My dad recently returned from a fantastic elephant hunt in the Nyae Nyae Concession in Bushmanland, Namibia. He hunted with Stephan Jacobs of SMJ Safaris SMJ Safaris

Stephan has a neat set up where he raises an elephant skull up on pulleys and rotates it up and down to help the hunter visualize the placement of the brain with different natural head positions. He prefers to use the zygomatic arch (cheek bone) and the external ear canal as reference points. After that study they approached and practiced on several smaller bulls throughout the hunt. Dad shot his bull with one side brain shot from his .460 Weatherby. My dad was really impressed with Stephan and his abilities to track and judge ivory.

Here are a series of photos of his set up. I think this is great and one can never have a good enough visualization on where a hunter should put the bullet to make a quick, clean death.

Frontal



Trunk up, Head tilted back


Side Brain


Caudal view with shading showing brain cavity location


PH Stephan with nice bull


Dad with the biggest elephant of his life

what pictures??

Outstanding! Superb photos.

Mike

Can someone tell me if they see the photos? I want to know if jdollar is an isolated problem or no one can really see them. thanks

I see them just fine and very well done.

No problem here. I still think the best Elephant Shot Placement training is Buzz Charleton's DVD. Of course, Will's book is quite helpful as well.

Looking at photo number three, is it any wonder that a frontal shot when an elephants head is up and he is looking down his nose at you is so difficult to pull off. The length of bone you have to penetrate is huge. I think I will pass on that shot from now on,

465H&H

i was on my iPhone when i posted earlier. at home now on my iMac, they came up just fine. i have no odea what the difference is!!

Very educational indeed! Thanks for sharing

Use of an elevated skull like that is an innovative and effective way to teach brain shot placement. Bravo to the PH and the successful hunter!

Eric, glad your dad got the elephant he wanted. Kathy and I were in Namibia the same time he was and we knew he had passed up a good bull early in the hunt. Everyone in our camp was pulling hard for him to be successful. Hope to see you and your dad in Dallas. Mike