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Bruce: Welcome to another episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. This is your host, Bruce Hutcheon, and we’re extremely fortunate to have an Olympian, a global huntress and a lady that understands what’s at stake to put together a trip across the street or across the world. Welcome to show, Amy Martin Shaffer.
Amy: Bruce, thanks for having me.
Bruce: Amy is the owner and operator of the ProHunt Concierge Ltd. Amy, talk to the listeners and tell us what you do at your business.
Amy: Well Bruce, ProHunt Concierge is pretty much an all-encompassing business dealing primarily with international hunting. I started it in 2011 after an extensive background and work history in the industry as both a guide, outfitter, booking agent, working with taxidermist, and of course, being a hunting client myself. I just saw a need for better preparation on the behalf of hunters themselves, and also for outfitters and the connection between was just lacking.
There’s so many options out there, as you know, even just the whitetail industry, but when you expand that globally to all the different continents and all the different countries and the animals available, the outfitters available to all [inaudible 00:01:33] hunt to you. It’s just such huge, huge field for people to choose from that I like to be the link that the hunters come to and say, “Hey, here’s where I want to go. This is my wish list. This is who I am and what I’m capable of affording or doing, send me somewhere,” and I kinda fill in all the gaps for them.
We get together and discuss exactly it is what they want, their personal preferences, their physical limitations. I find several different outfitters that match their needs and then let the client speak directly with the outfitter to make a decision. And then from there, once we choose an outfitter, I also help with all of the pre-trip preparations, recommendations on gear, on preparing for your hunt physically and mentally, and also just coordinating all of the logistics involved from everything with trophy shipments to visas and passports, and even getting your immunizations done. I really am an all-encompassing, one-stop-shop for the international hunter.
Bruce: So Amy, here I am. I’m 68 years old and personally I haven’t hunted outside of North America. What would you recommend me looking at as my first global hunt?
Amy: Well, give me an example of an animal that you’d like to pursue as a hunter? What peaks you interest? Maybe even just the type of hunting that you like. Do you want to go on the mountains? Do you want to go in the forest? What peaks your interest Bruce?
Bruce: I would like to start off in South Africa and go after the plains game with the opportunity to take a kudu and then work up to a Cape buffalo.
Amy: Okay. Well I’d give you names of outfitters that there’s about 15 that can accommodate for you. We would just sit down and discuss maybe the other budget, the other animals that you would like. Whether you would like a free range hunt or don’t mind being on a very large fenced property. I like to specialize in hunts that I would personally go on. Hunting over there, there’s such huge vast tracts of private ranches that I tend to stay with the larger ranches.
Then let’s talk about is there anything else you want to do after the trip? Do you want to go visit the beach? Do you want to hike Table Mountain? Do you want to ride the train? That’s also part of what I do is let’s go find you the best kudu with the best operator that matches your personality and your age limitations, whatever guns you might want to shoot. And then we would just talk with him and see if he’s got availability on dates that suit you and go from there.
There’s a lot involved. I don’t just throw one operator at you and say, “Here’s who you have to go with.” You will know as much about the hunt and the process and be educated as we go forward, especially since it’s your first time going over. And that is a big specialty of mine is first time hunters and families that are going to international trips.
Bruce: So I’ll throw a curve ball at you. There’s a break there called James Bay and I’d like to go and surf some waves at James Bay. That’s on my bucket list. So would you be able to make that work for me?
Amy: Absolutely. I’ve got connections all over on the coast who can set up either a surfing lesson for you and find the right hotel to put you near your beach and what you want to do. We can even have a little chauffeur that drives you around or just a tour guide that meets you and helps you along the way.
Bruce: Now there’s also some pretty nice golf courses and Cathy, my wife, she loves to play golf. So would that also be a possibility?
Amy: Yes, actually I have several clients that have gone over and done just the same thing. They’ve done a hunting and then touring, and golf post-hunt trip, so that’s not a problem at all. There’s lots of nice golf courses in South Africa.
