Since we're getting walloped by another snow storm, I'm home today and turned on the tv to check out the Olympic hockey game. I also caught the tail-end of Nosler's Magnum Hunt TV on WildTV. The host, Tim Heald (sp?) was on a leopard hunt. He took the shot and hit the cat, but it wasn't instantly mortal. His PH decided that the better part of valor was to return at first light and start tracking the wounded animal.
I can't fault the PH for not trying to track it in the dark. You'd have to be insane to go into the bush after a wounded leopard at night. Unfortunately, the tracker discovered the remains of the large tom the next morning. The PH figured the lions had got at him. They'd basically eaten everything but the head, paws and a few scraps of hide. The PH looked more upset than the hunter and seemed to have tears in his eyes as he apologized to his client.
In such cases, is the client charged for the animal, or are they permitted to harvest another cat without extra expense? I'm not thinking so much about the disappointed tv host, but the average hunter who scrimped and saved every penny he could for a decade to afford his first and likely only dangerous game hunt in his lifetime.
I've never been lucky enough to hunt the Dark Continent, but I have dreamed of going one day. So I can appreciate just how disappointing such a scenario would be if it was my hunt. I am aware of the general policy that if you shoot and draw blood, the outfitter charges the game fee, regardless whether the animal is ever recovered. However, there's a big dollar difference between your average plains game animal and say a leopard, lion or elephant. We're talking hundreds vs. thousands or even tens of thousands.
I plead complete ignorance, so would be interested to hear from guys who have actually hunted Africa.
I can't fault the PH for not trying to track it in the dark. You'd have to be insane to go into the bush after a wounded leopard at night. Unfortunately, the tracker discovered the remains of the large tom the next morning. The PH figured the lions had got at him. They'd basically eaten everything but the head, paws and a few scraps of hide. The PH looked more upset than the hunter and seemed to have tears in his eyes as he apologized to his client.
In such cases, is the client charged for the animal, or are they permitted to harvest another cat without extra expense? I'm not thinking so much about the disappointed tv host, but the average hunter who scrimped and saved every penny he could for a decade to afford his first and likely only dangerous game hunt in his lifetime.
I've never been lucky enough to hunt the Dark Continent, but I have dreamed of going one day. So I can appreciate just how disappointing such a scenario would be if it was my hunt. I am aware of the general policy that if you shoot and draw blood, the outfitter charges the game fee, regardless whether the animal is ever recovered. However, there's a big dollar difference between your average plains game animal and say a leopard, lion or elephant. We're talking hundreds vs. thousands or even tens of thousands.
I plead complete ignorance, so would be interested to hear from guys who have actually hunted Africa.
