Big Elephant Reportedly Taken in Tanzania

[AES]

Who is the outfitter that booked the hunts and in which concession did they actually take place?

 

[Wheels]

I guess a better question would be what visual characteristics would you look for to age a shootable bull? Visible hip bones? Sunken temples ? If it’s his teeth would you look for poorly chewed/undigested foliage in his dung while tracking?

When an elephant starts wearing down his last set of molars his conditioning starts failing and he goes through a process of starving to death over a period of perhaps a year. The characteristics you list put an elephant in that category unless there is a severe drought where all elephants would be in a distressed condition.

Finding a bull in old age is not always easy on an elephant hunt. IMO, an elephant in his 30's is still a good bull. In places like Botswana and Zimbabwe where the elephant population exceeds the carrying capacity they need to be reduced regardless.

 

[Wheels]

So this ele would qualify by age as a shooter regardless of his tusks size(?). Or is it 40+ year old eles having 35 to 40 pound tusks that are recommended as trophy animals?

If memory serves me correct, an elephants last set of molars come in when they are apx. 40. They usually have about five years to live from that point but can live longer if they are primarily grazing. If they are primarily browsers, the woody growth wears the molars down faster. Much depends on their ecosystem and drought that can force them to eat woody growth.

 

[baxterb]

I guess a better question would be what visual characteristics would you look for to age a shootable bull? Visible hip bones? Sunken temples ? If it’s his teeth would you look for poorly chewed/undigested foliage in his dung while tracking?

Undertsand i am no elephant hunter, and if I were, I would only hunt one - here are the criteria:

Worn through the 6th molar
No hair on his tail
Deep, deep temples
Spine is very prominent.
His dung looks like haystacks
Head looks oversized due to body mass loss
He is located in an area far, far away, preferably deep in a swamp where the soft grasses have allowed him to live to 60+
He has at least one 100 lb tusk
He has scars from being challenged by other bulls
And when the 480 gr solid hit his brain he will have never heard the shot.


That is my elephant dream.

 

[baxterb]

If memory serves me correct, an elephants last set of molars come in when they are apx. 40. They usually have about five years to live from that point but can live longer if they are primarily grazing. If they are primarily browsers, the woody growth wears the molars down faster. Much depends on their ecosystem and drought that can force them to eat woody growth.

I think you are spot-on here. The life of those last molars are highly dependent on what they are eating.

 

[Spear Safaris]

If

Regarding this big tusker, a person (who shall remain anonymous but DOES support well managed hunting) contacted me to set the record straight regarding this big tusker. The elephants that wonder into Tanzania from Amboseli National Park are habituated to humans. Hunters can literally drive up to them and shoot them, as they most likely were born in Amboseli National Park which holds the most studied Elephants on the continent,and been exposed to photographic tourism since birth. This is NOT fair chase and does not live up to the standards of 99% of the hunters that I know. While what these hunters and outfitters did may have been legal… it was not ethical (in my opinion and that of many others).

Here is the back story according to my boots-on-the-ground source. When 3 big tuckers from Ambolisi Park were killed in Tanzania in the mid 1990’s, Tanzania and Kenya came to an agreement to not hunt within 100 kilometers of the park because those elephants are habituated to humans. The outfitterS who held that concession for nearly 40 years was highly ethical and supported that agreement. Then a year ago, the new outfitter was awarded the concession. Since then, these large tuskers are being sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Apparently, the agreement between Tanzania and Kenya cannot be found. So technically, they are within their rights.

BUT, what are they doing to the hunting world? These unethical killings are gasoline for the anti-hunting world. If hunting is banned, millions and millions of acres of habitat will be lost, wildlife will die, and the outfitters and rural people of Africa will suffer.

Also according to my source, there is absolutely no reason to burn the elephant carcasses other than to hide evidence and to stop identification that the Elephant hales from Amboseli National Park. While the Maasai do not eat elephant, they have not poisoned any carcases of domestic stock or wildlife for decades in order to kill predators, In addition, there are thousands of protein hungry non Massai within half an hours drive of the hunting area,

From my understanding, these new outfitters are very powerful people and difficult to go up against and there is a lot at risk for anyone who challenges this,

Note. The person who called me from Tanzania has obtained pictures of the burnt elephant remains and requests to the hunters concerned to send pictures of the trophies go unanswered.

If it is considered unethical Hunting ( Habituated ) Elephants that come from adjacent parks, how would we handle Hunts occurring in the Timbavait, Klaserie, Umbabaat, Balule, areas in South Africa?
Hunts is Botswana adjacent to Chobe national park or Okavango.
Hunts in Zimbabwe, Gwaai, Matetsi etc where Bulls certainly come from Hwanke.
Namibia, the list can go on and on. Not sure I would quite support this motion as Unethical.

 

[Excessexpress]

Something that is clear from this thread is that nobody really knows the full details other than those on the hunts and that the anti-hunting groups believe they have another opportunity to cast hunting in a negative light.

Speculation is unhelpful and although there have been some quite interesting posts here, continuing to speculate appears to be playing into the hands of antis. We know they visit here trawling for campaign material.
Until an official statement is made by a person or body with actual authority in respect of the events, I don't believe further purpose is being served here.