Tales from along time ago

Elephants Are Varmints

When I took-off last March for Nairobi, on my third trip to the Dark Continent, it was mainly for the purpose of shooting varmints in a newly organized farming area, where I had done about three months shooting two years previously. My first shooting there was in an almost virginal territory. Buffaloes, rhinos, elephants, and lesser game were there in abundance.

Varmints were fairly well controlled at that time by an electric fence that surrounded the cultivated fields. As time passed, this fence lost its effectiveness. Baboons and elephants became great pests. The baboon is very difficult to deal with, but all his foraging is done by daylight, and watchmen can at least partially cope with him.

The elephant comes by night, when it is nearly impossible to shoot effectively. He soon becomes accustomed to all the noises, spotlighting, and ineffective shots fired for his benefit, and by daylight may be ten or more miles away and still going. Appeals to the game department usually produce no results.

On my arrival there, two years ago, I was assigned native guides who knew about as much English as I knew of their language — practically nil. But we got along pretty well, and in no time were hunting successfully. At this time, elephants were seldom molested unless they were too near the crops, when a large herd could easily be forced through the electric fence by crowding from behind. Meat was shot for the farm laborers, who numbered well toward one hundred, some with families.

Arriving this last April, I found things vastly changed. The electric fence had become ineffective and had been allowed to go to pieces. The majority of the game animals had been shot-up to the extent that they had become exceedingly wary. One of the main crops being maize, corn to us, from the time the ears are formed until ripe, is a very luscious tidbit for old Tembo and the trouble is on, for a period of some two to three months. The elephants just can't seem to pass-up a field of nice juicy corn.

We would take-off at daylight, looking for fresh signs, and then follow the tracks until overtaken or it is time to turn back, at times finding ourselves ten or fifteen miles from home. Elephant hunting is well known to be very hard work, on account of the necessity for traveling on foot and the fact that elephants are almost continually moving.

There are still many rhinos in this area, since not many of them have been shot. Some of us thought that the sight of an occasional living rhino adds much to the landscape, and as they stay mostly in the deep forest they do little if any harm, other than scaring the daylights out of the native guides now and then, when happening onto them unexpectedly.

The buffaloes there are now very wild, staying in the heaviest cover during the day and seldom coming out except at night. Our elephant trails frequently took us through heavy brush where at times buffaloes would spook from very short range, crashing through the brush, and it was seldom that they could be seen or offered us a shot.

Snakes are an ever-present possibility, but not many are seen, since the grass is very heavy most everywhere. Snakebite is rare. Most snakes seem to be interested only in getting away, except the adder, which just lies still, if stepped on, might bite through a leather shoe, as he has very long fangs. Some of the world's most dangerous snakes are found in Africa, and it is fortunate that they don't seem to be looking for trouble.

Insects? Lots of ticks, ants everywhere; during rainy season, plenty of mosquitoes (which carry malaria), tsetse flies, which are very annoying, harmless to man in most areas, but kill cattle and horses. Houseflies are not too bad.

How hot does it get? Where I was shooting, afternoons it often got up to around 90 in the shade. Days on end it would never reach 80, and lowest I ever saw there was 65, early in the morning. This was during the rainy season. They claim August is the coolest month there. Many places where I was, mostly in South Africa, it was very cool evenings, and at such places it was customary to have a little fire in a fireplace to take off the chill.

How dissatisfied are the natives with British rule? I do not pose as being qualified to answer this question, but what I saw, leads me to believe that only a very small percent of the natives would have any qualifications for self-government. White people there complain that foreign publicity on this subject is ill-advised and not helpful.

What is the danger confronting a hunter in this country? Does danger lurk behind every tree? I will not deny that real danger may come along unexpectedly. After all, if there were no thrill in the pursuit of animals that can hit back, one might as well hunt rabbits. The danger is greatly exaggerated in the popular magazines, where they often have it played-up as dangerous to hunt the most inoffensive animals. If one uses prudence, he can follow a wounded buffalo or elephant with little danger. A number of very experienced hunters have been killed by elephants. I had killed eighty-four of these animals before experiencing a real charge. In this elephant-control shooting, one must use brain shots as much as possible, to kill them cleanly, so the retreating animals can be followed immediately.

At times, further shots may be had within a mile or so, or they may keep going all day. If shoulder and heart shots are taken, the first elephant hit will take-off, and all the rest will follow, then you have to follow-up the wounded animals and finish them off. With brain shots, at times several can be dropped before the remaining animals seem to understand just what is happening. Many times, one comes face to face with an elephant in heavy cover. He may have heard a strange sound or gotten the slightest whiff of scent from an eddying breeze. Anyway, he will be facing the direction of approach, and at such times, I made it a practice to fire instantly, so it was never discovered whether he was planning to come or to spin around and leave for parts unknown.

I used a magazine gun always. A double rifle does not suit my requirements for this sort of shooting, where one should have five or six shots available without reloading. The above-mentioned charge came after I had just dropped two elephants, and the third one came for me. I was ready and dropped number three without incident. With a double rifle, I'd be hard-pressed to get it reloaded in time, and there is little use to run from an elephant.

What about the carcasses? Very few natives in Tanganyika or Kenya eat elephant meat. It all goes to waste. Only the ivory is saved, and it's turned over to the Game Warden. In some areas, it must be a source of considerable revenue, but in general, not all marauding elephants are big tuskers. I might add that there is an ancient native taboo against eating elephant meat. Actually, it is quite wholesome.

Regarding caliber of rifles used for my shooting, I used from .416 to .505 Gibbs on the big stuff. Mostly used .450 Magnum, .460 Weatherby (the first one ever made, no doubt), and .458 Winchester. The rifle one should use depends altogether on circumstances. Much of my shooting was in very dense cover, and without an accompanying White Hunter. I liked to carry the most effective rifle I could handle, and that no doubt was the .505. If I ever go again I will take either a .50 caliber on the Weatherby case or even a .55 caliber. My friends are expecting me back in a year or two.

How long will the hunting last in Africa? Undoubtedly for a long time to come, but as the years pass, one will have to travel farther and farther. So don't worry about African shooting becoming finished in the near future.