HuntingNet.com Forums - Controversies

Subscriber Roger Gregg says he

was overcharged $1,000 for a red

stag trophy because his operator

intentionally over-scored it and

later refused to acknowledge the

erroneous score. Gregg hunted red

deer in Argentina in April 2011 with

Luis Bertone at La Colorada ranch

in La Pampa. On the score sheet

provided to Gregg, Bertone scored the

animal at 361 SCI. “I truly doubted

the stag was that good,” he says. So,

he had the antlers re-scored by an SCI

measurer in the US when he received

the trophy. The score was 316 SCI,

which was about what Gregg says he

had expected of the trophy.

“To make absolutely certain of the

score, I made a 200-mile trip to have

a Master Measurer with 35 years of

experience also measure the stag. The

Master Measurer got a score of 322.

Luis’ reaction to the 316 score was that

the US SCI measurers do not know

how to measure stags.”

Gregg also submitted a complaint to

SCI about the matter, which ignited

a veritable firestorm. In the February

2012 issue of Safari Times, published

monthly by Safari Club International

(SCI), Chairman of the SCI Record

Book & World Hunting Awards

Committee (and longtime Hunting

Report subscriber) Herb Atkinson

wrote that some SCI members who had

taken trophies in South America would

be asked to have them rescored. An ad

hoc committee reviewed hundreds

of Record Book entries from South

America and identified dozens of

entries that had possibly been scored

incorrectly. The committee further

concluded that certain outfitters had

inflated scores of animals to charge

higher trophy fees or to have animals

taken with their company rank higher

in the record book.

In the June 2012 issue of Safari Times,

Atkinson announced, “It has become

very obvious that certain South

American SCI Official and Master

Measurers have been intentionally

scoring trophies incorrectly to make

them appear on the Record Book entry

form to be larger than they really

were.”

To rectify the situation, SCI inactivated

the certification of all Argentine

measurers (Official and Master) with

the notable exceptions of Eduardo

Gerlero and Francisco Minieri. Also,

no one directly associated with the

hunting industry (outfitters, guides,

animal brokers, taxidermists, etc.)

will be allowed to become Master

Measurers, at least for the near future.

Just this past month, SCI started

a series of measuring classes in

Argentina, conducted by Record Book

committee members and department

staff to train and re-train all Official

and Master Measurers there.

Not all previous SCI measurers in

Argentina would be able to renew

their certificates, however. Atkinson

wrote, “Written reprimands and

notice of irrevocable revocation of

their Official Measurer and Master

Measurer certificates have been sent

to: Francisco “Paco” Pizarro, Luis

Bertone, Bernardo Feune De Colombi

and Juan Carlos Wagner.”

Back to the Gregg controversy: Bertone

offered Gregg a credit toward a future

hunt in a November 2, 2011 email,

before SCI conducted its investigation.

Gregg responded, “I feel the ethics of

this matter are more important than

the $1,000.”

Gregg also had some problems with

some other charges and shipping

issues, but told The Hunting Report,

“The excessive score matter really

bothers me the most. It is unfair,

crooked and really lacks conscience…I

feel other hunters should be aware of

this fraudulent practice.” Here at The

Hunting Report, we completely agree

and will do whatever we can to help

keep the process of trophy scoring

open and honest. We applaud SCI for

its swift and decisive action.

We sent Bertone a copy of Gregg’s

complaint, inviting him to provide

his perspective on what happened.

At press time, we had not yet

received a response. We will add any

correspondence we may receive from

Bertone after going to print to the

file in our database and inform you

in the following issue of The Hunting

Report. Paid subscribers may request

a free email copy of the entire file.

(Send request to Ben@huntingreport.

com.) We also encourage any Hunting

Report subscribers who suspect their

trophies from Argentina or any other

destination were purposely mis-scored

to file a report.