Bruce: So listeners, Amy is able to take whatever you want to do and expand it or contract it. One, based on your time constraints and also because it costs a couple bucks, your budget. So when you’re thinking about, “Okay, I’ve hunted whitetails and I’ve hunted some elk and other game animals in North America,” Amy is one person that I personally know that will help you through the whole process even if, like myself, like I said I haven’t hunted outside of North America so I really don’t understand.
Going to a professional like Amy will certainly help you have peace-of-mind, have confidence and come back and say, “That’s one of the best trips I’ve ever been on.”
Amy: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Everybody always thinks, “Well, what’s the next step from North America? Oh, I better go to Africa.” Don’t discount going to the South Island of New Zealand or the North Island, or Australia. Even going up to Canada offers a lot different hunting opportunities in the north than the U.S.
Of course Africa is a nice destination because of the temperate climate and the variety of animals you can hunt. If you hunt North America on one elk hunt sometimes it’s anywhere between five and fifteen thousand dollars. You can go to South Africa or Namibia or even parts of Zambezi or Zimbabwe and end up bring home six animals for the cost of one that you’d shoot here.
There’s just more involved, the tickets, the flights over there, gun permits, getting the trophy’s home. You’re not going to get on the airplane with your luggage full of animals. It has to go through export brokers and then be shipped across on the airplane. Right now there’s six airlines that have an embargo on trophy shipments. That’s another thing to consider and that’s our job as hunting consultants and with my vast network of people that I deal with on a daily basis that know the ins and outs of international travel and hunting. We make sure that, you may not know everything but that’s our job is to know most everything. I enjoy just coordinating all of the logistics and I treat each hunter as though that trip is one that I’m going on. And I’m a very detail oriented person.
Bruce: Amy, let’s talk about trip preparation as far a physical conditioning. With your background as being a rower, I know you rowed in V-8, were you a sculler? Help me out here, explain to the people what you did.
Amy: Well Bruce, I was on the 2000 Olympic rowing team in Sydney Australia for the United States. I was what was called a sweep rower and that means with one oar, and I was in an 8-person boat. And I rowed port side for those who have a little bit of information about crew and rowing. But I was in the big boats, I do have sculling experience. I won a bronze medal in the women’s pair which is two people in a boat.
At the world championships in 1998 I won a silver of the world championships. In ’99 in the women’s 8, unfortunately we just didn’t come into the medals in the Olympics. There were other factors involved and no matter how well we prepared for it in the United States, we get over there and were stuck in the middle of burning cane fields at a training facility that U.S. rowing set up for us.
You have to consider all the factors and that’s one of the things I would have changed going back in my career, and that I try to keep an eye out for is other factors involved with, you know, your hunt preparations and where you’re headed to. As an athlete you have to consider all the factors, mental included in that. Where am I going to be sleeping? What elevation? Is it changing? What kind of gear do I need? Do I need to have warm weather, or cold weather or a variety of that. Who’s the best gear provider?
I use a lot of women’s gear made by Prois. I just found that it works well for all the different climates I go to. And then take your age into consideration and I’m having to do that now as well and I know you do. But our bodies don’t rebound as quickly, so the big thing that gets a lot of guys and a lot of ladies when they travel is just the exhaustion from the travel itself and how are you going to prepare for that once you arrive. I tend to give some hunters an extra day on the ground before the hunt starts so you don’t go into a trip absolutely exhausted. But yes, as an athlete there’s so many things to consider and I would say, Bruce, 90% of my clients, women and men included have never been Olympic athletes. They’re ordinary guys and gals who just want to go and have an enjoyable trip and that is my job, to get them prepared and give them the tools to prepare do that.
Bruce: Thanks for that. So listeners, no matter what shape you’re in, if you have that dream, if you have that goal, then Amy’s one of the people in the United States that can walk you through the whole process. Especially with women, they’re the largest or fastest growing segment in the outdoor industry right now. Ladies, think about what you would really like to do on your hunting outdoors’ bucket list and then get a hold of a gal like Amy and say, “Hey, here’s what I want to do. Here’s my time-frame and can you help me get there?”
