Has anyone hunted with this guy?

Thanks

I believe Russ Gould books for him.

BTT

I hunted with Ben in the Doma area of Zim for PAC elephant and Buff last year. I was successful on both. I'm booked for another PAC ele hunt with him for 2008. Obviously, I wouldn't have booked a second hunt with him if I wasn't completely satisfied on my first hunt. Ben is a great guy and a very knowledgeable PH. You won't go wrong hunting with him. I booked through Russ Gould.

Where did you hunt with him ? Im thinking of a trophy bull nest year with him ? I have heard he only do most PAC hunts ?

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From what I have been told by Ben and Rus, most of the PAC Ele hunts take place just above the Mid Zambezi Safari areas in adjoining communal areas but Ben Also hunts the Safari areas such as Chewore and Doma areas on trophy hunts.

Ben hunts pretty much the whole spectrum in Zim as well as RSA.

1. He has the Vuti concession, which is comprised of small private low intensity farms near Karoi. This used to be a citizen hunting area, bordering Chirara. It's now small scale farms, which suits the elephant in the neighboring Parks area just fine. It's about 3 hours by road from Harare. This is the area where he does most of his PAC hunts. He hunts surrounding communal land as well as the need arises...he is from Karoi, and well known in the area so when the elephants get into the farms, Ben gets the call. He also has two leopard on quota here each year. Up til last year (when we jinxed his record by attempting a video) he went 100% on leopard in this area. From this camp, it's also possible to hunt one of 4 private ranches in the area for plains game (the PAC hunts and leopard hunting are mainly dusk/night hunts, so this is a good combo). There isn't much PG in this area (other than on these ranches) as the farmers have rifles and they like to eat meat, other than their own cows.

2. He has another area not too far from Vuti, Doma which is very good for Sable and Leopard, also Bushbuck, with some buff and ele. Not prime buff country, too high elevation and rugged. But prime prime Sable country.

3. Across the Angwa river, about 2 hours from Karoi, he hunts the Mukwichi concession through his relationship with Lowveld Hunters, also rugged broken up country but at lower elevation. It's great for elephant, both trophy and tuskless. From these ridges you can glass for miles. In 2 days last season, we spotted 67 ele before taking a tuskless with a Swedish client there. There is some buffalo and PG hunting but again it's not prime buffalo country. For some reason, the elephant really like this area.

4. About an hour north of Karoi, he hunts the Gache Gache concession which is on Lake Kariba and is excellent for buffalo, ele and PG, and birds. It's not a huge concession, quotas are limited, but the ambience is great. Camp is on the lake and there is tiger and bream fishing, as well as hippo and croc.

5. Three hours East of Karoi, he hunts Dande N, Chewore N and Chewore S through his association with Chifuti; these are the prime dangerous game concessions in the Zambezi Valley.

6. In the South East, his family owns a large cattle farm. On this property, he hunts hippo and croc on the large lake and also on the river. There are plenty of good bushbuck in the riverine brush as well, thanks to the miniature corn and wheat fields. He also hunts about 400,000 acres of surrounding communal land for plains game, hippo, and croc. From 2009 on, he will be hunting buffalo on this property. It's also a good springboard to hunt Lemco/Bubiana conservancies, as well as an area across the SA border where you can take some species that don't occur in Zim at all eg Gemsbok, Springbok, Hartebeest etc.

Anyone who wants to see some of these areas and hunts on video, and get to know Ben a little better, can email me for a 2 hour DVD we are just finishing up. The footage is edited, I just need to do the narration and get it duplicated. Should be available mid Jan. Meanwhile, you can view the intro on our website, follow the links to SAFARI DESTINATIONS>BEN KOTZE SAFARIS>click on the video icon.

As someone pointed out above, I am Ben's guy here in the USA. Feel free to contact me directly with further questions. By email, russ@canby.com, or tel 503 263 3787 any reasonable hour PACIFIC time zone. He is a one man band, so you can't always get the dates you want, but the good news is you don't hunt with an apprentice, you get a very experienced (and unbelievably cool-headed and totally unflappable) PH.