for a donated hnunt. First thing you know each hunt is paying for the one you just made!
Rich Elliott
Posts: 2013 | Location: Crossville, IL 62827 USA | Registered: 07 February 2001
Quote: He was the SCI Professional Hunter of the year back in the mid 1980's. I forget waht happened but he fell out of grace, so to speak. Hadn't thought of him in years. Similar to the Van Der Mullen affair, he couldn't say no when asked for a donated hnunt. First thing you know each hunt is paying for the one you just made!
Rich Elliott
I spent 16 days in camp in Masailand with Fred. He had just finished setting up the camp when I got there. He was not the PH on my hunt but it was great to talk hunting and Africa with Fred, as he is a heck of a nice guy, and a wealth of African hunting lore. He was assembling his notes for a possible book, but I don't know if it will ever get finished.
As I understand it, he ran into problems due to an accident that occurred on a hunt that he was running. I forget what they were hunting, but the client requested that they do an aerial check of the area. Fred somewhat reluctantly agreed, and during the flight they had plane trouble and crashed. They were seriously injured, and the client ended up suing Fred. The subsequent judgment put Fred out of business (at least that is the way I understood it).
To top things off,he was unsure of the status of his property and business in Zim at that time. The locals there had tried to take the property, and his business of building hunting rigs for trucks had been closed. All his posessions were locked in storage boxes (including his firearms), which may or may not have been taken. He was awaiting word of the results while we were in camp, but I don't know what transpired after that. Can you imagine sitting in another country wondering if everything that you owned had been taken, and nothing that you could do about it.
Yes, that is a cape buff, and Fred is "around" six feet tall (I don't remember exactly). I do know the story that goes with the pic, but I won't spoil the fun yet by telling it.
Jim
Posts: 1206 | Location: Georgia | Registered: 21 July 2000
Fred Rubbermeyer (for the way he stretched the tape). SCI Hunter of the Year and 2-3 years later thrown out of SCI for some sort of unethical hunting. I don't know what he was supposed to have done. I think he also lost his license, in Zim anyway.
I have a friend who hunted Elephant with him in the late 80's and thought he was wonderful.
Posts: 6277 | Location: Not Likely, but close. | Registered: 12 August 2002
We camped right next to Fred and his very nice wife Carol for a couple of weeks in Arusha last year. He was trying to get a hold of a concession northeast of Serengetti at the time. Fred had a lot of good storys to tell while we were sitting around having a beer. Their son Dave dropped by several times, was also good fun, and a nice guy. Dave's a PH for Swanepoel & Scandrol Safaris and we've talked on the phone and had a few e-mails back and forth since. As far as I remember, I think Dave said that the hunting area didn't work out, and that Fred and Carol were camp managers for a Swanepoel & Scandrol Safaris camp last season instead.