“I highly recommend Crusader Safaris” by Pierre Barbeau

My name is Pierre Barbeau, I am from Montreal Canada. I have over 3 decades of hunting experience in North America for Deer, Bear, Caribou and migratory birds. I’ve been to Africa on 5 hunting safaris, the last 3 with Crusader Safaris. On each trip I was accompanied by 2 or 3 family members. With Crusader, I’ve hunted at the tented camp (5 star tents) in the Umkomaas, at the Baviaans River camp which has thatched roof huts and Stromberg Mountains where we stayed at a farm ranch.

My latest trip in May 2018 I told my PH Tyson that I didn’t want to shoot if it was too easy and when I did pass up 3 opportunities at a Mount Reedbuck, Tyson was supportive. I ended up getting one after a 140 yard but crawl to get into position and shot it at 240 yard shot. I had several other great chases, including the Waterbuck that I chased most of an afternoon with Tyson giving up just before dark even though I could see him bedded down about 75 yards away behind a bush. We went back to where we left him the day before and found him over a further ridge. I finally shot him about 1.5 miles from where we left the truck. I also got a nice Fallow Deer and a great a Copper Springbok with Tyson. Tyson didn’t get flustered when I screwed up a couple of opportunities.

I also hunted 1 day with Rad. I shot a nice Warthog and chased an Impala for 2 hours, mostly through thick Acacia. We followed the ram by sound as her was tending his harem. I didn’t even get a glimpse of him until about 20 minutes before I shot him. We managed to sneak up to about 60 yards.

Overall comments: On all three trips I found the accommodation to be very comfortable, the food was plentiful and very good quality and all the staff are friendly. The PHs are very professional, pleasant and patient. The skinners are quite good as all my trophies turned out quite well. Andrew will tailor your hunt according to what you want to harvest and your hunting style.

Personally I love the spot & stalk, in particular when there is a long hard stalk. Others may be less mobile and required limited walking. Either way Andrew will set-it up. One member of our group can walk fine on flat ground but has difficulty on rough hilly terrain. He still managed to harvest a 56 inch Kudu, and lots of other animals.

Andrew Pringle is a pleasure to deal with and he works very hard to tailor your hunt. Andrew adjusts plans on the fly when situations, opportunities or the hunters mind change. On my 3 trips with Crusader, I have had many challenging long stalks and harvested some great trophies.

I plan on going back in 2020. That trip will be planned during the November deer hunt. I highly recommend Crusader Safaris. If you are a serious hunter and you are in the Montreal area, feel free to send me an email if you want to see my trophies. I will even through in some hunting stories if you want your ear bent. No embellishment required since the real experiences speak for themselves. I could even share some of my mistakes to help you avoid similar ones. You can reach me at barbeaup@hotmail.com.