Luke Samaras has one spot to fill this October in his camps in the Selous Reserve, Tanzania with Paddy Curtis as the PH. Two options, a 21-day full bag hunt or a 14-day Leopard Buffalo PG Hunt.

We have quite a few AR members who have done this exact hunt with excellent results.

Dates October of this year. I will answer the first question ... No, we can not do this price for next year.

These rates include all gov fees, dip and pack, export fees, safari license, etc. Hunter is responsible for trophy fees and Charter (I believe it is right at $4700 RT)

21-Day Full Bag: $56,800 + trophy Fees
Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Hippo, Croc, Elephant ... everything that is huntable in the area basically.

14-Day Leopard Buffalo PG Hunt: $40,500 +Trophy Fees
Leopard, Buffalo and a lot of the plainsgame. Hippo and Croc, maybe. If it is important, then we can check on quota. In any case, a confirmed list of animals available on this hunt will be agreed upon. Add a Lion to the Leopard hunt by paying an increased trophy fee of $17,000 only if you shoot the Lion!

PH: Paddy Curtis

Observers: $275/day + $150/day in gov fees

Trophy Fees
Baboon $170
Buffalo 1st $2500
Buffalo 2nd $2600
Buffalo 3rd 1 $2800
Bushbuck $750
Bushpig $500
Civet Cat $300
Crocodile $2300
Duiker Common & Red $350
Eland East African $2300
Elephant $9500
Hartebeest, Lichtenstine $800
Hippopotamus $2500
Hyena Spotted $600
Impala $490
Jackal $300
Klipspringer $1400
Kudu Greater $2900
Leopard $4700
Lion $7000
Oribi $350
Reedbuck $550
Sable $3300
Suni $300
Warthog $550
Waterbuck $1200
Wildebeest $900
Zebra $1500

On the Leopard hunt, Luke has added the option for Lion with an increased trophy fee. Normal trophy fee for Lion is $7000, if you shoot a Lion on the Leopard hunt, the trophy fee is $17,000.

A pretty solid deal as this way, you get what you pay for.

Haven't been to the Selous sinc 2008, so this is very tempting. Shared lunch with Paddy in 2012 in Masailand -- main course was a lion-killed eland. I would relish the opportunity to hunt with him, and to hunt in the Selous again.

Unfortunately, I'm booked for 2015 and promised the family I would not hunt in 2014 so that I could go on a family vacation with them.

This is a great opportunity for someone.

Paddy is a solid PH.

Good company around the fire too.

Luke has some very good ph's, but Paddy has a bit of a cult following. Solid is definitely an understatement.

Paddy is a 10! would hunt with him again in a heartbeat

Agree Wendell, Paddy isn't just first rate, he's a legend.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Agree Wendell, Paddy isn't just first rate, he's a legend.

I wonder how he would rate against or be compared to MS

quote:

Originally posted by fujotupu:

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Agree Wendell, Paddy isn't just first rate, he's a legend.

I wonder how he would rate against or be compared to MS

That is actually funny. Can you see Paddy saying, "We will let the Suni choose how he wants to die!"

Samaras/Paddy both living legends. Only sad part is this is the 2nd poaching epedimic Luke has had to contend with during his long tenure in the Selous. This is reflected in the lack of elephants taken the past 2 seasons..

http://www.samarassafaris.com/2013-image-gallery/

Yep, this round is probably going to spell the end of Elephant hunting in Tanzania as we ever knew it. It's a sad case what has happened to the Elephant there. You will struggle to see a legal bull anymore in most of the Selous.

I have talked with many ph's in Tanzania about the situation and it is bad. Very bad. Guys who used to be in prime Elephant areas have seen their success cut in half over the course of just two years.

The only bright side to this influx of ivory poachers is that it is pretty much isolated to Elephant. Cats and plainsgame remain relatively unchanged.

Not exactly true about the cats Wendell.

Lion have already been feeling the brunt and their bones and organs are not as difficult to smuggle as ivory.

The organs are dried and bones are broken up in to smaller, easily concealable/manageable packages.

They are definitely on the hit list and have been for the past several years - Leopard is still living in a pretty relaxed environment .... for the time being.

quote:

Originally posted by fujotupu:
Not exactly true about the cats Wendell.

Lion have already been feeling the brunt and their bones and organs are not as difficult to smuggle as ivory.

The organs are dried and bones are broken up in to smaller, easily concealable/manageable packages.

They are definitely on the hit list and have been for the past several years - Leopard is still living in a pretty relaxed environment .... for the time being.

The photo gallery for the past 2 years, unfortunately, reinforces this. Just 1 lion and 0 elephant..lots of buff and leopard.

To address some of the questions:

I am the first to tell you Elephant hunting is a crap shoot now. I make no bones about that. That is one reason I list Elephant last in the wording. If Elephant was your priority, I would tell you to go somewhere else.

There are a lot of AR members who have bought 21-day hunts from me in these blocks over the last 8 years. Some of them never post anything. Some of them post the photos and reports of the hunt.

Here is the Lion situation as has been related to me from Samaras Safaris. The 6 year old Lion rule had some incredible consequences for shooting underage Lions. (Well, at least the way the law is written there were some severe penalties). Samaras has been overly selective since the aging process has some margin for error. If you go by the rule of law, there are fines and the client can loose the Lion. So Samaras has been super selective with his Lions to avoid a possible problem with a client loosing his Lion. You could argue that he has been overly selective? I would argue that he has been acting responsibly.

By the way, aging a Lion is easy sitting at your desk looking at pictures on AR. There are no consequences for getting it wrong! Everyone is a Lion expert now. Not quite the same in the field if you make a mistake and you know your client can loose his trophy you will err on hte side of caution.

The law has changed this year. The wording has been relaxed but the 6 year old rule remains. One of the main benefits is now the client isn't going to loose his Lion if he is 5 years old. There are still penalties if it is young, but at least now the client isn't in danger of loosing his trophy.

Samaras does not post a photo of every animal they shoot. I know they shot 2 in 2012. I had a hunter who was unsuccessful in 2013, but was covered up in Leopard.

Which brings me to the next point. I offered this as a Leopard hunt with an increased trophy fee if you are successful on the Lion.

I don't know how you could get any more fair than that. Leopard and Buffalo here is insane good!

For what it's worth, buying a hunt is more than seeing it on the 'net and clicking "Add to cart" and going to checkout. I give the hunter references, and Paddys email and tell them what to expect. You talk to the references, email Paddy, get a feel for how it is on the hunt, then make your decision.

I hope this answers some of the questions raised here.