The Hoo-Doo: Part One

Remember this: It is your responsibility, as a consumer-hunter, to question everything. If your senses tell you a given event could be detrimental to your life, limb and happiness, avoid it. Say, “Oh, Hell No!” then walk off from it.

It is easy to get hoo-doo'ed. Being hoo-doo'ed mean to be lied to and robbed under the guise of a truth; someone tricks you out of some belonging. It could also be a lie meant to mislead you in your choices. The liar may or may not benefit from the hoo doo. The liar is taking advantage of your desire for something or their desire for something you have.

Hoo-doos always come before events. Know how to identify the hoo-doo.

Here I want to illustrate how easy it is to be bamboozled by hunt brokers, shady professional hunter-guides, and those advertising through false representation via social media.

You have to love horsemanship and horse people. They come up with doo-zies. Pat Parelli says, “Prior planning prevents piss poor performance.” I proceeded.

A consumer comes along wanting to purchase a service. The consumer gets lead into all kinds of trouble by lack of knowledge, putting trust in someone's abilities without question, false representation on the part of the outfitter, and desire. There are other variables.

A consumer who hunts should be able to say, “No, this particular moment is not right” by observation.

It never is what it appears, for a selected few.

I was researching an elk hunt while I was under doctor's care. I didn't see the harm in looking around, and talking to people. There is a lot to it.

You have to figure a time, a place, an outfitter, pricing, state required tags and licenses, gun issues, knowing how to hunt one, etc. If you are an out-of-state hunter, there are more things you would need to know. It is less of a hassle for someone who lives in that state and can hunt right down the road.

I spoke to a hunt broker. I thought I would inquire. There is no law against inquiring. That is the first step.

I should have known when the broker confronted me with the fact that when he called I didn't immediately pick up the telephone there would be a problem. I brushed it aside. I was busy with life.

I talk to this broker. He seemed nice. He did state, “There are a lot of people judging hunters for what they do.” This is a true statement. Add to this hunters acting badly. This causes all events to be exaggerated out of proportion to the hunters detriment.

I asked for references. I called the references and found other people using the service.

The actual outfitters were talking back and forth with the broker about what I was discussing with them. I knew they would. I had questions, I will not lie. One particular outfitter told the broker I asked to many questions. I decided that if an outfitter could not suffer my questions, then I didn't need to use that particular outfitter, especially when that outfitter was just starting out per the broker.

The outfitter stated whatever the hunter did at camp was not his problem. If they wanted to get drunk, so be it. I decided that if the outfitter didn't care about the safety of others in his care, or how it would affect people from differing groups, I didn't need to get involved with his guide service. I didn't want to go somewhere with a bunch of drunks while worrying someone was going to get hurt. I am not going to pay money for that thrill.

One reference was an outfitter. I had a long conversation with him. He was knowledgeable but the wildlife was nothing more than an item on a tick list. It is not unheard of when you get into a business like veterinary medicine or outfitting to be emotionally removed from the animal. When you get attached to every animal coming through, you just turn into a sad pool of emotion that can't really function in the job. I didn't hold his ideology against him. He would have been a great outfitter to go with. This guy would talk to you. He wasn't afraid of any question you had. I considered him a professional. I went back later and realized he fell into that hunting/anti-hunting trap of a dialogue. Still, he would have been an option.

I went outside the references. After all, these are people used by the person referenced. What if they only speak highly of them?

One person I spoke to said he wasn't going to lie to me. He told me I would be put in a blind by a watering hole. The outfitters misrepresent themselves to some degree. It's not like what you see on television where you walk and hunt the animal. Also, the person was very put off by the lack of covering the details. It was to laid back and issues arose with paperwork after landing in Africa. Those details should have been worked out with the broker-hunter-outfitter before they set foot out to hunt the intended animal. This person was also put off by the fact the broker avoided talking to him. The broker wanted to talk to another person setting up the actual hunt. The person said he would never use them again.

Given the present state of hunting, brokers, outfitters, and hunters are concerned with people approaching them for services as legitimate. I would assume the same would be suspicious of me. I didn't have any thing posted online in the way of trophy photos or run around online proclaiming my privileges as entitlements. I didn't want to look like a braggart. There is something to be said in being sensitive to other people as long as they understand where you are coming from and reciprocate.

There again, people of mischief will stalk you online in hopes they can find a target to expose to make them famous. People just sit an wait for the next online sensation to get involved with, even if it destroys.

I would suggest that if you approach someone running an outfitter service or brokering for hunts, question them. If they can't stand your questions, maybe they have something to hide. It may not be what it seems. Anyone can build a professional looking page to sell a service, that doesn't mean it is what it appears to be. There again, in tight knit communities, someone might be passing a lie on you in order to protect themselves. If the person is capable of breaking a law during hunting and you are not privy to their actions, you could pay someone a job and find yourself arrested. Bad mentality doesn't change often. It just waits for the next victim.

You don't want to be in foreign country hunting, then kill an animal only to find out you have fu-barred the experience. The outfitter didn't intervene on your behalf to save you from a bad decision. A decision that leads to public infamy. Save yourself. Don't wait for someone else, who might be encouraging you to do a selfish act, to stop you.

It does appear a lot of American hunters are prostrated out in media for hunting acts these days, willing or no. Are foreign entities luring American hunters to Africa to hunt only to set them up and feed the information to the media? Is this a way to prostrate American hunters out as rich, entitled people willing to go to lengths to be famous? Or, make Americans in general look overly entitled through the appearance of wanton destruction of wildlife. On top of that, take loads of American money in trade to make a person look bad for nefarious reasons to a world-wide audience.  

Again, don't do something stupid in a foreign country to make your homeland look bad.

One can ramble....

The hunt broker offered an African hunting experience, I explained there were two professional hunters I didn't want to associate with in Africa. He came back later with an e-mail and told me his hunt brokerage was not the one for me. I was to look elsewhere. He must have fished around on the situation. I took this as his business being associated with the two professional hunters. If not, at least I was enlightened by some of the references and people I talk to that diverted me from a bad experience. I saved myself the trouble right there. Bad people, bad experience. Maybe they just didn't like questions from a female hunter? Be no one's fool.

I put the elk hunting scheme away for another day. If I do go I want to go with a responsible professional that is knowledgeable in their craft. If the outfitter, hunt broker, or guide treats you like you are shifty and doesn't want to answer specific questions related to the details of a hunting expedition YOU are Paying for, Move on. Find someone else. It might be an accident waiting to happen.

You are responsible for yourself and actions. Save yourself.

Written by: Angelia Y Larrimore