Time to answer a PM

[Hogpatrol]

For those contemplating hunting with a particular outfitter/venue, and you send them a PM for more info, what is you acceptable wait to get an answer, a day, couple days, a week, a month? I'm good for a week but after that, my money goes elsewhere.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

I would wait a week for at least acknowledgement of receiving the email.
A lot of question may take time to answer if they are in the bush and away from Internet access.

Running a business in 2022, one should however be ready to respond to serious inquiries within a relatively short time. The best hunter and P.H in the world may not necessarily be the best businessman

 

[Hunt anything]

Depends on the time of year, during the hunting season be a little bit more flexible, they may be in the bush with little communications available. During the off season I expect a reply within a few days to a week. One of my pet peeves is an outfitter doing business while I’m in camp, time for that after I’ve gone to bed or out hunting.

 

[JimP]

Try a email and then sit back and wait.

Sent my outfitter a email in January then after I sent it I rembered that it was time for sport shows and conventions. They got back to me a month or so later.

During hunting season I would expect about the same time frame for either a PM or email

 

[Hogpatrol]

For some insight as to why I asked that question, we get a "Deals" email about once or so a month. I've sent PMs to some that are listed and on a few, I never got a reply. Having said that, what on these forums is a major complaint? It's communications. When we see a reference to the person or business not answering emails, text messages or PMs, it's a red flag. This goes for outfitters, taxidermists, gunsmiths, rifle and component companies and any other shooting related industry. Like @Mark A Ouellette posted, some are just poor businesspersons. (Side note I did own a business for about ten years selling computers and software).

 

[BeeMaa]

Most of the outfitters I've dealt with have at least one person to acknowledge the email within a week (usually less) and let you know when they can get the answers you want. Usually this person is what I would consider "office personnel" and would be passing on your query to the PH or head of the outfit. Like others have mentioned, being in the bush or consumed with convention season makes it more difficult to get timely answers from those you really want to speak with. For smaller operations this may not be possible, so you are stuck waiting...or possibly moving on.

My wife and I have found that the conventions are the best way to truly communicate with the "boots on the ground" people. Attending SCI, DSC or any of the smaller conventions offers a great opportunity to do so. We keep a running list of questions to ask. Not to mention that @AfricaHunting.com has a list of Better Questions...

BETTER QUESTIONS To Ask When Looking For A Hunt

Using some basic questions that I often hear hunters ask, it occurred to me that this may be a good thread to start because so many questions that I hear are very general and open to non specific answers. QUESTION: What is your success rate for Buffalo? BETTER QUESTION: What is your success...

www.africahunting.com

So answer your question directly, is to not answer it at all...it depends on a miriad of factors. What do you want to hunt, timeline, money, time of year, how eager are you to hunt this animal...it's really an individual decision. If you feel like you are being ignored...move on, but I wouldn't slam the door on the possibility or burn the bridge. You never know what may come around.

 

[Hunt anything]

Back in 2013 when setting up my first safari I contacted 6 South Africa,1 Mozambique and 1 Zimbabwean outfitters. I didn’t get a reply from any of the South African people and I had emails and phone calls from the Zim and Moz outfitters within a week. I ended up in Mozambique. This soured me to South Africa outfitters never hearing from them but since I’ve hunted RSA 3 times and have enjoyed every minute of the hunts but it did take a few years to get over it.

 

[booker]

The 2 Outfitters I use have office staff and an email will be answered in 1 to 2 days always regardless of the time of year. If I call and its "office hours" I get them then and a call the next day if after office hours. As for the PH's/Outfitters themselves call will be picked up or returned immediately (depending on service) emails not so much. The best way for me is Whatsapp I can talk to them whenever depending on service. If I can return calls and other correspondence in my businesses in a quick and timely manner I expect the same from persons I am employing.

 

[Rare Breed]

For those contemplating hunting with a particular outfitter/venue, and you send them a PM for more info, what is you acceptable wait to get an answer, a day, couple days, a week, a month? I'm good for a week but after that, my money goes elsewhere.

Interesting. I also am wondering if it also deals with how far out you want to book. I already have my 2023 Zim hunt booked with friends versus me going by myself. I reached out to 5 outfits one I hunted before (no names) about a month ago to book a July 2024 hunt with my son, Hunter, going on his first safari and only had one answer me. Nice job De Bries. I am ready to send a deposit too. No answers

 

[Mekaniks]

I have found that the folks I communicated with in Africa have always been reasonably prompt returning emails.
We all get a little spoiled by today's forms of instant communication. But, first thing to remember when sending a PM / email is the time and date difference on the other side of the world. If an email is sent at 8:30 am Pacific Time, it will be 5:30 pm in Africa.
Next is that the PH's are always dealing internet issues out in the bush, especially during the hunting season. I would expect that most outfitters and PH's know they have these issues and have some way of communicating periodically whether they do it themselves or have a representative checking their emails / pm on their behalf in a reasonably timely manner. Even if the the response is "John is out hunting for the next 14 days without reliable internet access, he will return your email as soon as he is able."
That said, I don't believe an email should be left hanging unanswered for more than 24-48 hours. If it's more than a couple days, I would follow up with a second email or even a phone call / what's app to ensure that my message was received.

 

[rookhawk]

For those contemplating hunting with a particular outfitter/venue, and you send them a PM for more info, what is you acceptable wait to get an answer, a day, couple days, a week, a month? I'm good for a week but after that, my money goes elsewhere.

Depends where. In RSA, those game ranches are within Cell tower range, have staff, marketing, and PR contacts. They should be answering same-day.

But if you're trying to reach a PH in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, or Mozambique? Those guys could be in the bush on a 28 day safari with no signal for a month.

 

[Doug3006]

Pet peeve of mine! Placing an ad on a website or in a magazine indicates that an outfitter wants my business. Twice now I’ve emailed such outfits (one of them I emailed 3 times) and I got no response. Months have gone by, so I have decided to move on. They will not get my business.

 

[375Fox]

For most South African or Namibian outfitters if more than 36 hours goes by I’d consider it a sign of how they run their business and move on. For outside South Africa/Namibia I’d need to take into consideration the size of their business, if they have an office staff or just a lone PH booking his own hunts, because not all areas have WiFi or cell service. However, if I was serious about booking a hunt, I’d send emails not PMs on this site. Some outfitters actively use this site others seem to use just for advertising. I don’t judge outfitters based on their participation or lack of participation on this site, although some I’ve definitely developed a positive or negative opinion on based on their contributions.

 

[Nyati]

Whatsapp works better.

 

[JimP]

Whatsapp works better.

As long as both of you have the app.

My PH on my hunt in June didn't have it along with a few of the others.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Nobody is literally a one man business. If they are so disorganised as to not have someone respond to an email or whatsapp within 24 hrs they would definitely not get my business. Apart from anything else it is bad manners, you can so easily simply say I am in the bush, will get back to you by X date. You can even very easily set up an out of office auto reply. There is just no excuse.