Where Schultz is concerned there can be more than 3 sides to a story, he is quite capable of having more than 1 side himself depending on how it suits him. Judge for yourselves which version which version of Schultz' "truth", if any, you care to believe.
----- Original Message -----
From: timbee
hushmail.com
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008 3:49 am
Subject: Hunt
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> Hi Mike
>
> I trust you got back home ok, I believe there were a few issues on
> your hunt you were not happy about, I'm surprised you never said
> anything before you left.
>
> Firstly the area you were in only had no quota for non-trophy
> elephant, which unfortunately we did not know about. The reason we
> had to go to that area was due to the fact that Mark Claiborne did
> not send forward your deposits until just before your hunt, I
> remember Dan e-mailing you regarding this, we even threatened to
> cancel all of Mark's hunts unless we received deposits. Had we
> received your deposits earlier on in the year we could have secured
> animals for you elsewhere. We had originally booked you down to go
> to the Omay (where we do most of our hunting) which is one of the
> best areas in Zimbabwe and received an e-mail from Mark Claiborne
> requesting that his clients are not sent there due to the fact that
> one of his client's not shooting a buffalo in the 7 days that he
> was up there, therefore the change was a result of that as it had
> to be a last minute decision to send you to the Matetsi area. Only
> 2 clients out of 10 who have been sent to the Omay have not taken
> their buffalo.
>
> When we did find out we made some enquiries for non-trophy elephant
> and were offered 5 by our National Parks, as you know. National
> Parks issued us with the permit for these and will receive their
> payment in trade ie equipment that the Parks & Wildlife Authority
> need desperately, like landrover parts and fuel for example. This
> is happening all over the country as it is a culling management
> program and there is nothing illegal as far as I am aware, we do
> not conduct business illegally. I am very surpised that Don Heath
> does not know about the culling management program.
>
> I had made arrangements with the camp prior to your arrival, the
> camp manager and I did have a fall out, because of his attitude and
> not because he kicked us out, I am awaiting an apology letter which
> I will forward on to you once received. I have received a verbal
> apology but am awaiting the written one.
>
> As for Dale Strong he was not sent to another area, he left of his
> own accord, his PH then took it upon himself to take Dale where he
> thought he could hunt, we have not hunted on the property he took
> Dale to hunt on for some time due to a small dispute over some
> animals which does happen occassionally. Dale's ph did not liaise
> or communicate with us much at all and has a lot to answer for.
>
> I am sorry that you were disappointed with your hunt and wish that
> you had discussed this with us and we could have ironed a few
> things out.
>
> Yours in hunting
>
> Tim Schultz
Tim,
It would be an enormous relief to believe the permits are legal, and as long as I'm not going to be charged with anything I'm probably happier leaving that part alone. The permit copy will be appreciated though.
You have done a fair job of outlining our complaints, area change, and lack of permits. We all discussed these issues with our respective PHs daily and have already received the same answers. The trouble is the answers change nothing, we were still in the same area with no quota until in the last day in my case. How would you react if you booked and paid for in advance a North American Elk hunt, were sent to a different area without any notice and didn't have a licence until the last day? At that point no amount of reasons could salvage the hunt. There are some kinds of "broken" that can't be fixed.
The camp manager Shane? Sean? (who I agree is very much an [bleep]) took great delight in telling us nightly that he was going to kick us out soon. This started before you got there, so it was no enormous surprise when we were left packing our bags in the middle of the night. The camp manager also claims that he had no knowledge that we were coming at all. Someone is not telling the truth.
The area may have only been missing permits for non-trophy elephant, but since that was what the 3 hunts were booked for, it's a deal stopper at that point. How hard is it to pick up a phone to find out? It must be somewhat easier than the method we used, which was to fly halfway around the world to learn the same thing.
Dale Strong did ask to be moved, not that he could be blamed for that. He also insisted that all calls made by his PH be made on speaker phone, so has heard plenty on both sides of those conversations.
What goes on between you and Mark is your business. What transpires between you and camp managers is your business. Securing quota for the hunts is your business. Not letting your business become your client's problem is your business. Why should we be happy? Why would you think we would be?
I don't remember telling anyone that we were pleased with the hunt, indeed the opposite was true. Whether a few animals died or not, we didn't get the hunt we were sold. My only recourse may be to help prevent others from making the same mistake. Once everyone has had their say, I'll post the hunt report that 24 hour campfire and Accurate Reloading are expecting. I doubt very much that anyone will be impressed, but needless to say I've been wrong before.
Mike Kanak
