The Dubula Difference: A Journey into African Hunting Adventures

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Joe b Tar, this is Ramon Roeblus, and
we talked to fascinating people about their love of hunting, shooting,
sports and the outdoors.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is Honting Matters.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Well, folks, welcome to this week's episode of Hunting Matters,
brought to you by the Houston Spire Club Foundation. We
are looking forward to our conversation this week with Ron
Blimeyer and Brian Bosley, who are with Jaboulah Hunting Safaris. Guys, welcome,
Thank you so much for joining us today.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you, Hey, Ramone.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
You see I moved, I did, I did?

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Tis the season? I mean you've gotten out of the
Christmas house. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Well there's a reason I have a background this week.
Before it was just festive. Now it's because I've got
stacks of stuff behind me because next week is our
big annual Worldwide Honting Expo in Convention at the Woodlands
Waterway Marriott. So my office is an absolute miss. It
looks like Fret Sandford moved in here and helped Jack.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
It's pretty bad, pretty bad.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
That's funny. Well, you know, tis the season again for
the expo and you have the dog in the back
I see.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, he's he's asleep. He's a good boy. Yeah, he's
a good boy.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
So Ron and Brian, thank you guys so much for
joining us. Ron, where are you joining us from today?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm in my house in Columbus, Ohio.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Awesome. Awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Brian, I'm joining you out of Greensboro, North.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
Carolina in your truck office and my truck office. Yeah,
I have a day job as well, so unfortunately, UH
got to juggle all these aspects at the same time.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well, I'm gonna go ahead and give out your website here.
We're going to talk about it again later. We'll bring
it up. But Dobula Huntingsafaris dot com and you spelled
doabulah d u b u l a Huntingsafaris dot com.
Anything we missed today, you guys can go to their
website check them out on Facebook, Instagram as well. But
there's a lot of great information on the website. So Ron,

(02:07):
I guess we'll start with you a little bit. Tell
us a little bit about your background.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (02:12):
I was born and raised in Central Pennsylvania. Started hunting
when I was a little kid, So I don't want
to age myself, but I've been out in the outdoors
hunting and fishing for a little over fifty years. Started
hunting over in Africa a little over fifteen years ago.
Met up with Ryan actually at the one of the
outdoor shows in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Great American Outdoors Show.

(02:35):
Hunt with Ryan and became good friends. And now I
am part of the Dubula staff.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
And we'll say your relative relative newbie to African hunting
the past fifteen years. But obviously you said you grew
up hunting in the Northeast. Did you start doing that
when you were a kid, and what kind of things
were you guys hunting up there?

Speaker 6 (02:55):
Yeah, I mean I was when I grew up in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately,
you couldn't even get a hunting lace, and see you
were twelve. But when I was twelve, I started hunting
all sorts of small games, wuirrelds, rabbits, feather, and some
weight tail deer.

Speaker 7 (03:07):
I've hunted bear, mule deer, things like that.

Speaker 6 (03:12):
And then, like I said, once I started hunting in Africa, Honestly,
I don't say I lost interest in the white tail hunting,
but it's just not quite as exciting as it used
to be.

Speaker 7 (03:20):
To be very honest, I tell you enjoy it.

Speaker 6 (03:23):
I still get out every year and try to try
to shoot my buck, but it just doesn't have the
same appeal as it used to since I've started hunting
in Africa.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Pretty competitive hunting up there in Pennsylvania too.

Speaker 6 (03:33):
From what I understand it is there's a lot of
people in the woods during rifles season.

Speaker 7 (03:37):
That's why I prefer archery season.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Got it.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Tell us a little bit about what got you into
hunting in Africa. Tell us about your first trip over there.

Speaker 6 (03:46):
My first trip was I hate to say by accident,
but I have a friend here in Columbus. We both
had a mutual friend who was a taxidermist and he
called me up and I had a friend that been
in Africa several times and said, do you think Jim
would be interests and going back to Africa?

Speaker 7 (04:01):
And I said he may be.

Speaker 6 (04:02):
And he started telling me the details and actually it
was a hunt that was donated. I can't remember who
it was, Dallas Afari Club or one of those, and
nobody bought the hunt. The outfitter said, why don't you
just give it to the person who Actually I think
they paid a small fee for it. Just sell it
to whatever you paid for it. And I made my
first trip to Africa. I think it cost me five

(04:22):
hundred dollars for the package. So I never thought i'd
beat Africa, to be honest with you, Like I said,
that was fifteen years ago. I told my wife, this'll
be a once, once and done and.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
It didn't work out that way.

Speaker 6 (04:35):
And I think that's the case for a lot of
people who ventured to Africa.

Speaker 7 (04:39):
I tell him.

Speaker 6 (04:39):
They say about insects and bugs, and I say, well,
you know, we're we hunt in the Eastern Cape.

Speaker 7 (04:43):
It's really not a lot of that.

Speaker 6 (04:45):
But the worst thing is the bug to bite you
is to go back, and a lot of people once
they're there, end up going back.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
So you're walking, living, breathing proof of it's not if
you go back to Africa, it's win absolutely awesome, awesome.
And uh, Ryan, tell us a bit bit, a little
bit about your background.

Speaker 5 (05:04):
Yeah, so I'm originally from Central Pennsylvania as well, and
then as a young man, I went and got a
degree wildlife biology, which took me out to the Great
State of Montana, where I spent five years as a
big game hunting guide in Montana and Idaho and ran

(05:25):
the gambit out there in the industry, doing shows and guiding,
running cattle in the off seasons, and got met up
with with Ryan at the trade shows at the Great
American Outdoor Show in probably two thousand and fourteen maybe

(05:45):
and quickly became friends with him and and became the
the primary agent here in the States forest and then
then just hang up my hat as a guide and
started a family. I always tell people there's not a
lot of money in guiding here in the States unless
you're the outfitter yourself. You make enough money for gear

(06:07):
and gear, but you're probably gonna need need another job.
So this is definitely a way for me to scratch
my itch. I love to talk to people and super
passionate about hunting, and so the whole Africa thing the
same thing with Ron as I.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Took my wife over there for the first time and.

Speaker 5 (06:27):
Quickly basically hung up a lot of the big game
hunting here in North America and started hunting all the
big stuff in Africa.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
So and then.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
Collectively Ron and I have joined forces here in the
team to represent the Bulah here in the States, which
makes for an interesting dynamic because we're available basically twenty
four to seven via phone, texter or email between.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
The owner Ryan Batti or Ron or myself.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
So you always have a team member to get to
to get information, get help, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
That's a yeah, that's a model that you know, I
see more and more. So you guys are basically your
booking agency of the sales arm of an operation that
you know is based obviously in another country. So for
our listeners and viewers that don't understand that concept, tell
us a little bit about being booking agents and what
are some of the challenges and benefits of working in

(07:23):
the US and dealing with a company that operates overseas.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah. So historically yeah, sorry I think my phone there.

