8/2/2012  Rebuttal from Jean-Pierre Bernon

You will find below some replies to Madero Report.

This guy seemed to be nice but in fact he is a lying person.

So with a normal report with an unhappy client you can reply easily as we did with another hunter for instance for who CAR was not the right place to go but when the guy is lying it is more difficult.

I will try to do it in my bad English as simply as possible.

1) Madero says he pays 51,000 USD for his safari and it is not true, he paid 46,000 USD (he never paid a bonus for a leopard).

In fact he booked 3 weeks and as he shot a good lion not an average lion (picture enclosed) the first day he decided immediately to hunt only 2 weeks for business reasons and it was a big mistake.

If we ask for a 3 weeks hunt for lion and eland it is because the success rate (more or less 100%) is in 3 weeks not in 2 weeks. So he cannot complain, if he was staying one more week the eland would be in his trophy room.

2) Jean-Pierre Leroux his PH is one of my best friend and a really fantastic PH especially for cats.

We work together since more than 30 years and his only fault sometimes is to be too nice with people.

He is 63 years old with a tremendous experience on lions and leopards.

Leroux organized perfectly the lion hunt of Madero and the first morning the lion was in the salt!!

For the leopard it is Madero who shot without the authorization of Leroux saying he saw the "balls" of the leopard who was a big big female. The mistake of Leroux was not to charge Madero a double trophy fee. But Madero was disappointed and Leroux is too nice and cool!!!

To want to publish that Leroux let him shot a female proves how Madero is (irresponsible).

3) When Madero was back in Mexico he was negotiating a discounted safari and as we are always fair and he did not get his eland (hunting 2 weeks instead of 3 weeks) we agreed with his proposal that I copy below:

My offer is this:

Hunting year: 2013.

Clients: Miguel Madero and Enrique Robles.

Trophies: Miguel Madero for Eland and Bongo, price 50% of 2009 and Enrique Robes for Bongo, rest of game at normal 2011 price (time of hiring the hunt).

Camp: Cristophes (were Alan Maki hunted this year).

Sincerely;

Miguel

I replied to his email telling I agreed and he replied ok (I have enclosed this email).

Then he said he was coming alone and it was not the agreement, in fact he just wanted to screw us since the beginning.

3) As he changed the agreement I told him we were sending back his deposit and we did it immediately (we can prove it easily at 100% with the document of the bank). If that took 45 days to be in his account it is not our responsibility if his bank is incompetent.

4) All the trophies of the 2011 hunting season arrived September- October 2011 to all our European and American clients but Mexican authorities (or Madero's broker) asked for different documents and we were obliged to do them several times at Bangui!!!

Madero trophies arrived in November 2011 at Mexico and got all document required end of December 2011 - early January 2012.

So he hunted January 2011 and received his trophies January 2012 in perfect condition. What's wrong!!

5) The only true story is the fact they left the camp in the night because the PH got information from one of our driver that robbers were coming.

I told you this story last June in an email to give you some informations regarding CAR (I have enclosed this email).

When we discovered that it was stories of the driver, Madero was gone and we never told him what really happened as he would not had believed us. As I told you in my email of June 2011, the 2011 season in CAR was difficult!

In fact this guy is furious because I told him NO as he did not respect the agreement we had and that he asked for!!!

I am really an easy person and always ready to do something if a client asked me but there are some limits and I was not happy because Madero treats me as if I am an idiot he asked for an agreement that he knew since the beginning he would not respect.

Well I think it is not necessary to waist too many time with Madero stories.

Just one more thing: the place he hunted Zamza is a paradise for Lord Derby Eland and I am sure a lot of your subscribers hunted there since Madero was (January 2011) and got all their eland.

I stay at your disposal.

Very best regards

Jean-Pierre Bernon
 
CLUB FAUNE
14, rue de Siam
75116 PARIS
Tel : 01 42 88 31 32
Fax : 01 45 24 31 29
Email : jpbernon@club-faune.com

4/7/2011

Email from Lic. Miguel Madero Blasquezmadero.miguel@gmail.com

To "Jean-Pierre Bernon - Club Faune"

Dear Jean Pierre:

Thank you very much for your reply.

I am really very glad we can come to terms regarding this hunt.

I will talk to Enrique and we will send the security deposit as soon as possible.

