I will be joining my family for a hunt with Greg Butler Safaris in Botswana in mid-August. To say I'm excited about my first safari would be an extreme understatement. While I spoke with multiple references prior to booking, I'd love to hear from some others who have had experiences (hopefully good) with Greg Butler's outfit. Any comments or caveats regarding expectations, side trips, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Best, CC

i hunted with greg in may 2005 for leopard and plains game in the kalahari. killed the leopard. kudu, gemsbok, and springbok by the 5th day and greg then moved me to his concession bordering the moremi game reserve in the okavango delta for another 5 days of photo/video shooting. he was under no obligation to move me- just did it as nice gesture. he and his wife kelly run a great operation and are genuinely nice people to deal with. of the 6 trips i have taken to tanzania, zim and RSA, this was by far my best safari. i saw more game, especially dangerous game, than on all my other trips combined

Jdollar, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Were the kudu and gemsbok pretty good quality? Did you have any interest in taking other animals and were unable to do so, such as eland, zebra, wildebeast, impala, warthog. If you had a license for those animals, would you have been able to harvest them? I'll be hunting for just plains game, but my father will be after buffalo. I understand there are quite a few buff in the delta. Thanks for your response. Best, CC

Does Greg Butler have a website?

Mike

I have never been made aware of one. I booked through Neil Summers of Bowhunting Safari Consultants. They have a pretty nice brochure, though.

Thanks is he bow only?

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Carolina Counsel:
Jdollar, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Were the kudu and gemsbok pretty good quality? Did you have any interest in taking other animals and were unable to do so, such as eland, zebra, wildebeast, impala, warthog. If you had a license for those animals, would you have been able to harvest them? I'll be hunting for just plains game, but my father will be after buffalo. I understand there are quite a few buff in the delta. Thanks for your response. Best, CC

the kudu i shot was 53" and he was in the salt 3 hours after my charter flight touched down the first day( about 6 PM). shot an average spring bok and a jackal the next day, leopard the next day and a 45" gemsbok bull the next day( currently #3 in the SCI book). saw plenty of eland and wildebeast but wasn't interested. bear in mind that we were in the kalahari, so no buff. did have a large male lion come into camp each night and drink from the small pool by the borehole. one night he entered the staff quarters and killed one of their donkeys. never saw him even though he walked by my tent almost every night!! lions were not on permit then in the kalahari(2005). greg's concession in the okavanga also seemed to have lots of plains game, especially red lechwe, as well as lots of buffalo. jerry meyers, who posts on AR as Judge Jerry, is a retired judge in Idaho who furnished greg with his initial pack of leopard dogs. he books hunts for greg and can be reached at 208-865-2449 or hunts4u@centurytel.net. by the way an ele hunter on greg's Kwai concession just killed a 90x84 lb. bull last week. if you go with greg please give he and kelly my best. jerry dollar

Thanks for the info, Jerry. Sounds like a great hunt. I'll be leaving August 11 and spend the first 5 days in the Okavango, and the next 5 in the Kalahari. Can't wait.


Tradewinds, I think Greg has a lot more rifle hunters, but also does some bowhunting. It's not the traditional bowhunting out of permanent blinds over waterholes. Most is spot and stalk and some sitting over natural pans. I don't expect to be terribly successful. Just looking forward to the experience. Best, CC

I have been sniffing around his website and was curious about one thing - what are the sizes of the concessions and are they high fenced?

I do not know how large his concessions are, but I understand they are enormous. It is wild Africa with no fences (which is why I do not plan on coming home with too much in the salt).

the plains game hunts in the Kalahari are generally behind high fences but the ranchs are huge. the hunts in the Okavango and Kwai are all free range, generally bordering game reserves