Speaker 5 (07:33):
Historically, you know, you would see that these outfitters would
rely on coming to the States themselves or simply booking
through word of mouth. And over the past fifteen to
twenty years, the use of agents has become very popular.
So what it allows for is for international outfitters to

(07:55):
have a representative in local regions that obviously knows the clientele.
Maybe you can understand that the concerns of those clientele
and then provide customer service in real time. So one
of the big things is obviously a time difference. Right,
So just generally speaking in Africa, you're going to be
on a five to a seven hour time difference for

(08:16):
the whole of Africa. Most of South Africa is going
to be on a six hour difference. So just matching
up to get a phone call or a message across
to somebody where you can get some business done can
can be challenging or you can only have happy day
to get something done. So it allows Ron and I
to basically interact with our customers and provide a customer

(08:38):
service base for them on their schedule.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
So and then becoming a becoming a.

Speaker 5 (08:47):
Travel or not even really a travel agent, but becoming
a booking agent. There is no licensing that's really required.
It's it's really just qualifications and personality and getting to
know the outfitters. So you know, Ron and I work exclusively,
exclusively Fordableliss that we do not book for any other

(09:09):
safari companies. That doesn't mean that we don't have recommendations,
but we don't. We don't work for them. But basically
you represent somebody in good faith and uh, there's there's kickbacks,
there's there's you're all backs in kickbacks. Some positives for it.
Some some of the positives are is that you're in
the industry or.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
In the know. And then obviously you get to do
some cool stuff.

Speaker 5 (09:33):
Ron and I have got to a company some of
our clients on everything from leopard hunts to you know,
other Big five hunts, Kpe, buffalo hunts, elephant hunts, that
kind of stuff. So you definitely get to scratch a
bunch of itches that maybe you get to do normally.

Speaker 6 (09:49):
And the other thing, like it's added a little bit
what Brian was saying there and he kind of covered it.
But the other thing it's really difficult is you know,
Ryan will come over here and do some of the
shows with us, but once he heads back the Africa
normally the beginning of March, and he starts hunting. He is,
I don't want to say impossible, he is next impossible
to get a hold of anybody's experiences knows what we're
talking about.

Speaker 7 (10:09):
But you know, he starts.

Speaker 6 (10:10):
Hunting, he's out hunting all day long. He's down at
the Boma and having dinner with the clients and they're
up till ten eleven o'clock and then he does the
same thing the next morning and out people actually call
me and say, I've been trying to get a hold
of run and he's not getting back to I mean,
if it's during hunting season, I tell him it's like
it's going to be really hard to get a hold
of him. And that's that's where Brian and I helped

(10:31):
fill that gap.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Absolutely, Yeap, did you have.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
Something remind well, nothing intelligent that would really move the
conversation forward.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Let's hear it, man, there's no bad comment.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
I'm just kidding. Go ahead, Joe Bitar.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
No, I was just you know, the thing that kind
of popped in my head is, I would guess having
if you're from the US, if you've never been to
Africa before, there's got to be a comfort level with
calling guys up that are that are US based to go, Hey, listen,
this is a whole.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
New world for me. Can you explain it to me?
Can you walk me through it?

Speaker 1 (11:10):
I'm guessing Ron that there's a there's a higher level
of comfort from my first time US based hunter that
wants to go to Africa.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Absolutely, and I've just been on the phone.

Speaker 6 (11:20):
I told Brian two of the clients we booked last year,
been on the phone in the last couple of days
or they're getting ready to book flights, and you know,
they're not sure what to expect when they get into
Johannesburg at the airport, and that's where Brian and I
can provide them a lot of comfort with you know,
what's going to happen, who's going to meet them, and
all those types of things. Even my wife, I know,

(11:41):
you know Brian mentioned, you know his wife's been over,
but you know, my wife never wanted to go to Africa.
Quite frankly, Ryan's mom actually talked her into going along.
She was dead set against it, couldn't do the flight.
And now I don't know whether it's a good thing
or a bad thing. I can't go to Africa without
her being with me, and it's a good thing. And
actually last year she actually did some hunting for the

(12:02):
first time in her life. I mean, I've been hunting
for fifty plus years. Her dad was a hunter. She
never hunted her entire life, and it took several trips,
but I finally got her to shoot a rifle and said, hey,
you know, why why don't we try this? And last
year I think I created a little bit of a
monster and she's going to cost me a lot in
trophy fees and taxidermy work now. But it's a good thing.

(12:23):
I enjoy it, she enjoys it. But even having hear
at the shows, I kind of got off track there.
But a lot of times families will come in and
they'll say, hey, you know, my wife would like to
come along.

Speaker 7 (12:31):
You know, what can she do?

Speaker 6 (12:33):
And Deb's at the shows and DEVI will go talk
to the wives and say, hey, you know, this is
what I've done. There's lots of different activities for the wives.
I mean, we really do. You know, it sounds like
a cliche, I guess, but we do cater to families.
A lot of families come over, husbands, wives, kids, things
like that. You know, my wife likes just going out
on the hunt. As a matter of fact, that was
the question I got last night from one of the

(12:54):
people we booked. And my wife's going along, what can
she do? Can she go out on the hunt? Absolutely,
there's a lot of things the wives can do, so
it's it is very nice to have not only Brian
and I but like our wives there to talk to
the people that are coming over about what can the
families do, because it's a big thing to take the
families over.

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I have, I'm very green to all this, very green,

(16:00):
and I have two kids. I have a nine and
a seven year old, and so it's good to hear that.
You know, it's family, family friendly. So my ignorance if
I want to book it, if I was going to
take a vacation, I'd booked the flight and I'd book
the hotel. If I'm going through you and I'm booking
the safari in Africa, to me, that's intimidating the whole continent.

(16:21):
Never been there, I mean, it's just this, this whole
different beast. What are some things that first timers don't
think about or don't know about that you should convey
to us greeny weenies?

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Wow, where to start?

Speaker 5 (16:38):
So? Yeah, First of all, you can always tell when
someone's pretty serious because they've thought through their questions. And
you can tell an individual that has experienced on going
on at least a guide a trip, because they'll normally
have a list of questions in their head that they
want to answer. But you know, we always start out
by telling our customers, Hey, this is our location, this

(17:00):
is what we're offering. And when we tell them that,
you know, the discussion is location, expertise, expectation and service,
all that kind of stuff. But then we also tell
them about the experience. So I kind of lost my
train of thought and telling you that. But you want

(17:21):
to start out with everything from what are they interested in?
You know, do they want a planes game hunt? Do
they want a dangerous game hunt? Do they want to
break a safari up? And do kind of and this
is becoming the trend, but do more of like a
half hunting, half family safari thing where you do a
lot of game drives, which is where you're going out

(17:42):
and doing photographic safaris or side excursions that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
So almost a hunting vacation, if you will.

Speaker 5 (17:49):
And then we walk them through that entire process of Hey,
you need to look at these flight providers into these
airports and stay away from these other flight providers because
they're not going to provide you with the service that
you need. So you got to definitely look at the flights,
and then you got to look at accommodations once you're

(18:09):
in Africa.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
And and Ron.

Speaker 5 (18:11):
Can an attest to this because he's he's actually spent
a lot of time trying out some different providers. But
as you can imagine, you know, if you just look
at a hotel scene in America, if you land in
Atlanta Airport, there's fifty hotels to pick from.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
What hotels are going to meet your needs?

