No, not bored or snowed in, [ temp now at 31 c.]
A question has arisen due to an attempt to contact a fellow member. The question is, how many members have had a hunt compromised by their own cell phone, a companion's, or heaven forbid, that of a guide / PH. Let us expose the "yuppies" out there. Especially the Land-Rover mob.

I have not had a hunt spoiled by a cell phone but in a way they have lessened the sense of being out and away from help - that sense of being in a wild place depending upon yourself and others around you.

We all have been witness to this dramatic change. One year in Tanzania my sat phone was unique then a couple years later the PH had one also. A year later I brought a cell phone. The next year the PH had one.

Then the very next year when reaching a particular high point in the Selous everyone on the cruiser bailed off for a phone break - including the trackers and driver.

Last year my son used his to map our every days hunt in Zimbabwe. The precise location of his buffalo, zebra etc is recorded and overlain on a satellite map of the area.

Its amazing but it does lessen some aspects of a wilderness hunt when you know you can always reach someone for help or just to call mama and tell her you just got your first buff.

Fortunatly I can say in all honesty that never have my ringing cell phone spoiled a stalk.

But I do admit that one particular hunt, if I did not kave a "Guinea Fowl Regrouping Call" - let's just call it the "toot-tweet toot-tweet" that guinea fowl hunters know so well - as ringing tone it would have been a different matter. The impala being stalked was well within hearing distance simply kept on browsing. Being in very dense bush I had to get very close for a clear shot, and the ringing tone did not bother it at all. Got him later!

Wish I can get that call again - the original landed up in a washingmachine.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

A cell phone game call ? Wow ! Next thing you'll just sit under an acacia tree and watch a safari DVD !

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
A cell phone game call ? Wow ! Next thing you'll just sit under an acacia tree and watch a safari DVD !

You would have the ambience without the expense.

In Namibia in 2007, we were out looking for warties in the scrub when the tracker's cell phone went off. Fortunately he had had the tremendous foresight to program a cow's moo as his ringtone. This was grazing land. It was perfect!

Scriptus, maybe instead of the cold the heat is getting to you? This is the kind of topic I would come up with in our miserable winter months! I'm working on another good one.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
Scriptus, maybe instead of the cold the heat is getting to you? This is the kind of topic I would come up with in our miserable winter months! I'm working on another good one.

Ann, Please hurry up and post something to get my heatstroke-damaged mind off the topic of the un-ethics of put-'n-take shooting.

It would be a waste of my time posting about that topic now - so many of the put-'n-take practitioners are attending SCI, DSC and a bunch of other conventions now! But my real target for doing such boring postings are not the put-'n-take practitioners - they are beyond any help! It is really the poor guys that get suckered into believing that they hunted their put-'n-take trophies ethically. No, come to think of it they will N-E-V-E-R admit that they were suckered by a hunting outfitter or PH! The only group of people that I wish will benifit from my boring - and for some extremely irritating - postings are are the hunters who have not yet booked with such put-'n-take practitioners - I wish to warn them in time!

Please post about some other smart subject right now! It is hot as hell here and dry as a desert. By brains are getting boiled, and I'm bored.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

quote:

Originally posted by Palmer:
I have not had a hunt spoiled by a cell phone but in a way they have lessened the sense of being out and away from help - that sense of being in a wild place depending upon yourself and others around you.

We all have been witness to this dramatic change. One year in Tanzania my sat phone was unique then a couple years later the PH had one also. A year later I brought a cell phone. The next year the PH had one.

Then the very next year when reaching a particular high point in the Selous everyone on the cruiser bailed off for a phone break - including the trackers and driver.

Last year my son used his to map our every days hunt in Zimbabwe. The precise location of his buffalo, zebra etc is recorded and overlain on a satellite map of the area.

Its amazing but it does lessen some aspects of a wilderness hunt when you know you can always reach someone for help or just to call mama and tell her you just got your first buff.

Palmer:

If it wasn't for this modern technology we would all lose out on Saeed's daily reports.
I will agree though that there is a time and place for the use of a cell phone while out in the field.

When I hunted Zamiba four years ago the PH collected the trackers' cell phones every morning and left them in camp.

The PHs we had in RSA had bird call ring tones at a very low volume. I was hunting with a friend and we were with separate a PHs. They would only call for a good reason, game was down and a hand was needed loading it in the truck or "If you are not seeing anything lets go back to the lodge for lunch."
At another location the trackers were widely separated looking for a wounded Wildebeest and they sent text messages when they found sign. I thought that was a good thing, it showed the trackers could read, write and operate the technology.
The cell coverage (not for my phone but my buddy's that had the right system) is very good in RSA.

Mark

I leave my cell phone/satellite phone in camp.

Only had it nearly spoil a hunt one time. I was hunting Kansas for whitetail late one December and was on to a good whitetail when Bwanna called. I whispered the urgency for him to call back later and shot the whitetail. Since then I leave cell phones either back in the truck or in camp-both here and anywhere else in the world, including Africa.

