Mark Audino
AH veteran
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2019
- Messages
- 155
- Reaction score
- 747
- Location
- Honeoye Falls, NY USA
- Media
- 93
- Articles
- 3
- Member of
- SCI, DSC, WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION, NRA, GSCO
- Hunted
- C.A.R., Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Mongolia, Turkey, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Spain, UK, Romania, Mexico, Canadian Provinces, Multiple States in USA
I have been blessed by others, and some of the greatest blessings have come from fellow hunters. I’d like to share a story of gracious gestures pertaining to one trip that I just cannot forget even though it occurred several years ago.
GRACIOUS GESTURE #1. Whomever coined the phrase “everything is relative” was a philosopher of note. Way back when, I took my first trip to Mongolia for Gobi Argali, Gobi Ibex and Maral Stag. Cost then? $12,000 for the 3 animals. Cost today? Well over $100,000 depending on the outfitter and area. But $12,000 was a big stretch financially for me then and it’s not spare change now either.
I had a global hunting mentor who was tight with Bert and Chris Klineberger, the famous taxidermists and hunting consultants, both of whom were genuine authorities based on the hunting territories they pioneered and opened up for others across Asian and Africa. I was on the phone with my mentor who liked to check in daily with me. I told him that I wanted to hunt Mongolia because at that time taking a 6X6 Maral stag was a safer bet there than elk in North America. But the big pull was the sheep and ibex. In that discussion with my mentor, he asked if I had booked the trip. I told my mentor that I was still saving money for the deposit that was needed. There was a brief pause and he patched Bert in on the call. Here’s how it went down. “Bert, Mark wants to hunt Mongolia but only has a thousand bucks for a deposit. Can you help him?” Bert didn’t even hesitate. “Sure” was his answer.
So, I sent the grand to Bert and I was booked. I then followed up with the remaining payments due over time, and in addition, sent an extra grand for him to hold in escrow in case I needed it while I was on the trip. I never forgot Bert’s support and applied that lesson to others who I in turn personally advised over the years later.
GRACIOUS GESTURE #2: Fast forward a few months, and I was walking down Gokey Street in Moscow heading to my hotel with my duffel bag and gun in tow. I had to overnight in Moscow before catching a flight the next day to Irkutsk before connecting to Ulaanbaatar. While at the hotel that night, my phone rang and it was a guy who said he took care of visiting hunters for the hunting consultants. We met for some touring that night. He was a real piece of work, but he was totally genuine and helpful. I sent most of my cash on some souvenirs and paying him, and saved the rest of my cash for tips in Mongolia.
Two days later and I was hunting the Gobi Argali and Gobi Ibex in the desert, and Maral Stag in the birch forest near the Siberian border. I was lucky to take all three animals and shot a particularly good ram. The pricing structure at that time called for a premium to be paid per inch if the ram exceeded the average threshold. Mine exceeded that. I once I got back to Ulaanbaatar, I was going to send a telex to Bert and have him wire the money to pay the trophy surcharge due from my escrow only to realize I didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay for hotel to send the wire. Guys, this was 1987. No cell phones. No credit cards accepted. It was either wire payments, cash, or AMEX Travelers Checks for everything in the country.
I retreated to the hotel’s dining hall and sat down over a cup of tea wondering how to get the money sent over. A gentleman approached my table and asked if he could join me. It was obvious that we were both Yanks who had been hunting. When he asked when I was leaving, I explained that was still to be determined based on needing to settle my bill first with the outfitting company for the trophy surcharge. He asked how much I needed, to which I said “around 500 bucks”. I think he was mid-bite on whatever he was eating and he told me to follow him. He didn’t know me from Adam, but we went to his room and he gave me $500 bucks. I was profusely thankful. The man was none other than Phil Dubeau, and I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing a picture of the Ovis Ammon Ammon that he took there. Klinebergers refunded Phil the $500 that he had lent me and we stayed in touch for a while after we both returned to USA.
Several years passed, I wrote to Phil thinking he was still working in Florida just to thank him again for what will always be one of the greatest hunter-to-hunter gestures I have ever experienced. After about 9 months, I received a letter with some African postage on the front, and it was from Phil. He was a PH operating in Africa! Small world. Incredible human being. Again, I took his trust and generosity forward in helping others because the hunting brotherhood is uniquely built on bedrock of trust and support for each other.