Because I can tell you, and Amy can tell you, the sunrise from a mountain top or on a savanna or someplace that few other people have been there is a priceless memory that transcends the hunt, it’s just being there. Would you agree with that Amy?
Amy: Yes. Absolutely. I’m really agreeing with you for sure because, I’ll be honest with you, Bruce, I’m not into the hunting for the kill. I mean honestly that’s one trigger pull that’s one tenth of a second as that bullet screams through the air and ends the trip really. My reasons for going hunting and traveling to all these different destinations is just the adventure itself. Especially on some of these remote locations in Northern Canada or even destinations in Africa, you are the only person out there. It’s truly the closeness with nature and you learn so much more about the animals, the people, the country when you have boots on the ground and you are out there in the thick of thing doing it.
Especially for the ladies, because I know so many gals who have held back from pursuing their hunting goals or even getting into hunting because they feel it’s a male-dominated world. Give me a call. We do a lot of ladies-only hunts where you can get in with a group of women and dip your toes into it a little bit with other gals who are in the same boat so to speak. I also have a lot of outfitters that specialize literately in taking women and families. Some of them are women outfitters and guides. So there really is no excuse anymore to sit back and idly watch while your husband or all the other guys go afield.
It’s the time for ladies now and it’s not a power thing, it’s a go out there and enjoy life. Life is so short. If you have any desire to be out there in the field with the animals, go, go do it and if you don’t feel like you’re able to pull the trigger, that’s fine. We’ll send you on a photographic trip. That’s something else I specialize in as well. So there’s really no excuse anymore. The women’s gear is out there for you. We can cater it to you. I love to send more women afield and young girls and get them immersed in it, too.
Bruce: Let’s stay on the women’s segment of hunting right now. Why do you think more and more women are joining the hunting ranks?
Amy: You know, a couple reasons, but I honestly think the main thing is women are very adventurous by nature. We like to see what’s out there and we like to be hands-on and we like to know where our food comes from. Women historically are big providers as well. So I think, at least from my perspective and the gals that I know, it’s the adventure but it’s also the, “I’m out there, I’m doing it, I can do it and look what I was able to shoot for dinner and provide for my family or for others.”
There’s also a very big caring aspect. As you know, women it’s nature and nurture kind of thing, but it’s the conservation concept. We know that the money we’re spending afield goes to provide for conservation and wildlife habitat, and the preservation of wildlife for our children and our grandchildren and we’re big thinkers down the line. But that goes for here in the United States as well as abroad. And I like to choose outfitters who do play a big role in conservation in their area. Whether it’s anti-poaching or just supporting the local communities with education and funding. So I think that’s a big thing for women is knowing and desiring to see their efforts put towards future promises.
Bruce: Do you have any recommendation for women to get on a specific Facebook page or Twitter page or Women’s Outdoor News or things that you see that are helping women understand one, the outdoor sports and hunting in-particular, as well as connect with other women of like mind?
Amy: There’s a few out there. I can tell you one of my favorite groups of ladies it really the Prois ladies. If you go onto Facebook and type in a search for Prois or Prois outdoor clothing, women’s outdoor clothing online. Kirstie Pike here in Colorado does a tremendous job of coordinating women’s group hunting and just getting the ladies together and what a diverse group of ladies and the personalities, it’s just really a hoot. I know I’ve done some hunts with them, just fabulous gals and just getting together with one group like that, that’s a great place to start. It will put you onto a vast number of other options. Even groups like Huntinglife.com on Facebook has some really good options there. But just go Google Prois. If I could pick one spot where I have seen more fun and camaraderie and the opportunity for networking for women that would be it.
Bruce: Thanks for that and I’ll give a shout- out to Kirstie Pike. She started a company five or six years ago, maybe a little bit more, and she has taken the women’s apparel industry by storm and every lady that I talk to that utilize her apparel speaks about its functionality, it’s durability, it’s comfort. Amy, you could give a commercial on it but here’s from a guy that has watched this lady build a business and I’d sure give a shout-out to Prois and check her out because you won’t be disappointed.
Let’s move forward. Let’s talk about how do you prepare mentally to go on a whitetail hunt or turkey hunt or head to Pakistan?
