Lodi hunter killed in Gabon remembered for support of ag community

Lodi businessman and longtime big-game hunter Ernie Dosio was killed during a hunting trip in Central Africa after he was reportedly charged by a herd of elephants, according to multiple reports.

Dosio, 75, died April 17 while hunting for a rare antelope species in the rainforest of central Gabon. Reports say he and his professional guide came across five female elephants and a calf before the herd charged.

Those who knew Dosio say the longtime hunter was also known for his generosity, his support of conservation efforts and his deep ties to the agricultural community across the Central Valley.

At the rural El Dorado County home of Robert Dietz, memories of Africa fill the walls.

Inside his game room, mounted animals from past hunts tell stories from decades of travel.

“Wildebeest, which is from Zimbabwe and that one is from Cameroon,” Dietz said.

Dietz said he and Dosio shared that passion for more than 30 years through the Sacramento chapter of Safari Club International.

He said Dosio was one of the club’s biggest supporters and helped fund both conservation and humanitarian efforts.

“Ernie donated a lot to the club. He was one of our biggest proponents of those types of things and he helped fund those things for us. So he’ll be dearly missed,” Dietz said.

Dosio was the owner of Pacific AgriLands, a Modesto-based company specializing in custom harvesting and farm management services. He was also well known in the local agricultural community, serving on several boards and supporting ag groups throughout Lodi, Modesto and surrounding areas.

Dietz said he could immediately picture what happened in Gabon because he had his own close call with an elephant during a trip to Zimbabwe.

“I came up on a bull elephant and I was less 50 yards away and I didn’t even see it. I didn’t even see it, until he flared his ears out, brought up his trunk and he came after me and he was trying to kill me. So I ran. We climbed up a tree,” Dietz said.

He said that encounter happened in an open savanna, where visibility was much better than in the rainforest where Dosio was hunting.

“I missed a bull elephant 50 yards away, where Ernie was in the rainforest,” Dietz said.

Dietz said many people assume safari trips are only about hunting, but for him and for Dosio, they were also about helping remote villages that often receive little outside support.

“When the hunters go there, we employ them as cooks, trackers, the maids, the animal that we shoot feeds the village,” Dietz said.

The club also helps deliver donated clothes, shoes, toys and other supplies to schools and villages in Africa, Dietz said.

As painful as Dosio’s death has been, Dietz said one thought brings him peace.

“Ernie was doing what he loved. He was doing what he loved,” Dietz said.

ABC10 reached out to Dosio’s Modesto-based company but had not heard back.

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