I was trying to order a book by well known author Craig Boddington this morning but could not find the website I had previously used to order his items from. I then went to his facebook page where quite a surprise awaited me.

I read then reread his page to make sure I was actually understanding what I was reading. It seems that Craig and a friend named Conrad Evarts are pleading for public financial assistance to bring back a Craig Boddington website. In addition, he is selling the "Lucky Boddo T Shirt" which apparently are shirts he has worn personally on Safari. The price: $200 per used shirt!!! Next, for $4000 you can stay in his house in Kansas and shoot a deer!

Am I the only one that finds it strange that he has the money and time to criss cross the planet doing hunts we can only dream about, but is begging for funds to operate a for-profit website? My seventeen-year-old daughter has her own website that she designed, paid for, and does upkeep on with her own part-time job money! I hate to say, but I find it a combination of sad and insulting that Mr. Boddington has resorted to asking the general public to fund his personal enterprise. I have no problem with anyone making a dollar. But to expect and seek a $9000 contribution to a private, and I might say, self serving website design is just a bit too much. Am I alone in this thinking?

Check it out and see it for yourself: http://www.indiegogo.com/proje...g-boddington-website

While I have enjoyed Craig's writing in the past, I must say that my opinion of Mr. Boddington has changed dramatically. Needless to say, I will not be contributing money or buying dirty safari shirts.

Very odd indeed.

I have no idea what is going on with him. His TV show is apparently gone. He has had some issues with an alledgely illegal hunt in Australia.

I like his writing. I liked him on TAA. I wish the best for him.

Is it possible the website is a scam? I'd want to hear from Boddington himself (and he posts here once in a great while) before I'd believe it or contribute--not that I WOULD contribute.

I was able to acsess craigboddington.com without problem.

Something is fishy here.

Cease Fire!!!!

This could be nothing more than a scammer making money out of him.
There is no part of this that has been written in the first person by CB. If it is real it would appear to be a third party wanting to make a CB hero worship page.

I strongly suggest you chat to Craig first, he deserves the chance to say his say before the internet trial begins.
Come on chaps, we are better than this.

I think its http://www.hunting-graphics.com that wants to make a "name" of them self. They probably offered Craig that they could remake his website free of charge (original price 9K). Instead of getting money from Craig they sell tshirts etc to raise some money for their company. Seen it before and a bit strange but cant see anything wrong with it.

Something smells.
And it ain't a smell I like!

The internet is full of odd campains but that campaign is stupid even by internet standards.
Why should someone pay for Craig's website?

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Something smells.
And it ain't a smell I like!

Craig has posted a link to this site on his Facebook page. So he must be obviously aware of this.

I note the guy who started this has only posted once and thought the website thing was a scam. But I went to CB's FB page and must say I am really disappointed...it seems like the guy is saying/selling anything to make a buck.

The whole outdoor industry is getting a little too focused on marketing and selling themselves to the highest bidder. I sure miss the days when guys like Norm Strung would go out on a DIY elk hunt and write about it in Field & Stream.

Believe me gentlemen I have also enjoyed Craig's career, both writing and TV, for years. I also thought this just did not sound right, and did a bit of research myself before posting. Apparently from watching the video on the link and running a check on Mr. Evarts reveals that he is Craig's long time cameraman for Peterson's hunting TV. With this said, it is obvious that Craig is not only in the know, but involved. If I'm missing something here, and I hope that I am, will someone please point out where? The video on the link seems very damning.

I am selling used T-shirts for $25. These are shirts that Boddington could have purchased, might have even looked at or considered purchasing. This is the next best thing to owning one of Craig's T-shirts.

Sad to see this.

Could be Hawkeye47 at work again....

Mike, can we get a discount if we buy in quantity?

Tim:

You should get on e bay and start selling autograph pics of you and that leopard.

You are leaving money on the table...

Oh, be sure to include the spent case.

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
Mike, can we get a discount if we buy in quantity?

Absolutely. And for an additional $10 I will shake your hand with the same hand that I shook Craig's hand with several years ago. I have washed the hand since then but according to the protocols set by my mother as a child, not very well.

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
Tim:

You should get on e bay and start selling autograph pics of you and that leopard.

You are leaving money on the table...

Oh, be sure to include the spent case.

Wendell may be able to help with that.

Wonder if CB has serious financial problems?

Carmello at his finest.

Mike

E

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
Mike, can we get a discount if we buy in quantity?

Tim, all things considered you should stay quiet on this thread.

LT - I wasn't saying a word against Craig...I was just joking with my buddy Mike...no offense meant.

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
LT - I wasn't saying a word against Craig...I was just joking with my buddy Mike...no offense meant.

Understood!
Would have been in poor taste

Craig is a someone of immense integrity and, without his weighing in on this personally, I wouldn't put much credence in some of the allegations here.

However, if there's a problem with the domain name www.craigboddington.com – perhaps due to joint ownership with others wherein there is a business dispute, for example – the domain names: 1) www.craigboddington.net; 2) www.craigboddington.org; and, 3) www.craigboddington.us are all available for him to pickup.

Craig's one of the good guys out there. He represents our sport with dignity and humility, and I wish him well.

quote:

quote:Originally posted by Tim Herald:Mike, can we get a discount if we buy in quantity? Tim, all things considered you should stay quiet on this thread.

I guess that since Tim was involved in a hunting accident he should turn in his sense of humour & be solemn all the rest of his days.
Give me a break.

Poor taste IMO

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:

quote:

quote:Originally posted by Tim Herald:Mike, can we get a discount if we buy in quantity? Tim, all things considered you should stay quiet on this thread.

