Check it out for yourself on Dakota Arms website in the trophy room section, I don't know if its posed but it sure got my attention and brought new meaning to hearing that with a charging elephant any gun feels too small!

YIKES!
...and DON'T MISS!

Good Lord! Now who has the biggest cajones? The guy with the rifle or the one with the camera?

I would rather carry the gun than the camera in that situation.

I wonder. The elephants ears are out stretched.

Is this a bluff charge or a real one?

To me it looks like a bluff where the elephant has just stopped. But real close! Some camera men have nerves of steel too.

Any experienced elephant thumpers here?

Some buddy who knows?

[ 09-05-2002, 02:53: Message edited by: NitroExpress.com ]

Great Photo! I think it is staged. Elephant skin is too perfect. Perhaps a mount? At any rate a great conversation piece! I'd like one with my double!

Rusty
We band of brothers!

If it is real, that is cutting it kinda close.

If for real, and shoots for the brain as in the photo, he's going to miss!

To me, the elephant looks plenty real amd alive enough. But it's probably a faked composite.

Or maybe the ele won this one!

Will

If this isn't a composite, it will make absolutely no difference what rifle this guy is useing, a push feed, a CRF, a double rifle, there are only two requirements here! It better fire, and it better hit the brain dead center! Then he better clear out "NOW" before he sees what it feels like to have a dead elephant on his chest!

MAN!!!!!!!!! I don't want to be anyplace close to this operation!

[ 09-05-2002, 05:40: Message edited by: MacD37 ]

They may have superimposed two images, an elephant and then added the hunter aiming.

If they have they have done a good job of it. Notice the focus on both the elephant and the hunter is very good. The end of the barrel AND the elephant are in focus. (maybe they were than close!). The shy is also opaque. Which could also be real for a close focus.

Digital re-imaging is pretty common now in publishing so much some argue all re-engineered photos should be forced to show a small symbol so as to not mislead.

Of course the photo could be REAL. I wonder if the photo click or wirr finished the charge (and the huunter)?

*****

Now where is that photo with me sitting on my 170 lb tusker and the one with two black maned lions .......

Will said "If for real, and shoots for the brain as in the photo, he's going to miss!"

Can anyone put a dot on a copy of the elephant to show the aiming point for the brain.

Looking at its eye and ear holes, it looks pretty right. Maybe a little too high considering the close angle.

Any expert buddy who knows?

[ 09-05-2002, 08:54: Message edited by: NitroExpress.com ]

Just like to thank you for posting such an interesting photo. I really enjoyed looking at it, especially the first glance.

470 Mbogo

If this photo is faked (which I tend to believe is the case) I'll bet the photo was staged after the elephant was really shot. The elephant is in a sphinx position, trackers are holding the ears out and the head has been lifted and held up with a large stone or log. If you have a copy of the latest Cold Steel Knives catalog, Lynn Thompson's Elephant is displayed in such a way. The hunter then stands (or more likely from the angle displayed, kneels) in front of the beast (elbow extended nicely to help conceal anything under the chin of the elephant) and the photo is snapped. I would bet dollars to doughnuts on this one. Doesn't the head of this pachyderm look really low relative to the hunter to not be able to see the top of its back above it's head? This method of "faking the photo" explains why all the shadows and focusing are as they should be. Still a neat photo, I think ESPECIALLY if the animal was really taken while charging and the hunter was trying to recreate it for a snap shot.

Nitro,

Man, I think at ten feet or so, as pictured above, even if the pachyderm is bluffing, he's getting whacked because I'm gonna consider it a REAL charge! I was hunting in a big game area in South Africa last year and ran into this about a half dozen times in 6 days. We were bluff charged by everything from irate cows to a really NICE 60 pounder or so. My game ranger would raise up his FN-FAL and I would raise my rifle with the thought that I'm not gonna fire until he does so I can avoid coughing up the $30K trophy fee on these premium elephants (a 96x75 pounder was taken there this year). This guy never shot and one of the cows only veered off her charge at about 25-30 feet! She then trotted behind us at about 20 feet as we busted ass outta there! Scary experience . . . but GOD I wanna do it again!

Regards,

JohnTheGreek

[ 09-05-2002, 09:13: Message edited by: JohnTheGreek ]

Another option is the photographer is not CLOSE behind the hunter but some distance behind.

He is using a telephoto which creates the perspective of the object in the foreground being close to the object further away.

This would explain the focus issue and they may still be in the same focal plain, even though they are still relatively far apart (not that far apart though but not 10 feet - maybe 30-40 feet)

This also would explain the relative lack of height and angle of the elephant's head to the hunter. Because the elephant is further away. I have been 10 feet away from a live elephant in the wild than that and you do have to look up more than in the photo (and I DIDN'T have a rifle or any backup. I did have a sizable weapon in my hand, but I zipped that away quickly when the elephant looked over the bush at me )

Personally this answers all of my questions and is how I think the photo was taken.

[ 09-05-2002, 09:27: Message edited by: NitroExpress.com ]

Nitro,

I am no photo expert when it comes to lenses and such but I think you might be on to something. with the lens creating the illusion of proximity between the ele and the hunter and simultaneously explaining the relatively low position of the elephants head. If that critter is alive, I would bet you are right! Where do I hire this photographer for my next safari? Do you think he can make my 53 inch Kudu a 70 inch Kudu? Hey, maybe he should talk to my girlfriend and show her a picture of my new 15 inch . . .

regards,

JohnTheGreek

Telephoto lens shorten the depth of field.
they are not nearly as close as it appears.