Sincerely;

Miguel Madero

From: "Jean-Pierre Bernon - Club Faune"

Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2011 20:00:22 +0200

To: Lic. Miguel Madero Blasquez

Subject: Re: your hunt in CAR

Dear Miguel,

Sorry to reply just now but I went to Benin as we are putting in this country a new camp and just after I decided not to come back to France but to go to CAR as my friend Christophe who manages Ngoumbiri and Zamza camp is still in France after is bad accident with his microlite in December.

I just land this afternoon from Bangui and I reply immediately to your various emails.

It is a shame you did not stay 3 weeks but only 2 weeks in CAR but we can understand that you were obliged for your business to go back early.

As you know we always want to have clients happy, so we agree your proposal:

Hunting year: 2013.

Clients: Miguel Madero and Enrique Robles.

Trophies: Miguel Madero for Eland and Bongo, price 50% of 2009 and Enrique Robes for Bongo, rest of game at normal 2011 price.

The dates would be the 3 first weeks of march 2013 (so you will be sure not to have problem with long grass ) and your camp will be the camp we think the best in march 2013 for the game you are looking for.

It is difficult to give you the exact dates as we do not know the schedules flights in 2013.

I hope you will be happy with this proposal.

Sorry again to reply only today.

Very best regards

Jean-Pierre Bernon

_______________________________________________________________________
June 2011

Email from Jean-Pierre Bernon to Barbara Crown, The Hunting Report

Regarding: Closing of camps in CAR

Dear Barbara,

Hope you are doing well.

Sorry to reply so late but I am travelling so much and I have been in some African places where it is not easy to communicate.

Regarding CAR and the last season the facts are the following:

1) It was not an easy season because our main partner Christophe with which we work since more than 12 years got a bad crash with a microlite in December 2010 going from one camp to another.

Christophe was evacuated to France after the crash and was not able to go back to CAR before the end of April 2011.

Now thanks God, Christophe recovered completely and is ready for the next season but without microlite!!!

2) At the beginning of the season two hunting camps (from other companies than Club Faune) have been attacked by robbers with firearms. One of the camp was situated at approximately 150 km at the east from one our nearest camp and the other one at approximately 100 km at the south of our camp.

The robbers took the solar panels and the cars.

No one was threatened or harmed when the stealings occurred. The robbers came, said they need these equipments and left with them (what was funny is that the robbers when they stole cars in one camp did not know how to drive and got problem to left the camp !!!).

When we have been informed that one hunting camp was attacked by robbers the PHs were a bit nervous even if this camp was far from our camps.

One evening from one camp we sent a car with a tracker and a local driver to a village, and on the way back to the camp at night they bumped the car in a tree and this STUPID guy to excuse himself told when he arrived at the camp that he was attacked and forced to go out of the road and that's why he bumped the car. The PH took the decision to evacuate the camp in the middle of the night with a client and all the staff!!!

We discover and were informed some days later that the driver and the tracker did not left the camp and slept in the camp which was incredible and very surprising!!! We did some investigations and discovered that they were never attacked and they made up this story!!! Could you imagine!!

3) In February we were informed by neighboring villages that thieves were seen and could visit one of our more remote camps.

I was in the field with some American clients and I took the decision not to take any risk and I decided to move our clients to our main camp.

We explained to our American clients the situation and they wanted to stay (they had done 10 days of hunt out of 20 days so far).

But finally I decided that we did not want to take any risk for their safety and we asked them to fly back to France and then to the US.

At the end we were never robbed and no other hunting companies were robbed!!!

As we closed our more remote camp we were obliged to cancel the hunts who were supposed to be done from this camp.

4) We hunted from other camps in March and April and Dennis Anderson a past SCI President hunted very successfully with us end of March. He can confirm you this.

5) The CAR army was sent to some villages surrounding some hunting areas and they found thieves camps and took them out of the game!!

Once again I want to emphasize that none of our hunting camps were attacked during all the season.

6) It is a shame because the game is really improving a lot on all our hunting blocks and we did this year some exceptional safaris!!

7) In 2011, the CAR President was re-elected and the Government took the decision for the future to put the army in some villages surrounding the hunting areas.

We are totally confident for the next hunting seasons.

I hope that these information will help you to have an idea of what happened in CAR this year and as you can see, problems occurred but nobody was injured and nothing so bad as in some other African countries !!

