How will you measure the value of a hunt, in Inches or in memories?

Sure the memories make up majority of the experience, but what I have found my clients appreciate the most, is sometimes having to get on your hands and knees to put in a stalk to get into position. Or getting flat on our bellies and shuffling over the flat ground to get close enough to get a shot at a herd of Blesbuck,ending up with graze marks on our arms from having to crawl about a 100 meters. These are the things that make the trophy just so much more worth it and what I have found my clients really appreciates.
 
Trophies that are earned are always the best ones! For me the memories and the opportunity to interact with and meet new and interesting people. I love the opportunity to meet good people from all over the world who when I walk away to go home, I can honestly say I have made a new friend. We did this with the owners and family at Omuramba Hunting Lodge in Namibia. And I do it with in my professional field all the time.
Life is about experiences (good and bad) and quality contact with good people, not material things for me.
 
Memories: After chasing this big blue bull eland for a week on my last trip to Namibia, we were on the freshest tracks we'd seen - razor sharp edges. After following the tracks for over an hour my PH asked me to hold his rifle while he "got rid of some coffee". While I'm standing in the middle of a track, with my ph's rifle in one hand and mine over my shoulder, out of the brush literally 10 yards in front of me jumps the bull right in the middle of the track. He looks at me and as quick as a cat, that 1800+ lb antelope does a 360 and disappears, not to be seen again.....at all.
 
I guess I've always thought of trophies as souvenirs of the hunt. For me, a trophy is itself about the memories and the experience. Isn't tat why we take them home?
 
Trophies

I guess I've always thought of trophies as souvenirs of the hunt. For me, a trophy is itself about the memories and the experience. Isn't tat why we take them home?

Let me tell you a story. In Dec 2006 I had a 10 day buffalo hunt. It was in December. It was 100 degrees and 95+% humidity when it wasn't raining. Every place we went was uphill. It was the most physically difficult thing I've done since Advanced Infantry training at Camp LeJeune in 1968. I shot a 39" buffalo that scored 106. I shot a 39.5" buff that didn't measure that, but was a beautiful old dugga boy, nonetheless. To make a long story short, when I got my mounts from the taxidermist, they were not my bufffalos. One barely measured 36 and the other 37.5. I have the photograph's and I have the memories. Things can happen to trophies. Only God can take away your memories - but I'll show Him the photo's!:biggrin2:

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39" Buff, Selous K1, Dec 2006, Score 106

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39.5" Buff, Selous K1, Dec 2006
 
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Sorry to hear, your trophies were missplaced Almostacowboy77....that for me turns my stomach....it really should never happen....just a lot of poor management....in the taxidermy and shipping trade.

Great Pictures!!!!
 
”the freedom of the fields and woods, the joy in wandering about at will, without compulsion, and observing the wild things and scenery, causes a strange singing in the blood – it's a tune one never forgets, which no school discipline can drive out of one's mind.” Bror recalls in his book African Hunter.

ULALA,,,,ULALA,,,,
IT IS FOR ME THE MOST DIFFICULT MEMORY TO ERASE,,,THANKS GOD. AND THE STRENGTH OF THE MUSIC HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MASURING TAPE.
 

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