On a previous post there was some criticism of the way some Hunting Dvds are so "set up".
Then there are those that make them more of a drama then a mid day "chick flick".
Personally, I prefer them to be more similar to a documentary over an action film.

Examples of my preference are;

The range from the Danish produced "Hunters Video"

Outdoor Visions " Trophy Quest" Zimbabwe.

Buzz Charltons Dvds

Mountain Buffalo by Rainer Josch

Boddintons offerings (although a little to much advertising of products).

And if you are a keen fisho (fly type) with a bit of Aus humor then the selection of "A River Somewhere" is great.

Tell us your favorites and preferences.

Not having mega bucks to enjoy an African Hunt every year I rely on DVD's to get my 'African Fix'.

I enjoy the Boddington series and in all videos the kill shot. I also enjoy when the makers put in something unique about the area being hunted or the hunt itself. Something that I would not have seen or experienced hunting at home.

I would love to see someone film '24 hours in the life of a tracker'.

I like to get informed about what they are doing and why. I hate caned shots and want only the real deal.

I like the genuine stuff, I find it irritating when the cameraman stands in front of a "hunter aiming at a buff/whatever standing next to his right shoulder. Don't you just wonder how much the client is paying for trackers and a hot P H when the cameraman finds the dead/dying trophy long before anyone else, and armed with what?It would would be nice if in "Tracks Across Africa", some discussion on calibre and rifle was given. It would also be nice if they were not so damn expensive.

How about what I don't enjoy in a hunting DVD? I hate the back slapping, high fives and mugging for the camera before they even check to see if the animals is really down and dead. It's unethical and disrespectful to the animal. The one that really drives me nuts is when the hunter doesn't reload after the initial shot but turns to the camera to do all sort of weird contortions. Reload and watch the downed animals to see if you need a follow up shot you idiot.

Mark

After seeing some of the "Professional Video's" all you had to do was shoot, wait, then find the camera man! seems like all the video's show the hunter walking up to the camera man who is at the animal (I guess he takes the place of the trackers?).

Being a gun person I like to hear a little information about the gun, the scope and load used. I feel the same way about a magazine article. Give me some facts along with the story about the hunt. If you go back and read any Jack O'Connor articles, you will get a complete explanation of his equipment in each article.

I enjoy a DVD that is educational as well as entertaining. I want to know about the area, the animals, why a certain approach was taken, loads, bullets, rifles, camp, trackers, after the hunt discussions ...

I am really turned off by kill shots only, and guffaws, stupid comments, and failed attempts at humor. I enjoy jokes, fun, and light hearted banter but many DVDs go beyond that and are not what I paid for.

history of the area hunted, rifle, caliber, bullet, animal behavior. How did you know it was bluffing in the charge? Maybe something about the natives or unique about the trackers or their culture; density of game.....

I'm not sure that anyone has got it completely right yet, but the Mountain Buffalo film is as close as anyone has come. There are a couple things I look for it hunting videos and I'll list a video or two that do them.

Show actual hunting that leads up to the kill rather than just showing kill shots. The Mountain Buffalo DVD does this well. 3 hunts in 1 hour. Tracks Across Africa also does this well.

Uses real time hunting footage rather than adding in after shots. I understand the after shots complete the telling of the story to some degree, but I like the live action format better. The Mountain Buffalo and Marc Watts videos do this well. This is probably my only real beef with the Boddington shows/videos. It's rather fake to have the camera man standing on the other side of the downed buffalo as the hunters do the followup. Don't get me wrong I love all his stuff I'd just like to see a real time format.

Information and learning rather than just hunting. The Boddington On series does an excellent job with incorporating country, area, animal, and hunting knowledge into a hunting video. I realize their scope is ment to be that way, but I think more hunting videos would benefit from incorporating a little more info into the video. Tell us about the outfitter, PHs, concessions, country, hunting style, ect. The boddington on videos and Tracks Across Africa are by far the best at this. I haven't seen any others that go into as much detail or even some detail on many of these things. In Marc Watts newest best of video he has footage from a leopard hunt with Gerard Miller. It is some of the best hunting video footage I've seen from anyone. It involves you in the hunting process, tells you about the PH, and then developes the story with wonderful extended sequence of the leopard feeding.

Oh yeah and lots of dangerous game hunting!!! It's alright to throw in some unusuals or local rarities, but after a while you've seen enough kudu shot.

Brett

I too enjoy learning something about what they are doing. Local area, hunting styles, trophy evaluation, some history are all good. Buzz's elephant videos were really good to me here.

