From an email from John Barth:



A true 100 pounder has been taken in Zimbabwe. Adventure Unlimited's best elephant outfitter and professional hunter -Thys DeVries- took the bull last week with one of his Russian clients.

The right tusk was 82 inches in length and 21 inches in circumference and weighed out at 101.2 pounds. The left tusk was 78 inches in length and 21 inches in circumference and weighs out at 95 pounds.

The concession where the elephant was shot borders the Hwange National Park. In the past decade this concession and safari outfitter has produced several bulls with ivory in the 70+, 80+ and 90+ pound range, and now a legitimate 100 pounder.

Adventure Unlimited is offering 3 safaris in this concession for the 2008 season. The safaris are 10 to 14 days and guided on a 1x1 basis. The total hunt including the trophy fee is $37,000. Hunts will be conducted from September 1st thru mid November.

We have one permit still available for this year, and there are lots of big bulls in the concession right now. The hunter who took this hundred pounder was going to take 2 elephant, but after this bull decided he had been blessed and finished his hunt early. We can offer this 2nd bull for $29,500 to anyone who can get on a plane in the next couple of weeks.

John Barth & Jeff Sellers
Telephone: 361-852-0537
Email: safaris@trip.net

This is a hell of a Bull. Puts into perspective some of the other inflated claims of ivory weight by other outfitters.

Jeff

Here is another photo of Thys and his client with the pulled tusks.

Tremendous bull and definitely a trophy of a lifetime. Those areas bordering Hwange have been very sweet this year. I could not believe the shear numbers of bulls we saw there in mid Sept this year.

Mark

Those tusks look every ounce of 100 lbs to me. WOW!

Cheers,
Canuck

Massive tusks! Congrats to the PH and the lucky Russian hunter!

I like the fact that it came from Zim instead of Bots. Amazing.

Great ivory! John can you tell us any of the details/story of the hunt?

That is exactly what I was holding out for in March…although 2/3's of 100lbs would have been gladly accepted!

Fantastic ele!

I've spoken to Thys just briefly on the phone. They are all still celebrating and we didn't get too much time to visit about the details other than the weight/length etc.

Don't quote me, but I believe Thys said the client had hunted with him on a previous occasion and taken nice ivory, and on this trip he was actually going to hunt for 2 bulls. When they shot this one they decided they had had enough good luck. Briefly he did state that they took the bull in the last couple of minutes of the day, and that it did not present itself for a clear shot, but he got a glimpse of the ivory and told his client to take it, and he did.

I'll speak with Thys again later this week and get a few more of the details about the actual hunt.

Doug Hidden, who hunted for Thys for many years before marring and moving to Alaska, took a bull in the exact same concession a few years back that was 85 inches in length and they thought it would make the magic number, but they pulled a long nerve and it ended up coming in at the high 80 pound range. Penny DeVries took a bull before that, once again with similar dimentions that went 92.

I think Thys, Doug, Calvin (who also took a big bull 2 years ago that won the biggest bull in Zim award at 90+) and Pen all knew that a hundred pounder would come, and they were close many times, but now they are justified in their claims.

And to set the record straight just so there is no confusion this was one of Thys's clients, not one of mine. My company just sells safaris for Thys and his team, and I consider myself lucky to have had clients fortunate to take some great bulls with them in both Botswana and Zimbabwe for the last 10 years. While I would love take credit for it I can't. I just represent the PH that did, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy who after many years of shooting big ele's deserves such a reward.

Regards,
John Barth

What a fantastic ele.

Absolutely outstanding. This is what John Barth has been telling me all along.

It is great to hear that the true, old warriors are still out there and can be hunted.

Outstanding!

Great photos. Thanks for sharing.

That is one outstanding bull!

Congrats to the skillful, well prepared, AND lucky client and PH.
Not quite a daily occurrence, these 100-Pounder's.

I had to come back and look at them again...Shazam! There are still a few out there guys.

quote:

The concession where the elephant was shot borders the Hwange National Park.

Hmmmmmm .. I'm leaving in a few hours for Matetsi 5 (which also borders Hwange) . Think his big brother might be around??

Lots of eles leaving the park now that the water's dried up and the cows are traipsing around looking for water and food. Mat 5 has both, so says Ron Oliver.

Hang around for the report when internet access allows it ....

Wow, just fantasic, incredible, did I say fantastic?

JPK

John,

Can you tell us which area in Zim bordering Hwange was this ele shot in?

The hunter is indeed a lucky man to be rewarded The dream of many hunter's!

Anyone know how old that ele would have been?

Thanks,

Arjun

It is so wonderfull to know that some of these elephants of that size as been eluding hunters for years. Face it when he was in the 50# class no one would have thought twice to shoot him when hunting in ZIM.

So how long does it take for tusks to go from 50# to a 100# I'm sure it takes a while. Just wonderfull I tell you great to see a beast like that going down to a hunter rather than to a poacher or hunger. Trophy of many lifetimes.

