Hello

Has anyone hunted forest Elephant, if so who did you hunt with and how was the over all experience?

Regards
Aziz

Aziz, I have not personally shot one myself due to the fact that we can not import into the USA. But as you know have been to Cameroon several times and could have taken Elephant in the forest if I wanted to. It is the exact same way of hunting as you would hunt the buffalo in the forest. You would either find a good track and track it or you would see it cross the road and then track it. Most of the time though, you will look for a nice bull track and then track it in the forest. It is a very quiet track and very dangerous when you get close. You do not see the elephant until you are right next to it and your shot will be 5-15 yards in real thick brush and you better hope you brain it, or you are in real trouble. So, it is a very exciting hunt and very dangerous at the same time. You only track the lone bulls as it is way to dangerous to follow a herd in the forest. If you have somewhere else to keep the tusks then I would highly recommend this hunt. Cameroon with Faro West is where I would go personally. If you like CAR better then would consider Club Faune.

Adam thank you for the information.

Regards
Aziz

quote:

Originally posted by safari12:
If you have somewhere else to keep the tusks then I would highly recommend this hunt.

So if I had relatives in RSA, I could just send the tusks there for safe keeping? Would they be allowed in if it was a relative they were being sent to instead of the actual hunter?

Hello Aziz,

The only thing better than bongo in the forest is elephant. I only wish Americans could import the trophy from Cameroon. Geoffroy's area is crawling with elephants and on each of my trips we had quite alot of contact. It is amazing how close we got to them, it is crazy!

Mike

Hello Mike

Did you hunt with Mayo Oldiri Safaris, if so did you hunt with them recently, could you PM me and give me some details.

Bulldog563 you can send the Forest Elephant tusks to any country except the United States, and you don’t have to live there, you can send them to a friend or relative.

Regards
Aziz

Our elephant hunts in the late 80"s to early 90's were in either rain forest or heavily forested mountains in SW Ethiopia. It was very up close and personal. 12 yards would be a long shot. These weren't forest elephants but big Savavnna elephants that migrated between Sudan and Ethiopia. It's probably the most dangerous hunt there is. We seldom took or recommended brain shots. It was difficult to figure out just what part of the elephant you were looking at. Much surer to locate the lungs. Usually when hit there the elephant just ran and we'd find them after a couple of hundred yards of tracking. They left a hell of a trail! If you had only wounded the elephant LOOK OUT because he would wait for you. Hard to believe no one got killed. There were several close calls.
Rich Elliott

Hello Rich

I wish I could have been there. Any chance of Elephant hunting reopening in Ethiopia.

I would love to hear more about those hunts. I heard they got some 100 pounders.

Regards
Aziz

quote:

Any chance of Elephant hunting reopening in Ethiopia.

Highly unlikely. Also when we moved out the Sudanese (and a few local) poachers moved in.
If there are any big boys left they are really smart ones.

We took a total of 11 that went over 100Lbs as I recall. One of those was a single tusked bull weighed 133# and looked like an ivory banana. The biggest was Roberto DeCesare's 146 X 144.
Here's a photo from the front of our old elephant brochure. Although it's "only" a lowly 98 #, it's till one pf my favorite photos from that era. The guy in the photo got really sick when he got home. Turns out he had the sickness the tse-tse flies caryy. Encephalitis?
The elephant fell in an unusually open place. They didn't have to cut much undergrowth to get the picture. And I know someones going to ask so it was a William Evans .470 as I recall.

Rich Elliott

Rich, that's a GREAT picture!! I think now would be a good time to tell your ele hunt story. I'm sure there's many that have not read or heard it.

John

gosh - that photo has character...

John,

It's in one of the next 2 issues of African Sporting Gazette so I don't want to spoil it for anyone.
Rich Elliott

Rich, that is a great photograph, I need to start subscribing to the African Sporting Gazette, so I don’t miss the story.

Well I think I am 20 years too late.

Regards
Aziz

RE
That's a beautiful pic of a cooperating elephant. You said he just fell right there? Man, the guy must have had his mouth open just right and moon/stars were in alignment.

quote:

You said he just fell right there?

Nah. He died with 4 feet in the air and we just rolled him over.
Rich Elliott