I stay at your disposal to give you further information.

Jean-Pierre Bernon
 
CLUB FAUNE
14, rue de Siam
75116 PARIS
Tel : 01 42 88 31 32
Fax : 01 45 24 31 29
Email : jpbernon@club-faune.com

8/6/2012

Re-rebuttal from Miguel Madero

My comments to Bernons email will be as follows:

Bernon says: This guy seemed to be nice but in fact he is a lying person.

My response: This is his personal opinion, but you contact all the other outfitters that I have hunted with, which you have all of my reports, and ask them about my person and they will tell you otherwise. I a lot of legal process in the benefit of hunting, you can contact John Jackson and ask him about my procedure in the US for a Leopard that I got seized in 2007 and my response to such matter, even then in such hunt that I hired from John Bart and got my trophies seized I did not writ a negative report because the hunt was great and my problems with the USFW is another matter, you can also contact Maria Felix from the Brokerage firm and ask her about my personal treatment about this matter. John Jackson has asked me to attend before a Committee in Washington about this matter and I will do so at my own expense. You can see an article of my situation of the seized Leopard in the September issue of Petersen Hunting, only my name comes out with my second last name "Blasquez" and I did not write a bad report about such hunt, I am right now doing a legal process in Mexico to abolish the law that does not permit the import of polar bears into Mexico at my own expense and we are doing great, you can contact Joe Verni in Canada about this process and also ask him about me. Likewise you can contact Johnny and Abie Duploy and ask them about myself and they will all give you my credentials as a client, which I am to say they are all good. So for Bernon to say that I am a Liar is his personal opinion, but the facts state otherwise.

Bernon says: So with a normal report with an unhappy client you can reply easily as we did with another hunter for instance for who CAR was not the right place to go but when the guy is lying it is more difficult.

My response:  I had no problems in hunting in CAR, one day we walked over 10 hours and I did not complain a single time, this is the sport we have chosen and it comes with the corresponding hard work.

 Bernon says: 1) Madero says he pays 51,000 USD for his safari and it is not true, he paid 46,000 USD (he never paid a bonus for a leopard).

My response: I did not pay the bonus because the PH told me not to say anything about the Leopard, and Bernon did not know about the Leopard until I told you, and would have paid the bonus if it had been required of me and I would have been allowed to keep my Leopard, even a female, if they had not hidden it and act as nothing happened.

Bernon says: In fact he booked 3 weeks and as he shot a good lion not an average lion the first day he decided immediately to hunt only 2 weeks for business reasons and it was a big mistake.

My response:  I did not change my date of return the day after the lion, that day I was happy as any hunter can be because I hunted a Lion on the first day out, which I know it is VERY DIFFICULT, and I just had an incredible experience calling a Lion.

Bernon says: If we ask for a 3 weeks hunt for lion and eland it is because the success rate (more or less 100%) is in 3 weeks not in 2 weeks. So he cannot complain, if he was staying one more week the eland would be in his trophy room.

My response: He sells the Eland only hunts for 2 weeks, so if I hunted my lion on the first day out, I had a complete 2 weeks to hunt the Eland, which never happened.

Bernon says: 2) Jean-Pierre Leroux his PH is one of my best friend and a really fantastic PH especially for cats.

My response: Not in question his experience with the cats, great Lion hunt, but his is old and does not see very well right now.

Bernon says: We work together since more than 30 years and his only fault sometimes is to be too nice with people.

My response: I do not complain about him being a very nice guy, I had a great time with him.

Bernon says: He is 63 years old with a tremendous experience on lions and leopards. Leroux organized perfectly the lion hunt of Madero and the first morning the lion was in the salt!! For the leopard it is Madero who shot without the authorization of Leroux saying he saw the "balls" of the leopard who was a big big female. The mistake of Leroux was not to charge Madero a double trophy fee. But Madero was disappointed and Leroux is too nice and cool!!!

My response: The word of the PH against mine, but the proof is that Bernon did not know about the Leopard until I told you and you can also ask my other outfitters if in any case or hunt I have done anything not authorized by my PH, they are the experts and I never question them.

Bernon says: To want to publish that Leroux let him shot a female proves how is Madero (irresponsible).

