Draft:Book Your Hunt

Book Your Hunt, based in Challis, Idaho,. is a digital platform that enables the hunters to search for and book hunting trips. BookYourHunt (BYH) is committed to maintaining quality hunts and, as such, collaborates with guide outfitter associations globally whenever feasible. In regions where such operations exist, only members of these associations are, as a rule, permitted to offer their hunts on the BookYourHunt platform. The Namibia Professional Hunters Association (NAPHA) was one of the first partners to trust in BYH's mission

Leadership
Book Your Hunt was founded by Aleksei Agafonov, a Kazakhstan-born Austrian entrepreneur in 2015.Initially started with a small selection of trips offered by three outfitters and expanded to include various hunting experiences worldwide. Jim Shockey joined as a co-founder of BookYourHunt.com, in May 2016. The company prefers ethical hunting practices. In 2019, an additional office was opened in South Africa under the guidance of professional hunter and outfitter Alex McDonald, aiming to tap into the African hunting tour market, a substantial sector in hunting tourism.

Initially, the service was exclusively for hunting in Europe and started with an investment of $1.5 million. By 2017, less than three years since the launch, BookYourHunt.com could provide over 3,000 hunting tour options across 400 providers of hunting services. Of those, 160 were in the USA, 140 in Canada, and 120 in South Africa. As per the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, there are approximately 7,000 game ranches and hunting outfitters in Russia alone.

Locations
The company BookYourHunt.com has headquarters in Challis, Idaho, United States, and Vienna, Austria, with an additional branch in South Africa. This company's website can be accessed in four different languages.

Sister Venture
In 2020, BYH’s sister organization, Bait Your Hook, a website dedicated to fishing trips. This expansion, complemented by the release of iOS and Android apps, marked a logical development in the company's strategy, catering to a 30% overlap in audiences between hunting and fishing enthusiasts.

Recognitions
Aleksei Agafonov was a speaker at the 2021 One with Nature World of Hunting and Nature Exhibition, part of the World Conservation Forum, held in Budapest, Hungary in 2021. In 2017, the Russian Hunting Magazine acknowledged Alexey Agafonov and other recipients for their contributions to Utilizing Innovative Technologies for the Advancement of Russian Hunting.

In 2015, BYH was recognized by PHASA with an award for significantly aiding their mission of promoting hunting for sustainable living and livelihoods. However, the organization was compelled to retract the sponsorship following a shift in PHASA's leadership and its attempt to reintroduce the contentious canned lion hunting practice.

Criticism
In response to criticism, BookYourHunt.com prefers ethical hunting practices. The company collaborates with conservation organizations such as Boone and Crockett Club and supports projects like Community-Based Wildlife Conservation in Tajikistan. The platform took a proactive stance against unethical practices in 2017, withdrawing its sponsorship agreement with the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa.