Father and Son Safari

[bucksnbears]

those pics are fantastic. great bunch of animals.
do you need a brother??

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by kraftiest1

Our PH is Eldre Hattingh. I'm sure you did meet him, as he has been coming to shows in Alberta for about 15 years. We met him at the Edmonton Boat and Sportsman Show years ago. He's a great guy, and he runs a very good outfit. I highly recommend him if looking at going.

Yes....that's the guy. Very friendly fellow, big smiles. I was planning a hunt with Lucca Safari, their accommodations are awesome. Anyhow, I opted out because the booking agent was a taxidermist in Calgary. When I checked with the testimonials printed on the back of the brochure, all of them had nothing but horror stories to relate about this fellow. For the most part, they had paid him a deposit which was supposed to forwarded to Lucca Safari. Upon their arrival in SA and completing their hunt and paying up the fees, all found out that the deposit had not been paid and as a result had to fork up the difference on their credit card. One of the guys that I spoke with was actually a lawyer. He told me that he had never been so scarred in his life of not coming home because said booking agent had not cleared firearms as he should have with the SA police. Others told me that once the booking agent got their money, they never saw him again in spite of the fact that he was to meet them in JoBurg. Basically left them high and dry. When I went to Calgary to meet up with this guy, check book in hand, ready to drop 30K, he showed me his taxidermy shop in Calgary. The shop is in his garage, what a mess. There were 2 lions in there mounted, they looked as though they had been run over by a bus. His mounts were disgusting, he was disgusting. I pulled out with check book in hand. When I got home, I contacted Lucca Safari and spoke to a lady whom I think is a sister of the owner and reported this. This is in no way a bad reflection on Lucca Safari, but their booking agent was at that time a shyster, crook and shady character. As a result, that year I went up to the Yukon for a moose and caribou hunt. I sure hope that they got rid of that guy. Oh, and that shady taxidermist character was also in cahoots with a local gunsmith who operated just east of where Russel Sports used to be. I know his name, you may too, but I shall abstain from naming names.

[rottie]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

Yes....that's the guy. Very friendly fellow, big smiles. I was planning a hunt with Lucca Safari, their accommodations are awesome. Anyhow, I opted out because the booking agent was a taxidermist in Calgary. When I checked with the testimonials printed on the back of the brochure, all of them had nothing but horror stories to relate about this fellow. For the most part, they had paid him a deposit which was supposed to forwarded to Lucca Safari. Upon their arrival in SA and completing their hunt and paying up the fees, all found out that the deposit had not been paid and as a result had to fork up the difference on their credit card. One of the guys that I spoke with was actually a lawyer. He told me that he had never been so scarred in his life of not coming home because said booking agent had not cleared firearms as he should have with the SA police. Others told me that once the booking agent got their money, they never saw him again in spite of the fact that he was to meet them in JoBurg. Basically left them high and dry. When I went to Calgary to meet up with this guy, check book in hand, ready to drop 30K, he showed me his taxidermy shop in Calgary. The shop is in his garage, what a mess. There were 2 lions in there mounted, they looked as though they had been run over by a bus. His mounts were disgusting, he was disgusting. I pulled out with check book in hand. When I got home, I contacted Lucca Safari and spoke to a lady whom I think is a sister of the owner and reported this. This is in no way a bad reflection on Lucca Safari, but their booking agent was at that time a shyster, crook and shady character. As a result, that year I went up to the Yukon for a moose and caribou hunt. I sure hope that they got rid of that guy. Oh, and that shady taxidermist character was also in cahoots with a local gunsmith who operated just east of where Russel Sports used to be. I know his name, you may too, but I shall abstain from naming names.

I never went through any booking agent, but booked everything straight through Eldre, this was in 2013 with the hunt in 2014. Everything went smooth and we had no issues, hopefully issues like yours have being resolved, Eldre himself is an honest and trustworthy man from what I have seen

[kraftiest1]

Originally Posted by rottie

The camp food is amazing, and as you say Philip is a good man to have around. Was Boii working for the camp, he was when we were there, again he was a hard working man, and a wealth of knowledge on the country

Boii was tracking for us with Eldre, and he is extremely hard working. Boii and Eldre form quite the team, as quite often Boi would climb up a ridge or mountain and guide Eldre, dad, and I on a 2-way radio as we stalked game. We shot dad's Eland on the side of a mountain, and it was in the mid 30's that day. Boii and the skinner picked up some of the landowners workers and the 6 of them had that Eland caped, skinned, quartered and packed off the mountain in a little over an hour.

[Art of Taxidermy]

Wow.. thanks for Sharing your awesome pictures. one can tell what a blast you guys have had there. the background fields are incredible, nice and green. pictures are high quality and well done.
A great Father and Son memory. thanks for sharing.. all your animals look beautiful and the Lion is a nice and mature one too. great job.
cheers
Ben.

[kraftiest1]

Originally Posted by gitrdun

Yes....that's the guy. Very friendly fellow, big smiles. I was planning a hunt with Lucca Safari, their accommodations are awesome. Anyhow, I opted out because the booking agent was a taxidermist in Calgary. When I checked with the testimonials printed on the back of the brochure, all of them had nothing but horror stories to relate about this fellow. For the most part, they had paid him a deposit which was supposed to forwarded to Lucca Safari. Upon their arrival in SA and completing their hunt and paying up the fees, all found out that the deposit had not been paid and as a result had to fork up the difference on their credit card. One of the guys that I spoke with was actually a lawyer. He told me that he had never been so scarred in his life of not coming home because said booking agent had not cleared firearms as he should have with the SA police. Others told me that once the booking agent got their money, they never saw him again in spite of the fact that he was to meet them in JoBurg. Basically left them high and dry. When I went to Calgary to meet up with this guy, check book in hand, ready to drop 30K, he showed me his taxidermy shop in Calgary. The shop is in his garage, what a mess. There were 2 lions in there mounted, they looked as though they had been run over by a bus. His mounts were disgusting, he was disgusting. I pulled out with check book in hand. When I got home, I contacted Lucca Safari and spoke to a lady whom I think is a sister of the owner and reported this. This is in no way a bad reflection on Lucca Safari, but their booking agent was at that time a shyster, crook and shady character. As a result, that year I went up to the Yukon for a moose and caribou hunt. I sure hope that they got rid of that guy. Oh, and that shady taxidermist character was also in cahoots with a local gunsmith who operated just east of where Russel Sports used to be. I know his name, you may too, but I shall abstain from naming names.

We booked directly with Eldre as well, and as far as I know, he doesn't have a booking agent. So I'm sure he got rid of the shyster. I definitely recommend booking with Eldre. He is very straight up, and our experience with him has been everything we expected.