I also like to see the shot, but wish it was not as edited on some. I have noticed in my own hunting that only a good spine/brain shot ices a buffalo. I early on thought if I hit them in the right spot they would collapse like the show animals always seem to. So far, I have 2 bang flops, and one of those was a mess up and I neck shot the animal when I was going for a shoulder shot. I would like to see more "typical" reaction to the shot on film. Boddington in one of his buff films did this well. This would help learn what shot reaction is like, and help encourage more folks to just keep shooting, and thus not loosing game. I know one guy who lost a nice deer just because he wanted to keep his 1 shot kill string going.

As for negatives, I have two big ones.

This stupid emotion/fist bumping crap. I have never seen this happen in camp when I've been around.

Massive advertising. If you can't make it without the ads in the film, don't do the film. (Or show or whatever) If we got rid of all the "pro staff for XYZ" I would be a lot happier.

I also would like to see some truth in advertising with how many stalks turned up without seeing anything, and a note as to how often these shows were negated by no game shot. I would prefer to have a show where the guy ends up shooting nothing or a dink "because its the last day" than to have these guys get these big deer all the time.

Oh and no shows should EVER be allowed to air with high fence or captive animals. Its OK if you want to hunt them, but I just don't trust most of our "journalists" to be honest about it. One of our local "red neck channels" had shown a real nice whitetail archery hunt. Guy got an amazing buck. Talked about Free Chase. The place he hunted is a high fence operation, but that was never stated.

Boo.

I must admit I have not seen any of the new hunting videos.

But, from what I have seen in the past ones, and the thing that really puts me off, is the silly commentaries, especially by a woman, when there is only men hunting.

The absolutely worst hunting videos I have ever seen are those by Flack. Some go as far as being a complete insult, as they really show no hunting at all.

I prefer a hunting video to show what actually goes on on the hunt, without ad lib commentary. It is also nice to inlclude other things one sees during the hunt.

I rarely buy DVD's as the quality and tone of most of the ones I've run across make them unwatchable for me. The high-five whack'em and stack'em stuff embarasses me as a hunter. I hate having my intelligence insulted with lies, BS and half-truths and legends being repeated as fact. Honesty is important, at least mention the blown stalks and the poor shots.

I do enjoy some DVDs though, particularily the better documentary style productions. Flack's SA video is excellent in my mind (I gather his earlier stuff is not in the same league and probably shouldn't have been put on the market). The respect he has for the game is obvious. The Boddington On series is also a favourite as I can mentally tune out the product placements and enjoy the content. Likewise with the B&C game animals of NA series. I'd pay a premium to see the same done for the other hunting continents, though I shudder at the thought of how much time and money would be required to pull a project like that off.

Dean

Yes ,I like the real stuff too but there is a cost to produce quality and as we know quality has a price. Seems like the cheaper DVDs are heavy on the usless chatter and time fillers and light on content. Considering the content of the Boddington sreies and the long length they are a superior value to most of the market.

Yes, the field goal dance is in poor taste inattenative to the business at hand. Some of these guys crank another round in while looking at the gun lose site of game and fail to control muzzle. I would not put myself of tape doing the obvious disregard to safty of others.

Maki,rightly said ..an... embarrassment. I am with Mark Young. Much of what is shown is not real ,not safe,not in good taste and not good for our image. Lots of it is good for the anti's popaganda.

The Boddington and Makris crews are a fine example and make very excellent presentation without all the phoney drama, cobbled up scenes and hokey stories. They are a credit to good taste ,ethics and respect of the game hunted.

Elton Rambin

quote:

I hate the back slapping, high fives and mugging for the camera before they even check to see if the animals is really down and dead. It's unethical and disrespectful to the animal

Well said!

quote:

I hate the back slapping, high fives and mugging for the camera before they even check to see if the animals is really down and dead. It's unethical and disrespectful to the animal

Well said!

Ah yes I forgot Under Wild Skies! I really enjoy that show. He's alway hunting interesting locations and with doubles no less. When you keep with the likes of TGT and Johan Calitz you know you're in the cream of the crop.

Brett

I only like videos that feature Ozhunter.

Mark Buchanan over at Big Bore Productions has some good titles. I like his stuff. Also like Boddington.

quote:

Originally posted by LJS:
Being a gun person I like to hear a little information about the gun, the scope and load used. I feel the same way about a magazine article. Give me some facts along with the story about the hunt. If you go back and read any Jack O'Connor articles, you will get a complete explanation of his equipment in each article.

Yeh all about his magic 270 WIN!

IMO, the African Safari or a USA deer hunt is not simply a walk out and shoot an animal. That is the way most hunting films are made, especially the deer hunters films, or the rackum, and stackum films where the whole film looks like a trailer advertising a real hunting film. Just one shot after the other. Bang, switch bang, switch bang from one hunt climax to the next................

The safari experience is what I want to see! I want to be in on the tracking, the looking over the target for quality, the waiting for him to clear for a safe shot, then putting the bullet where it belongs, and if that doesn't do the trick keep shooting till he is down for the count. The approach to the animals should be with the cameraman behind the PH, and the Client as they close in on the downed animal, and the cautious prodding of the animal with both rifles ready for what may happen.

The footage of the camp, the kitchen, the skinning shed, and the talk about the days hunt around the fire in the lappa at night, and some talk about what we will be seeing on the track the next morning. Also valuable to me is a PH who knows the animals on license, and his description of what they will be looking for the next day.

I want some talk about the firearms used, and why they were the right choice for the animal involved. Input from the PH on this subject is interesting as well as that of the client's.

The films of Sportsmen on film followed this format to some extent, and with different people involved those would have been very good films. Admittedly those were early attempts in the Safari hunting film industry, and some have improved on their early efforts, and some Like the one that prompted this thread are still of the opinion that people will believe anything they see on film.

Big Bore, Boddington, and Johan Calitz are a few that have complete Safari experience films. I see nothing wrong with having sponsors to help produce the films, and to include some of their products in the talk sessions of the film, as long as it doesn't turn the film into an info-mercial.

........Like any product, there are a few that are very well done, and many that are nothing but junk that are not worth buying.

The worse ones are the ones that are more commercials than hunting, and done by folks who need their teeth fixed, before they open their mouths on film, to blurt out what a elephant killer the 45-70 cartridges is, and the other is the LOOK AT ME chest beaters who have little respect for the animals they kill.

I suppose the best format IMO, is the documentary style, by folks who know a little more about the subject than the local animal rights member!
Wait till I dig in!

.................. ............

oz

I guess I want two things. One, to learn something I will use when I go hunting myself. Two, show me the country and animals instead of how great a time the subject is having. I can enjoy another's happiness but not just that for 40 bucks a throw.

I know it is more about entertainment than education but I'm not simply there to finance their next safari. As an example I am not going to buy Marc Watt's latest because I want to see his Ethiopia safari first. Mark Buchanan gets my next 40 dollars.

quote:

The high-five whack'em and stack'em stuff embarasses me as a hunter.

I totally agree Maki..

+1 on Oz hunters list. Saeed, I have only seen Flacks SA documentary and thought it was good.

Interestingly, I leant some DVD's (Flack, Boddington, Buzz's Ele's and Mountian Buff) to a friend of mine here in Canada and he commented on how good the profesionalim and quality were. He leant me some Jim Shockey and Jack Brittingham.

I think Shockey's vids are very good, honest, easy going and not too theatrical (No guff! despite the same ad every 5 mins, but hes gotta make a living I guess). Brittinghams I can do without.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
I only like videos that feature Ozhunter.

Unless you have swiped some of my own handicam video's I find that hard to believe .

from MacD37

quote:

Big Bore, Boddington, and Johan Calitz are a few that have complete Safari experience films.

And another source of the complete safari experience is any of Saeeds videos.

I hate the vids with super-dramatic music. And I do hate the staged views of walking up on an animal, etc., but they have existed in print media for decades.

As for commercials, I think the whole industry would be better off if it had more transparency in terms of who is paying for what. Videos are better than print media, but the whole industry needs a facelift.

The new FTC rule on endorsements is going to be very interesting with respect to the hunting industry.

quote:

Originally posted by Palmer:
from MacD37

quote:

Big Bore, Boddington, and Johan Calitz are a few that have complete Safari experience films.

And another source of the complete safari experience is any of Saeeds videos.

I agree but I think on Accurate reloading that is a given!

I only own a few hunting videos.

Rainer Josch's Mountain Buffalo and Buzz Charlton's videos on elephant hunting.

I like these. Mostly because they are no BS, straight out hunting videos. No egos or posturing for the camera or other nonsense.

There is a lot of worthless stuff out there that I will not watch.

I also like Saeed's videos, as they are live action, straight out hunting videos. No BS (except of a very entertaining kind, generally involving Walter ).

There is much to like in hunting videos.

