OK, gentlemen, I confess from the get-go: I am a booking agent.
Though on my business card it says "Hunting consultant". I do not like the term "agent", and, in my country, this term coinsides with the word "spy". But, I am what you call me.
I have done quite a bit of hunting as a client in Africa and in North America in the 90s, and, for the last 10 years I have this wonderful job, the best I have ever had. I am completely immersed in my hobby, and, they even pay me. But, Anyway...
First, I want to declare that if I were to book my own hunts, I'd do it personally, without any consultants, or, agents, or, anybody else between me and the operator, or, me and my PH. Why, because I love doing it. Because I never stop hunting; hunting is what I do. And, if I had the resources to do hunting as a client, I'd go thru all the research, planning, preparations, because all this is a part of the HUNT. When I leave one camp, and, one hunt ends, this is when another one begins. To me, the process of choosing, communicating, planning and preparing is already a part of this hunt. This is exactly how I used to address this so-called pre-hunt events: they were a part of the hunt, and, I have enjoyed them all thoroughly. I felt like everything was done by me: I worked out a plan, chose animals to be hunted, country, area, operator, and, very often a certain PH, I even used to bring my own single malt. The fact that somebody had to take me by the hand and lead me to a good spot, and show me which buffalo to shoot among a hundred of others, did not spoil the show: I still was the one who pulled the trigger. And, I was returning home with the laurel wreath and, immediately immersed myself into planning another triumph.
Now, when I do all of the above (let's be honest) for a living. I understand the position of the people who are using people like me. Usually, they do not have time; and, most of the time they do not know the English language, so, they cannot communicate properly. Most of them can afford to hire interpreters to do the communication part, and, they went thru that stage, and, they understand that they need somebody who knows this stuff. And... they do not even have to pay for that, somebody else will. So, in my corner of the world, my education and my former amateur experiences have evolved into a new profession for me. Which duties I perform thoroughly, as thou I was to do it for myself. Information is the key here. There's 1 feature that can be considered a constant in modern type of hunting, especially when it concerns Africa: it is CHANGING. Governments change, areas get depleted, operators lose their areas, or, lose investments in some shaky deals while trying to get rich, quotas change, rains come late, migration can pass thru a neighboring area, moratoriums are introduced, even my strongest defence core, the PHs can betray you - they get divorced, or, they get stepped on, or gored, or, their "cruiser" dies. This list can go on and on. You see what I am driving at. A good hunting consultant has to be aware of a lot of this stuff. And, he has to be able to present to a potentiasl client several options. You want a biiig sable, there are 2 countries to go to, and, 3 areas to choose from, and,... bring your lucky charm with you. I wish my clients could speak English, I wish they could shoot better and... do some practising. I hope they will grow up from a shooting phase into a hunting phase. See, we in Russia are just beginning to grow as hunters. We did not hunt during the commy rule, we could not. Now, since the beginning of the 90s people just dived into the international hunting, 'coz it's cool and it's fashionable. I have received my hunting education in Michigan, and, I am trying to pass it on to my clients. These previous few sentences can be disregarded, I steered off a bit.
What I pesonally think is: both approaches are acceptable. In one case you, as a client have to work hard to get your hunt well organized, and, it will not cost you a penny, but, a lot of time; in another case, you will have to find an honest and experienced agent (consultant), who loves his job, and, will do the planning for you, it will not cost you a penny, but, it will save you time. You choose, what's more important.
Good hunting to everybody,
Mike.
