Interesting that the only members who have spoken in defence of this outfitter are brand new members. [emoji848]
Mr Smith, maybe you can share in more detail your investigation on the illegal elephant hunt because in this instance the details are what members want to know.
As I'm sure you can appreciate, it will be a fool who is likely to give his or her money to an outfitter when so many questions on his ethics and legality are unanswered so if the person in question is beyond reproach it would be good to have all facts available.
To join a forum and make a statement as you have done when there are so many words to the contrary and not explain more is obviously raising more questions than it gives answers.
I don't know how many members here will be spending their hard earned cash or wasting their time hunting with this outfitter when it appears that there is an association with bribery, corruption and law suits to follow so, if you are so convinced van Rensburg is innocent, please share your reasoning and make the information available to all.
I see we have a second self-professed super sleuth who believes himself deuced clever for having made the amazingly astute observation that people speaking in Hanno’s defense have just joined today. Wondering if it’s occurred to either of you brainiacs that the reason I joined today is that I was only just made aware of the conversation today and was eager to defend a friend, and that my having joined today has no bearing on the truth of what I’ve had to say. I’m using my real name, first and last. My email address is
Sean@starfirelumber.com if you’d like to reach out to me for pictures of my last two hunts with Hanno. I’m an open book.
I’m not at liberty to disclose all of the reasons I believe Hanno is innocent. Otherwise I wouldn’t hesitate to do so. Suffice it to say I’ve talked to people I’ve deemed trustworthy who have firsthand knowledge of the relevant events, and everyone’s stories corroborated Hanno’s. Maybe you should try talking to Hanno yourself and get his side of things, rather than just believing and parroting everything you read in the stupid press. As the old saying among criminal attorneys goes, you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. No charges have been even remotely proven against him, and I don’t believe any will be. Obviously only time will tell whether I’m right, and it’s more likely than not they’ll end up coercing a guilty plea and stiff fine out of him because they know they’ve got him in a horrible squeeze with this indictment making it impossible for him to travel to the US to market his hunts. It’s also devastating to his business, since so many who don’t know him simply read about these charges—which at this point are mere accusations—and either decline to book with him or cancel. Still doesn’t make him guilty, however. Why should people listen to me? Because I actually KNOW him, have spent dozens of hours (and tens of thousands of dollars) hunting with him, and I’m saying unequivocally and without hesitation that I’d book with him again. That should certainly give me more credibility than someone who merely clicked on a link, read nasty things about him, then decided to start spreading it around without the slightest idea what he’s talking about.
As far as anyone being concerned about spending their money with someone who allegedly engages in these “questionable” practices, they shouldn’t be. Here’s an idea: talk to his CLIENTS. I can state with confidence that, to a man/woman, they will sing his praises. He’s as honest as the day is long, works harder than any man I know, and ALWAYS does what he says he’ll do. And I’ve never seen him do a single illegal or unethical thing in all the time I’ve spent with him. Not once.