However there are some things that are downright cool,

1. the dramatic loading of the round into the rifle chamber.........ooohhhhh

2. the awesome pushing the safety off.......aaaaahhhh

3. the utter confidence after the shot in not immediately reloading the rifle and watching the show instead.........weeeeeee

Thanks to all for the (mostly) kind words--but thanks especially for good input. The best way I can think of to ruin a good hunt is to bring along a video camera--but we do try very hard to do the best we can, and will take your input to heart. Cheers, Craig

quote:

Originally posted by craig boddington:
Thanks to all for the (mostly) kind words--but thanks especially for good input. The best way I can think of to ruin a good hunt is to bring along a video camera--but we do try very hard to do the best we can, and will take your input to heart. Cheers, Craig

Thanks, Craig. I for one really appreciate your refreshing openness to criticism and comment - particularly inasmuch as I spend a small fortune on your videos!

There're a lot of spot-on observations in the preceding posts, although a few of them remind me of Woody Allen's observation, "dirty movies are terrible; and they're so poorly lit." The fact is that, for many of us, safari videos feed our addiction until we can find the wherewithal to make it back to Africa. We’ll buy them, warts and all. That said, there are certainly improvements that could be made:

1) Minimize the staged hunt scenes. Even in the otherwise excellent ‘Tracks Across Africa’ series you will see the cameraman standing beside the downed game filming the PH, with hunter in tow, carefully approaching – only to see the PH poke the animal in the eye to ensure it’s kaput. Did the cameraman check the corneal reflex before parking himself next to it? I can appreciate ‘production values’ but in the case of hunting videos, we’re all looking for a documentary approach first.

2) Respect your audience. Sure we want the videos to be entertaining, but we also want them to be educational. Don’t leave us wondering about the rifle being used or the caliber employed (or the round or the scope); even if you have to convey such information with a text crawler, hey we want to know the details! Every hunt should be prefaced with these facts. Also, my favorite videos are those that, upon their conclusion I realize that I learned something I didn’t know before, whether it’s about the game, the region, the people, or the equipment. As my mother used to say, “everyday is a school day”.

3) Keep egos in check. As CRButler and others have noted, high-fiving, fist-bumping, and other histrionics simply don’t seem authentic – and more importantly are unprofessional until you have determined that the animal is down for the count. These videos should also display exemplars of behavior as part of their instructive intent. Likewise, there are some videos that, while otherwise excellent, seem to be fixated on ‘lionizing’ (sorry) the PH and/or the hunter. We bought the video because we like these folks already; efforts to make them heroic usually fail due precisely to the conspicuous effort.

4) Keep the advertising above board. I think most of us understand that, given the small universe of purchasers, it’s necessary to solicit advertisers and sponsors in order to defray costs and enhance quality. That’s fine with me – but don’t soft-pedal what it is that’s being advertised. We feel insulted when it appears that a product or company is being ‘subliminally placed’ in a production, as though somehow we won’t notice. We do every time. If you’re upfront with who is helping foot the bill, then we’re in a position to distinguish between advice and salesmanship, and that’s fine.

5) Free Chase or forget it. To me, wild Africa is incompatible with high fences or captive animals. Obviously, the audience needs to know if there is any question about the fidelity to the concept of Free Chase in a video.

6) Fewer hunts and more background. The ‘Tracks Across Africa’ series is great on TV, but the video compilation too often strips out the most interesting parts about the camp, the staff, and the region. I’d rather have fewer hunts in a video and a richer approach to all the attendant details. (Dave you listening?) Even better, include the entire year’s worth of episodes and charge an extra five or ten bucks for the additional DVDs - I'll buy them! By the way, Marc Watts does a good job of including lots of background stuff in addition to the hunting.

7) Don’t be afraid of failure. We all look forward to the successful conclusion of the hunt, including that perfectly placed one-round kill shot. But too often it’s apparent that there was more to the hunt than that. Recently I saw a hunt on TV where the client took the shot, the camera panned to the downed animal, and then the PH and client hugged and made their approach – only, as the client was walking towards his animal he was loading no less than four new rounds into his bolt-action. Huh? What happened that we didn’t see? We can learn as much from the less-than-successful hunts/shots as we can the perfect ones.

8) Bigger is better. I’m not going to whine about the cost of the videos, as I’m reconciled to paying $29 - $39 given the production costs and the limited audience. But at those prices I take a keen interest in how much I’m getting for my purchase. Boddington and Watts are leaders here, often providing 3-hours of entertainment for what others charge for little more than an hour. If there’s a couple of DVDs included in the package, I’m more inclined break open my wallet.

