Howdy to all. I was turned on to this place by a fellow Texas lawyer and member here who tried a case with me for three weeks. I am glad he did and really like the "ambiance" here and plan to stay and hopefully contribute.

Lion has been shut down in Matetsi for 5 years and it has/will pay off. Clive Eaton (Tholo Safaris) in Bots got me interested and basically got the deal done. They only gave two permits for the five areas this year and thanks to Clive I got one. I have always hunted with Luke Blackbeard from Bots and he along with Darren Ellerman (Africa Silwane) from Zim co-PHd the hunt. I was there from May 1 to the 11th and we hunted unit 2 which borders Bots and the Pandamatenga check point. I must say having hunted across the border in CH 8 I just could not believe how very different the country in Zim is just a few clicks from Bots. You go from sand (Bots) to rock and rock outcroppings literally at the border...very different country.

The only other lion I have hunted was in Bots (KD8) in 07 before they closed it down in 08 and there it was all tracking. I was lucky and took a really fine old heavy mane Kalahari beauty which may be the last great Bots lion ever. I wanted to track this lion but that idea was quickly dismissed once I saw how hard the ground was, tall the grass was and how thick the cover. Baiting was the only way given the conditions. The place was lousy with lions and we saw lions just about every day and for sure multiple big tracks every day.

The problem was for some strange reason the big boys were nocturnal which puzzles me to this day. After 5 years of rest you would think they would be calm but these guys must have long memories. We got plenty of game cam night shots and they were feeding between 9pm and 4am but disappeared before sunrise. We had three males and one was a shooter working off and on a spot. Luke decided to move and consolidate baits to an area we believed was the edge of their territory. For the first time they fed and stayed the next morning. We added a fresh whole Kudu to the pile and by mid-afternoon the fresh whole Kudu proved too much to resist. As you can see this is one who likes to fight…great hunt and for anyone who wants a chance at a good wild lion I would highly recommend the hunt. The first pic is him from a video frame right before I took him

Excellent old warrior, DR. Congratulations on a successful hunt and welcome to the forum.



Dutch

Welcome to AR. Absolutely marvelous cat!

Outstanding lion!!! And may I add that's quite the first post! Welcome to AR!!!!!!!!

Brett

Welcome aboard and congrats on a fine Lion!

Very nice. I've seen the other Matetsi lion too, and both are brutes.

Welcome.

Wow, what a bruiser! Congratulations!

Pete

Very nice cat congrats.

I think you shot the MGM lion!
What a beauty.

Excellent cat, congrats.

As a matter of interest, I hunted Unit 2 for a number of years in the early 90's, and remember so well the quality and numbers of lions that we found in the area. It truly was a fantastic area to hunt, but admittedly I did witness the decline in their numbers over the years.

I am glad Lion hunting is receiving the attention it so deserves, and to have Matetsi getting back to what it used to be is great news.

Again well done on a fantastic lion.

I would be interested to hear what the rest of the concession was like?

Fantastic lion. Well done.

Now that's what I call the real deal! Congratulations, fantastic lion.

Just got a report, they shot another very nice Lion in Matetsi 5 a couple of weeks a ago.

Congrats on a beautiful Lion.

Welcome and WOW!!!! Congratulations on a great lion.

Best regards, D. Nelson

quote:

Originally posted by Neil-PH:
Excellent cat, congrats.

As a matter of interest, I hunted Unit 2 for a number of years in the early 90's, and remember so well the quality and numbers of lions that we found in the area. It truly was a fantastic area to hunt, but admittedly I did witness the decline in their numbers over the years.

I am glad Lion hunting is receiving the attention it so deserves, and to have Matetsi getting back to what it used to be is great news.

Again well done on a fantastic lion.

I would be interested to hear what the rest of the concession was like?

