Well George, you got me. What's a flaco? Is that a real word?

Dutch

quote:

Originally posted by Dutch44:
Well George, you got me. What's a flaco? Is that a real word?

Dutch

Quarterback for the Ravens?

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:

quote:

Originally posted by Russ B:

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:

quote:

Originally posted by A.Dahlgren:
Hi Peter

A bit off topic but can you list the top 3 areas in Zim today in your opinion and why.

Skip the conservancies

Thanks

I have not been to Zim since 91'but I will take a stab at it and see where they fall when Peter gets back with us:

Matetsi (Don't know the specific # but it is Peter Johnstone's old area).

An area called Rifa

Buzz's area in Dande.

For an all bag area Matetsi 1 it has the broad spectrum of both dangerous and plains game . Then Ngamo Sikumi and Kazuma Pande Masui. Of course Bubye has to rank right up there as well. Rifa has always been good for Dangerous game as most Valley Areas but is limited on plains game .

Just my opinion

Thanks Russ...which Matetsi area is P. Johnstone's old area? I am thinking # 5?

Every time I have visited Rifa/Nyakasanga, I have seen plenty of plainsgame.

Somehow I doubt George is capable of thinking that large, Mitch

Dutch

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
I tracked my ass off with SSG. Lost 15 lbs in two weeks.
I wish I could just drive and shoot, LOL.
Loved every minute of it including everyone I met there, and I was told I"ll be the only hunter in camp.
Met Larry from Iowa, who was hunting buff and hippo and we got along great.
Hunting should be tough and we should expect unexpected.
That's the beauty of it and why we or most of us go there in first place.

All exactly same for me.. Except I lost 18lbs..

Sorry the OP did not get his Ele, but me thinks if the 55 pounder he saw had both his teeth we would not even be having this conversation.. I was in a week or so before you arrived. Saw a massive bull upon my arrival. If I was going for Tusker, my hunt would have been over even before it started.. Yes, you have to catch-em inside the boundries, but name me somewhere you don't. Big-uns are coming out of there, like Granpa used to say.. Mopane... Luck is like getting hit by a train.. Unless you put yourself on the tracks, it just ain't gonna happen.. We as hunters are all quite familiar with simply being in the right place at the right time.. As for sharing a camp.. Suck it up cookie, do you really expect a business to turn away clients without charging you an extra bundle to make up for lost revenues and lost clients?? If I walked away from every hunt I was told I'd be in alone, I'd never have hunted the Matetsi area's twice, Kozonzo in Zambia.. Numerous other elk/deer camps in the states..
My hats off to Aron for giving an assist when he didn't even book you.. The way Aron described Nixon's operation was spot on..

quote:

Originally posted by conditionone45:
Texas Blue.

Well you never know. This year is the first time I've shared camp with someone I didn't know. He turned out to be a regular on the AR Forum and I have read his hunt reports.

On the way home I found myself sitting at the Bulawayo Airport waiting to board the flight to JNB and got in a conversation with a nice young guy who turned out to be Shawn Buffy who PH's in the Bubye and is quite familiar with this forum.

I guess you just aren't lucky!

Ha! And I wasn't a nice young guy!!..

I've always maintained you meet the greatest people in camp..

I had the distinct honor of meeting and sharing camp with Cond45
We got to compare illnesses (is that a word?)He was trying to poison himself with Larium or Malaron & I arrived sick with a virus that’s been making it's run through my office. He was a fantastic camp companion despite ready to croak any minute. I even asked if I could have his Super Grade .458 I only received the one finger salute fortunately.
Cond45
I hope to see you in Nixons camp again.. This time both of us feeling better..
Best Regards.

URBAN DICTIONARY:FLACO

2. flaco noun. someone who is TOO skinny from drugs; a clucker, crackhead, or one who bangs tar. usually derogatory. even if they're not using
dude better eat, you look like a flaco

Andrew, I believe that number represents Nixon's original Malapati area, plus now the Sengwe 1 & 2 area quotas. After the "incident" with the previous operator of those areas vanishing without payment to the community for game taken, the tribal folks asked Nixon to resume hunts in their areas.

