It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of knowing wherein your agent's specialty lies. If you don't know, ask him - or her. Follow up with pointed questions about how many times he, or she, has hunted the continent you are interested in.
All of the above is a roundabout way of introducing an agent I just spent some time with in Austria. Her name is Sylvia Gabauer, and her company is Artemis Tours. Far from a flash in the pan, Ms. Gabauer has been in business for nine years and says business is thriving. At this point, she is taking clients away from bigger, older and much better known agents in this country and in Europe, with many of those clients being among the elite of the international hunting community.
My time in Austria was limited, so my interview with Gabauer was limited to a single wide-ranging session, wherein we touched on a couple of hunts she offers in the former Soviet Union and Europe, and then concluded with some general discussion of Marco Polo sheep hunts and the prospects for elk hunters in Mongolia. Before turning to all that, it's worth noting that one advantage Gabauer has in her dealings with Americans is her ability to quote costs in euros for all hunts that take place in European Community countries. That can mean some real bargains for American hunters.
From all reports, Gabauer is succeeding as an agent because she works very hard to........(continued)
