Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa An unusual offer, so am putting it in the Africa section

I have an unheard of two cull hunts for Buffalo and Elephant in Gokwe in Zim.
7 days for 2 hunters, 2 elephant, and 2 buffalo, $17,750. each all inclusive except for optional tips.

It is a problem cull hunt of sorts so only pictures and memories, no trophies home, but a chance to shoot buffalo and elephant at a really discounted price. Also a cameraman is available at $200 per day.

OR

one hunter 7 days (maybe 14 days not sure)and you get 4 elephant and 4 buffalo all inclusive for $35,500.00

I thought this might be an opertunity for our 24 hr guys. I have not seen this before.

End of October 2010 only. I am sending an email as to can a hunter shoot any size elephant or buffalo.

I got my reply and you can shoot any size elephant or buffalo you see. but in the time limit of 7 or 10 days, you must take the animals as they come 20 lbs to 50 lbs. on elephant and the buffalo are the same deal and they run 35 to 38 av. in that area..

Also I negociated the one hunter take all 4 elephants and 4 buffalo to a 10 day hunt...

Ray, who is the safari operator?

Ray, who is the safari operator you are booking this hunt for?

This is a very shady deal all the way around. This is in all likelihood an illegal hunt Ray, please answer the above question

Drummond

The only shady deal around here is you!

Really Ray? Just a quick question, do you put any effort into researching the hunts you advertise or do you just take the word of the people that want you to sell a hunt? I will also ask again, who is the safari operator that is running this hunt.

It really is simple to just answer those 2 questions Ray, is there a reason you won't do so?

Drummond

Dewey, Srewem and Howe?

have a question......why does it look like a shady deal.....have seen advertised and read about many similar hunts.....didnt sound out of the ordinary to me.....

OK, lets keep it simple. If I were interested in this hunt, who would I make the check out too?

How much of a cut does the booking agent get? Maybe Ray doesn't want to tell, so people can't circumvent the middle man and book directly with the source?

Ray doesnt want to tell because he is selling a hunt for Gokwe in Zimbabwe and the safari operator of the 3 Gokwe concessions had never heard of Ray Atkinson before he posted his advertisement over on another website.

Here is an email from Dudley Rogers, the owner of the Gokwe concessions that I have copied and pasted from another website. Needless to say, he's not a happy camper right now.


Dudley Rogers owns the rights to hunt Gokwe and saw this post. He emailed me about it.

He asked me to post the following email so that none of our members get caught up in this illegal Elephant poaching scheme.

I did contact Ray by email and his reply was that I should mind my own business ... among other ramblings.

Fair enough. I have a trophy Elephant hunter in Gokwe during the exact dates as this advertised Elephant Poaching hunt. So, this is my business now. Plus, I do not want to see any AR members get "taken" or thrown in jail in Zimbabwe.

------------
Greetings,

I have seen these "Gokwe hunts" being offered on AR and other websites by this guy Ray Atkinson whom I do not know, and being carried out by an operator Robbie Kruger, who I do not know. He may be another South African trying to squeeze in on illicit deals with politicians in areas that do not belong to him, just like Russ Gould, Lawrence Botha, Baleni and Ben Cotzer.

The other thing is he may be using the name of "Gokwe" to cover up "Park hunting" to make it look legal, and how would any client know that he is NOT hunting in Gokwe when he goes in to a park or forestry area. You know that I have all three Gokwe concessions, and NO ONE can hunt in ANY part of Gokwe without our permission.

Please send me all the info you can on Ray Atkinson, and these web pages so I can contact National Parks about it. I will send a quick email to The Hunting Report, Dallas Safari Club and SCI warning their member to steer clear of this clown Atkinson. Can you give me the contact info for your USF&W and the FBI to investigate these offers on your side? These adverts which indicate organized poaching will involve the "Lacy act" in the USA if any parts are imported into the country, like an Elephant hair bracelet for example, or even an Impala or warthog or any other animal if it is exported through another operator.

Since these are not sanctioned by the community, where do you think the ivory goes? It will certainly not be turned in to the community! This is nothing more than an organized Elephant poaching operation.

I have found Robbie Kruger Safaris web page and though he advertises Zim, he does not mention areas, and no pics in the gallery??? Also saw Atkinsons web page.

Please post this email on these web sites about this "POACHING SCAM". I am sick of these people who have no ethics and no respect, running illegal poaching operations in my concession.

Cheers Dudley

So Ray, I'll ask again, do you even research the crap you advertise?

Two years ago this month you advertised a hunt in NM and told people that they could hunt both rifle seasons with the same tag, which is illegal, and now this. Seriously, it should not be up to the people that read these hunt offerings to determine whether they could potentially be committing a felony by taking your word for things. Anything that was harvested illegally that crosses a state line or an international boundary is a Lacy Act violation and thats a felony.

Drummond

Rays quote about not being able to bring anything home makes a little more sense now. A non-exportable buffalo? The only reason it would be nonexportable is that it's not on quota. There is no reason to deny the export of an animal that is on a legit quota.

A non exportable elephant makes sense as it can be legal (in Zim) but the operator is unable or unwilling to get a CITES permit. Buffalo are not governed by CITES.

I guess Ray can now figure out why hes never seen this type of offer before

Drummond

WOW!!!!!!!

+1 ... Seems you could get yourself into knee high chit if your not careful.

There is really no "simple" answer, Ray would get one for sure and if you factor in bail, bribes, attorneys fees and fines there could be quite a few checks written.

It would be easier to contact Dudley, write him a check, and go about it the right way

Drummond

Sure wish Mr. Atkinson would clear the air here if that is possible.

This whole thing is astonishing!

Usually 15% of the daily rates. In SA the agent often gets 15% of the trophy fees, too. He gets nothing for the government fees, charters, ect. It wasn't enough for all the problems with TIA, so I closed up and let the big agents have all the problems.

Anything booked in Zim needs to be researched heavily.

The most amazing part about this thread is the level of naivety demonstrated by members here about hunting in Africa, especially when it comes to DG. Although it is often derided here, sometimes vehementley, my advice is to visit Accurate Reloading on occasion. That forum is much more Africa-centric and, as such, much more informative regarding the "do's and don't's" regarding the hunting regulations there.

Thanks huntsonora for blowing the lid off this guy. You may have saved someone a lot of money and heartache. It's amazing how easy it is to scam someone who doesn't know what they're getting into.

Damn.....I thought it was bad when he would not post any pics of the monster muledeer that he claims his clients are killing.

Huntsonora has saved alot of people alot of money about the mule deer and now this. Thanks.

Dink