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My last buffalo hunt in CAR as a PH, 2014. I cant believe its already been nearly a decade since I left and now I’m re-visiting “the glory days”… My hunter initially shot this bull the night before with a perfectly placed .458 Lott in the shoulder. For whatever reason, the bullet did not penetrate very deep and only hit one lung (I suspect the soft nosed bullet used had either hit a branch before reaching the buffalo, or had somehow been severely slowed down by bone). The next morning was spent painstakingly following-up on the blood trail in a nasty bako. Ever so often we found evidence of where the bull had let out his rage on small trees in his departure, in way of thrashed up branches and splattered blood.
After hours of moving slowly with all our senses strained forward, I suddenly caught sight of the bull in my periphery as it stood up just to my right. I always maintain that I am a fairly poor shot under good conditions: but under stressful conditions, I always somehow manage to pull my shit together. Reflexively I swiveled around and touched off before my rifle was even on my shoulder. The animal was facing me and my shot was a little too far right, but the bullet managed to hit the bull’s hip joint and successfully turn him. I immediately followed up with another bullet through both shoulders, dropping it. No one else in the hunting party had even seen the bull before it fell by my last shot. That feeling of relief that washed over us as we walked up to the fallen bull as it let out its death bellow is indescribable…
Greetings, my name is Adam Parkison- Once upon a time, I worked as a licensed Professional Hunter in CAR for Erik Mararv (CAWA safaris 2008-2014). I was probably the only American PH there at that time and most likely the youngest.
I wanted to re-introduce myself here for a couple of reasons: First, I wanted to start networking a little with like-minded people. Since I retired from my African hunting career, I have worked in the US as a freelance writer and photographer; some of my stories have appeared in Sports Afield, Sporting Classics, and others. Recently I graduated from Colorado State University with my bachelor’s degree in journalism and media communication. This year, I started my own media company. I hope to travel abroad and begin filming hunting and fishing content for clients in the near future- this is my next step. I have no intention of working as a PH again (I loved the adventures, but now I have two small kiddos and plenty of projects keeping me busy stateside), but I do hope to get enough financial freedom to return to Africa someday as a paying client, hunting with my old PH pals. LDE were a great challenge, but if I had my choice of pursuing only one African animal the rest of my life it would be those ornery dagga boys…
I have recently finished writing a book about my experiences in CAR and am currently negotiating with literary agents for representation. I wanted to go the traditional publishing route in order to reach a larger readership. This particular book is intentionally not solely about hunting, but focuses more on all the adventures me and my colleagues had exploring untouched areas, re-discovering “new” species of animals, the creation of the Chinko Project, the LRA massacre, the unfortunate war, and the larger-than-life people I had the pleasure of working with.
That said, recently on my social media I have had a ton of people reach out requesting a book specifically about my hunting adventures in CAR. Fortunately, I have a collection of stories already previously published in various magazines, and the limited publishing rights for these stories are now over. I have seriously considered self-publishing a limited run of these stories in book form. Don’t get me wrong, I humbly realize I worked with some legendary PHs who have FAR better stories and careers than I did; however, I think as a young American with the opportunities I had there, I am in a unique position to tell a story not often heard.
I wanted to put my feelers out here and gauge any potential interest community members might have in reading such a book. But more importantly, I wanted to ask permission (from Jerome and other moderators) about promoting something like that here; I obviously wish to respect community guidelines and avoid annoying people.
In the meantime, use this thread to share a photo that represents your fondest or craziest or happiest adventure in Africa…
Thanks in advance.
Happy hunting
/Adam
to AH!