I’m sure there’s more, but these are the biggest issues on my mind. I would guess that I own a couple of dozen videos on hunting in Africa and the best in my judgment include Boddington, Marc Watts, Buzz Charlton, and Marc Buchanon. With a few production tweaks these very good video producers could create really excellent products that will keep us buying them well into the future.

If I am buying a DVD then I do not need to see promotional ads in it. For a TV show that is ok but not for a DVD.

All of the "pretend" segments make me wanna puke every time I see them. They include:

- Camera man already at the dead animal, while the PH and hunter say "Oh there it is"....BARF !!!

- Pretend moments right when the animal is supposedly "spotted". Trackers waving their hands. People running. Someone looses their cool and you could see through the BS that it was all staged....BARF !!!

- Pretend getting ready for the shot, think closeup of hunter....taking the safety off, firing the shot (in many cases they do not show the hunter taking recoil because the gun was never fired for the pretend shot)...BARF !!!

- Photographs and footage of rounds next to animal tracks. They do not mean anything. The size of rounds are relative and to you they mean 4 inches and to someone else they mean 3. No mention ever of the rifle caliber or the length of the round that is supposed to impress the viewer next to the track of the animal.

- Would love to see more information on the rifles and rounds being used for a specific animal. If you take a Buff with a bigbore double and a Kudu with a .300 then tell people what kind model/make of rifle was used, how many grains of bullet, what velocity.

- On dangerous games why not do a preview of the guns your PH will be using, what kind of bullets ? They are a life insurance for the hunter. Why not give your PH the spotlight and hear about the "insurance" weapons.

- Food...what was for breakfast, fast lunch in the field, what did you found interesting, fancy dinner....lets hear about it. Lets see the kitchen, the fresh local ingredients or for that matter how hard it is to supply the pantry with food that is flown over.

- Logistics....show how hard it is to setup a safari operation in remote areas. Talk about the challenges.

- Salt shed. I want to see the boys going at it with your trophies. How do they boil a skull, remove meat, salt the skin. Enough with shots of sterilized heads at the end of the program. Lets see the procesess.

- Show shots of insects (Jim Shockey does that in his shows) and local birds (Mr. Boddington does that every now and then) and talk about if you shot a few fowl for dinner that day. It all makes for interesting watching.

Again, this is great input. I won't attempt to excuse any of the (BARF) stuff commented on, but some of you might be interested in a comment on the mechanics. Hunting videos and most cable TV stuff is what you might call "low budget." Has to be that way 'cause costs are already exponential and potential return is modest. Most of this stuff is a "one-camera shoot." The ideal would be to have at least two cameras--but aside from the expense, imagine all the extra game-spooking movement! The cameramen we use are great hunters in their own right and they do a wonderful job at keeping low and not spooking the game--but it's hard enough with one camera, let alone two or three. So, when the shot is taken, that one camera must focus on the animal. Truth is, almost everything else that shows the hunter is "recreated"--which is a nice word for phony (and we aren't professional actors!). This is true of almost all hunting film. Almost essential because you need clips and cutaways to build the sequence--but that one camera can't concentrate on both the hunter and the animal at the same time. We do our best to make it look good, but we are making TV for entertainment (and hopefully a bit of genuine information), not a pure play-by-play sportscast. I do like the comment on the walkup, we need to do that better, and that can be done better. Anyway, I'm cutting/pasting the more detailed posts and will make sure all of our filming team has them. We'll try to do take your comments to heart!
Thanks again, Craig

