quote:

Originally posted by Greg Brownlee:
During show season this year there were some (very much unsubstantiated) allegations that Danny McCallum safaris went 1 for 15 on lions last year. Its not true in the slightest, and in fact they only had 5 lion hunters total for all of last season in all of their areas. While they did only kill 1 lion (which is not good success rate, I agree), a mixture of drought and new, little understood regulations regarding lions age hindered that success significantly. We sent 4 of the 5 lion hunters Danny had last year and 3 of them had mature lions on bait, with one killing a giant cat. I'll be the first to say that's not the success rate we expect, but we believed in Danny based on past clients successes and booked more hunters with him this year.

Our first client in camp this year is telling a much different story. Better rains this year have contributed to more plainsgame and buffalo in the areas, and a lot more cats. Our client has been hunting the area since August 1, and so far has taken 2 big maned lions(one of which Danny McCallum himself says has the largest skull he's ever personally seen on a lion), 1 big tom leopard with a second on bait they're hunting this evening, a 47.5" sable, 30" roan, 2 big buffalo (don't know exact size, both over 40"), lots of plainsgame and said "he's seen more game on this safari than on any of the other's he's been on" (he's been on a lot). He also said Danny McCallum is the best professional hunter he's ever been around in any country in Africa or elsewhere.

I'm not trying to "plug" our company, I am just wanting to spread some positive word out there about Danny's company after there was so much overblown negativity from last season that really hurt his reputation as one of the best operators in Africa today. A great start to a season that's sure to turn into another great one for them.

Best Regards,

Greg

Photos of both cats (cats were actually taken in adjacent concessions, Lukwati South and Chunya)