My response: His personal opinion, talk to my other outfitters, which you have on record, and ask them if I have been irresponsible in any hunt, I tend to be extra careful since it is my personal security that is in the middle and my money, do you think I would have like to shoot a Leopard if it was small, I have no interest as a hunter in doing so. The PH will never go against the word of his boss, we would get fired at once.

Bernon says: 3) When Madero was back in Mexico he was negotiating a discounted safari and as we are always fair and he did not get his eland (hunting 2 weeks instead of 3 weeks) we agreed with his proposal that I copy below :

My offer is this:

Hunting year: 2013.

Clients: Miguel Madero and Enrique Robles.

Trophies: Miguel Madero for Eland and Bongo, price 50% of 2009 and Enrique Robes for Bongo, rest of game at normal 2011 price (time of hiring the hunt).

Camp: Cristophes (were Alan Maki hunted this year).

Sincerely;

Miguel

My response: This proposal was made this way because when we hired the CAR hunt Enrique Robles and myself had a deal to go back with them into Cameroon for the Bongo and the Forest Elephant, that is why I included Enrique, but Bernon should have told me that the problem was with me, and accepting this offer he acknowledge this, because of the price he gave me, but in no time I told him that if Enrique was not going my safari would be canceled, such was this that I send him the wire transfer confirmation right after he accepted. Such was my good faith in this arrangement that I told him that if we would close this deal I would forget about everything that happened and I would not ask you publish this, this is proof of my good faith, and that is why I published this report until know.

Bernon says: I replied to his email telling I agreed and he replied ok (I have enclosed this email). Then he said he was coming alone and it was not the agreement, in fact he just wanted to screw us since the beginning.

My response: I told him that I was going alone because he wanted to overcharge Enrique and Enrique did not agree, so I said I would go, to which he did not accept, he wanted to cover my loss with the overcharge of Enrique, I did not intend to screw anybody, I only wanted what was fair to me. Alan Maki recommended this to me on our flight out of CAR, you can ask him if you want to get him involved.

Bernon says: 3) As he changed the agreement I told him we were sending back his deposit and we did it immediately (we can prove it easily at 100% with the document of the bank). If that took 45 days to be in his account it is not our responsibility if his bank is incompetent.

My response: I have proof from Cyrus that works with him, an email, in which he states that the wired was made wrong, so they say, since the first time and that is a problem of their bank, which say a lot of his company since I imagine that they send wires transfers very often, I believe he wanted to hold my money until I would break and make a new deal with him, but I have no proof of such so I can not complain about this, what I can complain is his company taking over 45 days to send a wire transfer when it was his cancelation, not mine.

Bernon says: 4) All the trophies of the 2011 hunting season arrived September- October 2011 to all our European and American clients but Mexican authorities (or Madero's broker) asked for different documents and we were obliged to do them several times at Bangui !!!

Madero trophies arrived in November 2011 at Mexico and got all document required end of December 2011 - early January 2012 .

So he hunted January 2011 and received his trophies January 2012 in perfect condition. What's wrong !!  

My response: The broker requested all the information from the beginning and it them a lot of time to get the trophies out and when the trophies got into Mexico the documents were incomplete, they send the documents that they wanted. I have all the emails as proof of this, even from his broker saying that they send the documents wrong. I am a Lawyer, and if one of my clerks makes a mistake I have to resolve it, not my clerk, since it is my client, but Club Faune did not care about this and we ended fixing everything by ourselves, I have the emails to prove such.

Bernon says: 5) The only true story is the fact they left the camp in the night because the PH got information from one of our driver that robbers were coming. I told you this story last June in an email to give you some informations regarding CAR (I have enclosed this email). When we discovered that it was stories of the driver, Madero was gone and we never told him what really happened as he would not had believed us. As I told you in my email of June 2011, the 2011 season in CAR was difficult !

My response: I do not see why I would not have understood this, it is idiotic not to explain a client what went wrong and what was done about it. Enrique was in the other camp and has a video about how the staff in that camp reacted and they did not have any idea what was going on or what to do about it. Again this is the sport we have chosen and there are risks, I only wanted compensation about this risk that took place to my own personal security which he takes very lightly but it was so serious that all the camp had to move out and believe me that all his staff were scared as hell and they did not react to it as they should have, since they were not equipped to do so, the sat-phone had no minutes and there was not a single person out of CAR to contact about this problem, they got notice of such situation because of my call to Mexico, Bernon had no idea of what had happened until the following day.