I'll be back this June.

quote:

Originally posted by MopaneMike:

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
I tracked my ass off with SSG. Lost 15 lbs in two weeks.
I wish I could just drive and shoot, LOL.
Loved every minute of it including everyone I met there, and I was told I"ll be the only hunter in camp.
Met Larry from Iowa, who was hunting buff and hippo and we got along great.
Hunting should be tough and we should expect unexpected.
That's the beauty of it and why we or most of us go there in first place.

All exactly same for me.. Except I lost 18lbs..

Sorry the OP did not get his Ele, but me thinks if the 55 pounder he saw had both his teeth we would not even be having this conversation.. I was in a week or so before you arrived. Saw a massive bull upon my arrival. If I was going for Tusker, my hunt would have been over even before it started.. Yes, you have to catch-em inside the boundries, but name me somewhere you don't. Big-uns are coming out of there, like Granpa used to say.. Mopane... Luck is like getting hit by a train.. Unless you put yourself on the tracks, it just ain't gonna happen.. We as hunters are all quite familiar with simply being in the right place at the right time.. As for sharing a camp.. Suck it up cookie, do you really expect a business to turn away clients without charging you an extra bundle to make up for lost revenues and lost clients?? If I walked away from every hunt I was told I'd be in alone, I'd never have hunted the Matetsi area's twice, Kozonzo in Zambia.. Numerous other elk/deer camps in the states..
My hats off to Aron for giving an assist when he didn't even book you.. The way Aron described Nixon's operation was spot on..

Mike...ya got a hunt report coming...I'd be interested in checking it out

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Andrew, I believe that number represents Nixon's original Malapati area, plus now the Sengwe 1 & 2 area quotas. After the "incident" with the previous operator of those areas vanishing without payment to the community for game taken, the tribal folks asked Nixon to resume hunts in their areas.

I'll be back this June.

Beibs

That was a really bad deal.
Luckily the tribal fees for my hunt were paid directly and not through Aubs.

have fun and If you make it down to Sengwe 1 let us know how the new camp looks.

quote:

Originally posted by Dutch44:
Well George, you got me. What's a flaco? Is that a real word?

Dutch

It's Spanish for skinny or slim

It's Joe from Ravens boys
Don't you watch Super Bowl?

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Andrew, I believe that number represents Nixon's original Malapati area, plus now the Sengwe 1 & 2 area quotas. After the "incident" with the previous operator of those areas vanishing without payment to the community for game taken, the tribal folks asked Nixon to resume hunts in their areas.

I'll be back this June.

Biebs - Nixon's quota actually represents 5 areas, Malapati, Malapati communial, Gonakodzwinga (Spelling), Sengwe 1 & Sengwe 2.

I have no dog in this fight having never hunted with SSG but I do want to thank jeff h for posting HIS own assessment of HIS hunt. The beauty of this forum is hunters are able to post THEIR experience of THEIR hunt for others to take into consideration when booking a safari. If one is smart when conducting research into an area, one will read ALL hunt reports on an outfitter and use them to make their own decision on whom they hunt with and where. The collective intelligence, both good and bad can only help this forum, not hurt it...

Razor Dobbs latest show is with Nixon.

Russell has got it right.

I think like most situations in life you've got to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. I haven't hunted with Nixon, but almost did this year. After a lot of research and reference checking I decided that as a first time elephant hunter the hunt with SSG was too much a roll of the dice and I wanted to see and be into a lot of elephants, even if I wasn't going to collect the biggest ivory. With that in mind I hunted with Phil Smythe in the Sengwa Research area and that is exactly what happened.

However, if I was a veteran elephant hunter and wanted to hunt somewhere in Zimbabwe for a chance at the biggest ivory I could find then I'd gravitate towards SSG, knowing full well that I might not connect.

Not every hunt is for every level of hunter and I think this is the case with SSG. The great thing is that we have such a variety of experiences to pick from based on our situation. It's all good.

There are two aspects to sharing a camp ... one is the crowding of the hunting area, the other is the real possibility that the two clients don't get along.

