Are there any Hunting Consultants(ie. Booking Agents) that work for and are paid directly by the client? Their services would be to research, reccomend, plan and arrange hunts to client specifications.

I met an English fellow during my last trip to Africa who so acted for his very wealthy clients. He even goes on the hunts to make sure that everything was perfect. He found "classic" rifles or whatever the client wanted/needed for the trip. Kind of like a personal assistant for hunting, I guess.

Studdog,
I have done that on a number of ocassions. I pretty much did that for Saeed to some extent, as his work schedule was taking up most of his time.

I have done it for others also to one degree or another. I am sure any booking agent or hunt consultant would do this on request.

A booking agent has already found the best Safari Companies he could find so the other is simply a service that about any of us could perform, but probably would be a little reluctant without setting out some ground rules..

I have even gone so far as to build a custom rifle for some clients, test the rifle and work up handloads and send them ammo and gun for the game they are hunting, book them with a good company, arrange thier airline travel and arrange for a taxidermist...

The problem with this is you are taking on an awful lot of responsibility for other people and that does not always work too well...I have had some taxidermist, brokers, and gunmakers that were great for awhile go bad on me, some got involved in divorce, drinking problems, financial problems and even bankruptcy. Others just went off the deep end and ended up in jail. A lot of folks will blame the booking agent for anything that happens.

Based on that I am very careful anymore to take on anything other than booking the hunts. I prefer to let most clients do their own travel, taxidermist, brokers etc, although I may make suggestions but explaining that I will not be responsible for the actions of other than myself..

I have had clients tell me they have their own personal travel agent, and I warn them that they need to use Gracy Travel or Kathy who posts here if they intend on going to Africa,and they sometimes inform me their agent knows his stuff, he is a good ole boy and they have used him for years, he is uncle willies 2nd cousin, then they call me from Amsterdam all pissed off telling me their guns have no paper work! and their plane leaves in 5 minutes and its my fault.. Their travel agent screwed it up and he has to correct that situation, not me..apparantly he didn't know his stuff! this has happened on 3 or 4 ocassion, even after I warned them of this, and said you need the Amsterdam paper work or whatever.

So what you suggest is a service but its loaded with DY NO MITE !!

Anyway here is some food for thought that may make you aware of some of the problems that I have experienced over the last 105 plus years.

quote:

Originally posted by studdog:
Are there any Hunting Consultants(ie. Booking Agents) that work for and are paid directly by the client? Their services would be to research, reccomend, plan and arrange hunts to client specifications.

I have been more than satisfied with Keith Atcheson of Atcheson & Sons. While Keith has been compensated for his time and effort by the safari companies that I have booked with through him, he offered excellent advice and freely compared and contrasted different options. I feel that Keith has always and will always represent my best interest in planning a hunt.

JPK

Thanks for the replies. Ray, I appreciate your perspective. My experience with booking agents is at they are sometimes more interested in selling what they have available than meeting the client's needs. The objectivity of an independant consultant might be of value.

Thanks for the replies. Ray, I appreciate your perspective and experience.

Your welcome and most booking agents will accommodate a client on about any request, but not all will tell the client OK but there are conditions and one is you cannot afford to be responsible for someone elses action, it will bite you in the a$$ sooner or later.

I have clients that I would do anything they asked and others that I would not..Saeed for instance is very easy to please and would never hold me responsible for someone elses muckup...some would blame me if the plane is late, but the upside is I pretty much know who does what. I think this applies to most real booking agents. Like any business you have your do's and do nots..It takes a long time to make your bones in the booking business, lots of money and many years and the first 10 ain't easy.

One thing I have noticed is not a lot of folks seem to realize its a business, just like any other business and the best you can hope for is to please "most" of your clients and thats the real truth. there are some clients that cannot be pleased no matter what and in any business.

quote:

there are some clients that cannot be pleased no matter what and in any business.

The quote above from Ray is absolutly, 100%, unequivically true. Some people are beyond pleasing, some whant everything for nothing... Most are reasonable folks who will work with you for mutaul success. And I ain't in the booking business. But like Ray said, its the same in any business.

JPK