Young Lady

It's nice to see you grace these pages again. I bet you shot the ele with either "Thelma" or "Louise". Which is it? BTW, very nice big bodied ele. 61#!! I guess FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH will be your lucky day till doomsday.

475Guy;

Thanks for remembering my Thelma and Louise. See my post to Axter. Louise was sick and Thelma did the job!!!!

Yes, Friday the 13th will be a lucky day for me from now on!

D. Nelson

Axter;

Funny you should ask about my guns and ammo. I had intended to use Louise (my .416) and was even thinking I might be under gunned. When I tried to check my zero upon arrival to camp the Federal Sledgehammers (solids but pointed) type (I'm not articulate about ammo) were tumbling onto the target at 50 yds. Even at 25 yds. I could barely get it on paper. The shots were eratic. However, when I tried softs in the same rifle they were as accurate as ever?????? We brought the ammo back with us, and my husband and his friend plan to investigate. Any ideas from anyone?????

So I used Thelma, my .375 (Robar Custom H&H Pre64--this is guy talk, aren't you impressed)with Federal Premium monolitic solids). I love my .375 and have lot's of confidence while shooting it, but I never dreamed I'd be using it on elephant. As we left to go hunting that afternoon, Johan Calitz happened to be visiting our camp. His parting words to me, "Are you going to use that BB gun?" Thankfully, it worked out fine.

Regards, D. Nelson

Sevens;

Thanks for your kind words.

Re: The photographic people. There were 2 Land Rovers decked out in "photographic high seats with canopes". One of the men from the first vehicle wanted us to stop so that he could take pictures. However, several of the passengers (women) were crying. However, nobody got nasty about it. I just wished they had followed us to the village, so they could have seen the celebration there. Men, women and children came out with knives and bowls. It really was suprising how fast the carcass taken down. (When I was pointed out to the villagers as the killer of the elephant, the men seemed very surprised and the ladies blushed!!!) They really seemed genuinely grateful.

D. Nelson

The only things that could make a bullet tumble to my knowledge is a wrong twist rate or an undersized bullet. Seems strange to me--maybe somebody else has an answer.



Its too bad the women were crying. Theres alot of them kind that watched too many bambi movies and have no real idea what life is all about. A couple of weeks ago I went to a party and showed my pics of my safari. One woman started to give me a hard time while she was eating chicken. I said to her "you say that while your sitting there eating chicken"? Everybody laughed and she got a little embarresed and said something to the affect that she was going to "become" a vegetarian. She was in her 50's so I guess she better hurry up Oh the hypocrisy....

D, do you know Robbie Baarkman of ROBAR?

I see you used one of his rifles for your elephant.

I am a long time friend going back to the days he was an instructor at Gunsight.

He plated and stocked my CZ action 450 Dakota.

Andy

Way to go, Girl! Can't wait to hear the details!

Ladies and Gentlemen,



Pics from D. Nelson's recent hunt in Botswana. She will post the details below.















Congratulations on a great elephant. Those Botswana elephant are huge bodied compared to Zambezi Valley elephant.

Where do I start???? What an awesome experience it was!!!<br />Qorokwe Camp was great. Susan and her staff saw to every detail.<br /><br />Took my elephant on the 11th day of a 14 day hunt.



Saw a dozen bulls in the 35 - 50 lb. class everyday. They looked huge to me and I was ready to shoot. My PH, Terry Palmer w/Johan Calitz Safaris, made me hold out. Even my husband said he couldn't believe I didn't fire my first and only shot until 11th day... If I had known then that it was Friday the 13th, I don't think I could have pulled it off. I'm not the luckiest hunter in the world.<br /><br />The ivory weighed out at just over 61 lbs on each tusk. They were very symetrical compared to a lot of the elephants we saw. The carcass was taken to a nearby village (Had to pass through a photographic area to get it there. And that didn't go unnoticed!!!) But every bit of meat was utilized.<br /><br />The scenario was, we spotted him with another smaller bull not far from camp on a large, thick palm island. (Murphy's Law since on previous days we had hunted far from camp.) When we made our approach both bulls were very aware of our presence. We were actually trying to get both myself and my husband (who has taken many fine African trophies, but is now going blind)in a position to shoot. However, both bulls took off. From previous discussions with my husband, he had already told me that if the elephant I wanted didn't present an opportunity for him to shoot also, he still wanted me to go for it. (This is why I love the man I've been married to for 36 yrs!) We followed the big bull for a 1/4 mile the smaller bull kept running. We all realized that there was no way we could get my husband onto this wild bull. Now I am totally "locked on" to hunting him. Initially and at our second confrontation, the bull only offered me a frontal shot. Terry told me to wait for him to turn broadside, but I knew if he did, it would be to run off. He stood there making his mock charge. Terry and I had had 11 days of bullet placement discussions... I could hardly stand it. I knew I could make the 40 yd. shot. (I thought about shooting without Terry's permission--it's my belief that the person who pulls the trigger, is the one that takes the responsibility of the result.) Then, I'm sure Terry could hear my thoughts and, he said, "Go ahead, take your shot!".<br /><br />I can still absolutely remember this vision. The elephant was in palms up to his shoulders. When I fired all I could see was his huge trunk fly directly up in the air and then I heard a huge crashing of palms. Then everything was silent. Terry motioned for me to follow him and we ran into the palm thickets that were well over our heads. We worked our way around to the back of the huge body laying on it's side. He had gone down like a rock and his huge feet were just to the side of his tracks where he stood.<br /><br />I still get an adrenaline rush when I recall the images. <br /><br />D. Nelson<br /><br />Qorokwe Camp was great. Susan and her staff saw to every detail.



Ian Lennox helping us celebrate.

Congratulations! Some day I'll try to follow in your footsteps. I met Johann Calitz at SCI last year, you must have been in good hands.

As for the photographers...must be the paranoia I brought with me from Europe, but I never let anybody take pictures from game we shot. It happened on a few occasions that people wanted to take pictures of us with dead geese. Now geese hunting was bitterly debated, and I always expected my photo to end up on a Animal Rights poster or something...so I never consented to have my picture taken WITH dead game.

Frans

Well done Memsahib Nelson,

Great slayer of elephants.

(said in a deep sonorus African accent)



***


Like the story and photos, especially the group on the ele and the tusks and skull sticking out the back of the rover. You aren't taking the skull back with you are you?

PS Sorry to hear about your husband's eye sight.

D,


Congrats on a super trophy...I got my ele in the jess and as you said those tree huggers should come and see a the people with the ele meat...They humbled me giving me 3papyas, 4 ears of maize and a pot of beans and maize...
Very humbling...They have nothing....

I know what you mean about being undergunned with that feeling...

Mike
Wyoming, Pa.

Andy: Yes I know Robbie Barrkman from the OLD Gunsite days too. He built all my rifles: (2)-.308's, .338, .375 & .416 and a few for my husband too.... lots of pistol work too. Robbie is in part responsible for my Okavango hunting. Many years ago he told me, "Go to the Okavango, that's where God lives"! I found it to be true!!!

Nitro X: I'm not bringing the skull back only the ivory, ears, front legs and belly hide!!!! Found out a shoulder mount was about $50,000, I'll save that for another safari!!! YIKES!

NitroX or others: Do you know the term "Mamahodi" (sp?). I believe it is a Afrikans or Setwana word for Matriarch of the elephant herd.... (rather than old cow I hope!) As I was referred to in camp!!!

Retreever: The villagers made me feel like a heroine, while the tree huggers tried to make me feel a lot less than that. I know they are more ignorant than the villagers.

Thanks to all for the kind words, D. Nelson

WHAT A RUSH!

Mark