I received the latest issue of Safari Times Saturday. Buried on p. A13 is a short (12 sentence) article on rhino poaching arrest in RSA. No names mentioned; story did say two veterinarians were involved. There was certainly no mention of any suspect’s affiliation with SCI.

There were no legal notices regarding anyone associated with the arrests.

Not a lot of advertisements for African hunts, but a ton for deer—understandable, given the seasons for each.

Craig Boddington had a short piece on bushpigs. I’ve always admired Boddington and enjoyed his writing, but this article was pathetic. I don’t know how fast Boddington types; if this story took him more than ten minutes to hammer out, he needs to back for a refresher course on typing. Of course, maybe the editors cut his article to make room for more display ads or “advertorials”—there were sure enough of them.

I would suspect you are right about editing on the pig article Craig's stuff is usually top notch.

Nitro,

I am surprised that they didn't have a statement from their lawyer/president-elect saying how they had been set up because people were jealous of their success, that there was no evidence, that it has all been painted with too broad a brush, and that it is not SCI's responsibility to protect members from robbery and extortion from a top line donator.

Then, he could wind it up by saying how they were "First for Hunters", and provide a convenient web address for donations to their anti-poaching program.

Cheers,

~ Alan

ddr,

I always wondered why Craig Boddington and all the other outdoor journalists never had anything to say about this Out of Africa public relations disaster in print.

A friend of mine who was a victim of Out of Africa tells me every time he sees Boddington at a show, Craig says, "When is SCI going to do something about Out of Africa?"

Luckily, the US Dept. of Justice did something about it, and saved SCI and Craig from having to lift a finger. Less impact on book and DVD sales that way.

DOJ press release on Dawie Groenewald

Cheers,

~ Alan

Alan, Has SCI issued any kind of statement yet about their seemingly unscrupuliuos relationship with OOA? This is going to be a public image nightmare for them unless they do some serious damage control ASAP.

Dawie has been booted from SCI as of last February, I believe. It was prima facie once he was convicted of the smuggling/Lacey Act violations. OoA may also have received the boot, but I cannot find the reference.

Thank God I never hunted with OOA but they recommended a place to hunt to their and my Afrikanner friend for an animal I wanted....we packed and left after 1/2 day....place looked like a golf course....we passed on a very good, SCI Gold Medal, SA "red" Lechwe...pizzed rancher off very much! And probably them....my friend never contacted them again for recommendations.

Tembo, Lionhunter, & Tom in Tennessee,

Dawie plead guilty to the felony leopard smuggling charges on January 29. I can't find the exact date of the trial in the Federal Court in Alabama, but it was 2 and a half months later according to the DOJ press release, which would put it about middle or end of April.

I went to the NRA convention in mid-May and spoke with an SCi officer named, John Boretsky at the SCI booth in Charlotte. He told me how many people in SCI thought that OoA "hung the moon". I told him that I knew quite a few SCI members that wanted them "hung from a rope".

A few weeks later John sent out an email statement (about the first of June or end of May) that said Dawie and Janneman Groenewald had resigned from SCI. It was pretty low key as I remember, and I recall someone posted Mr. Boretsky's email here on AR.

If anyone can find it, please re-post it here, or email it to me, so we can see exactly what it said.

SCI is never going to release a statement about their relationship with Out of Africa, as it would open them up to all sorts of charges and legal problems. They seem like they could care less about damage control and are probably more concerned in covering their asses from the interest of USFWS Special Agents. Their best strategy would seem to be to stay quiet and wait for it to blow over and go away... just like all the previous scandals.

Dawie was never 'booted' from SCI, he and Janneman were allowed to resign. I assume it was in hopes they could come back at a later date after proper rehabilitation. Or, just maybe a weasel way to get rid of them without pissing them off to the point where they possibly started naming names.

If I recall, Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris was prohibited from ever exhibiting at any future SCI shows, but I seem to remember that it did not specify Dawie and Janneman personally.

Anyone who was fortunate enough to miss hunting with OoA dodged a bullet, in my opinion, and saved themselves a lot of money. Good old Tennessee luck, I reckon, or maybe a country boy can just sniff out a rat when he smells one.

Cheers,

~ Alan

Yes their coverage was abismal/comical at best. They must have forgot to mention the names! Yes the newspaper much like the magazine had gone down hill and is utterly worthless!

Brett

Brett,

Safari Mag has quite a bit of content written by real people who go on real hunts. Would you rather read about a real hunt or yet one more "red sands of the Kalahari" hunt written by a full time writer on an industry (meaning he didn't pay for it) hunt?

Most dangerous game hunting is too expensive for Browning et all to pay for.

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
Brett,

Safari Mag has quite a bit of content written by real people who go on real hunts. Would you rather read about a real hunt or yet one more "red sands of the Kalahari" hunt written by a full time writer on an industry (meaning he didn't pay for it) hunt?

Most dangerous game hunting is too expensive for Browning et all to pay for.

I don't the least bit have a problem with this. My problem is that one there are barely any articles (MUCH less than there use to be) and two the articles/destinations/animals are about as boring as it gets (for a magazine titled Safari). It's pretty pathetic when I pick up the mag and can only find 2..3..maybe...4 articles interesting enough to read. Sorry I just don't have any interest in reading about whitetails or the latest SCI gold metal elk to come out of some pen in Canada. With all the African countries, Asian countries, wilderness states and territoreis in NA, Australia, NZ, SA?????? Come on people!!! I can remember picking the magazine up many years ago and being able to read for hours. Not any more.

Brett

As with most things in life nowadays, it's been considerably dumbed down to accommodate the lowest common denominator.........

If they wanted to get back to the high standards of the old days (when I was a member and used to read the mag regularly), the best thing they could do is bring Bill Quimby back to take over again.

A good example would be that embarassingly stupid article about 'mountain buffalo' they published a while ago....... If BQ had been at the reins, I'm sure that would never have got to print......

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
As with most things in life nowadays, it's been considerably dumbed down to accommodate the lowest common denominator.........

All one has to do is look at internet message boards these days to see this same thing. (Not directed at you, Steve)

quote:

If they wanted to get back to the high standards of the old days (when I was a member and used to read the mag regularly), the best thing they could do is bring Bill Quimby back to take over again. A good example would be that embarassingly stupid article about 'mountain buffalo' they published a while ago....... If BQ had been at the reins, I'm sure that would never have got to print......

Thanks, Steve, but at age 74 and counting I have no plans to accept any full-time post again.

Producing a book every ten months since I retired nearly a dozen years ago has kept me busy enough.

Bill Quimby