Regarding crowding, I once had the experience of 3 hunting vehicles arriving at the same spot simultaneously. It was well into the dry season and all 3 PHs were "working the river". And two of the rigs were looking for tuskless in the same area at the same time. Since part of your daily rate (in fact the majority of it) pays for your use of the hunting area, it's a material breach of contract if the operator sells what you paid for twice. This is not an issue in a very large concession with several camps where it is understood that parallel hunting is taking place. But in smaller concessions, or at times when the game is concentrated, it's a dirty practice and outright fraud especially if you promised the client exclusive use of the area.

Regarding personalities: in MOST of the instances where I have been in camp with unexpected company, the parties have not gotten along. In one instance, the unexpected party had an AD in camp. I have no desire to be shot by some careless ahole who I don't know. In another, the unexpected party was a complete cultural boor who kept bringing up Hitler and WWII in the presence of a German client who was the epitome of a gentleman. The German client was visibly uncomfortable with these topics and repeatedly tried to change the subject. The boor kept bringing it up. And in two other instances, a loud and dominating personality just did not go over well with the other hunter in camp. In one egregious case, a party of hunters arrived in camp unexpectedly and shot THE elephant we were hunting. In this same camp, some hunters showed up one afternoon for the night to get an early start in the morning, occupied all the chairs, and drank all the cold beer. By the time we got into camp ready for a cold one, they were all gone and there was nowhere to sit. These people all spoke Afrikaans and insisted on doing so the entire evening.

Again, the high daily rate partially reflects the cost of running a camp for one client or one hunting party. So to double-book the camp and not offer a discount is cheating the client.

In conclusion, regardless of whether the client is savvy enough to specify exclusivity or not, it's a very poor practice indeed to double up a camp. If it's unavoidable, both clients need to agree it's OK in advance. If you are a victim of this scam, I suggest you ask how much of your daily rate pays the PH (usually $100). Deduct that from the daily rate and divide the remainder by the number of hunting parties in the camp. Pay the resulting amount.

I agree that it is a problem if the agreement was to have sole use of the area.

Lots of Nixon supporters here. That is fine. They may be right. I don't know. I hear from sources in Zim that Nixon is 9 for 25 on elephants this year. I believe these sources to be reliable .

I would certainly check on this before I went.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I agree that it is a problem if the agreement was to have sole use of the area.

Lots of Nixon supporters here. That is fine. They may be right. I don't know. I hear from sources in Zim that Nixon is 9 for 25 on elephants this year. I believe these sources to be reliable .

I would certainly check on this before I went.

Larry - That's absurd! First of all, I have the SSG hunting schedule - they have had no where near 25 elephant hunts thus far in 2013. Where some of this stuff comes from just boggles the mind??????

Aaron, so what is the "right" answer?

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I agree that it is a problem if the agreement was to have sole use of the area.

Lots of Nixon supporters here. That is fine. They may be right. I don't know. I hear from sources in Zim that Nixon is 9 for 25 on elephants this year. I believe these sources to be reliable .

I would certainly check on this before I went.

Larry - That's absurd! First of all, I have the SSG hunting schedule - they have had no where near 25 elephant hunts thus far in 2013. Where some of this stuff comes from just boggles the mind??????

Sorry Aaron, but 9 for 25 is correct. We already know here that there were 9 unsuccessful hunts. It ain't difficult math. Do you really think you are getting the straight skinny?

Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana Bunduki:

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I agree that it is a problem if the agreement was to have sole use of the area.

Lots of Nixon supporters here. That is fine. They may be right. I don't know. I hear from sources in Zim that Nixon is 9 for 25 on elephants this year. I believe these sources to be reliable .

I would certainly check on this before I went.

Larry - That's absurd! First of all, I have the SSG hunting schedule - they have had no where near 25 elephant hunts thus far in 2013. Where some of this stuff comes from just boggles the mind??????

Sorry Aaron, but 9 for 25 is correct. We already know here that there were 9 unsuccessful hunts. It ain't difficult math. Do you really think you are getting the straight skinny?

Jeff

Jeff - 25 / 12 day elephant hunts completed to date, that's 300 hunt days if they were scheduled to do nothing but hunt elephant, not buff/elephant. But somehow a huge amount of that got left off my SSG schedule that we send back/forth? Ya, maybe so! If you can list all the names of the 25 elephant hunters to date, and who their PH was - then I will certainly stand corrected and say so too.