Amy: Well, mentally preparing, I think your best preparation mentally is to know that you have the right gear for the occasion depending on where you’re going. Turkey hunting is going to be very different from hunting in Africa. Secondly is know your weapon. If you really like guns and like to bring your own guns then get out there and shoot. I mean if I could say there’s one thing that really mentally can ruin a hunt is when you don’t know your weapon. Whether it’s your gun or archery, talk to the outfitter and find out what works best for the destination that you’re going to or let me help you with that. And get the right ammunition for your rifle and then practice, practice, practice. Because what you do at home, it’s just like with athletics, what you do at practice is what you’ll perform in the field.
Those two are really big, the gear and the rifle or archery. And then mentally otherwise, it’s just making sure, and I provide packets on this, making sure you know what species you’re going to be hunting, know the kill shot zone and that’s a huge factor for hunters that often can really ruin a hunt for them. Here in North America we’re used to where the kill zone is for whitetails and elk, even turkeys and black bear, and then you go to Africa and the kill zones are very different and you end up wounding and losing a lot of animals. There are books for that, there are helpful videos, everything from Facebook to YouTube to various magazines.
Those would be my three factors, I think, for mental preparation outside of the physical preparation is know your gear, know your gun or bow, and know the species that you’re going to go hunting for. You’re not going to know it sometimes until you show up if you’ve never hunted an impala before but you’re going to know about it if you read up about it. And I provide you some information. When you’re shooting with your bow, you’re going to know that impala tend to jump or spring just as bad or worse than whitetail. So knowing that ahead of time will greatly increase your success and enjoyment once you’re on the ground.
Bruce: Thanks for that information. And one thing that you just said was the kill zone in African animals is a little bit different than what we have in North America. Can you explain that a little bit more?
Amy: Yeah. The heart and lungs tend to be moved forward a little bit more in African game. It’s a heat dissipating thing but it’s also a protection thing so you aim farther forward. When you’re shooting right through the point of the shoulder, the meaty part of the shoulder above the elbow, you’re going right through the heart on a lot of those game animals. And if you aim behind the shoulder and think you’re going to hit the lungs on some of them, you’re actually are going into the gut zone. It just is moved forward on African game so where you think you’re aiming is often times not what you’re actually hitting.
Like I said, there are some really good books on that. I know Boddingtons put out some, there’s a guy called Kevin Doctari that does a lot of kill zone books and you can also order target for the same. If you’re hunting like Cape buffalo, like you mentioned, Bruce, there’s some really fun shooting schools out there called Big Bore Shooting School. I know Dallas Safari Club puts on a couple each year where you can go down to a shooting school and learn where to hit a charging buffalo or an elephant and get some fun practice with a similar group of people, as well as if you’re doing long range hunting like in [inaudible 00:22:33], what I did last year like hunting Marco-Polo, there’s long-range shooting school that have excellent instructors.
I know Darrell Holland puts on a great hunting school right here in the Utah area or even Oregon where you can have the shooting experience that you probably will get in the destination country prior to leaving the United States. And again, with some other similar-minded people where you’ll gain a lot of in-tell from your instructor and other shooters.
Bruce: Amy, you’re really sharing some great information and listeners, guys or gals, take this to heart because you invest one, a lot of time and two, a lot of money into any hunt and especially when you’re going to a different country, things change up. It isn’t like just throwing your gear in your truck and taking off and driving a few hundred miles, a thousand miles and ending up someplace in North America. It’s different and that’s where people like Amy come in that have done it, they know it and are professionals at it. So think about that the next time you put something on your bucket list and say, “In five years I want to go.”
Amy, how many days should I plan on going on my first South African plains game or dangerous game safari?
Amy: You know, plan on seven full hunting days. To cut yourself any shorter is really doing a disservice to yourself. Even if it’s seven days from the point you enter the country to the point you leave, that’s plenty. But if you’re going for three to seven species you definitely want to stay with a minimum of seven days.