Bernon says: In fact this guy is furious because I told him NO as he did not respect the agreement we had and that he asked for!!!

My response: I am very mad because Bernon did have a single interest in making up for the mistakes of his company and the responsibility of putting my personal security at risk, yes I am very upset about it, I send an email, which I have, when he did not agree to handle my hunt for second time if Enrique did not come stating that we could work something out but he was not interested in anything, and he said no.

Bernon says: I am really an easy person and always ready to do something if a client asked me but there is some limits and I was not happy because Madero treats me as if I am an idiot he asked for an agreement that he knew since the beginning he would not respect.

My response: He is not easy to deal with, and the proof is that I had to propose him an offer and he had no interest in doing so until I send him mine, another outfitter with any interest in keeping a client would have proposed something right away and plus with having a client that had his personal security at risk, that is something not to be taken lightly, he did not give dam about fixing things, all had to come from my self. I additionally told him to offer me another hunt world wide, which I know he manages, and he said that it was CAR or nothing. That is not a company that wants a happy client. I had such intentions to go back with them that I left 2 boxes of ammo of .500 NE with them for the next hunt, would I have left them there if I had not cared to come back.

Bernon says: Well I think it is not necessary to waist too many time with Madero stories.

My response: So he says because it is not his money that was spend, he is not the one that got screwed and he is not the one that had his personal security at risk. This show you that he is still not interested into coming to an agreement. I did not want money back, I only wanted to hunt again which is something that I really love to do, and wanted to be treated the right way as a client.

Bernon says: Just one more thing: the place he hunted Zamza is a paradise for Lord Derby Eland and I am sure a lot of your subscribers hunted there since Madero was (January 2011) and got all their eland.

My response: That is great for his other clients, but they are not in question here, and I know another Mexican client that hunted in Zamza and he did not hunt a good Eland, such is the situation that he also canceled the hunt for the Bongo with them.

This is my response to such comments, you can do any research about myself if you are interested in doing so, but I would like my story to be know for the next hunters that hire a hunt with Club Faune are careful with them

Thank you very much for your help in this matter, and believe me that I am a nice guy.

Sincerely;

Miguel Madero

Rebuttal from Club Faune:

I have read the letter of Bob Costos and I am not happy with his letter but not surprised!

Costos is not a nice person and he was thinking he could make blackmail with us to not pay the balance of his trophy fees (9.280 euros). Costos did a hunt with us in CAR in February 2009; the main target of the hunt was a lord derby eland and a bongo. He shot a very nice lord derby eland and did not shoot a bongo but instead he had the opportunity and shot a fantastic giant forest hog (who will be in the top 10). I can imagine he could be disappointed not to have shot the bongo and even if the success rate for a combo hunt (eland-bongo) is around 90% sometimes a client does not shoot the bongo.

As he shot instead a giant forest hog he should be happy as in our price list the price of a combo hunt eland - bongo is the same than the price of a combo hunt eland - giant forest hog. When Costos came back he starts to complain for all and especially because he spent a lot of time in a blind (very comfortable mashan) as it is the way we hunt bongo and giant forest hog...

After reading Costos correspondance we could imagine he was forced to do it !!! which is ridiculous. He complained also as he got stomach problems. We organize around 20 hunts every year with American clients in CAR in the areas where Costos hunted since more than 12 years and our clients are very satisfied and_ nobody complained about the food except Costos in 12 years!!!

I think you received a report of one of your subscriber, David Pemble who hunted exactly the same place than Costos but this year (February 2010) and as all our clients he is very satisfied (Costos hunted February 2009).

All our clients asked us to give their names as references. The American references we have are among the most well known hunters at the SCI (I can give their contacts) and 99% are your subscribers. You know we have a very good reputation.

As we wanted to be nice we proposed him a discount (half of the price of the balance of trophy fees due, 4.640 euros) and even to come back but he refused and starts his blackmail by refusing to pay the balance of the trophy fees (9.280 euros) and telling he will write to you and to the SCI if we asked him to pay.

Costos wrote: I am not going to send any more money. So now make the business decision, send me the trophies as the right thing to do or keep them and let other hunters know that you really are not concerned about their welfare on your hunts! It is something we cannot accept and I refused it.

