Large bear trophy mounts

[Kouprey]

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Thank you for the update on the tusks, Wheels!
I always wondered about the whereabouts of those monster-tusks...
The story about this hunt is also incredible... If i remember correctly, the elephant sunk in the Nile after the shot, so Gates and his PH Blacklaws had to retrieve the tusks from under the water. Then he was cheated by a government official who stole his tusks... Somehow he managed to get them back and buried them in Rwanda or so before he could take them back to America... Anyway, his book "Trophy Hunter in Africa" tells the whole story.

I wonder why there is no photo of his two best elephants "in the flesh" in this book, only the pictures with the tusks. There was also a mounted elephant head with huge tusks in his trophy room. He must have shot several big tuskers.

Yes, Gates was a champion in motorboat speed racing and clay target shooting, invented the metallic silhoutte shooting as well. A very driven and highly competitive man, i suppose.
Elgin Gates was a wonderful writer and worked on several books before he died. He wrote for the Gun World Magazine in the 1960s-1970s as well and there are many stories that don't appear in his books.

 

[Wheels]

Thank you for the update on the tusks, Wheels!
I always wondered about the whereabouts of those monster-tusks...
The story about this hunt is also incredible... If i remember correctly, the elephant sunk in the Nile after the shot, so Gates and his PH Blacklaws had to retrieve the tusks from under the water. Then he was cheated by a government official who stole his tusks... Somehow he managed to get them back and buried them in Rwanda or so before he could take them back to America... Anyway, his book "Trophy Hunter in Africa" tells the whole story.

I wonder why there is no photo of his two best elephants "in the flesh" in this book, only the pictures with the tusks. There was also a mounted elephant head with huge tusks in his trophy room. He must have shot several big tuskers.

Yes, Gates was a champion in motorboat speed racing and clay target shooting, invented the metallic silhoutte shooting as well. A very driven and highly competitive man, i suppose.
Elgin Gates was a wonderful writer and worked on several books before he died. He wrote for the Gun World Magazine in the 1960s-1970s as well and there are many stories that don't appear in his books.

There were people that questioned if Gates ever really shot the two big elephants since there are no photos of him with them. As you mentioned, there couldn't be a photo with the one that submerged in the Nile.

The big ivory was evidently removed from the collection by one of the owners before it was donated to the University of Nebraska. Where it is I don't know. For obvious reasons, individuals that own big ivory are hesitant to publicize it. ie: One of the top twenty largest pairs of ivory happen to reside in a house in the town where I live. I am fortunate to have seen them, but won't post photos until after the owner passes away. As far as I know, there are no published photos of those tusks. Tony Sanchez Arino only mentions them in his book Africa's Greatest Tuskers.

 

[Kouprey]

There were people that questioned if Gates ever really shot the two big elephants since there are no photos of him with them. As you mentioned, there couldn't be a photo with the one that submerged in the Nile.

The big ivory was evidently removed from the collection by one of the owners before it was donated to the University of Nebraska. Where it is I don't know. For obvious reasons, individuals that own big ivory are hesitant to publicize it. ie: One of the top twenty largest pairs of ivory happen to reside in a house in the town where I live. I am fortunate to have seen them, but won't post photos until after the owner passes away. As far as I know, there are no published photos of those tusks. Tony Sanchez Arino only mentions them in his book Africa's Greatest Tuskers.

Very true, Wheels.
I know that many of Elgin Gates' hunts and exploits were doubted, even back then. His notorious world record Kudu, the legendary Argali hunt in Hunza and so on... The tusk-pictures in his books might have been taken some time after the hunts took place and some "field photos" were taken with mounted heads.
I heard rumours that he bought some of his trophies, or faked them to get in the record books. Must have been a big competition between those trophy hunters back then.
And the only witness was his PH Jack Blacklaws who died quite young and Jose Simoes, now also gone.
But all i can say is that he was a fabulous writer and it´s a pity that he didn´t wrote more hunting books.

It´s great, that you were able to see the big tusks in your town. Maybe you`ll post more about it sometime.
I also know about fantastic tusks in an Austrian castle. The owner has zero interest in Rowland Ward or the like...

 

[Wheels]

Very true, Wheels.
I know that many of Elgin Gates' hunts and exploits were doubted, even back then. His notorious world record Kudu, the legendary Argali hunt in Hunza and so on... The tusk-pictures in his books might have been taken some time after the hunts took place and some "field photos" were taken with mounted heads.
I heard rumours that he bought some of his trophies, or faked them to get in the record books. Must have been a big competition between those trophy hunters back then.
And the only witness was his PH Jack Blacklaws who died quite young and Jose Simoes, now also gone.
But all i can say is that he was a fabulous writer and it´s a pity that he didn´t wrote more hunting books.

It´s great, that you were able to see the big tusks in your town. Maybe you`ll post more about it sometime.
I also know about fantastic tusks in an Austrian castle. The owner has zero interest in Rowland Ward or the like...

Blacklaws definitely died too young. If there was any fraud he would have been apart of it. Thus I want to believe that Gates actually took the trophies he claims.

The second half of the following post is how I learned about the tusks in my town. The owner is a local businessman and I contacted one of his companies multiple times and that is how I was able to view ivory.