Bruce: In today’s dollars, what’s that typically going to run? And I know it’s a huge variable but I want to take, like I said, a kudu, some other plains game and a Cape buffalo.
Amy: Well, the Cape buffalo really throws a heavy hitter in there. You’d be looking at a seven day hunt including trophy fees on those animals. You’re probably going to run between $12,000 and $16,000.
Bruce: So listeners, $12,000 or $16,000. Yes, that’s a lot of money, no question about it. But I know some ranches pretty close to my home that are charging $8,000 to $10,000 plus tips, plus out-of-state licenses, and so we’re right at that same number. And you’re going to kill a good quality elk, you’re going to shoot a 300 class bull elk, but for the same amount of money and almost the same amount of time, you can go to other places in the world and enjoy the hunt of a life time that you might have not thought that you could do. But in truth, Amy, and I’m sure you’ll agree, that you can do it.
Amy: Oh, absolutely and there’s always great deals out there, Bruce. The price I gave you was the regular listed price, but that doesn’t always mean that’s what you’re going to get. Because I deal directly with outfitters and I kinda pick and choose the outfitter and the client, I tend to get better deals than some clients can get just by going direct. There’s also cancellation options. If you have a semi-flexible schedule and can go last minute, within three month’s notice or less, you can often get things for half price. It just depends on your schedule and your flexibility and your budget. But I really have been able to match just about anybody with their destination and wish list so far.
Bruce: Amy, we’re at the time in a show that you’re gonna have an open mic and to take a minute or two and give shout-outs. I know we’ve already given a shout-out to a couple people, but spend some time here telling people how to get a hold of you and the sponsors and the people that you know in the industry that you might want to say thanks to.
Amy: Okay, Bruce. Well you can get a hold of me on Facebook. I’ve got two different pages on there. Amy Martin Shaffer is one and the other is the ProHunt Concierge. You can Google me. Literally if you enter in hunting concierges I’m the only one that pops up with the full-on website. And when you go to my website, go into the contacts and you’ll see a list of a lot of people that I recommend to help with your hunts as far as deer goes.
Number one, of course, again I’d like to thank Kirstie Pike for putting out some excellent women’s hunting gear. Jim Winjum with Kenetrek for putting out the best boots in my opinion on the market. And you know really, honestly, the people I want to thank are all the great outfitters out there, the fantastic guides that lead the industry and lead the charge into wildlife conservation and promoting hunting. Organizations like Dallas Safari Club, Wild Sheep Foundation. Google them, get on, join them, join your local Safari Club chapters, your local whitetail chapters and turkey, everything. Just get involved with the industry because really without future hunters or leaders, there’s no future in wildlife and no future for hunting.
We’ve got a lot of pressure from anti-hunters right now that have no concept of the bush to the table fare. They have no idea what it means to go out and take your own animals and provide for yourself and where the money for funding wildlife and conservation projects comes from. We are in a fight to preserve our hunting heritage and basically just the right to feed ourselves wild game. So please get involve with organizations like that.
And lastly and certainly not least, thanks to all my clients who keep coming back. You know, my mainstay, Bruce, is return clientele and so far I’m about 99.9% return rate. And the other fraction is because they just can’t afford to go this year or something.
So thanks to all the great men and women that routinely come and go hunting, and if you are still unsure of what to do and where to go, and you just don’t want to go by yourself the first time, get on my website. I’ve got group hunts that I do each year. This next year I’m taking a group to New Zealand. It’s ladies and men’s mixed group going hunting where I am there with you and aside from literally holding your hand, I take you along with me on the trip, we film it for TV even. It’s just a great experience.
Life is short, write the check, go now while you can, there’s no time like the present.
Bruce: Amy Martin Shaffer, thank you so much for sharing your intimate knowledge about what it take to put together a hunt in North America or a hunt around the globe and again, thank you for being a guest on Whitetail Rendezvous.
Amy: Hey, thanks, Bruce, and keep up all the good work you’re doing and we sure appreciate having guys like you out there who bring everybody to attention and keep the industry revolving.
Bruce: Whitetail Rendezvous, keep the sun at your back, the wind in your face and always be patient.