Not having any prior experience in Matetsi makes it a bit tough to comment on. As you know with permission the quota can be distributed within the units by agreement so for example if I wanted a buff, with unit 5 permission and paperwork changes I could take it there. The problem was I saw only one broken horn buf and a buf hunter left as I arrived who struck out. I am told and believe we were too early to see alot of buf and ele...I was also told 800 buf were "borrowed" last year for restocking elsewhere. I am familiar with Bots across the border and you tell me where the buff are going to go? Bots has such limited quota their buf in my opinion are too tame. Now round up 800 buf and my guess is the rest are not going to hang around. But to be fair I really think I was there too early. Leopard was scarce and that surprised me. We had baits up and so did a leopard hunter. Between us we had 30 baits and he struck out and I decided to not give it a go based on the lack of leopards. We saw one nice track right on the road that rides the border and that was it. I am told later in the year they have no problem filling quota which I think is 4 per untit. IMHO that is too high. Sable was excellent and I took a very nice one. Plenty Kudu and zebra. Didn't see eland but was told it is was early.

I really believe the guys when they told me the game loaded up in there later so take what I "saw" with a grain of salt. Besides the lion numbers were as good as I have seen in the Delta...genetics and quality are not as good but the numbers are there. The closure has had a great effect and other places can learn from it. Those areas are not that big and they were killing too many before. Let's just hope the govt doesn't one day decide a pal of theirs needs lions on his game ranch.

Fantastic cat!

Congratulations!

Congratultions
Very nice Lion!!

quote:

Originally posted by DawnRoar:

quote:

Originally posted by Neil-PH:
Excellent cat, congrats.

As a matter of interest, I hunted Unit 2 for a number of years in the early 90's, and remember so well the quality and numbers of lions that we found in the area. It truly was a fantastic area to hunt, but admittedly I did witness the decline in their numbers over the years.

I am glad Lion hunting is receiving the attention it so deserves, and to have Matetsi getting back to what it used to be is great news.

Again well done on a fantastic lion.

I would be interested to hear what the rest of the concession was like?

Not having any prior experience in Matetsi makes it a bit tough to comment on. As you know with permission the quota can be distributed within the units by agreement so for example if I wanted a buff, with unit 5 permission and paperwork changes I could take it there. The problem was I saw only one broken horn buf and a buf hunter left as I arrived who struck out. I am told and believe we were too early to see alot of buf and ele...I was also told 800 buf were "borrowed" last year for restocking elsewhere. I am familiar with Bots across the border and you tell me where the buff are going to go? Bots has such limited quota their buf in my opinion are too tame. Now round up 800 buf and my guess is the rest are not going to hang around. But to be fair I really think I was there too early. Leopard was scarce and that surprised me. We had baits up and so did a leopard hunter. Between us we had 30 baits and he struck out and I decided to not give it a go based on the lack of leopards. We saw one nice track right on the road that rides the border and that was it. I am told later in the year they have no problem filling quota which I think is 4 per untit. IMHO that is too high. Sable was excellent and I took a very nice one. Plenty Kudu and zebra. Didn't see eland but was told it is was early.

I really believe the guys when they told me the game loaded up in there later so take what I "saw" with a grain of salt. Besides the lion numbers were as good as I have seen in the Delta...genetics and quality are not as good but the numbers are there. The closure has had a great effect and other places can learn from it. Those areas are not that big and they were killing too many before. Let's just hope the govt doesn't one day decide a pal of theirs needs lions on his game ranch.

You weren't there around the early part of May, were you?

Reason I ask is I was in Botswana's CH1/2 from May 1-15 and Luke Blackbeard came to our camp around the 12th or 13th for one night fresh off a successful lion hunt that was filmed. If that was you, Luke had great things to say about you and the hunt you guys had.

Anyway - GREAT LION! It's good to see lions like that coming out of Matetsi!

That was it. He wanted to give a leopard a try but I needed brownie points at home so I cut the 21 day short. Luke is a fantastic PH and a really fun guy to hunt with.How did you do in Ch 1/2? I hunted there in 07 and battled till the last day to get an ele.Saw some monster lions and it just breaks my heart that Bots shut it down.

