A Monster Namibian Tusker

[WAB]

Gonna be some impresive elephants hunted in Botswana when it gets going again

There sure are. I’ve seen some absolute monsters in Ngamiland.

 

[IvW]

Yip I think the average will be 70 lbs...thick tusked boys.....
Botswana definately has huge bodied elephant...largest track I followed was 26 inches....many places 18 inches will warrent further investigation....

 

[arizonajake]

It's pathetic this guy payed $60,000 to kill this thing, which is more then any anti hunter would ever donate to charity

I'm buying lottery tickets... ;-)

 

[Happy Myles]

As I recall, some elephant move back and forth from Botswana northward across the Caprivi Strip (Namibia), into southern Angola and back again. Ages ago we picked up a huge track at a water hole on the Botswana border on the Caprivi side and tracked it for two days, giving up when the bull crossed over into Angola. May not look far on the map, on foot it was a lot of steps.
By the way, the chap standing behind the bull in the first photo is PH Michael Mantheakis. He has some great concessions in Tanzania where I have hunted with him several times. All great safaris in tented camps situated in scenic wild country.

 

[edward]

in my humble opinion any and all elephants are great trophies.

 

[WAB]

Yip I think the average will be 70 lbs...thick tusked boys.....
Botswana definately has huge bodied elephant...largest track I followed was 26 inches....many places 18 inches will warrent further investigation....

I wear a size 10. When we decided to follow the bull I eventually took his track was two boot prints plus 2”. Crazy the size of those bulls in N Botswana!

 

[Brent in Az]

It's been 7 years since Botswana closed hunting. How much tusk weight can an Elephant put on in that time frame?

 

[WilhelmM]

It's been 7 years since Botswana closed hunting. How much tusk weight can an Elephant put on in that time frame?

A LOT!!! Recently checked out Johan Calitz’ NG41 concession and he himself said that the trophy quality has increased dramatically over the past few years.

 

[AES]

It's been 7 years since Botswana closed hunting. How much tusk weight can an Elephant put on in that time frame?

Based on where they are in their life cycle, potentially up to 20#.

 

[WAB]

A LOT!!! Recently checked out Johan Calitz’ NG41 concession and he himself said that the trophy quality has increased dramatically over the past few years.

My friends are sending me photos from NG43. The size of the tuskers they are seeing is crazy. They’ve had excellent rains and the Kalahari is beautiful.

 

[IvW]

It's been 7 years since Botswana closed hunting. How much tusk weight can an Elephant put on in that time frame?

Almost sounds like you mean all the big ones where shot before it closed....
Tusks grow throughout the life of an elephant, 5 to 7 ponds per annum, depending on area and age of elephant. Bigger mature bulls grow faster than small ones...

 

[Brent in Az]

Almost sounds like you mean all the big ones where shot before it closed....
Tusks grow throughout the life of an elephant, 5 to 7 ponds per annum, depending on area and age of elephant. Bigger mature bulls grow faster than small ones...

Not at all. I was just wondering how big the bulls would be, that were already big at the time of closure? Are those 60-70 pound bulls now approaching 100? If so, it could be a bull hunting paradise.

 

[IvW]

Depends on area food availibilty age etc. But yes I would certainly not be surprised if a number of bulls over 90 lbs are taken.
Botswana bulls tend to have shorter but thick tusks. Judging them is also not easy, diameter at the lip is most important as well as shape.
I know of one most impressive looked at least 80 lbs, then realised the tusks were not round but rather oval dropping him down to mid 60lbs.

Experienced Bots PH know how to judge them others often under judge them....

Never try to judge weight from behind or quartering from behind you will always over judge....