Dear Hunting Friends
I hope this newsletter finds you well.
Some of you may know by now about this elephant bull that hit the world press and even made it onto CNN, some say that this bull is the biggest bull shot in Africa in the last 50 years, I can’t say for sure but I don’t remember any bigger bull being hunted in my life time. The international media has followed this story and attempted to turn this story into Cecil the elephant.
The international media and the beloved GREENIES from whom I have had numerous death threats since this bull was hunted with all due respect don’t know SHIT about conservation or African animals, they get emotional when they see a photo of a dead animal and thats all, they do nothing for conservation in most cases and could care less about the animals just as long as they aren’t being hunted. Hunters are true conservationists. I have never sold a hunt to a hunter that hunts because he or she hates animals, we all love animals, I have never sold a hunt to a hunter that would kill an animal to the detriment of the species, neither has any Outfitter or PH I know, in fact that hunter does not exist.
I have been repeatedly called by the world press about this elephant: USA, England, Germany, RSA you name it, all of whom wanting to sensationalise this hunt and drill us hunters, they wanted the name of the hunter so they could “name and shame him” I refused and still do refuse to name the hunter. The shame is theirs for their blatant ignorance and I know they are reading this. I had to take down my website for some days whilst this shit storm was going on. For the record my website and all photos on my site are copyright protected. We hunters are under attack…
Consider this isolated example Mr. Greenie: The Transfrontier Park incorporating the Gonarezhou National Park (where we hunt), the Mozambique National Park and the Kruger National Park have an accurate estimated elephant population of 40.000 elephants combined as the Transfrontier Park, we get +-30 elephant bulls on quota per annum shared between the 4 Gonarezhou hunting concessions spanning over 300.000 hectares, Mozambique and the Greater KNP (ANPR) I estimate get the same amount of elephant to hunt on quota per annum thats 90 bulls and only bulls that can be hunted from a population of 40.000 elephants how much damage do you think we are doing?
There are way too many elephants in the areas they exist, I am not saying that elephants are not under threat across Africa, perhaps higher in Africa where hunting was closed the elephant populations were hammered by poachers that moved in when the hunting companies pulled out and the hunting concession anti-poaching units stopped as a result, yes the Outfitters do the anti poaching in the hunting areas. Consider that in order for a poacher to get into a National Park to poach he would first have to get through the adjoining hunting concession, not easy whilst hunting Operators are on the ground, hunting Operators also keep Parks patrols under their watchful eye.
Now let’s be clear: I am no expert but I am rational, I GREW UP HERE in Southern Africa AND HAVE LIVED HERE ALL MY LIFE, rewind 30 years to when I was 12 years old visiting these areas with my father a hunter before me, Botswana was a forest, so was Hwange and the Gonarezhou so was the Kruger in fact they all had massive trees and huge amounts of tree flora to support the 25% of what we have now Southern African elephant population, fast forward to today and these areas are under huge pressure, the tress are all but gone, there is almost no baobabs left in the Gonarezhou, whats left is small shrubs and broken down trees that took hundreds if not thousands of years to grow, same in Hwange, KNP and Botswana now let’s fast forward another 30 years from today when we have 4 times as many elephants as we do today living in the same geographic area if not a smaller area as their roaming areas are diminishing due to human population, where will we be then? My opinion is the elephants will all be dead due to starvation and soil erosion if we leave them to destroy their habitat as they are, and with them all the smaller game, buffalo, lion, leopard etc also all dead or under threat and who shall we thank? The Greenies who in their armchair conservation wisdom and armchair journalism wisdom won’t let us cull OUR OWN animals or they withdraw investment to our National Parks etc.
You tell me who the killers are? For the most part the Greenies have never even been to Africa never mind seen an elephant, they don’t talk our language nor understand our culture. Yes I am perhaps getting too involved here but I have had personal death threats and threats against my family all week since this elephant was legally hunted, I have shut down my website and turned off my phone, all I have ever done is loved Africa and our animals same as you have my hunting friends.
To the press:
Did I book this elephant hunt? Yes
Do I regret that? No
Was I the PH? No that honour belongs to Nixon Dzingai
Will I tell you who the hunter was? Never
Do I think it can be done again? 110%
You say a bull like this has more tourism value than hunting value, that is bullshit he was a 55 to 60 year old bull the bottom jaw molars were all but worn down, he had spread his gene for the last 30 years, tusks like that don’t grow in 30 or 35 years if you think that they do then you better hit the books or better yet actually get out of your armchair and do some on the ground research. Parks entrance fee to try and view this bull is 10 USD per person a hunt like this cost 40.000 USD you do the maths, the Gonarezhou does not have that many visitors in a decade.
