Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Read this Before Booking with Blair Worldwide

even without oceans involved....acquiring a wall tent, cooking outfit, horse trailer and horses is a bit ridiculous for a one shot elk hunt. Thus the outfitter.

These threads always bring out the DIY purists.

"purist"? you are too kind..

I don't know who you have been dealing with but all the booking agents & outfitters I know prefer contracts to avoid misunderstandings. I operated a part time booking business for many years & found it was a hard way to make a buck. There is little loyalty with successful hunters & outfitters to support the booking agent. In addition to a written contract, belonging to SCI, & subscribing to The Hunting Report, provides valuable information & a resource for appeals if a hunt goes South. I have been involved with several outfitters charged with ethics violations by a SCI member. A hearing is conducted & all sides are offered an opportunity to state their position. The Ethics Committee issues a suggestion to the board who makes the final decision. If an outfitter or booking agent is banned by SCI it usually means going out of business. The Hunting Report reviews member reports & investigates negative comments. If the outfitter or booking agent failed to perform the issue is published. Bad publicity affects the ability to book future hunts. Several years ago I filed a negative report on a SCI chapter hunt with The Hunting Report. As a result, this outfitter has been baned from several outfitter shows & lost a lot of customers. One of my friends booked a lion hunt in a great area only to find out on arrival that a severe drought had driver the game far away. With nothing to feed on the lions had left long ago. After day 5 of a 12 day hunt my friend left for home without seeing any game animals much less a lion track. Eventually with the assistance of SCI & The Hunting Report some of his money was recovered. I have no idea if Blair is at fault or not, but if it were me I would have filed reports with SCI & The Hunting Report. The bad publicity Blair is receiving is far less than reaching a settlement.

What's wrong jorgeI? Skill envy?

The exact opposite, you'll figure it out someday.

Enlighten me

Do you know any of the legalities for a non resident hunting in some of the places mentioned?

And thats before even cosidering the practicalies if a DIY hunt were legal..

Most places in the lower 48 allow hunting without the use of a guide or outfitter. While some hunts require the use of an outfitter for NR hunters or those from another country, I was addressing the comments made by Mule Deer re: those who would sue the guy they are paying because a horse stepped on their foot or they got sick in camp. Rather pathetic! It seems that more and more people are under the impression that the only way for them to have a "good" hunt is to hire an outfitter. This simply isn't true in all cases. It is akin to handing the mechanic wrenches and then claiming to have fixed your own car. What about the skills involved in the process?! I'm fully aware that certain hunts require a guide/outfitter depending upon your residency status, however, most in the lower 48 don't. Even AK only requires a guide/outfitter for 3 species as far as I know.

New Mexico requires non res to be guided on Elk I believe?

Not forgetting this is the African forum, DIY unguided hunts by non residents in most of Africa is nearly universally impossible...

Legalities aside, for the average joe to outfit a hunt, travel a thousand miles across America to hunt in an unfamiliar area within a limited time window for say Elk and stand even a small chance of being succesful is extremely difficult.

Granted many people who book through guides/outfitters are actually trying to buy guaranteed trophey success, and I agree that is wrong attitude, but its eaqually wrong to tar everybody with the same brush..

Actually, I am still waiting for you to enlighten me on how to self-outfit my next African DG hunt. I mean, after all you imply anyone that uses an outfitter is somehow helpless or uninformed. And I think I am typing this on an Africa forum. So please do tell me what I am doing wrong. I assume it must be a subject about which you have great expertise. God knows you have posted enough. So please let us know. I have spent most of my professional career in a lot of the darker corners of the world, and the last several hunting a bit of it. I know a little bit about getting around out there, but I missed the course on self-outfitting in the Zim, the Caprivi, or Botswana.

Exactly, and being this is the AFRICAN forum, it begs the question; enlighten us on how you've managed to hunt African without the services of a PH/outiftter. As to hunting in the lower 48, some of us are less fortunate in that we are "geographically challenged", i.e, living in Florida for example. Regardless and some of us are fortunate enough to have developed other skills that afford us the luxury of hiring an outfitter to do all the preliminaries, thus giving us the time to be able to enjoy a hunt in places where we do not have the time to do it all ourselves. Lastly, I don't lose sleep overnight over comments by someone who is fortunate enough to live in a place where hunting opportunities are pleantiful or that thinks anything short of being Daniel [bleep] Boone is tantamount to a lack of skill. I've hunted DIY plenty of times, but at this point in my life I have the means to hire someone who can put me in the right place so I can have an enjoyable hunt. Not a question of skills, it's a question means and priorities in life. consider yourself enlightened. jorge

Blair Worldwide has been big news lately due to some problems with a sheep hunt - nothing to do with Africa, although I would imagine that their services would be equally reliable in re: to an African hunt. I have zero experience nor desire to hunt in Africa, I have already stated in previous posts just what I was directing my comments toward. I am aware that hunting Africa is exclusively the realm of those utilizing an outfitter - in cases where there is no other alternative, more power to you. I do hate to see the skill set of the independent hunter die, and for whatever reason, see it replaced with a near universal reliance on outfitting.

I hunt Africa, WITHOUT an outfitter. I deal directly with the PH. Like I said, if I lived where you live or in any of the blessed West, I would do a little more DIY, but even then, I have lots of things going on in my life to devote the time some can to hunting. I have some benefits here in Florida, unfortunately none have to do with hunting. jorge

No offense meant to either of you fellas - I'm more than a little passionate about doing things on my own and I often let it get in the way of civility.

No problem friend. Just struck a nerve. Haven't "outfitted" for a whitetail in the Blue Ridge and don't plan to do so. Just not many options across the big water.

What a bunch of unskilled hunters and outdoorsmen. In 1974 after I graduated from college I flew to Alaska and spent the summer working in Cold Bay. After Labor Day my father air feighted my rifle to Anchorage, I bought some food and packed my pack then hitched hiked to McCarthy, Alaska. Once in McCarthy, I found a pilot who flew me into the the Wrangle Saint Elias to hunt mountain goat. A week later he picked me and my goat up and back to McCarthy and the next day I hitched hiked back to Anchorage and Gridwood where I was staying. Nothing hard about it.

Several years later I was a resident and drove to Fairbanks, flew to Fort Yukon and onward to Arctic Village and a charter pilot flew me to the northside of the Brooks Range. Ten days later he picked me and my sheep up. Nothing hard about it.

Since then I have done the same with a caribou hunt and a moose hunt. I have been on several guided hunts in BC and several guided fishing trips in Alaska and one trip to Africa. If hunter after accessing the area is not able to do there own hunting then why go hunting. Remember everything you need to know is in the Boy Scouts Handbook.

Let's just say I DO have "geographical envy." If I lived where you live, I'd be out there in the woods every day doing it on my own. IT must be great! jorge

Except for the part where you hired somebody to fly you. Man, how UNSKILLED can you be. I can fly an airplane in my sleep....

well i can crash them in mine! so there!