How does one sell World's largest elephant tusk? Seriously

Welcome to AH, and good luck with the sale.

www.africahunting.com

 

[Kouprey]

Very interesting, thank you.
By the way: The huge tusks of Pedro Camps-Salvat´s elephant (158 / 159 pounds, shot in 1975 in Sudan) were sold 2015 at an Auction House in France for nearly 163.000 Euros!

 

[Green Chile]

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Just a personal preference but I really like seeing the discolored natural color of ivory...and really dislike the polished all white look. I won't be polishing these...

 

[flatwater bill]

Elgin died quite young also, at least by my standards....64 I think. He once invited me to his house on Ross Ave in Idaho Falls, Idaho to see his trophies. They were impressive, to say the least. One that flew under the radar was a muley buck that he took in central Oregon. It was a very heavy and certainly a B&C class buck. A couple of years later I ran into him and his wife in Sizzler.....and we had a long talk about elephant hunting. He told me the above stories and he certainly seemed to know what he was talking about.....too much detail to have simply bought them IMO. He invited me back to get a signed copy of Trophy Hunter in Asia........but a short delay on my part occurred and he had the audacity to fall over dead before the signing...........we certainly didn't swim in the same circles socially, but I do believe he was a legit hunter.............thanks for posting the old foto...................FWB

 

[Wheels]

Very interesting, thank you.
By the way: The huge tusks of Pedro Camps-Salvat´s elephant (158 / 159 pounds, shot in 1975 in Sudan) were sold 2015 at an Auction House in France for nearly 163.000 Euros!

With French laws, can ivory be exported?

Just the little I know, ivory is worth more in ME and E Asia than in the west.

 

[Wheels]

Just a personal preference but I really like seeing the discolored natural color of ivory...and really dislike the polished all white look. I won't be polishing these...

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It is always good to let your ph know that so his guys don't clean them up. Also good to let the taxidermist know that as well in advance.

 

[Wheels]

Elgin died quite young also, at least by my standards....64 I think. He once invited me to his house on Ross Ave in Idaho Falls, Idaho to see his trophies. They were impressive, to say the least. One that flew under the radar was a muley buck that he took in central Oregon. It was a very heavy and certainly a B&C class buck. A couple of years later I ran into him and his wife in Sizzler.....and we had a long talk about elephant hunting. He told me the above stories and he certainly seemed to know what he was talking about.....too much detail to have simply bought them IMO. He invited me back to get a signed copy of Trophy Hunter in Asia........but a short delay on my part occurred and he had the audacity to fall over dead before the signing...........we certainly didn't swim in the same circles socially, but I do believe he was a legit hunter.............thanks for posting the old foto...................FWB

It is really neat that you got to meet and visit with him. He definitely would have had some amazing stories.

 

[flatwater bill]

Curiously, this small, once quiet ave in Idaho Falls, Idaho (Ross Ave) had the houses of 3 World renowned hunters. Happy to have visited all of their trophy rooms and to have talked with them..............FWB

 

[Wheels]

Curiously, this small, once quiet ave in Idaho Falls, Idaho (Ross Ave) had the houses of 3 World renowned hunters. Happy to have visited all of their trophy rooms and to have talked with them..............FWB

Now you need to tell us who the others were.

 

[fourfive8]

Thanks for all the interesting details about Elgin Gates! I remember reading quite a lot of his material over the years. While he was known for tinkering with some wildcats and work in the early handgun metallic silhouette game, I think his impressive trap shooting was what caught my attention most. It's been a long time now, but I remember paying particular attention to what he shared about the art of shotgun shooting.

 

[flatwater bill]

If I had been as wealthy as Elgin and his hunting buddy, Herb Klein...I also would have some impressive trophies. Money would certainly help with that. But I would not be a World Champion Trap Shooter. That accomplishment tells me he had something special. Agree with you @fourfive8 .....FWB

 

[Kouprey]

If I had been as wealthy as Elgin and his hunting buddy, Herb Klein...I also would have some impressive trophies. Money would certainly help with that. But I would not be a World Champion Trap Shooter. That accomplishment tells me he had something special. Agree with you @fourfive8 .....FWB

Wow, what great opportunity you had, FWB! I also would have loved to see those trophies and talk to Gates; he must have been a friendly man. Did you take any photos of the trophy room?

What i gather from your above post, Elgin Gates moved from Needles/California to Idaho, took all his trophies with him and built a new trophy room?
Parts of his collection was burned in a fire shortly before his death in 1988 (Elgin Gates was born in 1922). He sold his former house in California to the actor John Wayne.

Yes, Klein and Gates were rich men, like all of the Weatherby Award Winners. But we should remember, that many of Elgin's hunts in the 1950s were self-organised expeditions with not much comfort. His Argali-hunt in the Pamir Mountains took him to his physical limits. I agree with you, i also think of him as an "legit hunter".

Here is a photo of Elgin Gates´ trophy room - featured in the book "Great Hunters, Vol. 2" by Safari Press.

 

[hwr239]

Wow, "before his death in 1988, his trophy room was destroyed by fire". What a shame.

From speaking to the family, I learned that the fire was suspected to have been set by anti-hunters.