Speaker 5 (18:31):
So we definitely we want guys to basically take recommendations.
And in the industry in Africa, it's pretty much the same.
A lot of the outfitters, even though it seems like
it's a big, vast industry, and it is, a lot
of these guys were all using the same people, so
using the right the right accommodations once you reach your

(18:54):
destination before you get picked up by your provider, and unfortunately,
with a being so far away anywhere from a twelve
to fifteen hour flight depending on what flight provider you use,
there's always typically a terminal stopping point that you're going
to have to hit, and that's either going to be
Cape Town or Johannesburg for most people, so you are

(19:16):
going to have to get some sort of accommodation there.
So that's probably the first hoop that people that are
greened need to get through, and then they need to
get through the hoop of hunting in Africa. So it's
completely different, the styles different. It's much more laid back,
it's not as intensive, you know, as.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Far as kids go.

Speaker 5 (19:38):
You know, a lot of these families that we have
would be teenagers that would be their first or second
hunting opportunity, even if they were hunting white tails, and
they find themselves in Africa with their family hunting a
blessed buck or an impula. So the style of hunting
is much more laid back. There's several game species to
pick from, so you're not just targeting one animal. And yeah,

(20:02):
I mean there's just a few points to get you
started and then it's a rabbit hole from there.

Speaker 6 (20:07):
And just just add on a couple of things what
Ryan said. The one thing that's very intimidating to people is,
like you said, you're flying to a country you'd never
been to before. Johannesburg Airport is a huge airport, and
people like, well, you know, what do I do when
I get to the airport. And Brian kind of touched
on this, but you know, we have some representatives that
will meet the people at the airport. If they're taking

(20:27):
their own rifles, they will take them over to the
South African Police station they're in the airport, help them
collect their rifles. They'll meet them, you know, if they're
staying overnight in Johannesburg, because sometimes the flights are too late,
you have to stay overnight catch a flight down to
port the next port, Elizabeth, in the morning.

Speaker 7 (20:42):
So we have somebody that meets them at the airport.

Speaker 6 (20:44):
Again, because that that whole airport process can be very intimidating.
I experienced his firsthand on one of my hunts and
they literally brought me back to the Johannesburg airport, dropped
me off at the door, shook my hand, pat on
me on the back, says it's been nice meeting you.
And I walked into that airport no idea what to do, so,
you know, we we don't want to put anybody in
that type of the situation. Yeah, So it's it's that

(21:07):
that's that's a big thing to me. It is very
intimidating your first trip over there, and it's nice to
know there's somebody going to be there to meet you
when you get there, you.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Know, meet you when you.

Speaker 6 (21:17):
Get back there the next morning for your connecting flight
down to Port Elizabeth. So that goes a long way
and provide people with some comfort that have never done
this before.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
The thing that I get asked a lot of times
when people say, oh, well you went over and you
did this and that they and uh, I think it's
great that we can convey this to our to our audiences.
One of the biggest questions I get asked from news
from newbies to this.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Is is it safe?

Speaker 4 (21:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (21:44):
You know, yeah, that's a huge question, and uh, the
answer is yes, it is safe. If you're willing to
go to downtown in any major US city and make
your wife out to dinner, you you're taking the same risk. Yeah,
then getting on a plane and going on a trip
with a experienced, licensed outfitter in any country, whether that

(22:08):
be you're going to Cancun and you're going tarp and fishing,
or you're going to Africa to go hunt a leopard,
or you know, wherever you might be Red Stagg in
New Zealand. There's bad apples everywhere. But in my world,
Travels and Rock can speak for the same. We find
that most people, especially in Africa, are arms wide open.

(22:32):
They're happy to see you. They there's a level of
hospitality or hospitality that they want to extend to you.
But with that, you know, travel safely.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
You know, I wouldn't. I wouldn't go to Chicago and
not look over my shoulder.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
Yeah, Houston's kind of becoming that way. Not to get
too deep into things, but yeah, I mean I get it.
Well said, I appreciate that, Brian, thank you.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, that's a good analogy. Let's talk about Let's talk
a little bit about picking an outfitter?

Speaker 2 (23:03):
What what?

Speaker 1 (23:04):
What are some of the two three four finer points
around what people should do? Because listen, you guys know
this better than anybody. You're in a selling competitive environment.
What should people look for and what does what are
those things that Dabula prides itself on as far as
selecting an outfitter. I'm going to go out and there's
seventy of them I can choose from or more? How

(23:24):
do I pick my outfitter?

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Can you? Can?

Speaker 3 (23:26):
You guys address that a little bit?

Speaker 5 (23:29):
Yeah, So, reputation is everything and an outfitter's reputation should
answer every question that you have, and you want to
follow your gut when it comes to that reputation. And
when you talk about reputation, you want to look at
previous clients, their experience, whether it was good, whether it

(23:53):
was bad, or whether it was indifferent.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
You know, working for both.

Speaker 5 (23:57):
Sides of this industry, so far as a being in
the field with these individuals and then representing them on
the sale end, where you're the guy shaking hands, kissing
babies and making promises, you need to understand that you're
not gonna make everybody happy.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
But why are they not happy?

Speaker 5 (24:15):
Are they not happy because they didn't tag that four
hundred inch bull elk that they had in their mind,
or are they not happy because someone promised them a
trip of a lifetime. They get there and they're eating
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when they're told they're gonna
have steak.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
So the reputations everything.

Speaker 5 (24:34):
Checking in with previous customers, checking in with customers that
are currently booked. You know, when you're standing in a
booth at a trade show, whether it be at Houston
or some of the other really big markets, you'll notice
that everybody's attracted to everybody else. So if you have

(24:54):
a booth that is full of people and maybe it's
one or two clients that just booked a trip, there's
an excitement there and that energy is transferable to other people.
So picking up on that energy and realizing that, hey,
these people are getting a good vibe. There's a positive
feeling emulating from these people. That's something you should be

(25:16):
looking out for. If you have you walking through a show,
or you go to talk to an outfitter and he's
sitting in a chair looking at his phone, scrolling through Facebook,
there's a problem. He's not excited to be there. He's
not excited to greet you with a smile. That's probably
going to be the person that you're gonna wake up
to at seven point thirty in the morning, and.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
It could make for a long week.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
Now, I'm not saying that that person's not for everybody,
but you got to kind of read all those little cues,
even though they might have some beautiful stuff in their
booth or their websites at a plus, be careful. And
then speaking of online presences, so you know, if you
look at the Internet in the past ten years and
what we have for website, it's insane.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
It used to be like, oh, I have a website
checking me out.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
It was a few pictures in contact information and you know,
maybe a packing list. Well now it's like if you're
not updating your website every week, you're behind the ball.
But make sure that the outfitters that you're looking for
have a good online presence. You know, are they putting
some stuff up on Facebook? Are they getting tagged by

(26:23):
other notable people?

Speaker 2 (26:25):
You know?

Speaker 5 (26:26):
Are they legit? And that's that's the biggest thing you
want to look at.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah, the latest photo galleries from three years ago, you
know there's a problem.

Speaker 5 (26:35):
Yeah, yeah, so just making sure that you know, maybe
it's not the fanciest, danciest thing, and maybe he did
it himself on GoDaddy or whatever, and you know, he's
a hunting guide, he might not be a website designer.
And then you have some other outfits. You know, I
would say our website falls, you know, right in the middle.
It's a nice website. It's informative, it's colorful, it's got

(26:57):
great up to date pictures and information, but it's not
a it's not a rocket science website. So just make
sure that there's a good online presence and check those
things out and you'll get a vibe.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
You do.