Or are we also talking about guys who were there on a 10 day buff hunt for example, and said if the opportunity arises for a big elephant - I'm willing to give it a go?

Or maybe you are getting your info from the same person who told you that Simon was NOT licensed to guide buffalo, which you then posted on the world wide web - but was factually in-correct!! So I guess I'm not sure who's got the wrong "skinny"?

I also said earlier exactly why the early season elephant hunts this year likely did not go so well, which mostly came down to poor overall conditions - you can read it in one of my previous posts. Generally Same reason I prefer not to book anyone early, which I did not do this year at all.

For some reason, some folks have a real axe to grind with Nixon? Maybe their reasons are legit, I honestly don't know? So I'll just step aside and let you guys grind away. Besides, what the hell do I know about what's going on there?

Mike Jines I cannot speak to the results of each/every hunt, Jeff apparently has all the details on that. I've personally had 3 elephant hunters to date, all 3 took elephant bulls - but I have times/dates I like for elephant and times I do not. My 4th elephant hunter started just yesterday, hopefully he's successful!

I really was just curious. It would be nice if all the outfitters published stats on the percentage of hunts for different species that were successful each season -- I am talking about hunters booked to hunt and whether they were successful on their hunt for that species. So many just say, "we are 100% on leopard" leaving unsaid that it took three hunters before they finally got the one leopard on quota. That seems disingenuous to me. Truth is that most outfitters are not that far removed from car salesmen when it comes to presenting information with 100% accuracy, in my humble opinion. That is the value of sites like this, one can read about the unsuccessful, as well as the successful, hunts.

MJ -

I would suspect that MOST outfitters are very busy at this time and have more important things to do than to sit down and give a play by play of their hunts to a FEW AR members who obviously have very little to do. Just saying.

Larry Sellers
SCI (International) Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
I really was just curious. It would be nice if all the outfitters published stats on the percentage of hunts for different species that were successful each season -- I am talking about hunters booked to hunt and whether they were successful on their hunt for that species. So many just say, "we are 100% on leopard" leaving unsaid that it took three hunters before they finally got the one leopard on quota. That seems disingenuous to me. Truth is that most outfitters are not that far removed from car salesmen when it comes to presenting information with 100% accuracy, in my humble opinion. That is the value of sites like this, one can read about the unsuccessful, as well as the successful, hunts.

Do something useful for a change, like make some pandering post about SCI. [Edited: SCI International]

now that's good!

quote:

Originally posted by

Adding to the above Andrew, he has 5 areas/blocks - not one. The smallest of which is nearly twice the size of Royal Kafue!

These areas have always had these quotas Andrew. Nixon now just happens to have the 5 areas now, thus obviously his overall quota could be large.

Just as with the elephants - I doubt he will run out soon. Stole that from Sean.

With 5 blocks is it hard to believe that Nixon has taken a lot of elephant hunters?

quote:

Adding to the above Andrew, he has 5 areas/blocks - not one. The smallest of which is nearly twice the size of Royal Kafue!

These areas have always had these quotas Andrew. Nixon now just happens to have the 5 areas now, thus obviously his overall quota could be large.

Excuse my ignorance, but who had these blocks before Nixon took them over.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by

Adding to the above Andrew, he has 5 areas/blocks - not one. The smallest of which is nearly twice the size of Royal Kafue!

These areas have always had these quotas Andrew. Nixon now just happens to have the 5 areas now, thus obviously his overall quota could be large.

Just as with the elephants - I doubt he will run out soon. Stole that from Sean.

With 5 blocks is it hard to believe that Nixon has taken a lot of elephant hunters?

Larry - In terms of booking 25 elephant hunters by September in one year, ya it would be hard to believe for any outfitter IMO. I book a lot of hunts to Africa, as you know - but elephant numbers like that, nope! Certainly not to one outfitter, in one year. I have exactly 20 clients booked with SSG in 2013, of which only 7 are for elephant, and the rest are buff only. So far my elephant hunters have been 100%, I have one there right now, and the other 3 are coming up.

