Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Anyone ever use this guy for africa hunt?

Talked to Mr. Wilks this past weekend at a sportmans show and he answered alot of questions. Just wondering if any of you had ever used him?

http://www.wilkssafari.com/index.html

no one?

Hummmm......

I have met Mr. Wilkes. He was (I don't know if he still is) booking hunts for the place we have been going in Namibia the last four years. I didn't book through him, but met him while we where at the PH's place. He showed up the last few days of our hunt. We were originally supposed to be "exclusive" on the property with the PH and he kind of showed up...unannounced and unknown by the PH until the evening before he showed up.

I can't vouch for his ability/capability as a booking agent because, like I said we didn't book through him. My personal opinion of him from the couple of days he tagged along hunting and around the table and fire is that he is a bit of a........bloviator. Yes, he is retired military (and so am I). A point in his favor is that IF the PH we've been hunting with every year since then is an example of ALL the PHs he books for that is one thing.........I don't know. Guess I just wasn't that impressed with him as an individual and his constant "oneupsmanship". Maybe it was just a personality clash. Glad I met the PH before I met him as I might not have met the PH.

he kinda struck me the same way. I asked a bunch of questions, some were kinda cut off as me being an idiot, but he did answer many other questions i had. Me and a buddy are wanting to plan a trip and i've been reading every bit of anything i can. I'm gonna give jjhack a call one of these days and "aggravate" him with some questions as well.



Do most first timers use booking agents?

i had to look up your word, but yeah that mostly describes him. I a poor dumb clemson grad, don't know them big new fangled words. lol

I did not, for my first which was last year, nor am I using one for next years. Take it for what it is worth, I am a sample of one.

I don't know what "most" first timers do. I kind of stumbled on to my first one. I was actually looking for an elk hunt "out west" and surfing on-line. I was shocked at the prices to say the least. I stumbled onto the AR web site and by chance I ran across a short notice cancellation hunt. The PH was going to let the forfeited deposit (50%) roll to anyone who could pick it up with 6 weeks notice. I thought what the hell and contacted the booking agent (not Rick Wilkes), wired the balance due to the PH, bought the airline tickets. Figured if the PH didn't show up at the airport and we got scammed, we'd just rent a car and spend 12-days sightseeing.

Had such a PHENOMENAL time (even with the Wilkes incursion), we booked to go back the following year before we left. I also tracked down the original guy who had to cancel his hunt (found out it was health issues) and sent him his deposit - it was just the right thing to do.

My personal recommendation for a "first timer" would be to watch/read several sites. You will get a feel for the reputable brokers/bookers, outfitters and PHs. Nothing says you HAVE to go through a broker/booker/outfitter but they can be beneficial if you use a PH nobody on the various forums has heard of.

It seems to be a pretty good bet that the ones that survive year after year on the same sites seem to live up to a better standard as those that don't seem to get run off after a screw-up/over or two.

I have used Rick to book a hunt in Namibia and would do so again. Had no problems, nice, honest guy who in my opinion is in the business because he really loves Africa and hunting.

That being said, I think the Safari company is more important to research than the booking agent but that is just me.

By all means call and pester me, in 4 weeks you can come sit in the conference/ trophy room and we can talk about africa all you want. My new place will be complete then and you can see videos, trophies, photos and talk to an actual owner and PH, not a booking agent.

Pester Away!

"I also tracked down the original guy who had to cancel his hunt (found out it was health issues) and sent him his deposit - it was just the right thing to do."


m3taco: you sir are the type of guy all of us would love to share a campfire with. Too many people don't do the "right thing to do" anymore. I am glad to see that there are still folks who do.

[m3taco: you sir are the type of guy all of us would love to share a campfire with. Too many people don't do the "right thing to do" anymore. I am glad to see that there are still folks who do.]

+1

+2

That's one fine trait...great behavior and character.

My wife and I went to Africa in 2006 for a month, about 10-12 days were hunting days and the rest were semi-tourism. We hired our South African hosts/hunters Stan and Jacqueline for the month, because we'd spent about five years at RMEF et all meeting and gaining understanding of people we might hire. We decided we liked everything we were looking for the best from them, and it turned out they did quite a bit more and better than we anticipated.

If we go back to Africa, it will be to visit them as much as anything else.

Dennis

Thanks for all the info fellas. I didn't want anything to come accross as bad on the guy, he answered alot of questions for me. He kinda came across at first as if we were kinda tire kicking, but realized we were serious and the tone kinda changed. He seemed to know a great deal about what he did. I'm not a really wealthy guy, but wanna make the most of what i can spend. Thanks for the help and i will be asking many questions in the future so bear with me.

Et Al:

Thanks for the comments on my sending the guy his forfeited deposit - I might have done different if we had gotten scammed (LOL). But like I indicated, the guy had to cancel his once in a lifetime trip due to serious health issues and figured he could use the money. Anyway.....

Phoneman - something you may want to do is look for a "cull" hunt. They are VERY reasonably priced and you still have the option of taking/bringing some "trophies" home too. You'll have a chance to do a lot of shooting but not necessarily as much "hunting" and there is a difference. For example on the other site no long ago was a place in Zim in the Save Conservancy that was looking for two shooters for 10 days and either 5 different species of PG with something like 100 animals each for like $7500 each. I've also seen PG cull hunts in SA offered for as little as $2500 for 10-20 animals of 2-3 species.