Speaker 5 (27:11):
Got to look out for some of the comments and stuff.
Speaking of online, you know, there's a few websites that
that basically rate outfitters, and I think they're fantastic because
I think people can really get out there and praise
the guys that are trying to do it the right way.
But then there's also negative aspects to those websites and

(27:32):
forums as well. Because we hate to say it in
the industry, but there's a whole other side to our industry,
a foe that pushes against us and and they'll just
put hate mail out there. You know, can't believe you
killed x Y and z or x Y, and you
know it can take you down a rabbit hole. So
just read through what people are putting on there and

(27:53):
cast judgment for yourself.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
That you want to add to that.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
I just want to listen.

Speaker 6 (28:00):
You know, I was talking, you know, one of the
things Brian was talking about there, and I told you
I met Ryan at the Great Outdoor Show in Harrisburg,
which is true, but I was living in Columbus at
the time. And then I told my son, who lives
right by Harrisburg, I said, when you go to the
show next year, I said, I want to go back
to Africa.

Speaker 7 (28:16):
I want to go somewhere different.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
I want to hunt with somebody different.

Speaker 6 (28:19):
And he called me up and he said, you know, Dad,
I said, I picked up a bunch of brochures. He said,
but you got to call this guy. And I said, Okay,
who's this guy? And he said it's this Ryan Beattie
And I said why him? And he said, just like
you know Brian said. He said, he's the only one
that really took time to talk to me. A lot
of the other people just handed out brochures. Didn't want
to really be bothered with him, you know, thought he

(28:39):
was just one of those guys that's going around kicking
the tires, as you say. And anyway, that's that's how
I ended up meeting Ryan, and like we already talked about,
you know what happened from that point on.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
But you know, Brian's absolutely right.

Speaker 6 (28:50):
We have a lot of people come into the Booze
and they'll say they talk to us, they they go
through the show and they come back and he said,
we got a really good feeling from you guys, and
a lot of times we'll have repeak kind of what
Brian said as well in the booth with us, which
is which is is huge because then they can actually
talk to people that have been there and you know,
get a fuel for them, like you know what am
I getting into?

Speaker 7 (29:10):
What's the hunt?

Speaker 6 (29:11):
Like, what's the terrain, like what's the weather like all
those different things.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Yeah, yeah, both of you guys said something that sparked
sparked something in me. You know, first of all, you
can walk by I've observed firsthand walking by a booth
and feeling that energy of people that have just booked
their trip to Africa.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
Or anywhere, and yeah there. Yeah, I mean, you can't have.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
A better marketing tool than have repeat customers in your
in your booth going yeah, you guys need to check
this out, blah blah blah, because you know, I mean,
when you're walking the aisles and there's three hundred, four
hundred exhibitors from all over the world, you're like, I
don't even know where to begin sometimes, and well, if
there's a cool.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Video, it catches you, or there's a photo album.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
But to have those people that are you know, repeat clients,
our previous clients in the booth, is I mean you
can't You can't pay for that kind of marketing.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, it's huge.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Talk to us a little bit about.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
One of the things that we had some pre production
that it's one of the things I was curious about.
You mentioned of all inclusive being all inclusive, can can
what do you guys address that?

Speaker 5 (30:15):
Yeah, I'll let Ron handle that because I think he's
gotten nipped a couple times throughout his hunting career on this.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (30:21):
I mean, you know, people use that term all inclusive
and then you come to find out that it's all
inclusive once you're in camp, but it doesn't include transportation
to and from the camp. You know, it includes strengths,
but if you want a beer, you got to pay
for the beer. And it's one of those things when
you're booking a hunt, people need to really understand exactly
what is all inclusive, because sometimes it's not really all inclusive.

(30:45):
I've seen people buy hunts by auction hunts and they're
really excited because they got a really good deal. They
didn't read any of the fine print because it saysn't
the fine print doesn't include transportation to them from the airport,
doesn't include just doesn't include that, and then they come
to find out they didn't really get what they thought
they were paying for. So I just you know, you
got to be careful. Like you said, you've looked on

(31:07):
our website. It spells everything out there, what's included.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
So yeah, read the fine print is in other words,
the thing is read the fine print absolutely. Yeah, So
you guys, Doboulah operates where in Africa.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
We were in the Eastern Cape.

Speaker 6 (31:24):
The closest little town is somebody's looking on a map
is Adelaide, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. We
are just outside of Adelaide probably about it. It's if
you drove without the stop and it's probably about a
two and a half hour drive from the Port Elizabeth.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
Airport, Okay, which that's not too bad.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
No, it's actually a nice drive.

Speaker 6 (31:46):
I mean there's a little far market we normally stop
at and get something to eat and drink, and always
tell people to keep their cameras handy because it's very
rare that you don't drive that trip you don't see animals,
including sometimes you see bad boons literally sitting right on
the road and people have never been there before. That's
like so cool. It's like, wow, look at that. There's
baboons sitting right along the road. So the trip is
actually it's kind of at the scenic trip. It's not

(32:09):
it's not bad at all. Most people, you know, kind
of enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah, my first trip to Namibia, that happened to me.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
We were coming in, we were going out to the
property and there's a whole pack of babboons on us
out in the middle of the road. I don't know
what they were working on, but and I.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Was like, holy crap.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
You know the first thing you know that is I mean,
you got the first time you go over, everything you
see is like wow, tell yeah, I saw a.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
Pack of babboons there.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
I'm like, wait a minute, those were baboons, right, I
goes yeah, drivers, yeah, they're baboons.

Speaker 6 (32:36):
When we take new clients, O, when we're driving up
the road, I tell them look at look at the signs,
because you're driving up the road and all of a
sudden there's a koodoo crossing sign. You do you don't
see Coudo crossing signs here. So it's just the whole
the whole experience is like Brian said, it's just it's
just so different.

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Speaker 2 (35:58):
What is it? What you know?

Speaker 1 (36:00):
If you had to give me your elevator speech, I mean,
what do you guys? Each of you, I'm sure has
a little bit of a different opinion and some of
the same opinions. But what do you feel is that
about Dobulah that sets you apart from other operations? Obviously
you guys have a lot of return clients that there
are things that speaks to the quality of an attention
to customer service. But what are the other things that

(36:21):
people can expect from from your operation?

Speaker 5 (36:24):
So I think one thing that you'll see a lot
in our literature and write off our Facebook. And I
was if there's one word I always tell people, it's
the word experience.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
So yes, of course you want to come to Africa
and hunt.

Speaker 5 (36:38):
That's why you walked into a hunting show to find
an outfitter to take you on a hunting trip. That's great.
We love to hunt. That's why we're there. We're hunting outfitters.
But as we've grown, we've realized, hey, listen, we're not
a hunting outfitting business.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
We're an experience outfitting business.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
And that experience is everything from the hunt, to the food,
to the lodging to the wreck, the little extracurriculars, whether
that be a sundowner or a game drive or picnic,
or taking some fishing poles and going to a pond
at lunchtime and the heat of the day and you know,
throw some some top water stuff or something like that.

(37:20):
Just the different stuff and round out the entire African experience.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
And there's a lot of outfitters that want to grind.

