Just a quick note on my incredible 14 day safari in Dande East with CMS and PH Alan Shearing (5/26-6/8/12). Suffice it to say Alan and I surprised Mr. Charlton and Mr. McCallum on our success with lots of "firsts" out of the Dande East Karunga camp (first buff, first sable, first lion, etc.) My bag included the local cattle killing male lion, leopard, 42" dagga boy. 54" kudu, an absolutley gorgeuous/pristine 39" sable, impala, grysbok, hyena, cow buff and birds (hot barrel shoots). Most of this is on video with excellent footage by Ray Buchanan. I hit the kudu rut and saw numerous bulls including two in 60" range with no clean opportunities. CMS and particularly Bongi, the camp manager for Karunga and my tracker in 2008, has done a phenominal job on reducing Lcoal and Mozambique poaching and bringing back the game to an area no one wanted three years ago. The nothern part of Dande East is heaven on earth in terms of its classic African landscape beuaty and the game has rebounded - we saw large herds of up to 60 plus sable, a herd of 100 plus elephants, roan, kudu, impala, warthog, bushpig, duiker, grysbok, buffalo, etc. (most on video) The area cannot sustain a lot of pressure but properly managed it is only going to get better particualrly with CMS putting permanent water in. Kudos to CMS and Bongi on what can happen if an area is taken care of. Alan is top-shelf and an abolute pleasure to hunt with. I will follow up with a full report and phoots. Mike Jines, ala Randy Martin, I may need your assitance on downloading the photos.

Thansk

Rick

Looking forward to your report!

Rick

Pleasantly surprised would be my understatement!! Just watched the video which is excellent! Well done and have to tell you that there has been a stream of grateful villagers coming through camp to thanks you and Bongi for killing that PAC lion. Since then not a single livestock animal has been killed and considering that prior to your hunt it was over 25 animals been cattle and donkies means that you are a bit of a hero in the Dande East! Watch out next time you return you may be given a wife or two!!

The buff is probably one of the better bulls that I have seen coming out of the Valley- well done Rick and a pleasure having you out again. Cheers Buzz

Can't wait for the pics!

Sounds like a dream safari. Congratulations!

Congratulations,Rick! What a hunt-especially the lion part.I should be in there for leopard and buff in three weeks time.Did you see any other lions? How is Ray doing?

Ric congrats on a fabulous safari.

Mike

Well done Rick, i saw the photos on CMS website. Great trophies. At the moment i am down to hunt with Alan next year for Double Tuskless.

Mike

HUGE CONGRATS!!!

Way to go Rick! Sounds like you had an incredible safari and took some fantastic trophies. I look forward to having dinner with the "gang" in Dallas next year and catching up on the hunt details with you.

Buzz and I exchanged e-mails last week discussing your hunt and we were both surprised at how far Dande East had come since we hunted there in 2004. Goes to show how quickly places like Dande East can recover her game populations when good managment and anti-poaching is employed. Look forward to your pictures!

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
Congratulations,Rick! What a hunt-especially the lion part.I should be in there for leopard and buff in three weeks time.Did you see any other lions? How is Ray doing?

We saw alot of leopard sign in Ward 11 out of the Mkanga River fly camp including some big males. I also shot my cow buff out of Ward 11. Ray is doing great and we had a lot of fun. He has a "lightey" now about 10 weeks old, named Charlie.

There were a total of 9 adult lions plus cubs in the pride in Dande East. We had lioness and a younger male lion on the trail cam pics as well as the the male I took. According to Alan, there were no lions in Dande East up until a two or three years ago. We had female leopards hitting the lion baits in Dande East but no males. They have to be there but Alan said they will be very cagey given the proximity to villages and posioning,etc. Good luck on the hunt and looking forward to hearing about it. Who is your PH?

quote:

Originally posted by RickCap:

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
Congratulations,Rick! What a hunt-especially the lion part.I should be in there for leopard and buff in three weeks time.Did you see any other lions? How is Ray doing?

We saw alot of leopard sign in Ward 11 out of the Mkanga River fly camp including some big males. I also shot my cow buff out of Ward 11. Ray is doing great and we had a lot of fun. He has a "lightey" now about 10 weeks old, named Charlie.

There were a total of 9 adult lions plus cubs in the pride in Dande East. We had lioness and a younger male lion on the trail cam pics as well as the the male I took. According to Alan, there were no lions in Dande East up until a two or three years ago. We had female leopards hitting the lion baits in Dande East but no males. They have to be there but Alan said they will be very cagey given the proximity to villages and posioning,etc. Good luck on the hunt and looking forward to hearing about it. Who is your PH?

Oh,his "BETTY" had a "LIGHTEY"? My PH is Blake Wilhelmy.

That is correct. I have heard nothing but great things about Blake. Good luck

Great hunt. Anxiously awaiting the pictures.

Congrats!

Good show. There was a lion that ate a donkey and a cow when we were there in April. Bongo chased it out of the village and we saw its tracks heading for the border. Allan is a treat to be with and he knows the East very well.

Congratulations.

Also, I believe you flew JNB to ATL with my friends Jill and Chris Green who had just completed 8 days of PG hunting and bait shooting with Betsy and I.

Now, the pics.

And tell us about the "Kiss of the Weatherby"

Best,

Rick, e-mail me or Mike and we will be glad to post them. As for as them giving you a wife for a reward, a cow would be worth more. You could not have ahd a better safari.

Congrats Mr. Cap. I would certainly call that a successful trip. I hope you did not f-up my game cameras. Well done. I am negotiating with Buzz to replace him with Alan.

Email me the pics and I can post them for you.

Very wonderful safari!
I was at Karunga in March 2011, sounds like it keeps getting better. Did the buff ever stop moving for you?

quote:

Originally posted by safari-lawyer:
Congratulations.

Also, I believe you flew JNB to ATL with my friends Jill and Chris Green who had just completed 8 days of PG hunting and bait shooting with Betsy and I.

Now, the pics.

And tell us about the "Kiss of the Weatherby"

Best,

Will, yes. I ran inot Chris and Jill at Harare International and again in J'burg. How did you make out on youir cat hunt? The"kiss" was from my .416 Rigby when I shot my lion. There was alot of blood on both sides of the scope. Both on video and still photos. I will be sure to include some before and after shots.

Rick

quote:

Originally posted by Marty:
Very wonderful safari!
I was at Karunga in March 2011, sounds like it keeps getting better. Did the buff ever stop moving for you?

Marty, no, the buffalo were always on the move. I shot both my cow buff in Ward 11 and the dagga boy in Dande East at 100 yards as they were on the move and we we just playing catch up.

Rick

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Congrats Mr. Cap. I would certainly call that a successful trip. I hope you did not f-up my game cameras. Well done. I am negotiating with Buzz to replace him with Alan.

Email me the pics and I can post them for you.

Mike. trail cams are in good shape because Alan and Ray were sure to place them in locations were lions and leopards could not chew on them. According to some reports, Buzz tends to place the trail cams in convenient locations where the cats can chomp them - Hence the reason you and I needed to ferry over new trail cams with Randy. CMS' prior inventory of cameras had been chewn up or something like that. good luck on the negotiations. And thanks for the IT help on the photos. I will call you.

Rick

Is "chewn" a word?

In bush vernacular - yes.

Congrats on a fantastic safari. Glad to hear Mikes cameras none for the worst...

Congratulations, looking forward to the report. Really enjoy these valley hunt reports.