The Hunter is identified as a Dr. McAllister on the Dakota Arms site. There is another photo of a buff trying to get up as he approaches taken over the same shoulder that looks like it is taken with a telephoto. Different hat,same shirt same rifle I think. I'll try to import the image. [img] www.dakotaarms.com/images/homepage/March2002/shhotbuffsm.jpg [/img]

[ 09-05-2002, 18:02: Message edited by: KevinNY ]

If this is an actual photo as it is happening, this guy is going to die! The bolt on the rifle is not even closed!!!

Not sure there is even a bolt IN the rifle.
Something definately fishy about this photo.

I am pretty sure this is staged.

No dirt on the elephant. No dirt on the hunter. No sweat stain in the hat band area. Sleaves on shirt are rolled perfectly.

Just a little of my old photo interpreation skills coming out.

I don't think it's a telephoto shot. I say that because it's difficult to imagine the barrel and elephant being in focus, being some distance apart, and yet the shooter's arm is quite blurry. If we have 10-?? feet of depth of field with the gun and elephant, the arm wouldn't be that out of focus. My opinion: The cameraman is reasonably close to the shooter, and the shooter is VERY close to the elephant. And I agree that it's staged.

Don't understand why there's no bolt in the gun.

Pertinax

If you check out the Dakota Arms sight, where this picture came from, take a look at the other photo from this guy. It's even scarier, and I don,t think it's staged.

DGK

Yea, if this buff get up it could get ugly...

Well, I'd say the buff picture is real. But the elephant is a posed, staged photograph. Like Mike said, too perfect, no dirt on the hide. Photographer is in the exact postion for correct alignment. I keep hearing. . ."If it looks too good to be true. . .."
Too many perfect things and one real bad one.

What is the guy doing sighting thru his scope at that range? Looking for a particular pore in the skin to shoot?

Maybe this guy can start a business like the photographers at the rodeos where you can sit on a stuffed bull and have your picture taken!
Just make the rounds of the hunting shows instead?
LOL! Well it's still a cool picture!

Rusty
We band of brothers!

Something about the Ele tells me that its not charging but rather hanging out, maybe the eyes, I dont know. I say its superimposed.

If it is real then I know what happened, the hunter got distracted by the huge insect hoovering over the Elephants head allowing the Ele to sneak up on him. If the guy survived its a given that his shorts did not..

I say the elephant photo could be taken in a zoo.

If you follow the line of the rifle back to the shoulder of the man - I would say it is not on his shoulder and so he is not ready to shoot yet.

Assuming he would not have waited for the ele to step on him to get ready to shoot - I'll say it is fake.

For sure I wouldn't wait get ready to shoot or take the rifle from the shoulder till the ele is down or gone out of sight!

cchunter,

I showed this to a co-worker, and the first thing he said was, " How did they screen out the bars?",

[ 09-06-2002, 15:37: Message edited by: 375hnh ]

Where's Mark Sulivan? Maybe he can help us out here.

[ 09-06-2002, 22:28: Message edited by: Bear Claw ]

The rifle in the elephant photo looks very awkward to me. Why are the scope mounts so high? It appears from the photo that the stock is way down on his chest to see through the scope. Is his cheek even touching the stock? I don't see a bolt in the rifle either? it's right handed but the bolt is missing or has no handle??? For starters this should show how not to build a DG gun in my opinion! Maybe just the angles and the Photo quality or "trickery" used. I still think scope mounts that high, or a stock that low are bad on a DG gun.

[ 09-06-2002, 22:07: Message edited by: JJHACK ]

Here's a question for all you nyati experts...

In the buffalo picture, what would you do next?

It looks like he has a choice of:

1. Pumping a round into the chest NOW.

2. Waiting till it gets up so he can get a shot into the brain.

3. Try to sneak a shot now into the spine, even though it's on the opposite side.

We've heard plenty of stories about what good a chest shot is on a wounded charging buff.

So what would you do?

(We can skip the comments about why is he so close without knowing the buff isn't dead, and where is the PH right now.)

I think, in all my experience of hunting DG on my sofa, that I would get a good grip and prepare myself for the one and only one chance at a brain shot.

Rick.

rick3foxes,
the one thing you forgot....
Taunt the bull to get to it's feet and charge so you can get a REAL GOOD picture of you stopping it in mid-charge.
Me, I like your option #1 and then put a second and quite possibly a third shot in the boiler room through the shoulder.

rick,

Assuming I have been smart enough to fully reload the rifle before stalking up on a wounded animal, I would drop one, maybe two rounds into the boiler room as insurance tha the animal will bleed out and if I'm gonna get stomped, he may die in the process and not get me tooo bad (I am a BIG fan of buying insurance before I need it). After the first of these rounds, i the beast seems immediately bent on getting up, I would raise the point of impact and shoot for the spine. Even at an awkward angle I should have no problem with penetration as I would have hopefully been smart enough to load solids for the follow-up. A single round slightly to the north of his right eye might not be a bad idea either!

JMHO,

JohnTheGreek

Rick,

I would take three gian steps to the right put my cross hairs just above his eye (bullet will impact low) and pull the trigger.

That should give you access to the cranial vault. I would immediately reload and take whatever shot presented itself.