Speaker 5 (37:27):
They want to throw you in a truck with a
pH they want to get out there.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
They want to hunt for two three hours in the morning.

Speaker 5 (37:33):
They want to take you back, drop you up the lodge,
and then pick you up for the last two hours
of the day and and just shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot shoot.
And that's fantastic if that's what you want to do.
By all means, we're gonna hunt you like that, but
we also want to show you Africa, so experience. That's
the biggest thing I always tell people. Do something different
with your your time in Africa. Book book, an extra

(37:55):
excursion with us, go to Cape Town with us, do
the Eastern Cape and then go to Cape Town.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
Get the full effect.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Yeah, that's when I think when to go ahead Ryan,
and then I have a follow up on that.

Speaker 6 (38:05):
No, just like Brian said, I mean all that stuff,
you know, and I know we talked about it before,
but you know, we say family oriented. I mean Ryan's
wife and two young boys lived there on the property,
so I mean Ryan and Brian's wife is involved. His
sons are not quite old enough to be really involved yet,
but they will be as they get older. So I
mean you it is truly a family oriented thing. And

(38:26):
the other thing I know, you know Brian mentioned Cape
Town and all that, But the other thing I always
tell people in their first trip because the first time
I took my wife over, we did this. It's an
Ado National Hawthan Park is you know, an hour and
a half away. You could even catch it on the
way up, depending how you time things. But those kinds
of things, you know, it's just going down there to
Addo and you're going to see a lot of things
down there, and you know you're gonna get close to

(38:47):
you can't get out of the vehicles when you're close
to them, but you're gonna see elephants close up, and
just let that whole thing. You know, it's not just
about the hunting. There's so much other stuff you can do,
especially when people are taking their family over. That's of
things that are interested in what else can we do?
And if we don't want to hunt every day, what
can we do a couple of days while we're there,
And there is a lot of different things we can offer.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Yeah, I think that's really important because especially taking the
time and the money to go that long distance and
experience a new world if you will, it's important that
you know.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
I mean, you guys have spoken to it. I feel
the same way.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
If you can go and bring your family, whether it's
your wife or your entire family, it's good to know that.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
You know, there's maybe some.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
Family members that don't hunt, like you were saying earlier,
and so you know you kind of feel bad. You're like, well,
you guys can sit in the lodge rider, in the truck,
with me or you know, and I'm preaching at the
choir here.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
But it's great that you go, Okay, we're going.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
To hunt two days and we're going to take a
break and we're gonna go over here and do what
you want to do and see see this part of
Africa that have these types of experience.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
I think that's really really important to be able to
offer it have a diversified.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Offering where everybody gets to do a little something that
that kind of floats their boat.

Speaker 6 (39:57):
We took a group, my wife and I took the
group over last year and one of the people that
went over his wife was coming along and her name
happened to be deb, the same as my wife, and
she talked to us at the show you know, what
can I do? And we went through everything we talked
about and she's like, I don't know if I really
want to go out. So she took a book along,
and if you ever talk to her, she's going to
tell you she never opened that book up. She went

(40:20):
out with her husband, Bob the first day and she
came back and I said, how was it. She said,
oh my gosh, she said, this is just fantastic. And
she said she never opened her book. She went out
with him in the morning, in the afternoons, they just
had a wonderful time. And you know, it's great you
can it's there's a night you can sit and read
a book. There's a pool there. You can sit by
the pool read your book. But once people get over

(40:41):
there and they see what's there, and you know what
they can see when they're going out with their their
spouse that's doing the hunting, A lot of them don't
sit in camp.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Yeah, I can imagine.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
One of the things that we do as a family.
We have a tradition said write a passage. We want
to be able to go up to one of the
big five animals and slap it on the butt. Is
that permissible?

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Yeah? No, we specialize in that. Man. That's come on,
I'll take you personally for that one.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
All right. It's it's a robeless manhood thing. So I
just wanted to make sure that was okay.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Do you have a preference to Rhino or whichever we.

Speaker 5 (41:17):
Crossed first, whichever one we get to first, Okay, Yeah,
I mean that's us, man, that's what we do.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
We have a package just for that.

Speaker 4 (41:24):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
You guys have seen those videos that people touching the
bison of the buffalo and at Wyoming and stuff.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
That's that's one of those was Ramone. That was him.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
With his Nikon camera around his neck. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 6 (41:38):
You can come with me, Ramon, And crocodile is still
on my list. One of these years you can come
with me and we can we can go out and
touch the croc.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
The problem with the crocodile is you can't find its butt.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Yeah, he's not looking hard enough.

Speaker 5 (41:49):
Man.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Let's talk about hunting a little bit. What kind of
what kind of game can we expect to hunt with.

Speaker 5 (42:00):
Dabulah Ron you want to you want to take take
this on the planes game.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
Part and then yeah, I can maybe talk about some
big vaight or big five dangerous game stuff.

Speaker 6 (42:11):
Yeah, I mean, uh, you know, you know when you
talk about planes gaming, I could sit here and try
to list all of them. But you know, stuff people
think of. When I think of Africa, I think of
the impalella and the kudo, the spring bucks, the blacks bucks. Uh,
you know, the different will to beasts. You know there
was you know, the the blue of the black, the
golden will to beast.

Speaker 7 (42:30):
Uh water buck.

Speaker 6 (42:32):
I know I'm missing a lot of different things warthogs, baboons, jackals.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (42:38):
I'm just trying to think of what else I'm missing here.
Uh red lechwe uh, giraffes, uh d land.

Speaker 7 (42:45):
I mean I could go on and on.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (42:47):
And there is a property that we hunt. It also
has they do not hunt them, but I always tell people,
if you have time, go hunt this property. It's about
an hour's drive, which is one of the things I
wanted to talk about. But Uh, they have rhinos on
the property. They do not haunt them, but it is
just so fun to see those things stawn alongside the
road and then they'll run sometimes even kind of just

(43:09):
stay along kind of parallel. You can get videos of them.
They've got a few hippos are in the property. You
can video and things like that. So that may be
a good place to take you, Romo. Maybe you can
catch up and let you slap on those rhinos on
the butt. Hey, I'll stand the truck and video.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
Yeah, i'd like to.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
I'd like to see Ramon outrun a hippo, though in
full trot.

Speaker 4 (43:30):
I don't have to be the fastest, just not the slowest.

Speaker 5 (43:33):
That's that's I promise you most of the trackers, they're
going to be faster. Those guys, Yeah, they see you
getting ready to do something stupid, they already start backing
up those Yeah they yes, they're not playing, but yeah no. So,
like Ron was saying, there's there's thirty five plus animals
that are regularly hunted on the Eastern Cape, and those

(43:54):
are you know, what we classify as planes game. And
then you have your big five in your dangerous game
and socially contentious topic, especially here in the United States,
and you know, not within the hunting community, but outside
of the hunting community, because some of these animals are megafaunas.
So you look at your leopards and your lions and

(44:14):
your elephants, and everybody's.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Like, gosh, you hunt those things? How can you?

Speaker 5 (44:19):
But people don't realize that, Hey, those animals are hunted
for a reason. It's the hunting is used as a
management tool, it's used as a conservation tool. If those
animals weren't hunted, there wouldn't be a value to them
and they would probably be posed off within five years
and you'd see those populations plummet.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
And because of this social strain between.