It is great that the subject is up for debate, we producers do listen to "most" of the feed back.The old saying "you can't please all of the people all of the time" sure fits the DVD business. Some people who get our Boddington On series say" It was too long- others say it was too short" We try to cover the subject as best we can and feel that most folks feel that our longer formats are a better value, yet some complain bitterly about the longer format. We do not go into a project saying " it will be 2 hours no matter what." Some of the subject matter is better suited to longer run times than others, period. As for the TV shows , the time allowed is very finite so we must look at each shows captured content and make editing decisions based on what we feel is the most exciting and relevant to the show. So if we have tons of buffalo footage on a particular episode, we may not go into as much "flora and fauna, or bug footage as some would like. But we try our very best to make it a show you will want to watch. Now from a producers point of view ( DAVE FULSON'S VIEWPOINT ONLY) it is my turn to get my two cents in. I often read a comment that says "that Boddington DVD was ALL advertising, which is not only grossly incorrect, it is unfair. Several of our feature presentation films have been 21\2 to three hour long, roughly the length of a NFL football game. In our newest films we billboard our supporting sponsors which takes about 60 seconds, thats it! But in the 3 hour NFL game you get only and exactly 60 minutes of football- the rest is entirely advertising .
So for anyone who tells me that Safari Classics productions is ALL ADVERTISING, which I have heard from both regular customers and other producers who post here, lets go back and look at that and maybe back up a little on that statement in the future. Obviously I, we , very much value the thoughts and suggestions of our customers, and always take the comments to heart if they are a real attempt to communicate a thought on how we can make our product more enjoyable or entertaining. But for those that always feel free to snipe at our, and other producers work, I will look forward to running into you on your hands and knees in some God awfull thicket trying to film an elephant or buffalo that may or may not be considering running over and killing you. Then my friend I will be all ears as you show me how "to do it right" Most of the posts on AR are very supportive of guys like us who try to do our best to capture the African experience on film for others to enjoy. I thank you for your posts on the subject and hear what you are thinking. But for the snipers, please try to appreciate the fact that what we do is dangerous, difficult,dirty, sweaty, freezing, often lonely work that takes time away from home and family, cost tremendous money to produce, and will never make any of us rich men. We do it as it is our passion, though we all hope to see some profit on our work, as anyone else hopes to do at their job. Just food for thought from the other side of the camera.

Just butting up to Craig & Dave's remarks, thanks gents for the comments as well. I have cut and pasted some of the stuff too and passed them on to my production team. It's nice to run down the thread about "a hunting DVD", and see the comments largely constructive. We are trying to do the best we can.

Our personalities, editing and styles might vary, but I know I speak for Craig, Dave, Tim, Ivan and the rest of their team in saying that we're trying to present the most ethical and realistic Africa hunting scenarios as possible. Dave is so spot on in saying that none of this stuff will ever make us "rich". After expenses there is so little margin, but we do it out of passion and we're not complaining. We love what we do, telling stories and showing Africa exactly the way it confronts the hunter.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
We do it as it is our passion, though we all hope to see some profit on our work, as anyone else hopes to do at their job. Just food for thought from the other side of the camera.

Vey well said Dave! I agree also with the whole post!

quote:

4) Keep the advertising above board. I think most of us understand that, given the small universe of purchasers, it’s necessary to solicit advertisers and sponsors in order to defray costs and enhance quality. That’s fine with me – but don’t soft-pedal what it is that’s being advertised. We feel insulted when it appears that a product or company is being ‘subliminally placed’ in a production, as though somehow we won’t notice. We do every time. If you’re upfront with who is helping foot the bill, then we’re in a position to distinguish between advice and salesmanship, and that’s fine.

5) Free Chase or forget it. To me, wild Africa is incompatible with high fences or captive animals. Obviously, the audience needs to know if there is any question about the fidelity to the concept of Free Chase in a video.

I mentioned the new FTC rule above; it is expressively designed to make it obvious if anyone is getting paid to endorse a product or service, either with cash or payments in kind.

I totally agree about fair chase. The worst videos on the market are the ones depicting "hunters" in New Zealand who step out of a helicopter and whack some unsuspecting tahr. Not much farther behind are the ones depicting high fenced operations that "forget" to mention the place is high fenced. A certain Canadian elk operation comes to mind. If I could remember the operator, I would say so.

Not on the subject of Africa, but "Best of the West" is total garbage. If you listen to that blather, a long range shot is as easy as ranging the target, holding the anemometer into the wind, and dialing in the Huskemaw scope. What BS. All to make a buck.

And one more jab: no more videos using USO Outfitters please.

Craig,

I think someone else mentioned it above, but one thing you might consider is lengthening the Tracks Across Africa DVDs. I'd show the full length epidoses in the DVD format rather than just a compilation. I think the compilation looses some of what makes Tracks Across Africa such a great show. It looses some of the information about the areas, countries, animals, and part of the hunt leading up to the final sequence. I like the current ones and I'll still buy them either way, but it may be something to consider. Thanks.

Brett

PS. I enjoyed Safari Rifles 2. Thank you.

Thanks for the solid ,constructive input men. It is noted !

What do I enjoy in a hunting DVD? It not starring Jack Brittingham!

I just suffered through two volumes of Jack in Tanzania courtesy of a DEEP discount from Cabelas. An arrow bouncing off a hippo, a lion shot through the nose, and the shooting a perfectly healthy buffalo that was mistaken for a wounded one were some of the lowlights of the videos. Two of the worst that I've seen.