SOUTH AFRICA: Elephant Hunt With Paw Print Safaris 2015

[CAustin]

Americans may well find this interesting. How about a 24 hour KFC down the road from DG hunting!
I'm told KFC is more popular than McDonald s in South Africa

 

[bluey]

great ,slimey chicken ,that tastes just like salt , 24 /7. near everywhere on the planet........

 

[CAustin]

great ,slimey chicken ,that tastes just like salt , 24 /7. near everywhere on the planet........

Oh it's good stuff mate, I grew up eating it but in the states you just don't find them that are 24 hours very often!

 

[CAustin]

We encountered this son of Satan one afternoon. Had I had a shot gun he would not have lived to see another sunrise! Snakes make me very uneasy especially a Black Mamba!

 

[bluey]

glad ive never seen one of them bloody things ,
making my skin crawl just looking at your photo ........
son of satan , great choice of words..........
it actually looks quite fat for a mamba , maybe its just eaten ..........
how long do guess it to be ?

 

[edward]

if it is as big as mine was,try sleeping bags.this pic shows it with the legs folded under.

 

[Nyati]

View attachment 48373 View attachment 48374
Americans may well find this interesting. How about a 24 hour KFC down the road from DG hunting!
I'm told KFC is more popular than McDonald s in South Africa

The locals just love chicken !

 

[matt85]

i just got home from a great buffalo and warthog hunt with @KMG Hunting Safaris.

it was very nice meeting up and spending time with @CAustin, @Paw Print, @bassasdaindia, and @THIS IS AFRICA SAFARIS. who would have thought id run into so many forum members while going to hunt in SA.

CAustin congratulations on a successful hunt!

-matt

 

[BRICKBURN]

i just got home from a great buffalo and warthog hunt with @KMG Hunting Safaris.
...............

Where's the tale and pictures???

 

[matt85]

Where's the tale and pictures???

tired now... probably will create another thread later.

-matt

 

[BRICKBURN]

tired now... probably will create another thread later.

-matt

Get some sleep. We can wait a few minutes.

 

[kathy]

c Austin, congratulation on a AWESOME hunt. glad you made it home safe. Forrest

 

[CAustin]

Matt85 I thought it was very cool that we all got together for some drinks and dinner. It is amazing the we traveled 9000 mikes to do it. Saw pictures of your buff so look forward to hearing the story!

 

[CAustin]

So back to the topic if elephant hunting. Prior to making the trip I took the advice of a couple of our AH forum members and bought Buzz Charltons video on elephant hunting. It's a very instructional video that is a must see if you plan to take this hunt. As you all know I watched that video dozens of times. I felt that when the time came I would be ready to take whatever shot Pieter thought I should take. The only real issue was that the video and the shot placement pictures here on AH really don't let you see where the ear hole actually lies. It's all just general location. I shared with Pieter that not knowing exactly where the ear hole opening was concerned me. I knew more or less about where to look but not exactly.
So in the picture above Pieter had me aiming at the ear holes of some cow elephant that were crossing the road. I can still hear him saying to me " do you see those lightly colored hairs?" " that is the ear hole". Practical hunting advice and advance practice. Pieter told me to aim a fist span in front if those ear hairs for a side brain shot. That's what I did and it resulted in a one shot kill.
All I can say is Good Job coaching there Pieter!

 

[HeinrichH]

Was great to meet you all. Congrats on taking great trophies gentleman!

 

[CAustin]

Heinrich you were a great host and I'm sure we will meet again someday!

 

[Pheroze]

I am so glad to read that you had such a great time. Your extensive preparation and eagerness to learn are a great example of how to do it right! Thanks for the report!

 

[CAustin]

Watching elephants do what elephants like to do is quite interesting. The five teenagers pictured above are all young males that have been driven from a herd by their mothers and aunts. So this group was feeding on the bark of the tree you see to the left. They take the tip of a tusk and scrape into the bark until they can grip some with the trunk and rip it free. Then they stand there in the shade of the tree they are killing to eat the bark. Not sure how long this group had been at their work but you can see the results are very fresh. The taller fellow to the right of the group decided to advance towards us to show how big and strong he was. He shook his head at us and kicked a little dust up before his friends decided to leave him. In the end he stomped off to the right with a couple of very loud trumpets to indicate his disdain for the humans in the truck! It was the only elephant trumpet I heard while in the hunting area. Very cool to be there and hear it in the wild. I think Pieter and Heinrich said they were about 14 years old.

 

[CAustin]

On our second night in South Africa Pieter Erasmus showed us a sight we can not see in North America........the Southern Cross! What a glorious sight! Thank you Pieter for pointing this out!

 

[CAustin]

So back to elephant hunting!

Seven men, a bunch of knives, a knife sharpener, a couple box cutters, some tarps, a big tractor and a couple of trucks and about four hours and the big boy was all carved up. It was amazing to watch these guys work together to get the trophy parts removed and protected then go on to butcher the animal. Some of the slabs of meat weighed 40+ pounds and were thrown up into the waiting trucks.