Speaker 5 (44:41):
The hunters and the non hunter community and all the
politics that are surrounding around it. Now there's policy, literal
lawmaking policy against what we as Americans can bring back,
and that drives an industry in another country.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
It's as simple as that.

Speaker 5 (44:58):
So you look at lions, for example, we all can
get on a plane today and go to Africa and
in several countries hunt a lion and you can do
so legally and there's nothing wrong with it. And that
animal can be a free range lion, or it could
be a line that is being what you would be

(45:18):
classified as farmed, or it's contained on a property inside
of a fence system, but the fence system could be
twenty thousand acres that this lion is living on and
it's acting like a line within those twenty thousand acres.
The problem is with lions is you can't import them
into the United States. Since twenty nineteen, legislation changed over,

(45:43):
and before then it was a case basis.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
But since twenty nineteen it is a no go.

Speaker 5 (45:47):
So you can exercise your right to go over and
hunt legally, and you can get a great hunt at
a great price right now for a line, but you're
not going to be able to bring it home. You
can't do a replica if you choose, but that is
almost ripped a lot of lying conservation programs at the

(46:09):
gut itself. I mean, it's it's taking money out of
the pockets for the people that need it, you know,
to make sure that we're ensuring these line populations and
that they're being managed.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
And then you have your elephants, another big contentious one.
So with elephants.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
Elephants is a case by case basis right now, so
you can get them into the United States, and I
think we're trending towards a more open policy with that,
with our administration that's getting ready to take off the
presidential office. I think there could be some loosen regulations
with that. But then you know, you have politics overseas

(46:46):
as well, So there's basically two different lines. When you
talk to Ron or myself, we're gonna say, well, would
you like an exportable or non exportable And what we
mean by that is do you want.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
To bring your elephant home?

Speaker 5 (46:59):
And that comes down to a couple of different things,
cost and hassle, and most of the time they're associated
with each other. So an exportable elephant is going to
be a permitted elephant from one of the African governmental agencies,
whether you're in Namibia or Botswana or South Africa, and
whether or not they're going to issue you a permit

(47:19):
to export those ivories. And I would say probably three
out of ten elephants that you see in someone's game
rooms are.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Actual ivories that were exported. Most of those are replicas.

Speaker 5 (47:34):
Guys choose to get a non exportable so they still
partake in the hunt. They'll still harvest the the the
pool elephant as part of a management program, the meat
and the ivory will will get dispersed according to who
it needs to go to, and then basically you'll get
a replica made of your animal. And so those are

(47:55):
the two things for the elephants. Leopard believer or not
is still pretty widely open for hunting right now. You
can hunt leopards and a variety of Southern African countries
with the exception of South Africa that is closed in
South Africa, but Namibia is a destination for leopards, Zimbabwe

(48:18):
is a destination and then mozen Beek has has great
leopard hunting.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Botswana. You can even chase them with dogs. So if
you're a houndsman.

Speaker 5 (48:26):
There's there's opportunities there, and leopard hunting is a is
a great pool. You know, if you equate a leopard
to a mountain lion, you're hitting it, hitting it right
on the on the the nail on the head.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
There, they're they're very very similar. But a lot of
guys would like to check that off of their list if.

Speaker 5 (48:44):
They are working on their big five. And then you
get into the rhinos. For Ramon, I mean, the rhinos
have taken a hit, as a lot of people have known.
We don't do a lot of rhino hunting. We do
have some opportunities for green hunts. But the green hunt

(49:05):
is where you go out and dart a rhino as
part of a conservation program. And during that darting process,
a veterinarian would assist you and they would work up
that rhino, maybe give them some vitamins.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
Do some measurements, birth rates, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 5 (49:24):
They're basically doing a vet check and you're participating in
that process.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
They may also do some anti poaching stuff.

Speaker 5 (49:31):
Where they'll actually humanly remove large portions of the horn
to devalue the animal for poaching. So it is a
great anti poaching tool. The problem with green hunts for
rhinos is that some individuals in the industry have been
abusing it. So they'll go out and they'll do several
of these green hunts on one rhino throughout the.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Course of a year, and it's too stressful, it's too much.

Speaker 5 (49:57):
They're agreed involved, but it's it is better than shooting
the rhino and just taking the horn.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
Plus are constantly making them late for something.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Yeah, Oh they're late all the time. Yeah, they're late
all the time. When you do that, I mean they
can't even get their schedule down right.

Speaker 5 (50:14):
And then you have your Cape Buffalo and that that's
the last of the Big Five, and the Kpe buffalo
is widely hunted throughout Africa right now, known as the
Black Death. It's abundant, it's probably it is the cheapest
of the Big five hunts, so it's typically the barrier
of entry to get into your Big five package. But

(50:35):
it is a very dangerous hunt and a lot of
guys do you get seriously hurting?

Speaker 2 (50:40):
You know? One thing I could say.

Speaker 5 (50:42):
Is if you're looking at doing one of the dangerous
game hunts, whether it would be a Big five or
you're going after croc or you're going after hippos. You
need to understand what you're getting yourself into. And that's
that's a serious deal. It's not typically something you want
to do on your first hunt. Something you want to
maybe build up to on your second or third.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
The k buffalo you want to build up to.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Yeah, I personally I think so. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (51:06):
I mean you're closing the distance on something that can
close the distance on.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
You five times laster. And they don't run away all
the time. Sometimes they run towards you.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (51:16):
And when they run towards you, they don't miss oh
that they're a trumpel, trample and stomp type of animal
and they'll pin you to the ground and you're you're
gonna be done. I mean, it's a fourteen hundred pound
animal just having his way with you.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Sound like the girl used to take in college run?

Speaker 1 (51:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (51:34):
I actually what about if I'm if I'm packing one
of these? I mean, do you think a little thunder?

Speaker 2 (51:39):
Yeah, a little.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
You gotta go.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
You gotta give him the now you see me?

Speaker 7 (51:46):
Now you don't?

Speaker 5 (51:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (51:47):
Well man, Yeah, I hope poop is a natural uh
uh deterrent, because they'd be a lot of that Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
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Speaker 1 (54:06):
You know, uh you were talking uh uh Brian a
little earlier, you talking about, you know, the troubles and
the the difficulties with getting import permits approved. You know,
I've had a lot of experience dealing with agencies and
stuff like that. Number One, I hope the next you know,
the incoming administration is going to do some things to
tie up that issue, because, like you said before, you know,

(54:28):
hunting these animals, if you don't hunt them there, they
become commodity and they don't get taken care of like
they should.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
And the three things that I've identified that's wrong.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
The biggest thing right now that Trump of the import
the import permit process, aside from anti hunting sentiment, but
people that are employed by federal agencies, and I'm not
going to pick on any specific agency.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
But.