Great cat I have booked with Africa Silwane, also through Clive, for Buffalo next year. How did you find the accommodations, food, etc. Do you have any suggestions for someone going there? When were you in matetsi? Finally, I am curious; when you have 2 PHs, one local and one from Bots, how do you handle tips? Double it, split between the 2? I am not asking what you tipped, just how you divide it between the two.

If you stay in unit 2 the lodge is as good as it gets. They have electricity from the transmission to panda and it is a permanent camp in a beautiful location. The food was good but not great and I attribute my opinion on same for being spoiled in other countries that have more available. Clive is as honest and as good a guy as you can meet so great choice. He and Luke are very tight and go back to when they first started. Luke and Clive worked out the commission and between tipping Darren and Luke it all worked out fine but did cost a bit more. It was really worth it to have the friendly Zim vrs. Bots competition and both PHs worked their tails off and enjoyed each others different perspectives and techniques.

The lion had a big bite on his butt and right when we walked up to it after the kill Luke told Darren a big Bots lion kicked its azz and bit him as he crossed back over to Zim...that stuff is priceless.
BTW I was there from 5-1 to 5-11 and that is not when to hunt buff. Clive can tell you when they are in there and I have to believe they are thick since I have seen what they are like just on the other side in June July.

DR: Wonderful comments on the lion hunt and as I said before a beautiful lion. It's always great to be with you in trial or on the track. MMP

Incredible Lion!

If you have more pics please share!

Hugh

What a fantastic Lion.

I have to agree, Clive is about as good a guy as they come.

Congrats on a great Lion.

quote:

Originally posted by DawnRoar:
That was it. He wanted to give a leopard a try but I needed brownie points at home so I cut the 21 day short. Luke is a fantastic PH and a really fun guy to hunt with.How did you do in Ch 1/2? I hunted there in 07 and battled till the last day to get an ele.Saw some monster lions and it just breaks my heart that Bots shut it down.

We had an excellent hunt. The client I was with wanted a bull over 80 lbs, and passed up 2 and kind of flubbed a third bull over 70 lbs before we shot a 63 lb bull on the last day. We actually thought the bull would be around 70 lbs when we shot it, but it had a long nerve. Greg Butler is in the area now, and he runs an incredible outfit.

We saw the same thing with the lions. Two big brothers were at the skinning shed each night, and I got video of them about 2 miles from camp one night. Both giants, the video is great but kind of makes you sick when you know you cannot hunt them!

The problem was I saw only one broken horn buf and a buf hunter left as I arrived who struck out. I am told and believe we were too early to see alot of buf and ele...I was also told 800 buf were "borrowed" last year for restocking elsewhere. I am familiar with Bots across the border and you tell me where the buff are going to go? Bots has such limited quota their buf in my opinion are too tame. Now round up 800 buf and my guess is the rest are not going to hang around. But to be fair I really think I was there too early.

Thanks for the info. We had a permanent herd of Buff numbering around 500, which moved in a circle around the camp on the main Pandamatenga road in the south to the northern areas abve camp. We often encountered them in the open plains west of camp.

An interesting discussion we had at the time too - Sable numbers were not as high as previous times and buffalo were not always resident. We wondered if there was any conflict between the two species? You mentioned now that sable was good and buff were not resident.

Leopard were never present in huge numbers,and our quota then was 2. We used unit 6 as a pool block and amoungst all us operators we were issued dates when we could hunt there.

I will always remember with fondness my days in Matetsi.

Damn nice lion! Congrats.

Great old warrior. That is my definition of a trophy lion. Congratulations.

Very nice. Well done. May there always be old boys!A toast to you both from Montana. Jim

Excellent trophy Lion.

Outstanding old boy! Congrats!
Hunted Unit 6, 6 or 7 years ago No lion permit so we saw lions many times. Deliberately inserted ourselves between the herd harrassing lions and the Buffalo several times. Got false charged by the same two 4 or 5 year old males twice. Convinced me I wished to hunt them and did so a couple of years later but mine (Chirisa) is no where near as handsome as yours! Great Lion!

Beauty! Congrats...