In 12 years all our American clients were happy with our CAR operations except Costos because he got stomach problems and says it is our fault. A lot of people who travels got stomach problem because they do not eat the same as they eat at home!! And because the weather is hot and because they are tired, etc... I have tried to be nice as all the time with our clients but now I am pissed off and will not accept his blackmail. The most incredible is that he shot fantastic trophies. We will be obliged to try to sell his trophies to collectors looking for a very good lord derby eland and a monster giant forest hog in order to recover the 9.280 euros not paid by Costos as balance of his trophy fees.

Moreover I met Costos PH 2 days ago and the PH remember me that fact I forgot to mention in my reply that Costos during his safari shot a bongo and missed it!

I am sure you understand our position and we cannot accept blackmail.

Fortunately this kind of client is very uncommon.

Jean-Pierre Bernon

Rerebuttal from Robert Costos:

My response here is not vindictive, I was hoping that Club Faune would understand that even organizations with good and long track records of success need to pay attention to the details or their results will deteriorate. I have kept all of my communications cordial and business like and at no time did I feel that not paying additional trophy fees after already paying more than $45,000 for such a disastrous trip was even remotely like blackmail. I am sorry that Jean Pierre interpreted this in that manner, but clearly IF I was willing to sacrifice my beautiful trophies, than something terrible must have transpired. Here are my key ideas for hunters considering Club Faune:

1. Club Faune acts as a booking agent much of the time and does not make that point clear. You need to understand what camps you are going to and get references for that particular location. In flying out from camp, a second hunter had an equally bad hunt while two other hunters had good hunts.

2. Do not hunt with Idongo Safari run by Mathieu where I went, it is not well run and has a huge poaching problem; witness three of my animals had machine gun bullet holes in them with one being so fresh that worms were crawling out the holes. We could not even go into half their concession because of an "understanding" with the poachers!

3. They have a limited Bongo population; I spent 14 hours most nights on 14 different days for a total of 192 hours with the bugs, heat and blackness of night to see NOTHING. Many of you have done 30 or 40 hours waiting for a leopard; do the math on 192 hours!

4. The measures for insuring reasonable hygiene were non-existent. The liter bottles for water had been used so many times that their outsides were scratched and cloudy and there was no ability to clean these effectively upon refilling. A bottle was routinely passed around while each of us drank from the same bottle. Unknown to me, canteens were filled from the river and on several occasions, and was the only water to drink while on our long hikes. At over 100F degrees temperature one had no choice but to drink the water. I was deathly sick THREE different times, writhing in pain for 5 to 8 hours! I was back hunting immediately after I could stand!

5. Losing 17 pounds in three weeks should say it all about food and quality of the hunt. I have been on over 40 different hunts around the world and done some pretty tough hunts but I have never experienced a debacle such as this.

6. I could not get Jean Pierre to understand that I was NOT concerned about failing to get my Bongo! I did not take a leopard on my first leopard hunt ditto on elephant and lion but loved those hunts and went on to succeed on my big five. I did get great trophies on this hunt but that DID NOT MAKE UP for the fact that because of the terrible camp they sent me to that it turned out to be the WORSE HUNT OF A LIFETIME! WHY WOULD I PAY MORE MONEY FOR SOMETHING THAT WAS SUCH A DISASTER? This is not blackmail, I was simply not treated well and had already paid a fortune. I am complaining about the camp! Remember this is your operator that offered to bypass Club Faune to come back for another Bongo hunt! I should have been offered a refund but all I asked for was to send me my trophies!

Jean Pierre, I hope you would now understand that I am not conducting blackmail here, I simply felt it was unfair to think Club Faune deserved MORE money for this hunt. I still would very much like my trophies!

Very Sincerely,

Bob Costos ( by all other accounts a nice person)

My Professional Hunter was Stefan Buys. Stefan is very hard working and very knowledgeable of animal habits and locations. We were accompanied by Harry Claassens, another Professional Hunter, from South Africa. Harry hunts in several African countries and wanted first hand information about Benin for his clients. Harry also hunts for Club Faune clients when his expertise is needed. Harry also took an excellent buffalo for his personal collection.

I collected the West African Savanna Buffalo, Harnessed Bushbuck, Western Kob, Western Roan, Western Hartebeest, Western Bush Duiker, and Nagor Reedbuck. The Kob is average and the Reedbuck may make the record book. The rest were excellent with the Duiker tying for the current number 7 in SCI's record book. The Roan was an old solitary bull with many scars and broomed and splintered horn tips. Although his horns were not exceptionally long, this animal had a lot of character, is a great trophy and will make the record book.