Speaker 3 (54:51):
Sorry lack you said it.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
Lack of personnel, qualified personnel, their number there, they don't
have enough. They still have a ton of people working remotely,
which is never conducive to a good work environment. And
the process, the permitting review and approval process is still
antiquated under the Trump administration. Last time, the head of
Fishing Game told me that they were still doing manual

(55:19):
permitting processes and there was no database, you know, and
that's been they've been working on that. But I'm hoping
with Don Junior, you know, he comes in, I don't
think he got as much thing. He didn't get as
much done as he hoped that administration we get done.
I'm speaking to Don Junior because he is a hunter.
But I think probably this time they're going to try
to push some things forward and hopefully have some improvements

(55:41):
in Department of Interior and the various agencies and that
sort of thing. The last four years is you know,
I'm not talking from a political standpoint.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
I'm talking about it.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
Just have your own political preference, but just from a
policy standpoint, regulation standpoint, and attention to focus on wildlife
and habitat at home and abroad. We've lost so much ground,
made up so much ground under the previous Jumping administration,
and then we've lost so much ground under this this
current administration, and.

Speaker 3 (56:07):
It's it's really sad to see.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
But hopefully we're going to right the ship and then
the first fifteen months, you know, we'll see some changes
and things like that.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
Let's talk a little bit about ron. Let's talk a
little bit about firearms.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Ramona and I are coming over and we don't want
to bother with firearms, and I'm a bow hunter, so
I would bring my bow.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
But let's say we want to hunt with firearms. Can
you guys hook us up when we get there.

Speaker 6 (56:27):
Yes, we we have rifles, all calibers, all all ranges
of calibers that that we can.

Speaker 7 (56:34):
You know we have we rent out.

Speaker 6 (56:37):
If you're going to use one of our rifles, because
I get this question all the time. Uh, you know,
we will still take you to the range. You're gonna
shoot whichever rifle you decide you're going to use. Make
sure you're comfortable with the rifle, the optics, things like that.
So uh, if you're even bring your own guns, obviously
we take you to the range. But if you're using
our rifle, you're going to go to the range with
the rifle that you chose. Make sure once again the

(56:57):
optics are good for you. You know, you can your
comfortable with the with the gun and everything like that.
If you want to bring your bow, Joe, good news
that you don't need anything. You don't need permits or anything.
Just put the bow in a case, put in the plane,
bring it with you.

Speaker 7 (57:09):
Uh, you're good to go.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
That's what I like about bow hunting.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
That's a good point.

Speaker 5 (57:15):
Yeah, yeah, yep, you got to You got my uh
my mind racing here a little bit.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
So you've been to Namibia? Can you can.

Speaker 5 (57:25):
You brag on yourself a little bit? What have you
harvested with your bow in Africa?

Speaker 2 (57:30):
You know?

Speaker 3 (57:30):
I I went.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
I did not hunt with a bow when I went
to Namibia, so I went on a hunt with It
was kind of like a rider's hunt for a firearms manufacturer,
so of course we had to shoot firearms and test
different firearms. The plan is next August as I'm going
back to hunt k buffalo with a bow.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
That's weird because Ron and I never got a phone call.

Speaker 5 (57:52):
So that's awesome, man, I mean that's yeah, that's the
real deal right there.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
Absolutely, Yeah, what you're set up.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
For that seventy pound I'm working Actually I'm gonna put
a plug, shameless plug in here for the Ashby Bow
Hunting Foundation. I'm working with the Ashby guys on arrow
and broad heads set up. I don't shoot mechanicals at all.
I'm a fixed, fixed played guy. But of course you
have to go with the hea heavier arrowweight, right, And

(58:22):
so they're gonna get me set up as soon as
I'm done with this convention next week. That's my main focus,
getting ready for August and shooting new arrows and new broadheads.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
But typically I my draws at seventy pounds.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
Yeah, and I'm good up to I'm good up to
sixty I'm pretty pretty consistent up to sixty yards.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (58:37):
Man, that's real, sieve, that's the real deal right there,
when you're in there hunting them with a bow.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
I'm excited.

Speaker 4 (58:44):
I'm into the seventy one pounds and I'm good about
sixty one yards.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Yeah. Man, Well listen, the hardcore is the hardcore.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
When you break that sixty yard threshold, that's when you
know you've made it.

Speaker 4 (58:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
Well, I was hunting. I was about fifteen years ago.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
I was hunting with this kid who was seventeen, and
he shot He shot a giant ilk out in Colorado
at about eighty yards and had no problem with it
with a bow.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (59:10):
It's amazing the technology just over the past twenty five
years that have gone into bows and bow hunting and
it's insane.

Speaker 3 (59:18):
Yeah, it really is.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
Hey, let's talk about something people don't think about till
they get there. How do you get prepared to hunt
off the sticks if you've never done it before, because
everybody who's never done it before forgets it.

Speaker 5 (59:28):
This is this is a question for Ron.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
You had missaps for the sticks?

Speaker 6 (59:34):
No, han't had misapps. But I before my first trip,
I bought a set of sticks. I bought set a
stick with the three legs, practiced off of them. Was
pretty comfortable. Got over there and the guy had.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
A set of sticks with two legs on.

Speaker 6 (59:47):
Them, a little different than what I practiced with.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
So that's another thing.

Speaker 6 (59:51):
You know, you need to understand what you're what you're doing,
because I mean I did okay, I don't misunderstand me.
I did well, But it just was I wasn't comfortable
when I first out there because it's not how I practice.
So I tell people, you know, practice off of sticks
they make. They make a lot of sticks. There's actually
a guy here not too far from where I live
in Columbus. Out of all places that make sticks, I

(01:00:12):
bought a set from him. They're very compact. You can
put them in with your case. So if you have
sticks that you're comfortable with a lot of them, you
know they break down, you can take them with you.
But we have several different sets of sticks over there
that you can use. But in all seriousness, you need
to practice before you go and make sure you know
what kind of sticks the pH has. So that's what
you're practicing off of, because it is it is very different.

(01:00:34):
It's much better than shooting free hand. But I tell
people it's not You're not shooting off of the bent rest.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
Yeah, and especially if you get in a situation you
got to get on an animal and you got to
get you got to get your your if you're shooting
a ripe, you got to.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
Get on the sticks quickly.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
It's not this you're you know, there's so many opportunities
and you guys know this, but there's so many opportunities
where it's like there he is, get on the sticks.
It's not like, well we're going to watch him for
about ten or fifteen minutes and see if he's the
right wine.

Speaker 6 (01:00:57):
I mean, and they make so many different plays sticks now,
and uh, you know, Brian and I had the opportunity
to hunt the movie together last year or the year
before I guess it was now, but uh uh, you know,
I have a set of sticks that you can do
what you just said.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
You can put them out very quickly do that shot.

Speaker 6 (01:01:13):
They also have I call it a fifth leg if
you will, if you have an animal that's four or
five hundred yards and you need that extra steadiness, if
you have time, you can set the sticks up and
that is as close as you're going to get the
shooting off of the betch. So there are a lot
of different types of shooting sticks out there, and you
want to you want to have something you're comfortable with
you and if you need to take it with you.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
Yeah, that's that's a very good point. I mean to
two legs.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Versus three is a huge difference. If you're not shooting
used to shooting off of both. It's it's I mean,
you can do it, but it's just it's just just a.

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
Different The physics of it are different.

Speaker 7 (01:01:46):
It is very different, very different.

Speaker 5 (01:01:49):
And don't do not pull the trigger unless you're one
hundred percent that's you know, one of the biggies in Africa,
because you're going to pay for that animal.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
Nine of these outfitters. There's no uh oh, I made
a bad shot.

Speaker 5 (01:02:03):
It's hey, you're you just paid for a second kudu
or you're gonna pay for a second warhog, and that
that could be a hard hit for some people financially.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
So just be one hundred percent comfortable in what you're doing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Yeah, yeah, So let's talk about the most important thing
we're here to talk about today, Ramona and I we
like to eat a little bit, So tell us about
the food at the lodge.

Speaker 5 (01:02:27):
Well, I don't know if you guys can tell for me,
but I'm a bit of a connoisseeer food. So yeah,
we we uh we love to eat and South Africans
love to cook, so we're going to offer very traditional
South African dishes and other African inspired dishes in our
catering menu.

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
We also do a customized.

Speaker 5 (01:02:50):
Menu if you have food preferences, whether it be seafood
or chicken or non game meats, but you could have
everything from a puiky to a classic South African brye,
maybe a Warthol shoulder or one of my favorites is
elin brisket.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Ron and I he alluded to our little.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
The taco bill, now right, oh yeah, oh yeah, and
uh we.

Speaker 5 (01:03:17):
We did this uh, this little elin kept popping up.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
He's one of a little you know. It was a
nice boy. I kept on telling Ron.

Speaker 5 (01:03:26):
I was like, man, I really don't want to pay
for an eling, but I want to eat one.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
And when he went.

Speaker 5 (01:03:31):
Around and around and around on whether we're going to
shoot this thing, and I think on day four we
shot it. I shot it and the chef was like, hey,
you guys, you guys like brisket. I'm like, yeah, man,
we love brisket. And he's like, I made this smoker
out of this old oil drum and I want to
try it out.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
Let's let's smoke this thing.

Speaker 5 (01:03:50):
So he stayed up for nineteen hours smoking an Eland
brisket and an oil drum with acosha.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
And then he made a homemade red coleslaw. And what
else did we have that night?

Speaker 5 (01:04:03):
He made some some some French fries handcuf French fries.

Speaker 6 (01:04:07):
Yeah, he made homemade tortillas, you could put it in something.
I think he made some kind of a homemade chocolate dessert.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
But yeah, we ate and then we ate some more,
and then we ate.

Speaker 5 (01:04:17):
And if you guys have ever been on one of
these African guided trips, typically after dinner, it turns into
a cocktail hour. Well nobody could do good even have
another beer or cocktail or a nightcap because we're all
sitting there so bloated from the forty pounds of brisket
that we all just ate.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Everybody went to bed early, but we didn't go to
bed hung.

Speaker 6 (01:04:40):
Now, yeah, and we have, like Brian said, we have
we have a professional staff chef on staff. You know,
it does all the cooking. He makes his own he
makes his own pizza dough. I mean, he makes he's
own hamburger buns and have Elan burgers on homemade buns.
And I've never heard anybody complain about the food. And
lake Brian and said that the folks, I told you

(01:05:01):
we took over this past year. Some of those where
the people didn't want to eat game meat, so that
was fine. They made them beef, they made them chicken,
whatever they wanted. So, uh, you know, we have we'll
get all that information from the clients before they go up.
Had food hourgies anything like that. And a Verne who's
the who's in charge of all that. She's the one
that really keeps the wheels on the bus. Uh, She'll
make sure that there's food there for the people to

(01:05:21):
eat that they don't want to eat, the game eat
and things.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Yeah, well that's that's a shame because when we went
over we ate think, well, just about every meal I
had something I had never eaten before. And I know
people say song, well, you know it doesn't taste gamy.
I'm telling you what, man, the game in Africa and
the way it's prepared and stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
It's I'll put a I'll put a nice.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
Rabbi up against you know, kudoo and elin and stuff
like that any day.

Speaker 5 (01:05:47):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, Oh it's personally Elan's my favorite. You know,
a good warthog shoulder too on a nice fat uh
sal warhog or something's fantastic eating, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
And what do you want to try?

Speaker 5 (01:06:04):
You know, we'll basically cook anything for you except for primate.

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:06:08):
Our chef is not real into cutting up a baboon,
nor would I recommend pass. Yeah, but if you go hungry,
it's on you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
It's it's not on us. So you know, just speak
up because we're ready to feed you.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
Remind thought, So you're licking your lips over there.

Speaker 4 (01:06:28):
Well, I'm just wondering, you know, I'm put off by
by game meet just because I hadn't been exposed to
it yet, and I was just wondering how many people
request beef that you go, Okay, they're not going to
know that this is, you know, Cape Buffalo or whatever.

Speaker 5 (01:06:43):
I don't know, it's probably we do a lot of families, right,
So there's every typically at every meal, there's a non
game alternative available. It's just how much we're making of it.
We'll obviously never try to pass anything off. But you know,
if you're not a if you're not a game guy,
you're gonna get a chicken breast that's hand cooked to

(01:07:03):
order or steak or something like that. And uh man,
an Afrikaan's style steak on the brie is not a
bad way to go either. So you're not missing out
on going with a beef cut for dinner.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
I promise you. Well.

Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
I was thinking more for my nine year old.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Oh yeah, well chicken nuggets?

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Man?

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
How many chicken nuggets? What's that?

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
What I mean?

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
Pizza crust.

Speaker 5 (01:07:29):
I'll tell you what I will get you addicted to
is they do a lot of cooking with a butternut squash.
In South Africa, there's a sou fle or pudding that
they make and it's like a it's almost like a yeah,

(01:07:51):
it's like a pumpkin pie, but it's like a corn
bread at the same time. And one of our our
cooks always famous to say, it's not putting its food
and it's a dessert. I mean, there's so much brown
sugar in that thing that you that you're going to
turn into a gingerbread cookie.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
But it is delicious and I could eat a pot
of that stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:08:14):
I was just kind of say, I witnessed Brian eating
almost the whole pan off it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
Yeah, all right, you.

Speaker 5 (01:08:21):
Put some cold custard on that, and oh you were
off to the races, dude.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
Oh man, that's right, awesome, that's awesome. All right, folks.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
Well, we're just about at a time this week on
Honey Matters.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
Dobulah spelling is d U b u l A. Go
to Dobulah Huntingsafaris dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
Check them out on Facebook and Instagram. Fellas, Brian and Ron,
we really appreciate your time. Thank you guys so much,
and we learned a lot today, so hopefully hopefully people
will start calling you having a lot more questions as
a result of you guys being on the podcast.

Speaker 7 (01:08:52):
You're welcome and we'll see in Houston.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
Absolutely absolutely forward to that for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
And as a parting shot, we want to romote and
I want to give a shout out to our all
Americans out in California, where you guys are in our
thoughts and prayers experiencing these horrific wildfires, and we we are.
We're uh, you know, we're praying for you guys, and
also the first sponners and all the firefighters out there.
I know there's a lot of people from all over
the country heading out that way, so you guys be safe.
We're thinking, imagine folks. We'll see you next week here

(01:09:17):
on Hunting Matters, Take Care.

Speaker 4 (01:09:23):
Hunting Matters is a Houston Safari Club Foundation production hosted
by HSCF Executive director Joe Beetar and Ramone Robless. Produced
by Ramone Robust. Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you
listen to podcasts. For questions or more information, email us
at info at we Hunt, wee give dot org.

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