The bulk of the money 70% plus paid to hunt this bull and all other elephant bulls hunted in Zimbabwe and all other hunts in Zimbabwe goes to National Parks and “Campfire” community development projects for schools, roads, hospitals and compensation to the local villages whose maize, sugarcane and other crops get destroyed by these bulls year after year, the meat from the hunts gets eaten in every instance from tail to trunk. These are the facts and moreover I could care less if you Greenies and international press believe me or not.
I have always found it interesting that Greenies 99% of the time eat meat and enjoy the finer comforts like leather seats in their home, office and in their cars perhaps they feel those grew on trees? At the same time they think that their leather shoes, leather handbags and leather belts grew on trees? Allow us hunters to do the real work when it comes to conservation and provision of food for our family, without us that are prepared to kill to live you too would starve to death.
Anyhow that said I approach my career as a Professional Hunter and Hunting Outfitter as a person that loves animals and with the heart of a conservationist if that ever changes I will close my business and stop hunting on that day.
From my point of view I am happy to agree to disagree with the Greenies, you stay behind your desk and I will stay in the African bush.
Here are the photos of the bull our client from Europe hunted, the tusks weighed 122 and 120 pounds per side = a total tusk weight of 242 pounds. (Person in photo is camp manager):
Some “experts” will say this bull was pure luck and this can never be repeated, in my mind those same “experts” would have said this hunt was not possible in the first place. The truth is these big bulls are out there and they can be legally hunted, the place to do that is the Gonarezhou about that I have no doubt. The other place would be Kruger but that is not possible in RSA due to permit restrictions on tusk weight. If you think this will never happen again then I disagree with you, the Gonarezhou harvests massive elephant bulls every year this is the second 100 + pounder in the last 3 years, many in the 80 and 90 pound range are successfully hunted every year. If you want a chance at one of these trophy bulls then contact me for your booking.
On another recent hunt in the Gonarezhou a client of mine managed to hunt this very good tom leopard:
Also this 45 inch hard boss buffalo:
The same client who shot the leopard and buffalo also shot a very good kudu bull and this very good hippo bull:
Also on recent hunts since my last newsletter more South African clients booked their buffalo hunts in Zimbabwe, here are some photos of those RSA client hunts conducted between Matetsi and Gonarezhou with PH’s Simon Dzingai, Talmage Alexander and Stephen Meyer:
As you can see the late season buff hunts have been fantastic, the buff movement is really great at the moment in Matetsi and Gonarezhou, we do have late season dates open if you are planning a last minute booking.
I still have 2 elephant bull hunt permits left for the Gonarezhou for this year, please contact me if you are interested in booking.
As always thanks for taking the time to read my newsletters and share them with your hunting friends.
To all my German and Austrian clients please take a look at my recently updated and translated German website.
STATEMENT FROM ZIMBABWE PARKS AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
TROPHY ELEPHANT WAS HUNTED IN MALIPATI SAFARI AREA NOT GONAREZHOU
On the 7th of October 2015, an adult male elephant was hunted as a trophy by a foreign client through a locally registered safari company in Malipati Safari area. The elephant had tusks weighing 55 and 54 kilogrammes respectively. Contrary to social media reports which are misleading alleging that the elephant in question was hunted in in Gonarezhou National Park. Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority further dismisses the report as false and malicious since Zimparks does not allow trophy hunting in a National Park.
In Zimbabwe hunting is legally permitted in the following land tenure categories, State safari areas and gazetted indigenous forests, in communal areas under the Communal Areas Management Programmes for indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) and on private land. Malipati Safari Area, is part of the Parks and Wildlife Estate, located in the south eastern part of the country and adjacent to Gonarezhou National Park. Currently, Malipati Safari Area is being leased out to the Chiredzi Rural District council under the CAMPFIRE arrangements where communities will benefit from revenue generated from wildlife based projects including hunting in the area. Such hunts go a long way in assisting communities in the surrounding area.
The elephant population of Gonarezhou-Malipati complex is estimated of 11 452 elephants from the 2014 aerial survey. Malipati safari area is allocated sustainable quota and hunting permit for all wildlife species including elephants on annual basis.
Zimbabwe subscribes to the principle of sustainable utilization of its natural resources, including consumptive and non-consumptive utilization of wildlife. Wildlife utilization programmes and projects generate revenue that is used to develop local community areas and contribute to the improvement of living standards of local communities that live with wildlife or adjacent to protected areas and to support conservation programmes.
Carl Knight
Contact Number: 0027-82-749-1747
Email: carl@takeaimsafaris.com
Web: www.takeaimsafaris.com
