You of course must know more than I.

As a booking agent, I know nothing about Cabellas except what I have heard on this board. Its none of my business, so I cannot say, wouldn't if I could..I do a lot of catalog business with them and that experience has always been better than good...

I get a little put out with misleading advertisment in all fields of business and especially in hunting because it may or may not effect me, but I personally feel its somewhat dishonest to advertise a $5500 buff hunt then add $3500 for a charter, $2400 for a trophy fee, $200 per gun , Taxes, concession fees, hunting license, etc., etc. I see quite a lot of that from a number of Safari outfitters, and to most its just good business, and maybe it is...and admittedly they "usually"quote you those figures when asked or when you contact them. With some its a come on and other its a rip off...so all I am saying is be beware of this..

As for myself, I do not add on to my commission and I sell my hunts for the same price as the outfitter does. I charge a flat rate with no add ons at the end of the hunt and tips are optional..The Outfitter pays the commission to me out of that price.. It covers my overhead and makes me a little money..I seldom discount hunts other than cancelled at the last minute hunts, then you only pay what is owed so that my outfitter does not have to sit in camp for that period of time without pay...

I have returned money to a number of clients, several on this very board, and then hunted them the following year less my commission, that is the best I can do and it costs me dearly, but has paid off over the years I think?
By the same token I have seen the some of the biggest crooks in the outfitting business flourish, It seems they can screw a client and make him like it , that always puzzled me, but I don't waste my time worrying over things that I have no control over.

About 5 years ago I had 17 hunters show up at a ranch and the outfitter had high tailed it with all the deposits..I went to the bank borrowed $50,000 and paid them back and hunted them less my commission the next year if they so wished...I hunted that SOB down and got my money back, but it took me a year to find him and by then I was dead serious about the results, he understood that and came up with the money....

I hate to do a contract but I will, its almost an insult to me to do one, as I feel contracts are only as good as the person that signs them. I still feel like a handshake is as binding as any contract, and I would sell my guns, my home and my business to honor my word and I have come fairly close to doing that on several ocassions. I feel honor is something you cannot buy or develope. I once was told that honor is a mans gift to himself. I'll buy that.

I feel that any Zim outfit that is tied to Magabe in any way is wrong in doing so, and I feel that they are aiding and abetting the enemy..I pulled out of Zimbabwe because of this as I am seeing brother turn against brother..The was an expensive decision on my part and sure knocked a big hole in my pocket book, but so be it..

Going through a booking agent is the same as going through a travel agent, it is to your benifit, we have done the homework for you and your chances of success are probably better, and time is money to you...For those that don't then that is your perogative and many happy hunts to you. I will state that I have sure gotten a lot of emails and telephone calls saying they wished they had booked with me instead of going it on there own..I have a friend that has done 6 "cheapo" hunts for Leopard and has yet to even see a Leopard..He thought my price was too high!

The above is just my side of the discussion, for what its worth, and that may be a cup of coffee at SCI, if you got a dollar to go with it....

Thanks to everyone involved. This board always provides a great exchange of ideas on any subject.


Does OoA have a website? Not to book with them, just to see who the players are. Have they grown any sprouts? Owners of other safari companies, poor PH's, and such.

Booking agents typically get a set commission for booking hunts, not marking up the price. Their commission makes up for the marketing cost the outfitter would normally have to spend on all the "talk the talk" folks.

Juat because you use an agent doesn't quarantee squat, nor does using your own experience for that matter.

A first-time guy had booked a hunt through a very recognized booking agent for a buff hunt in the valley this month and told him it was going to be cold and bring lots of warm clothing!!!!!!

On the other hand, I booked with a guy I hunted with before and trusted for an ele hunt and got there and found few elephants.

Sometimes it doesn't work out no matter what.

I probably know about as much as anyone about hunting DG anywhere in Zim, but there is no way to really quarantee a hunt, whether I use an agent or do it myself. I'm sure Cabelas is as good as anyone else, and probably better than most.

Will How can you recomend anybody book with an outfit where the end result is US F&W agents knocking on your door?

Ganyana,

I don't know that Cabelas is booking for OoA. When this all rolled around several months ago, I asked Cabelas about it and they claimed that they didn't know OoA from squat. Who knows until you get down to the nitty-gritty in booking a hunt.

And it is not only OoA that is operating in the gray area in Zim. Guys are selling hunts for next-to-non-existent game, asking for higher quotas for game that already exceeds sustainable quotas, the anti-poaching effort is essentially non-existent, etc.

Ever heard of that hunt for the lion with tits?

Kensco,

You can disagree all you want, but that won't change what I experienced and reported. I was just reporting on my personal experience like you were. In my case we were all on the same hunt and the Cabela's hunters paid more. My guess is that the outfitter did this to keep his margin up. I don't doubt that this isn't done on every hunt, as you pointed out.
Bob

Hi Will

According to the local media (and a very exagerated version that Kathi has posted on this forum under ZCTF report), Cabellas are not booking agents for OoA but for some of the others crooks up in the gwaai.(no shortage of them in that neck of the woods)

Sadly Ray is right. There are too many basically good men in Zimbabwe trying to survive until that murderous old bastard dies. To pay school fees today may require a short cut that you don't feel good about but... survive today.

And Ray. The art of being a good PH is to be able to get your client to shoot a 32" buff and send him home happy with next years deposit in your pocket. Surely the same is true of a great booking agent?

Ray:

I certainly don't agree on all of your opines about this and that, and I am sure you don't agree with mine, but you sound like a really good guy to do business with.

I booked a buff hunt thru Cabelas in 2001 and was quite happy with the experience. I will say, however, that they seemed to be less than helpful after they received my deposit. Also, I wanted to book my travel with them and they would never call me back with details. I must admit that the hunt booking service is not on par with what have have come to expect from them.

Everyone,
If this is an issue with anyone - who Cabela's reps in Zim- why not call their toll free number and ask them? Sometimes it is best to get info straight from the source rather than hearsay.

I'm surprised how varied the experience has been with Cabela's. Yours was quite the opposite of mine.

I tried to book my flights from Dallas to Norman Wells NWT and back online. Everytime I would go back to continue looking the prices and flights were changing. It looked like I was going to have to book from two different sites. I finally gave up and called Cabela's. They booked me in a flash and got the tickets to me in India. They charged me $85, which I thought was a little much, but they did have a $60 DHL to get the tickets to me.

What I found very comforting was about six months before the trip I failed to pay a $6,000 amount on schedule. They had lost track of me as I moved from Venezuela to Singapore to India. My company did a piss-poor job of getting my mail to me. I found out later all my personal mail was being sorted in Dallas. If the guy in the mail room thought it was not important, he threw it away. He threw away everything coming in from Cabela's; catalogs, brochures, invoices, you name it. Cabela's called my company in Dallas to get a contact number for me. They gave the Singapore number a month after left Singapore.

When I finally called Cabela's about the flight info, they said, "we've been looking for you". I apologized for being three months behind in my payment, and their answer was, "we weren't worried, we knew you were good for it and we would get together eventually".

So do I have any gripe about Cabela's? Nope!

Ganyana,
Your spot on as usual, can't fault your call on what a good PH and a good booking agent have in common....