OR - Dande

Client Comment

The return of the Viking. After many years of absence I was back in the valley with no1 CMS team. Having a few hunts with Buzz under my belt. Hunts, not Buzz, including buff, ele, leo this time an ele bull was on the menu. Arriving Pedza the morning after arriving Harare from the cold north. Meet and greet at the airstrip with Ph MG who was conducting a leopard hunt with my fellow viking. After dropping off guns and gear in camp we drove up to Matombo camp for lunch. What a camp! The most scenic view I have ever seen. High above the Zambezi river where hippos and crocs patrolled the river. Amazing camp and a perfect place to stay a couple of days before or after a hunt. We did plan on that but hunting days were prioritized. Back to Pedza camp and met up with the master. The feeling of being in Pedza again with friends was priceless. Hunting. Day one. Elephant bull. They say you hunt elephant with your feet. Confirmed. Followed a nice track but the bugger was in musth and ran like hell. Buzz correctly pulled the plug on the chase and we left the eager bull at the famous Odin seep. #2 I guess was the same ordeal. Looking for 18-20 inch tracks and trying to close the distance and have a look if possible a shooter. Usually we did this mornings and afternoons but if the track got hot we would skip lunch and try I bit longer. Day 3 or so we did this in the most beautiful terrain with creeks, rocks and a few but easy hills. Suddenly a giant grey tank appeared 70 meters from us on a hill top. Grazing and flapping ears. Wind was in our favour so we managed to get in a good shooting position. Turned this bull down but was definitely a shooter. Long symmetrical tusks and a big big body. Many days left. Day four or so was the same program . Eventually caught up with a bull but turned this one down too. Found 21 snares put up by the Mozambique poachers. Bumped now and then into plains game but was not interested. Elephant first. The days went by quickly. Super nice camp, people, food , drinks and a few dodgy storytellers in camp made the time fly. The tracking game usually had us hiking 3-4 hours and maybe 10 kilometers on average to close in on the elephants. Lots of small herds of cows, calves and some young bulls. Daily probably 15km. Day 10, found a track we had seen before. 21 inch I think. Followed from morning . The bull rested 4-5 times but he got the wind of us every damned time. Crossed a road and we set up for lunch. Nice! . Criton and Nyati followed the bull and we ran the back track and closed in. The bull went into a herd of cows and was spooked once again. Crossed back down the road and we took gps mark at 5 pm. End of day. Again. Day 11 The plan was to have Nyati and Criton to do a sprint across some rivers to try to cut yesterdays tracks somewhere and we could close in. Of course because they walk a lot faster and longer than our Ph. Or maybe it was me. Criton did not like that plan. “Drop me off at yesterdays track” was the short answer. He wanted to end the game. Followed the track approx. 10 k I guess and we took a shortcut in the jesse to meet up . Same story. Messed up with cows, wind and bad luck. Bumped the bull several times. Started to give up and had a small valley to cross and I thought this was it and a cold Zambezi next. I was wrong. Up the bloody noisy hill once again. A carpet of leaves made the walk hard. On top we heard some noise form the bull. Ha had a pit stop under some trees!!! A few steps forward and this was it. Our bull. No time for shooting sticks and two steps to the left presented me with a nice side brain shot. Took it and that was it. 40 so km on track on this elephant and we won. The feeling cant be described in words. Those who know knows. Day 11 and probably 150+ kilometers. We deserved this success. We hunted elephant with our feet. This could not happen without Buzz, Criton, Nyati and Eddie. The tracking is simply outstanding . Show me a team that can track one single elephant for days. In this terrain. Once we got within 10 meters of a sleeping elephant bull!! Not many men have seen an elephant bull snoring. And of course the leader of the pack , Buzz. He is not a businessman, guide, entertainer or god knows what. He Is a pure solid hunter. You can feel that after just an hour in the bush with him. He really loves to hunt. So again thank you for the hospitality and keeping me alive and safe. I certainly will return if you allow me. The elephant bull was the main course here but we also manage to bag a zebra and a kudu. Lost one warthog due to my bad shooting but that is another story. If anyone who reads this is interested in my story please ask CMS for my contact info. Im happy to recommend CMS to fellow hunters. …I almost forgot. Our own appie Mr. Daniel Norman!!! He almost shot my elephant but other than that he is a very fine young rising star. I hope to share camp again Daniel, and hopefully before old Buzzer is retired!