At the Houston Show today, I stopped by Tommy Morrison's booth and inquired about elephant hunts. Mark Butcher from Matupula Hunters was there. Mark appeared very passionate and enthusiastic about his work.

Has anyone on AR hunted elephant with Matupula Hunters lately.

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks!!

Texas Blue Devil, you can check out Matupula Hunters promotional video here http://www.safarinewsreel.com/blog/?p=407
Mark and his team run a first-class operation.

Zig Mackintosh

I haven't hunted elephant with Matapula...YET! I have hunted buffalo and leopard with them on two separate safaris and can't recommend them more highly. I've kept up with their ele hunts over the years and as soon as I can put the money together, will make the commitment.

Yes, they are good. They have areas that border the park. Tsoltso. (sp?).. On the hunt you would drive the boundry looking for tracks coming out of the park. They have other areas, but this camp is good and is probably their best area.

Hunt with Butcher. He is tons of fun. Mark Element is his partner. He is the best hunter of the group. A little on the drier side, but fun also.

Marks outfit is great. I hunted ellie, and buffalo in 04 with them. Hunted with Mark Element and Willy Mills both great hunters. Hunted 3 areas and took a 50' ellie and a super buffalo.

I am going back with them in few months, April 12th to be exact, for an early Ellie hunt. The camps are good, the equiptment is good and there is just no BS with their company. Cant reccomend them enough!

One caveat....if you want to brain shoot your ellie this is probably not your outfit.....it is heavily frowned upon by Mark and Mark, they just dont condone it.

Here are a few pictures from the hunt. I hunted the Plum Tree area where I shot a Lion that wandered in to the area, which we unfortunately were unable to recover. I took the elephant on day 11 in Tcholotcho near the Ngamo area away from the park. The buffalo came from Omay south on the first day. Doing the same hunt again this time, sans lion of course.........that will haunt me forever.

quote:

Originally posted by silwane:
Marks outfit is great. I hunted ellie, and buffalo in 04 with them. Hunted with Mark Element and Willy Mills both great hunters. Hunted 3 areas and took a 50' ellie and a super buffalo.

I am going back with them in few months, April 12th to be exact, for an early Ellie hunt. The camps are good, the equiptment is good and there is just no BS with their company. Cant reccomend them enough!

One caveat....if you want to brain shoot your ellie this is probably not your outfit.....it is heavily frowned upon by Mark and Mark, they just dont condone it.

silwane,
Which areas are you hunting this season?
I will be in Joburg on the 7th.

Ozhunter,
Not sure the areas we will be hunting. Wont really know until 3-4 weeks prior to the hunt when the guys are out on crop raider patroll and see where the larger bulls are. They have two areas on the Hwange border, Tcholotcho which is on the SE corner of the park and an area they call Hwange which is up north towards the falls on the Hwange border aslo. The other elephant area is Plum Tree or Bulimalingwe which is just south of Hwange but situated on the Botswana border.

I do know that we will be hunting the Omay south again for buffalo, I beleive you and I corresponded about hunting that area before.

We are just going to miss you, I looked and we spend the night in Joburg on the 13th of April.

Where are you headed?

Texas Blue Devil,

Book with Matupula Hunters with complete confidence. As others have observed, Mark Butcher and his partner Mark Ellement are professionals in every sense of the word...you won't be disappointed.

I've hunted with Butch four times over the years, the last in April 2009 for elephant. We (my wife and I) were the first safari into Miatengwe last season. There's now a pair of 47# tusks framing the fireplace hearth (and only because the BIG boy ran us out of daylight late one afternoon!).

I'd be happy to answer (to the best of my ability!) any other questions you might have...drop me a PM with your contact info if you'd like. Good luck!

Mark