June 2015 - Hunting Season Newsletter
Dear friends,

As we approach the end of the first half we look back on what has been a hard but in many cases productive few months of hunting. The “hard” part came about due to unbelievably heavy and late rains in April. Normally the roads and camps are open by end of April but with 13“ of rain in mid April all the roads we had painstakingly fixed were washed away and camps flooded for the second time!!!


Pans full with heavy rains

This rain meant that for a long period we were not able to hunt west of the Manyemu River which we could not cross. As many of you know the Manyemu River, which is the river that Mururu camp is on, divides the area in half resulting in us having to concentrate East of it. Getting stuck, digging and winching were daily occurrences for most part of the early season hunts.


Getting stuck!

We really like to concentrate on the elephant and leopard hunts early to mid season as we have found that the success rate on them is higher earlier rather than later. With regards to the leopard we are 100% been 7 from 7-all nice big Toms and 5 of them in day light hours which is wonderful. Looking through the records for our time in Dande when we started in 2010 we have been taking 9 leopards a year equating to 45 leopards and we have only had 2 failures!!!


Dave & Pearce M with a monster leopard


Tony T with Alan with his trophy leopard


Carsten J with another beauty


Jack D with his trophy leopard


Rich with Brian S & his fantastic leopard


Anders M & his leopard


Buzz with Odin R & his leopard

The elephant has been a hard year with 2 failed hunts. The Jesse has been incredibly thick and we are finding that the bulls have spent a lot more time with the cows making it hard to get in and get a shot as some of the herds have been over 150 strong! As things have started to dry out there the bulls have seemed to move off from the cows so we hope that the up and coming hunts will be easier. Having said that we have had several great hunts and happy clients as seen below! We are also 100% on our several tuskless hunts that we have done- all of which have been exciting due to the thick bush which has resulted in two of them charging!


Johnny J with his ele


Mike J with his ele


Jim & Joyce W - Excellent trophy bull


Buzz & Wilson H with his bull

The most exciting new for me this season is that despite the heavy bush which makes buffalo hunting difficult and at times frustrating we have shot excellent buffalo. Having aged all our buff since we started in 2010 we have seen a steady increase in age and our policy of shooting hard tops is paying off. This year we have shot buffalo that one would have been proud of in some of the best areas in Tanzania where you pay an arm and a leg! Combined with the large numbers of calves the last few seasons the future of buffalo hunting in Dande looks excellent!!!


Mark A with a beautiful deep bull


Trevor M and Alan with an incredible 44 “ Dugga boy


Johnathan C with nice 40” bull


Wilson H with 39 Inch 15 “ bosses dugga boy


Darryl T & his 41" buffalo bull


Tony T with “real” old dugga boy


Nick H - 41” Bull


Mike T with 43” dugga boy that charged!


Rich & Brian S with his buffalo


Alan with Roger and Marg G and a great 40” bull


Bob S & Cindy S with her buffalo


Blake and TD with old 38 “ dugga boy taken out the buffalo beans!


Odin and his beautiful 40 “ bull

In the last month the plains game has started coming out of hiding and we have shot some stunning Kudu. 6 in total with an average of 53” and 3 been 55 and over the biggest been 59”.


Cindy S


Tibor D


Blake with Mike T & his incredible 59” kudu bull

Alan also got a monster 18.5“ bushbuck and the hyenas thankfully have taking a beating as they are really affecting the game as a whole. Below are a few pics in general.























We are also delighted to have Chooks Langerman join us as Camp Manageress. In the 3 months she has been with us she has turned what I think is fair to say was a well run area into certainly one of the best run hunting area I know! It is a pleasure having someone as competent as Chooks in every department and having Bongi as her “right hand man” and over seeing DAPU has really taken the pressure off the CMS PH who can now totally focus on the hunting! Chooks is also a very warm caring person and the 3 wives who have joined us so far have loved having female company in camp!

DAPU
Bongi has now taken over DAPU in the North from Siraaj and has continued the sterling work. Hundreds of snares have been picked up this year already and a several poachers arrested. Muno is running DAPU in the East now and also doing a good job. We are very grateful to all who continue to generously donate to DAPU. Running an anti-poaching operation is an expensive ordeal and without the help from you all we would not be able to continue with DAPU and considering the 6000 odd snares picked up, +/- 30 meat poachers arrested, 6 elephant poachers eliminated etc. over the last 3 years-if DAPU were to cease to exist the Dande would end up been another wasteland-so thanks to you all and the scouts who continue to put their lives on the line.

For more information on DAPU please read our quarterly newsletter. Click Here

As we approach the second half of the season- we hope that we do not have any more unexpected rains and the bush thins out a bit! We look forward to having the next lot of friends join us on their hunts!

Cheers Buzz, Myles & the team!

Outstanding results. Your efforts with DAPU and discipline in not overhunting the buffalo and only taking fully mature bulls is paying off. I got a feeling I am coming back in 2016!

I got a buzz off those bulls.

Well done Buzz and gang! You know those big, old buff quicken my pulse.

Out standing Company! Keep up the good work. Many operators could learn a thing or two from CM with regards to Anti-poaching.

Well done Buzz and Myles. That bull that Trevor shot is quite a buffalo. Look forward to hearing about the rest of the season!

Another excellent season in the works for CMS.

Some REALLY nice buffalo!

Well done Buzz and CMS crew.

Congrats to all! Wonderful trophies all around!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Congrats on a great first half of the season.

Looks like Brian has some 'field surgery' done to his 'bit' eye and nose.

Great outfit from beginning to end. Joyce and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with Buzz, Chooks, Cryton, Nyati, Eddie, Justin, and "Mr. Concrete" (Cement).

Would not hesitate to recommend them to any of our friends.

Cheers
Jim

This is just perfect timing.
I leave in 5 days to hunt with CMS.
Cant hardly stand it.

Well done Buzz, hats off to your cape buff trophy management program.

Wow Buzz congratulations

Business as usual for CMS. I wouldn't expect anything less than top shelf from you guys. Well done Buzz and Myles!

Well done CMS!

Well done to all at CM safaris!!

Fantastic leopard and buff this year!!

In fact the best buff I have seen in hunting with you guys over the last 4 seasons.

Keep it up!!!!!!!!!

Cheers

Nick

Awesome!! WE HAVE ALL HAD OUR CONCERNS ABOUT THE ZAMBEZI VALLEY OVER THE YEARS.ALL CREDIT TO CMS FOR BEING PRO ACTIVE IN SETTING UP DAPU AND MANAGING TO NEGOTIATE AND EDUCATE LOCAL COMMUNITIES THE IMPORTANCE OF A SUSTAINABLE QUOTA.

Some great looking animals. Congrats. I'm sure that your clients have been very happy. Well done. Bruce

Thanks guys for the comments! Nick it has been a remarkable year on the buff in particular! Luke just shot another 41" dugga boy in the North- he seems to love the buffalo beans up there and certainly gets some big old dugga boys!

Well done Buzz, keep up the good work.
Gary and Jane

Great work on the anti-poaching. Those are some very nice trophies.


.

Great work!



Best regards,
Rinat

Congrats Myles and Buzzer! Like Guys says there are many that need to follow the example set by you guys in the Zambezi Valley.

Wonderful trophy's and nice work on reviving the area.

Buzz,
If you wouldn't mind what is the average age of the leopard's you take?

Awesome stuff. Some of those dagga boys are exceptional.

Well done Buzz.
Just goes to show what good management can do in Africa

Wonderful job!
These folks are the best

Nice photos and trophies. Congrats.

Great safari operation congratulations .

That bushbuck! Might just be the trophy of the bunch!