Well,
As Model 70 guy and others knew I have been away from the 'net for a couple of weeks. I want to start out by thanking Model 70 guy and others for delaying posting for a bit while I started to try to sort out what went wrong here. Later today or perhaps in a day or two I will have more info but for now I have stopped advertising here and elsewhere with respects to hunts in Africa. It is a possibility that I will not re-start again for some time, if at all, as it is my practice to only book hunts with operators whom I at least THINK that I know pretty well and with whom I have personally hunted.
Tim Schultz was an excellent and very highly regarded PH for a hunting operation that I used to book for but who came to provide poor service for my hunters and with whom I have not had much contact in a long time other than hello at SCI. A long story there that may come to light on another day..... For now, it seems to me that Tim Schultz MAY have bitten off a bit too much with starting his own safari company lately but I have to reserve judgement until I can get more input from him and others in Zim which I am seeking.
I have to agree that it was a poor practice to switch hunting areas on everyone at the last minute and not tell me or anyone else of the change in plans. I held on to everyone's deposits on this hunt until close to the time for the hunts to begin as a safety net in case things got too sticky in Zim and was assured as late as the end of May when the deposits were finally sent over that Sengwa ll in the Limpopo region was in fact the hunt destination. I am still hoping to hear why this was changed. Also, to not have the quota available for the animals hunted until late in the hunt is quite unnacceptable. I have asked Tim for an explanation of this and a partial refund of Mikes and other hunters monies paid and am still talking with him regarding these matters albiet quite slowly as he is in the field hunting a lot at the moment and communications there have always been hit or miss with about anybody. One of the challenges we face. Added to that my own trip abroad that I just returned from a few hours ago and I can only say that I am still working on this problem but quite agree that the trip went quite badly and I am truly sorry for the events that took place out of my control. I will be doing a cut and paste of the comments from the 24hrcf hunters here and putting them into an e-mail to Tim in a bit. For what it is worth, I do not think Tim intended to hurt anyone on this trip, just planned it poorly and failed to inform me and the other hunters of changes coming or anticipated. Motor City, Model 70 Guy and others were there last year when Tim and Bianca waxed glowingly about these great new areas that were to be hunted this year and I really anticipated wonderful reports of many animals taken and great fun when Mike and the others returned. As all monies were sent long ago and or given there in Zim at the time of the hunt I can do little else besides continue to try to get explanations and hopefully money from Tim and stop operations as to new hunters until, and if, this is all given to my satisfaction.
Very sincerely,
MARK