Double or Bolt Action rifle?!?!?


A GREAT day for dangerous game hunt-
ing, especially in these modern times!

Good stuff, nice to know these are not just relegated to black and white pictures in colonial memoirs...

Does anyone know when the last sport-hunted 100lb elephant was taken?

As far as I am aware Kai Uwe Denker's clients in Namibia have shot a couple in recent times, within the last 10 years!

Just goes to show you they are still out there... A toast to the hunter and a legally shot lifetime trophy...

How I wish to go again...

Dennis the best to you and get a lifetime trophy...
Mike

wow good stuff outstandig bull

Beautiful animal, glad it fell to a hunter and not a poacher.

Does anyone know how the elephant was hunted? My impression is that some of the areas around Hwange are hunted at waterholes, at night with spotlights. I am not suggesting that was case in this instance, I am just curious exactly how the elephant was hunted if anyone knows.

quote:

Originally posted by reddy375:
John,

Can you tell us which area in Zim bordering Hwange was this ele shot in?

The hunter is indeed a lucky man to be rewarded The dream of many hunter's!

Anyone know how old that ele would have been?

Thanks,

Arjun

reddy375,

What a wonderful prize!

My guess would be the bull was between 50 and 58 years old. The PH will check the molars and tell the age within one year either way. 58 to 60 is maximum age for the majority of elephants.

Both genetics and environment (food and water, minerals, droughts etc) affect tusk growth. Put another way, take two bulls both 55 years old - one could have 75lbs aside and the other 150lbs aside.

Safari-hunt,

This might partly answer your question too. Only a bull with the genetic potential to grow 100lb tusks will get there before he dies of old age. If a bull has the potential to grow 180lb ivories, he will grow far more pounds of ivory per annum than the 100 pounder, but he also then requires optimum nutrition.

There is no constant growth curve for all bull elephants (or cows for that matter).

Good Hunting.
Richard.

Author of: The Hunting Imperative; African Epic; Ndlovu - The Art of Hunting the African Elephant. (Available from Rowland Ward Publications and Safari Press)

Mr Harland,

Thanks for the imformative post.
So if the ele was around 58 years old and he went over 100# does that mean that for the past 25 years he walked around with ivory over 50# would that be safe to say or is the growth curve not constant enough to make such a claim ?

I'm very much interested on how many years this trophy bull eluded hunters ?

The de Vries boys do it again, perhaps the most consistent big ivory getters in Africa!

quote:

reddy375,

What a wonderful prize!

My guess would be the bull was between 50 and 58 years old. The PH will check the molars and tell the age within one year either way. 58 to 60 is maximum age for the majority of elephants.

Both genetics and environment (food and water, minerals, droughts etc) affect tusk growth. Put another way, take two bulls both 55 years old - one could have 75lbs aside and the other 150lbs aside.

Safari-hunt,

This might partly answer your question too. Only a bull with the genetic potential to grow 100lb tusks will get there before he dies of old age. If a bull has the potential to grow 180lb ivories, he will grow far more pounds of ivory per annum than the 100 pounder, but he also then requires optimum nutrition.

There is no constant growth curve for all bull elephants (or cows for that matter).

Good Hunting.
Richard.

Author of: The Hunting Imperative; African Epic; Ndlovu - The Art of Hunting the African Elephant. (Available from Rowland Ward Publications and Safari Press)

Richard, I'm thrilled you've joined us on AR! You are certainly someone we'll all trust for a "been there done that" opinion. Thanks for your input and knowledge. Please keep it up, it's educational.

I just read that this company is going to do exploratory hunts in Angola in 2008 and reopen it to hunting. They hope to get CITES permits for elephant also. That's interesting as it would give another access point to the migratory elephants around the Caprivi.

Beatiful! Congrats to the hunter!

What area did this bull come from?

I can't wait until Ivan Carter gets home from Zim in 5 weeks. I'll ask him if he wants to change his mind about no 100# ele in Zim!

quote:

What area did this bull come from?

My assumption would be Tsholotsho, where Doug Hidden had been hunting before he went to Ak.

Wow... good to see that there is still some big guys around.
Congrats to both hunter and PH

The bull was taken in Tsholotsho in the camp owned by Jack Andrews. As previously stated, this area borders Hwange Park and has a history of producing great trophy ivory. The down side is that most of the hunting is done at night while sitting on a water hole and shooting with a spot light. While in Zim last week I visited with Jack and he told me a 100lb bull had just been taken. For what it is worth, he also said that there were large herds of Buffalo in the same area. I guess there is no water in the park so the water holes on Jacks place are pulling a lot of animals from the park...

With all due respect to a magnificent trophy, but if that elephant was taken at a water hole at night with a spot light, that is not my idea of an elephant hunt. That is just my opinion, I respect someone else's right to hunt them any way they want.

Hmmm...kind of odd but I emailed the operators that took the elephant and they are wondering how I know about it? Not sure what that is about.