Wise to have a cell and or a sat phone when in the field - you never know when you might need it - more importantly, keep them switched off until the necessity arises.
Worthwhile noting that most sat phones, as has already been pointed out, can give out GPS references which in case of emergency are the difference between earth and heaven

I was hunting so far out in the bush in Zambia, there was not any cell service. The PH did have a sat phone if needed. The sat phone stayed in the truck.

Let's face it, if your PH owns a Land Rover, then he has to carry his mobile phone. The vehicle's bound to break down at some point.

Of course one must be concerned about the quality of a cell phone owned by the owner of a Land-rover.

Scriptus:

Tell me how come you are worried about cell service ? Where do you hunt that cell service is even possible?

As to Land Rover, yes I am part of the Land Rover mob.... have been from a time before Africa had had even heard of a thing called a Land Cruiser.

If I recollect the first J40's to hit African soil was 1970 when Toyota imported a few into South Africa.

I always carry my sat phone in my backpack, which stays in the truck.

I switch it on if we stop for lunch, to check for any urgent messages - only my wife and my brother have the number, with instructions to send an SMS message if they want me to get in touch.

Otherwise, I call home every night as soon as we get to camp.

ALF, I am really not concerned about cell phone service. The original catalyst arose when I attempted to contact a fellow member quite recently. It turned out that the fellow member was afield with a "live" cell phone in his pocket and considering where he was, the cell phone should have been switched off. He is also the owner of a Landrover. There has been over a period of time, a little friendly banter between 'rover and'cruiser owners.

Maybe your buddy had it on silent or vibrate only, land rover drivers may think ahead some

Even if the phone is on 'vibrate' or 'ring', it's unlikely that you'll feel it, let alone hear it in a Land Rover!

quote:

Originally posted by charlieT:
Maybe your buddy had it on silent or vibrate only, land rover drivers may think ahead some

He was in a friggen BLIND, LATE AFTERNOON ! That's thinking ahead.

Not in Africa, but I was once guiding a German who wanted to hunt deer here in S Aust. He used his mobile phone constantly.

Having guiding him to some chital stags and pointing them out to him to see if he was interested I turned and found him texting his wife about some BS ...

Now I would take the phone and hurl it away if I had someone like this again.

Scriptus,

you mad nut

if you would stop phoning me when i am in a hide trying to shoot an impala with my bow then i wouldnt have to sms you... lol

it was on silence FYI, i was just being polite and sending you a sms to say im busy and now you go and chirp me about my Landy!!!! pay back is cruel!!!

and no my vehicle did not break down, nor did i loose it - i found my bakkie easily, all i had to do was track the oil leaks back to the vehicle

I have never had a stalk ruined by a cell phone. I did have one PH in south africa that spent all his time on the phone when we were in the buckie which frankly pissed me off a little. A few years ago hunting in the Masai Land on the east side of the Tengere Park we stopped and talked to some Masai cattle boys and in the middle of our conversation a cell phone started to ring and one of the boys reaches in his bright red wrap and pulls out a Nokia. He had to remove the painted pastic bottle he had stuck in his stretched ear lobe in order to use the phone first though. I was surprised and thought it was funny as hell. So the first thing I did was dig in my back pack for my Nokia and call home. I dont think Leon my PH new there was service out there in the middle of no where either as he got on the phone and called home as well. Cell phones are a part of life now even in the middle of no where. But I would be upset if a stalk was wrecked because of one, mine is shut off when hunting even at home in my back 40.

On my only trip to Africa so far, we had a kudu bull included in our "package" hunt. On the last day, my father and I split up with two PHs. My father really wanted me to take the kudu, as he already had two from previous hunts. Nearing last light, I had not seen a decent bull. However, my dad and his PH had a nice one in sight, but passed thinking I would fill the tag. If the PHs had communicated via text or call about the situation, I am sure my father would have taken the kudu bull. I definitely see how the cell phone would have helped in that situation. Of course, they have a big use for safety reasons.

Aubrey, I only saw this now, you gave yourself up on this one.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I always carry my sat phone in my backpack, which stays in the truck.

I switch it on if we stop for lunch, to check for any urgent messages - only my wife and my brother have the number, with instructions to send an SMS message if they want me to get in touch.

Otherwise, I call home every night as soon as we get to camp.

Thats much the same for me too except that only my wife has the phone number.

In Namibia I had to tell my PH to put the GD cellphone away as he was on it almost constantly in the truck.

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
Tell me how come you are worried about cell service ? Where do you hunt that cell service is even possible?

Am I the only one who loves our brother ALF, in spite of the fact that he is absolutely out of touch with his motherland?

I get better cell phone service in Africa than I do in here in CA.

My cameraman used to leave his on all the time in the bush. It would ring and never spook the intended target.

His ringtone was the sound of a "fish eagle".