This is just one example of why I believe hunters are the must humanistic of our species.
What have you experienced?
GRACIOUS GESTURE #1. Whomever coined the phrase “everything is relative” was a philosopher of note. Way back when, I took my first trip to Mongolia for Gobi Argali, Gobi Ibex and Maral Stag. Cost then? $12,000 for the 3 animals. Cost today? Well over $100,000 depending on the outfitter and area. But $12,000 was a big stretch financially for me then and it’s not spare change now either.
I had a global hunting mentor who was tight with Bert and Chris Klineberger, the famous taxidermists and hunting consultants, both of whom were genuine authorities based on the hunting territories they pioneered and opened up for others across Asian and Africa. I was on the phone with my mentor who liked to check in daily with me. I told him that I wanted to hunt Mongolia because at that time taking a 6X6 Maral stag was a safer bet there than elk in North America. But the big pull was the sheep and ibex. In that discussion with my mentor, he asked if I had booked the trip. I told my mentor that I was still saving money for the deposit that was needed. There was a brief pause and he patched Bert in on the call. Here’s how it went down. “Bert, Mark wants to hunt Mongolia but only has a thousand bucks for a deposit. Can you help him?” Bert didn’t even hesitate. “Sure” was his answer.
So, I sent the grand to Bert and I was booked. I then followed up with the remaining payments due over time, and in addition, sent an extra grand for him to hold in escrow in case I needed it while I was on the trip. I never forgot Bert’s support and applied that lesson to others who I in turn personally advised over the years later.
GRACIOUS GESTURE #2: Fast forward a few months, and I was walking down Gokey Street in Moscow heading to my hotel with my duffel bag and gun in tow. I had to overnight in Moscow before catching a flight the next day to Irkutsk before connecting to Ulaanbaatar. While at the hotel that night, my phone rang and it was a guy who said he took care of visiting hunters for the hunting consultants. We met for some touring that night. He was a real piece of work, but he was totally genuine and helpful. I sent most of my cash on some souvenirs and paying him, and saved the rest of my cash for tips in Mongolia.
Two days later and I was hunting the Gobi Argali and Gobi Ibex in the desert, and Maral Stag in the birch forest near the Siberian border. I was lucky to take all three animals and shot a particularly good ram. The pricing structure at that time called for a premium to be paid per inch if the ram exceeded the average threshold. Mine exceeded that. I once I got back to Ulaanbaatar, I was going to send a telex to Bert and have him wire the money to pay the trophy surcharge due from my escrow only to realize I didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay for hotel to send the wire. Guys, this was 1987. No cell phones. No credit cards accepted. It was either wire payments, cash, or AMEX Travelers Checks for everything in the country.
I retreated to the hotel’s dining hall and sat down over a cup of tea wondering how to get the money sent over. A gentleman approached my table and asked if he could join me. It was obvious that we were both Yanks who had been hunting. When he asked when I was leaving, I explained that was still to be determined based on needing to settle my bill first with the outfitting company for the trophy surcharge. He asked how much I needed, to which I said “around 500 bucks”. I think he was mid-bite on whatever he was eating and he told me to follow him. He didn’t know me from Adam, but we went to his room and he gave me $500 bucks. I was profusely thankful. The man was none other than Phil Dubeau, and I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing a picture of the Ovis Ammon Ammon that he took there. Klinebergers refunded Phil the $500 that he had lent me and we stayed in touch for a while after we both returned to USA.
Several years passed, I wrote to Phil thinking he was still working in Florida just to thank him again for what will always be one of the greatest hunter-to-hunter gestures I have ever experienced. After about 9 months, I received a letter with some African postage on the front, and it was from Phil. He was a PH operating in Africa! Small world. Incredible human being. Again, I took his trust and generosity forward in helping others because the hunting brotherhood is uniquely built on bedrock of trust and support for each other.
This is just one example of why I believe hunters are the must humanistic of our species.
What have you experienced?
Last edited by a moderator: