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Hi Gentlemen,

I am Marcel de Villiers, Outfitter of Marvel Africa Safaris,
Sorry for joining the discussion late, i only picked up on this discussion today.

Based on the comments above, i have to admit mistakes.
The first mistake was a lack of detail in the hunting section,
i see the rifle blind hunting has raised some contention, i definitely should
have included that the hunt was done by an older gentlemen whom was unfortunately not able
to walk and stalk/spot and stalk ANYMORE, this was at the end of his hunt, most of the hunt was conducted in a reasonable way, the reason for including it was exactly for that reason,
showing that we can cater for Older and disabled hunters, but i should have been more clear about that.

There was another scene where hunters sat in a makeshift blind, that was not over a watering or feeding area, it was on an animal track where we knew animals would pass, this is rather standard practice world wide as far as i can make out !

We do not hunt with able bodies clients over water holes !!!!!!
unless there is a extremely good reason...
As for feeding areas, be realistic about that, if a animal cannot be hunted while eating they cannot be hunted 90% of the time.. but yes, understand the point that was tried to be made here.
this is a practice we use with bow hunting, not ideal i must admit. but that is standard practice over Africa.

Response on some other statements.

The Baboon head shot, a contentious issue, I agree, but we are marketing to hunters, and yes that shot was intentional, the fact is the Baboon came in a few times and and rarely offered an opportunity, then this shot came, we were not at all aware the head shot was the clients intention but it turned out very well, it is not something any PH would motivate a hunter he only knows for a few days to do.. and we did not do that.
But the customer pulled it off, the fact is, it was a clean kill, i would have been less surprised if the contention was around the first baboon shot, that was not the fast and clean kill, the shot was a bit low..

As for the bad shots referred to, unfortunately we are guided by the availability of the footage we have, yes some shots could be better, but all trophies was recovered, without second shots needed (Bow Section) and without unnecessary pain and suffering.

As one person wrote about his angle observation, keep in mind that the camera is not always right next to the shooter, there is a perspective difference in those shots, what appears to be bad shots could be very good shots, and this is an inherent problem with all hunting video..
For example, the bow kill on the Blue wildebeest, a quartering away shot, i personally filmed that shot, camera was almost 2 meters away from the client at a tilted angle, the penetration was right in the vitals, that blue wildebeest did not go more than 150 meter and we picked it up right there.

So yes, it might appear to be elevated etc, as i realize most of you are experienced hunters, and yes you have the right to your opinions..
but please keep an open mind, and watch your own footage with the same criticism, you will find similarities which might surprise you.

As for the Buffalo herd, that is nothing new, stalking a herd of buffalo that close is a challenge on its own, separating the specific bull you want to shoot from the heard without spooking the heard a near impossibility.
But we do take the precautions we can to manage the risk 99% of wounding any other animals,
and in this case as in most we ensure the client shoots with soft point ammunition which has a very low risk of actual trough and trough penetration.

Just a realty check here, you guys with Africa hunting experience should know what the price of a buffalo is, you would also know that most all big game hunting is done on some or the other concession, we pay for what we kill or wound !, would you from a pure business perspective think that we would risk paying for two buffalo's because of a bad call, we would be out of business in one season if we paid for 2 Buffalo's for every one we got paid for.

I thank everyone who've taken the time to view the video, and all the comments and remarks on the video, i will take every word as constructive input and ensure that i learn from your input.
Thanks..

But i have to throw in a BUT here, i realized reading these comments, and some very negative comments why we as hunters are a dying breed, we can be positive towards each other,how do we expect the opposition to be any less critic about us, in some posts i was not sure if i was on an anti hunting forum or a hunting forum, yes i made mistakes.. and i will take my due criticism for that.

As my fellow South African did, i need to remind you that the client in a lot of cases is just as guilty of certain practices that developed as the outfitter, as an example i will take the Buffalo example, if i had my idea circumstances i would also wait for a better opportunity, and yes wait for an isolated moment.
But you the client book an instant hunt, a hunting trip that should be 30 to 60 days, we need to fit into 14 to 21 days or we get reviews and get accused of not satisfying the clients needs.
Where we should actually camp in the bush and pick up the track early the morning as was done by Harry Selby, John Dugmore and the other legends of Africa hunting, we have to accommodate the hunter every night in a warm bed hot meals and creature comforts.

So yes we are all to blame for a lot of things, but one thing i cannot take blame for is publicly humiliating an individual i do not know, i have never met by saying thing like mentioned in some posts while me and my kind are being threatened on a daily bases, Zambia closing for hunt point and case..

So guys, educate me, do not humiliate and insult me by assumptions and opinions, if you want come hunt with me, i will let you stay for free, then you go back and write your review, if then i deserved the above comments, i will take them without any argument..

Thank you again for all the constructive inputs, i will learn from this.

Thanks to Nitro/John for posting this and this result was not our intention.

Best Regards
Marcel

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Marvel Africa Hunting Safaris South Africa

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