With my guys still to hunt elephant - one would assume SSG has managed to book 30 elephant hunters in one year, of which the majority I would be un-aware of, when over the past several months I have fairly consistently had at least 1 buffalo hunter with SSG too, and nothing mentioned of elephant hunters, is highly unlikely/hard for me to believe.

But Larry, I have certainly been wrong before.

quote:

Larry - That's absurd! First of all, I have the SSG hunting schedule - they have had no where near 25 elephant hunts thus far in 2013. Where some of this stuff comes from just boggles the mind??????

Aaron,

When you are asked what the numbers are, you say that you don't know.

If you have SSG's hunting schedule, how many elephant hunts have they had already?

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:

quote:

Larry - That's absurd! First of all, I have the SSG hunting schedule - they have had no where near 25 elephant hunts thus far in 2013. Where some of this stuff comes from just boggles the mind??????

Aaron,

When you are asked what the numbers are, you say that you don't know.

If you have SSG's hunting schedule, how many elephant hunts have they had already?

NO, that's not what I said at all - I said I do not know the "success" results of each elephant hunter, as most were not my clients.

According to my schedule - to date 13 elephant hunters have visited SSG, and I have 1 there now. Only 3 of the 13 were my guys, and again, they have all been successful so far.

Now, were some hunters along the way given the chance on there buff hunt to shoot an elephant, or offered to hunt them too - I can't answer to that of course, but certainly likely.

quote:

Originally posted by Hunting the Box H:

quote:

Adding to the above Andrew, he has 5 areas/blocks - not one. The smallest of which is nearly twice the size of Royal Kafue!

These areas have always had these quotas Andrew. Nixon now just happens to have the 5 areas now, thus obviously his overall quota could be large.

Excuse my ignorance, but who had these blocks before Nixon took them over.

Dont know about others but Pelandaba Safaris (Aubrey Kent) had Sengwe 2 last year.

I hunted there last Sept and and took a nice buff and a very good elle. Paul Phelan was PH, with Ishmael

Sean Russell-
How was Paul Phelan? Hunted with him over 20 years ago when we both had color in out hair. Took a 45" bull gemsbuck and a 40" eland with him.

Thanks, jeff h, for this report.

A contract is a promise. Promises are holy and must not be broken, except under extraordinary, uncontrollable, and highly mitigating circumstances, including, by the way, I don't love you anymore.

But this does not seem to have been one of those circumstances. I can only imagine the embarrassment of having observers along for an exclusive area, and running into another hunting party. Not what you bargained for.

Filed under: "Not for me."

Thanks, again.

Aubrey Kent had Sengwe I
Todd Lutman had Sengwe II
Lloyd Yeatman had the rest together I believe. Nixon worked for/with Yeatman, who now hunts an area just North of Nixon called Naivasha.

Sorry butch--got confused--any way Aubrey screwd up big time-

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
I really was just curious. It would be nice if all the outfitters published stats on the percentage of hunts for different species that were successful each season -- I am talking about hunters booked to hunt and whether they were successful on their hunt for that species. So many just say, "we are 100% on leopard" leaving unsaid that it took three hunters before they finally got the one leopard on quota. That seems disingenuous to me. Truth is that most outfitters are not that far removed from car salesmen when it comes to presenting information with 100% accuracy, in my humble opinion. That is the value of sites like this, one can read about the unsuccessful, as well as the successful, hunts.

Absolutely.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Jeff:

I hear from sources in Zim that the first few hunts were not productive for Nixon nor his neighbors.
Something like 0 for 6

Malapati safari area adjoins the southern region of Gonarezhou, which is the Shona word for “Place of Many Elephants”.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
I really was just curious. It would be nice if all the outfitters published stats on the percentage of hunts for different species that were successful each season -- I am talking about hunters booked to hunt and whether they were successful on their hunt for that species. So many just say, "we are 100% on leopard" leaving unsaid that it took three hunters before they finally got the one leopard on quota. That seems disingenuous to me. Truth is that most outfitters are not that far removed from car salesmen when it comes to presenting information with 100% accuracy, in my humble opinion. That is the value of sites like this, one can read about the unsuccessful, as well as the successful, hunts.

Absolutely.

+2.