Search results

Starting point is everything . . . As I noted, prices seem to have come way down on ‘glamour’ game in South Africa since I first hunted there in the early 2000’s. i also noticed that when day rates dropped, it appeared that some trophy fees went up . . .

You’re right that it’s not just remote hunting camps that enjoy the benefits of solar power. I’d be surprised if there were very many villages left in rural Africa where you wouldn’t see lights on at night and a tv set or two. And I can see Starlink cutting into the expansion of cell phone...

I stopped shipping things back some years ago when my wife got tired of crates showing up. So I missed the huge prices increases in shipping costs . . . but I still get to enjoy my hunts as much as I ever did.

Well, so far the consensus seems to be: 1. Add WhatsApp to the list! Near unanimous on that. I use it now as well, although as some have noted, mostly to communicate with the rest of the world - especially Africa. North America seems stuck on texting and iMessage. 2. I didn't mean to...

I was thinking the other day about the BIG changes I've seen in African hunting since I started going over in the early 2000's. I'd put these three at the top of the list: 1. Power. It used to be that camps (and this is mostly outside of South Africa) relied upon generators for all power in...

I can’t see a change of government having any impact on the current ban. Going back is very hard. Firstly, there aren’t enough voters who hunt Africa or elephants to make this issue one which would deliver votes. Secondly, what hunters there are, tend to be in areas which vote conservative...

Many African (and many non-African) countries have rules about what can be imported into the country. Hunters are typically aware of the rules surrounding firearms, bows, etc., because those are pretty obvious and the outfitter will often get whatever permits you might need. But hunters may...

I don’t want to be difficult (though I often am, apparently), but that advice, while practically speaking is all you need to know, it’s not technically correct. Zimbabwe does have its own currency - currently called the ZiG - which is (or was) theoretically backed by gold reserves. No one...

I have one of each and have used them both in Africa. I would say: 1. The performance of each is pretty similar, and not so different that any animal would notice; 2. Ammo for the ,416 may be a bit easier to find in Africa - and elsewhere - than for the .404, but that’s may not be always...

History is full of ironies. On January 30, 2020, President Trump said: "The USMCA is the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law. It’s the best agreement we’ve ever made". One very vocal person who was against the USMCA was - wait for it - Sen...

I'm afraid I don't understand your post. Grand juries are made up of "the people" so what do they have to do with the "Judicial cesspool"? And if a prosecutor can't get a "true bill" from a grand jury (or from the people), doesn't that say more about the case than about the accused? Don't get...

I should have added that it also depends on who owned the animal you shot (in arms, like South Africa, where wildlife is owned by individuals). If the outfitter has bought an animal from a farmer, for example, and brought the hunter to the property, the farmer may insist on being paid...

I believe it varies, depending in great part on the operator, the client and how well the client is known, and the type of hunt. It’s one thing to wait on some trophy fees for plains game, and another thing to wait on a trophy fee for an elephant or a lion, especially if the client isn’t well...

I think the issue isn’t that the outfitter was looking for a surcharge on the credit card - as many have pointed out, this has become quite common, although the amount here is, again as most say, over the top. I think the issue was that the outfitter said that the surcharge was required by law...

I assume many if not all SCI members received an “SCI News” email yesterday. There was one item in the email which I thought was interesting, from a number of perspectives. A member told SCI he tried to pay for a hunt in South Africa with a credit card and his outfitter told him there was a...

Unless the hotel has its own rules, there are no laws which would regulate the storage of your firearms in your hotel room in Canada (other than the usual safe storage rules which apply everywhere).

Not everything is part of a conspiracy . . .

Lucky for you. Not so lucky for the local ratepayers.

I understand your point, but for a range of reasons (only one of them religious), I could not disagree more. If people want to go out “on their own terms”, there was (in a practical sense) nothing from stopping them before MAID because law. You want to kill yourself? If I knew you, I would...

With respect, perhaps you need to travel more. I’ve been to a majority of the countries in the world and I have yet to find a place I would rather live (taking winter out of the equation!). I would also respectfully request that the name you brought up be stricken from the vocabularies of...

