it was several winters past/ we were in zambia on a hunt for leopard and buff. The leopard was in the salt already but the buff seemed to have an elusive magic to them
i had my set of o/u's in 06 and 9.3x74 with the xtra 20 ga barrels, and th3e idea hit us that perhaps some goose would be a good supper.
it was earliy evening and out ph t4rry von ruyen thught a slough a couple miles away would be a good place to sneak up on a couple geese.
I had the 20 gauge barrels on with some 3" #4's and terry grabbed a 22
when we came to the water there were a flock of geese,but behind us and on the other side of the road there was the scream of an elephant and not very far away. we were and the4 end of the road with nowhere to turn around and the ele was getting pretty close.
all we could do was to wait to see. Then a baby ele appeared with its mama right behind and quite pissed of. her ear were foldee back and her trunk tucked back. all we couold do was to try to dissuade here with a 22 and some birdshot
to out favor there was a large tree fallen over that she had to cross to get to us. and our messily arms
fortunately terry had a picture of biebs (no double from an old wanted posted) He flipped it out and the poor old gal stopped in her tracks. she turned 180 degrees and left the ara leaving quite and odor. poor thing was last seen in europe doing adds for some obnoxious company
by the way this story is al least 90% true

You were lucky....your Mossberg DGR would have certainly jammed :-)

In 2008 was hunting in the Selous and the gari broke down. Decided not to waste the afternoon while it was repaired so we would chase guineas along the river with a shotgun. Had one of the guys follow with my .416 in case something more interesting presented. Jumped a flock of guineas in the thick riverine stuff and chased them trying to make them fly. Outpaced the guy with my .416. Guineas ran and ran and finally broke out into a little vlei empty except for a cow elephant and a tiny calf. Uh oh.

Looked over my shoulder. Nobody in sight. Here I am looking at a startled mama tembo wa mtoto and a shotgun full of #7 1/2's. Not the most comfortable position I've found managed to get myself into. Fortunately, she was a good sport. Tucked her trunk under her mtoto's ass and steered him away.

When the man with my rifle caught up to me, I said we were going back to camp and I made a serious dent in a bottle of single malt.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
In 2008 was hunting in the Selous and the gari broke down. Decided not to waste the afternoon while it was repaired so we would chase guineas along the river with a shotgun. Had one of the guys follow with my .416 in case something more interesting presented. Jumped a flock of guineas in the thick riverine stuff and chased them trying to make them fly. Outpaced the guy with my .416. Guineas ran and ran and finally broke out into a little vlei empty except for a cow elephant and a tiny calf. Uh oh.

Looked over my shoulder. Nobody in sight. Here I am looking at a startled mama tembo wa mtoto and a shotgun full of #7 1/2's. Not the most comfortable position I've found managed to get myself into. Fortunately, she was a good sport. Tucked her trunk under her mtoto's ass and steered him away.

When the man with my rifle caught up to me, I said we were going back to camp and I made a serious dent in a bottle of single malt.

now aren't you the funny one.

In 2010 also hunting in the Selous while out trailing Cape buffalo and out steps a cow elephant and a young one about 20 yards in front of us. We veer to the right to give the small herd a wide berth, they were between us and the Cape buffalo. Well our camera man missed our exit and continues to walk toward the elephants. The PH upon noticing the cameraman was not with us went back to grab the lad by the collar to get him out of there. Later the PH explained to the cameraman that he could have been in a lot of trouble. Because of our wide detour, we lost our tracks and went on to another location. We bumped in to elephants every day small groups to larger groups. I learned that they can move very quietly at a fast pace.

In that era there were a lot of elephants in the Selous. We ran into them every day in 2008. Some other classic encounters. Love elephants. I need another one.

quote:

I learned that they can move very quietly at a fast pace.

Also back in the Selous in its heyday when Elephants were in abundance, we would on occasion wake up to find their tracks traversing the camp without any sign of damage; including walking past our tents carefully side-stepping the guy ropes.

Silence is indeed golden.