The buffalo was also exceptional and will push the top 10 very close. He had beautiful curved symmetrical horns with the hide having a tint of red. The Harnessed Bushbuck will make the top 20 and the Western Hartebeest will make the top 40.

Shots can occasionally be long, 200-250 yards, in what seemed to be constant winds with frequent gusts. I recommend a 300 magnum of any flavor for all but the buffalo and at least a 375 H&H for the buffalo. These buffalo are not as large as the Cape Buffalo but pound for pound, they are just as tough and temperamental.

We stayed at the Porga Hotel. Hospitality and accommodations were exceptional for your location. The rooms are air-conditioned. The food was good and so was the service.

There are not large quantities of animals. The animals do move in and out of the National Park that borders the hunting area. I would not recommend passing up a good trophy to wait for a better one.

This was a physically demanding hunt and I highly recommend it. Club Fauna is a very professional organization and left nothing undone to make my hunt a tremendous success. The PH, Stefan Buys, is eager, hard working, very knowledgeable, and did everything possible to accommodate me and make my hunt successful.

Reason for lack of success:

My dream hunt is for three species of African game. I have limited finances at my young age. My good friend Jim Boulton invited me as his guest for safari to Benin. My one and only goal was to harvest an African Lion. This was told to the hunt company before my arrival and again several times while on the safari.

Club Faune advertises the fact that they harvest all lions by tracking and they do not use bait. When we arrived at the motel, we would be staying in, my PH informed me that he had put out a few baits to draw the lions in and we would have no problem in finding one. We spent several days checking baits and hanging new ones. Not once did a lion hit the bait. While this was going on, we saw several tracks in the road, many were overnight tracks, because the afternoon rains had begun. Not once did we put the trackers out or pursue them any farther than the edge of the road. I had to wonder after the eighth day if they even had a lion left on their quota.

Roan antelope was a very frustrating game. I was able to pursue many times. So many times in fact, that on one occasion the roans passed within 30 meters of me. I placed the cross hairs of my .375 on the shoulders of many fine animals. Each and every time the PH told me that they were all females or too young to shoot. This was the norm every time we make a stalk. Once again we were the last multi-game safaris for the season. Was the quota full?

Reedbucks were not existent. I saw one small buck during the safari.

One of the biggest disappointments was after shooting my first buffalo the PH said "you have taken a nice representation of the species." I thought this term was invented by a whitetail guide. To hear these words spoken on my first African safari and on the first day after the PH told me, which one to shoot was very disheartening.

Although this was not the safari that I had dreamed of or heard stories told of at the SCI convention. The trip was saved by me taking the new #1 or #2 bushbuck.

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Date: February 5, 2003 To: The Hunting Report From: Stefan Buys of Club Faune RE: Complaint from Todd Schwandt

My name is Stefan Buys. I am a professional hunter with Club Faune for seven years, hunting in Tanzania, Benin and the CAR.

Mr. Bernon is in Mexico at the moment, and I was in the office in Paris at the time that your fax arrived (on my way to Benin). I saw it fit to give you some information on the hunt of Mr. Todd Schwandt, since I have been in the camp at the time, hunting with his friend Mr. Jim Boulton.

Mr. Schwandt believes that he was unsuccessful because there was no quota left since they were the last clients of the season. I can assure you that it was not the case. We had more than enough left of roan, lion and reedbuck. A lot of clients, especially when they come to Benin for the first time have difficulty distinguishing between male and female roan antelope. They are truly close in appearance and clients find it hard to believe when we do not want them to shoot a big female.

Mr. Boulton and myself harvested a very good nagor reedbuck and have seen many more, I believe Todd and his guide Yann was just unlucky as far as the reedbuck was concerned.

Lion in Benin is as far as I am concerned, one of the most difficult to get, we have three on quota a year and if we get two for the season, it was a good season. We shot only one before the hunt with Mr. Schwandt, and one after his safari. We definitely had a lion set aside for him on our quota before he came.

I am sure that a lot of hunters that I guided in Benin will agree with me that, Benin it is not a suitable destination for a person when he comes to Africa for the first time.