To paraphrase Queen Gertrude in Hamnlet, methinks you doth protest too much. I never said anything about Washington or President Trump. I am a guest in the US (of my wife) at the moment, and polite guests don’t comment on things which are none of their business. And I try to be a polite guest...

Canada is going down the toilet?!!! Seriously, you need to come spend some time here. We have our issues, Lord knows, but the toilet isn’t one of them.

There are indeed parts of Canada and the US which have crime rates which are more or less the same. On the other hand, while it’s easy to rail at statistics (as people tend to do when they don’t much like what the statistics demonstrate), taking just murder rates as an example of serious crime...

That’s a good thing, no question at all. But . . . what would you trade - or give up - in exchange for that kind of safety?

Agreed. I began my post by agreeing that DC needed to be cleaned up (as do lots of other places). I have no opinion - since I don’t live there or anywhere near there (summering in the Finger Lakes doesn’t count) - who should do the cleaning up. That’s for those who have a dog in the hunt to...

I think the question is not whether DC has too much crime. We can all agree on that, I suspect. Everyone deserves to live in a safe environment, without fear of being murdered. The question is whether truth and facts matter. For example, some have said that DC has the worst murder rate of...

It’s astounding - at least to me - how quickly wildlife can rebound if left alone and given enough habitat. If you look at Mozambique, there were parts of the country which were utterly devoid of game after the civil war, and now the game is well established again. Same in Chad. If the...

The Southern Cross . . . Zimbabwe I spent a pleasant night at the City Lodge Hotel at JNB (it’s actually in the airport complex and is the less expensive of the two hotels in that complex). I typically like to stay at AfricaSky Guesthouse, but I arrived at JNB at around 4 pm and I was flying...

Thanks. No, I didn't keep any of the horns - part of the deal, I take nothing. I'm sure I could've taken them if I'd asked though, but fallow deer come much better than that on Niel's place - this guy was a cull! I did keep the zebra skin, since I paid a trophy fee on that one. I can't...

The following is this year's instalment in the continuing series of hunt reports. A little background and explanation is in order to understand why I planned my 2025 hunt as I did. First, though, the usual disclaimers or health warnings: I wasn’t after any big or important trophies on this...

It could be that we are seeing a conspiracy or incompetence where none actually exists. Many (most?) reporting entities - not just in government but in the private sector as well - are in constant tension between publishing information in a timely manner and information which has been verified...

Wheels, with respect, this is entirely wrong (!). Apologies, but it's the lawyer in me. The USMCA (or CUSMA as we call it in Canada - sort of like the Gulf of America) is clear that it's in force until 2036. Article 34.7 of the Agreement requires the three parties to hold what is referred to...

I (finally) finished the Tiny Ten last year. I used whatever rifle was at hand for those - mostly because none of the hunts except the last were dedicated to the Tiny Ten, and, of course, you're typically limited in how many rifles you can bring with you in most African countries. Based on...

PH's are remarkably mobile. If you want to hunt a different country (and you should), you can ask the PH you like if he can join you. The new outfitter may not have an issue with that, and if he does (local laws may require a local PH) yours can come along "for the ride". You can usually get...

I might have missed the posts where it was suggested that Canada would kill the US economy. Had I seen it (or them), I would have said that was preposterous. The Canadian economy is a fraction of the US economy, and exports are a material part of Canada’s economy, while imports are a much...

The expansion was certainly delayed and costs increased as a result of politics and aboriginal/First Nations issues, but it did eventually start up in May of 2024, adding about 500,000 barrels/day of west coast export capacity (at current prices for WCS, that's over US$25MM/day). Interestingly...

Sorry - just saw this. Yes, Western Canada Select is a heavier crude than West Texas Intermediate, and that accounts for some of the differential between the two markers. But not all of it - apart from things like transportation, "market access" is a big factor in the differential, and it's...

Alberta has no plans to send any more oil south - the pipeline capacity isn’t there. President Trump has promised to issue permits for the Keystone pipeline from Alberta to the US, proposed before his first term, the permits for which were cancelled in the early days of the Biden...

As hunters, if we can’t agree on much (as is evidenced by this thread), can we at least agree that running an animal down with a vehicle and then prolonging the death of that animal - any animal - is wrong and more than a little disturbing?

Did I miss where in Africa you were going?!