We hunted in Tanzania this year and went too early on advice of our outfitter. Our professional hunter and his staff worked very hard for 10 days to get us a buff each and the rest of the animals on the "short safari list".We were only able to shoot three animals, two buff on the last day and one kongoni for camp meat. The dip and pack charge for short safari is 800-1000. This in addition to the shipping will make it about $2500.00 for three skulls. There was a suggestion by the P.H. that he would include the trophies with another clients trophies to save shipping charges and dip/pack. He now says that it is not possible to do that. I am thinking of leaving the whole lot in Tanzania as it isn't really worth it to spend that much cash for three skulls. A real disappointing end to a poor hunt.

Could you tell me what time of year you went?

Jim

Also, where did you hunt?

Regards,

Terry

P.S.
For what it's worth, I'd leave them there.

We were supposed to hunt IN the Selous reserve for 10 days July 17-27. The grass was too green and very high. Too green to burn well. The game was scarce and we were very lucky to get the two bulls. I thought that we would get a chance to look over several bulls and choose the one we wanted. As it was we only were able to look at four bulls and the first pair winded us and ran off after a long stalk. There were very few opportunities to get the other game we had on license. The irksome thing is that we were not hunting in the Selous at all but just outside in the communal lands. There were far too many people running around the area and a lot of commercial activity to boot. Our P.H. was a nice guy and did his best. We should have been told by our booking agent that being this early we were running a risk of no game being available. By the way we were not the only hunters that were very disappointed in the deal! We left him and his staff a good tip anyway.

lb404,

I have read on this forum that July is OK in the Selous or I guess in your case the immediate area around the Selous. Anyway the actual reports of those early hunts always seem to indicate too much grass for the buffalo hunting to be practical let alone ideal.

Sorry to hear about a safari that left a bad taste in your mouth. Perhaps an agent that was on the ball could have helped you avoid such a disappointment.

As for shipping your trophies all I can tell you is that I paid about $2000.00 for my Tanzania trophies this year and I had 12 animals. Most of the tropies included back skins and some had full skins.

Good Hunting,

Mark

lb404, I'd be interested to know the name of the area you hunted? I was in the top end of the Selous (with various clients) for July and August and again throughout September and October. Even in July our area had no grass anywhere near high enough to stop us hunting, and the area was fairly dry...... I guess most of the grass was lower than around 10-20 inches and most of the burning had already been done...... It sounds like you must have been a fair way away from the Selous proper.



In July we were seeing Buff herds of 100+ on a daily basis (and were stalking right into the herds and shooting them from ranges of around 20-25 yards) and by September we were seeing herds of 500+ daily, and filmed one herd of over 1000. The problem is (as you say) that the buffer zones get far too many people in them, which causes the game herds to vacate the area........ but that's why they're cheaper.



Sorry to hear that your hunt wasn't very good. and I'd recommend that the next time you make a booking you make sure you have a safari contract stipulating the area and camp you will be using. (including GPS co-ordinates) Terry Carr posts an excellent list of the things you should try to ensure are in the contract.

lb404,

We hunted the Gonabisi Open Area (Northern border of the Selous) for a few days in late August of 2002. Too much grass to hunt buffalo. Fortunately, we moved to another area of the Selous where the grass wasn't very high.

Regards,

Terry

IL 404

If you are a member of the Hunting Report please file a in-depth HONEST hunt report. Unfortunately most hunters shy way from filing unfavorable hunt reports. By doing so you allow this type of miscommunication / deception to go on forever. Outfitting is business and if allowed, decisions will be made that aren't necessarily in the client's best interests. Your report well help someone in the future from making the same mistakes.

Sounds like to me that you got ripped, two buffalo in that length of time, tells me your concession was bad, and hunting comunal land is always a no no, and the PH either didn't do his homework or didn't care..That should not happen. He could be either green or dishonest, I don't know, but there are some real rogue outfits operating in Tanzania...

Robert J,
Yes, perhaps a report should be filed somewhere, and AR is as good as any place but it can always turn into a witch hunt, thats the problem with the hunting report rags and these boards....

We must always remember that the hunter is just one side of the total story...A lot of hunters complain but your right they don't take any action and in some cases it is because they know that they are wrong or partially wrong, It's a tough call either way, and in many cases they got a good bull, but other things went bad and that happens, and then its a pain to sort it out, although in most cases it is sorted out to one degree or another...

Best solution is to choose the Safari company with care and word of mouth is your best bet.

As I see this thread with lb404, he went on a hunt and shot a nice Buffalo and he apparantly liked his PH and isn't wanting to name him for that reason, that is a successful hunt in my mind. For the benifit of some I would add that the 7 day hunts are Buffalo hunts, not Buffalo-plainsgame hunts, the plainsgame are only available on quota and can be shot by the client, but that may have some effect on his buff hunt in one way or another, so the plainsgame should be shot only after the Buffalo is in the salt IMO...

He is complaining about the $2000 tag on shipping and I don't blame him for that, but the culprit is not the Safari Company, it is British Airlines as I see it and thats is a law/policy that just went into effect as we all used to ship mixed shipments and sort them out on this side of the pond, this can no longer be done by law...lb404 got caught in the middle of the whole mess and thats unfortunate, but what is the complaint, unless I missed something.

Ray, no real complaint, just disappointment. I was just trying to talk myself into spending an obscene amount of money on a small lot of animal products. The next time we go to Africa I will shoot my animals and not bring anything back but pictures and memories. That is if I ever go back at all.

The only reason there are so many misunderstandings in the African outfitting industry is because it is more profitable to not tell the truth! Unfortunately honesty sells very few hunts! LB404 The Hunting Report is by far the best please to file a hunt report. Be honest document all the serious problems and don't dig up small problems.
The outfitter involved will a chance to tell his side of the story.