I guess that since Tim was involved in a hunting accident he should turn in his sense of humour & be solemn all the rest of his days.
Give me a break.

Amen!

Guys, Craig Boddington is one of the GREAT GUYS, of our Era. To start, anything like this on a PUBLIC FORUM,is shameful.It matters not to me,what is going on, on a WEBSITE. Mr. Boddington, is a highly decorated Veteran, I will always stand by him, billionaire, or broke.I met him one time in my life,20 some years ago in Anchorage...and am sure he wouldn't remember me..I can honestly say, i'm proud of Craig Boddington, and what he's done for all of us. Butch

What a bizarre development! At first glance, I thought it obviously had to be in error. Especially being brought to attention by a member on his very first post. But checking out the Face Book page concerning soliciting money to put up a website, it appears to be legit with CB's full knowledge.

It does seem odd to me that a fellow traveling the world in search of the most obscure species to hunt, in the most unusual locations, as well as the many safaris and other hunts, is now soliciting the public for funds to construct a website for the purposes of selling his wares. Especially considering the fact that $9,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to many of these hunts. Why not just cancel one hunt, and pay for his own "storefront".

Although Tracks Across Africa marches on as the premier adventure hunting show, it appears the post "Tracts" period is not treating the Colonel well. Sad to see really. Or maybe I'm reading the entire thing wrong?

Mike ,
Haven't sent a dime, but I stand by what I stated.

Butch

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
...it seems like the guy is saying/selling anything to make a buck.

Anyone who has seen his articles knows he and his endorsements were always for sale.

The OP is a long-time member here who preferred to create another persona to post this. I don't understand why he would do so, but he must think he will draw personal attacks if he posts under his usual monicker.

George

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
Carmello at his finest.

Mike

Carmelo back from the dead!

I share the respect, and concern, others have expressed for CB.

So, assuming that this story is true, I find this to be a sad situation.

Sad. Not worthy of condemnation, and certainly not funny.

I hope that this is some kind of stupid hoax.

If all AR members will give me $100 each I will gladly go on safari and write a great hunt report. Heck if there are enough donations I may even take one of the members along.
Oh almost forgot, I have this great bridge that is for sale...

clearly a scam.

This type of scam goes on all the time on the internet. Someone has created a website in my company name, taken pictures and text from my website, and then tried to sell me the new website.

CB may have, inadvertently, not renewed his domain name and someone else snapped it up and is now attempting to profit from it.

I can't say for sure what is going on, but won't draw any stupid conclusions from what has been presented in this thread.

His website is available, as previously posted, but not under his name and there is no mention of any of this on his actual website.

I'm betting there's a scam running, without CB's knowledge or involvement.

Would be too sad for words otherwise.

So if it is a scam how would one explain the link to the site on CB's Facebook page?

quote:

Originally posted by KPete....the domain names: 1) www.craigboddington.net; 2) www.craigboddington.org; and, 3) www.craigboddington.us are all available

Good suggestion Kim, although I’m not seeing current availability of all those suggested. There are other extensions too….but they better be quick…

Per whois.com the craigboddington.com domain is owned by an entity out of Toronto. The content of the website is still available per the link above and even comes up via Google, which looks like a snapshot from 2012 on wayback machine (web.archive.org). Looks like it just needs a new home.

Another option if indeed they are struggling to gain/regain ownership of the domain name, would be to quickly register a few satisfactory .com names. More people are using a search engine (Google or Bing) as a means of locating a website, even one which they frequent often, and somebody googling "craig boddington" is going to hit his site (assuming optimized for search engines) even if it is perhaps "theboddingtonlegend.com" or whatever. It’s nice to have your primary name as your domain name for website, publication and email, but with only so many names and entities out there snapping up anything that may have a future market value, you take what you can get.

If the intent is to fund development of a new website also, then obviously there is more to this....

Speaking of which, I don't think this is a "scam" as in somebody is doing this without Craig’s awareness, as when I looked at Craig's facebook earlier today I saw some entries that I don’t see now that led me to believe he was aware and "humbled" by the "fund raising effort". And if you look on his facebook, there is also mention of a fund raising effort by his "favorite cameraman" for a Kenyan school project using the same website (indiegogo.com).

I would encourage Craig to look for an alternate solution to the "fund raiser", and if I can aid in any way, my company does web-dev and I would be happy to assist in getting the current content to a new home, no costs from my end, just email or pm me.

I share the sentiments above that I have the utmost respect for Craig, he has always been a gentleman including in my limited interactions with him, and represented hunters in a very positive light.

I was scratching my head when I saw this pop up on my facebook feed last night. I thought I hadn't read it correctly. don't think it was a scam, maybe just a really bad idea by the camerman. so many weird parts to the post. it basically listed a bunch of craig's accomplishments, and then basically said "this man should have his own website!"
which he does, or did until very recently.


looks like the facebook posts about it are now gone from his page and the cameraman's page (conrad evarts).

craigboddington.com has been registered to the same place since 2004 it seems, and last renewed in 2012. So I don't think there is any funny business there, although it is registered thru a proxy for privacy so you can't really see who owns it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MJines:
So if it is a scam how would one explain the link to the site on CB's Facebook page?[/QUOTE}

Someone hacked into his FB account and created all the links and cheesy endorsements, ebay sales of autographed "hero" shots for $500, etc.

He should sue the crap out of them. He could even take up a fund to hire a lawyer. I am sure plenty of AR members would contribute...

Whatever the truth, I will still read most of his stuff, just as I still watch the Green Bay Packers play on TV when I am working on a Sunday, even if they acted like losers the week before. Win, lose, or draw, the fortunes of either don't affect my life one bit.