- Joined
- Jan 4, 2023
- Messages
- 233
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- 793
- Location
- Hoedspruit Sout-Africa
- Website
- thatsafricasafaris.com
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- 37
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- 67
- Hunted
- South-Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Botswana
One evening sitting around the campfire I was asked a question by my client. If you could only hunt one species of animal for the rest of your career, what would it be?
I’m passionate about hunting and every species has his own challenges whether it’s the tiny steenbok or a cantankerous old buffalo bull. They all have something distinct and unique that makes them special in their own way.
But if I ever had to make such a choice in life the answer will have to be the African Elephant. For me there is nothing more exciting than to get close to these giants of Africa and there is no other animal that makes you as a human feel so insignificant and fragile as these Giants.
A while back we placed an advertisement to hunt a 55-pound elephant bull in South Africa’s open system, and this hunt took place from 14 to 21 September.
On the day of the client’s arrival, we had enough time left to make sure that the rifle was still shooting straight and afterwards we went for some sundowners at a nearby watering hole. The next morning, we set out nice and early to see if we couldn’t find our dream bull. Because of the heat there were a lot of elephants moving from or to the watering holes. We even saw a single tusked bull that would have made a superb trophy but being the first day we were holding out for a special bull with two tusks. That night around the campfire we talked about the excitement of the day and shot placement from the varies angles. One thing that is special about hunting this area in South Africa is that you normally see a lot of elephants and you get to stalk quite a few elephants before you get to shoot yours. This helps a lot as you get to see the animal’s reaction, and we get to discuss shot placement which helps to calm the nerves.
The second day saw a bit of a cold front move in, and we did not see that many elephants as the previous day. The sudden change in temperature really deter the elephants from moving around and we went back to camp that evening only seeing a couple of breeding herds and not much else.
The third day saw the temperatures rise but for some reason we did not see plenty of elephants. The first two bulls we saw was just as we stopped to have some lunch. They were two young bulls and not a cause to get our heartrates up. We decided to move to the Northern part of the reserve but still we had no luck. Driving through the mopani veld we saw a bachelor herd of about 12 old buffalo bulls but still no luck on our elephant.
As we came around a bend in the road, we saw a flicker of ivory through the mopani branches. We immediately stopped to have a closer look, and we could see four bull elephants standing under shade. We could see that one of the bulls had some reel nice ivory and decided to have a closer look. We drove on past them and decided to walk in to have a closer look at one of the bulls. Fortunately for us the wind was already blowing in our favour and there was no need to circle around them. When we came to the spot where they were standing, they moved off a bit and now we could see that there were six bulls. One of these bulls had two broken tusks but he had was one of the biggest bodied bulls that I have seen in a very long time.
We moved into position slowly and very causelessly as not to spook the bulls and have them run off. For me the only way to judge ivory is to get as close as possible and that was just what we tried to do. When we got into position, we took our time to judge the ivory and decided that this is our bull. We quickly discussed shot placement and as our bull was standing broadside this would be a side brain shot. Probably the easiest brain shot on an elephant as one has a precise aiming point.
While discussing all this one of the bulls saw some movement and decided to come a bit closer to inspect. This bull came to about 10 meters from us before he decided to move back to the shade. Heart rates pumping and adrenalin flowing freely now we still had to wait to get a clear shot as there was a younger bull standing right behind our bull and with the fear that the bullet will penetrate through the scull hitting and wounding the bull behind, we had to wait what felt like an hour.
While waiting our bull decided to move a bit forward and that us the opportunity that we were waiting for. After all the wait and adrenaline, the client made a perfect side brain shot from 20 yards with his 416 Rigby.
The bull stone dead before it even hit the ground. With the other bulls departing in the opposite direction, we ran closer and gave him a second shot just for insurance.
After one ends the life of such a majestic animal and your adrenaline levels come down to normal you feel depleted of all your energy but standing next to such a giant of the animal kingdom just leaves you breathless and in awe of Gods creation
