I saw this bull in the Krugerpark. please rate this bull for me and estimate the weight of the tusks

80 pounds and I would say there is about 60 inches sticking out of the lip...

Mike

I 'll stab at this one, and be the first to admit I am also probably wrong, but I would only give him in the 65 to 66 range. Thin at the lip and not a very old bull. His teeth should get fatter with age and probably a smaller nerve which one day make this guy a giant. I would have loved to have seen this bull though. I have only seen one that size in life.

I would guess 74-76 pounds if that - they look fairly thin

Which part of the park did you see him - I am guessing Satara area?

about 10km from skukuza on the phambeni road

80-90 depends on the nerve,I don't think he is as thin as others have said.

How about 82/80.

Boom, Boom!



Thats my double that just went off! Good bull

Id say 70-80lbs!

Ed

it fustrating to see a bull like that and to know he will die of old age at least i got a shot in with the camera lol

What will you pay for a Bull like that?

375 fanatic was there a notch in his left ear? - if so he could be Bidzane my guess would be ~80

ive checked all the photos and there is not a kink in his ear the tusks also looks different

I would say it is Shirahini

B.Martins

I am giving him 70 lbs minimum.

This outstanding bull appears to be middle-aged.Add 15-20 years and the nerve cavities should be proportionately smaller than they may be now. I'd guess him at 70-75 lbs.He sure is impressive!

Never hunted elephant and probably never will, but I would rate him a shooter.

375 Fan

That is a fine area of kruger. Not too far from that road we saw 5 Lion take down a Buff we sat there foe about 3 hours - we go at least once every two months

I am so glad we live in Africa

quote:

Originally posted by ghundwan:
375 Fan

That is a fine area of kruger. Not too far from that road we saw 5 Lion take down a Buff we sat there foe about 3 hours - we go at least once every two months

I am so glad we live in Africa

i work that section regularly from phambeni to lower sabie i have seen all the big 5 in that section .

quote:

Originally posted by smarterthanu:
....... His teeth should get fatter with age and probably a smaller nerve which one day make this guy a giant. ...........

Plea to the real elephant experts from someone who honestly admits he does not know. Do the tusks really grow thicker with age? I mean, this ele has rather thinnish looking tusks now, in the photo. But will the tusks ever grow thicker where they are thin now? My locic tells me that the tusks sticking out of the lips are in their final shape. Any 'thicker' tusk can only come from the growth point of tusks deep within the jaw.

Help!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren.

Its like a lucky packet you can gues how much but you will only know once you weighed them.

This guy is not a younger bull as suggested he may be, a quick look at the sunken skull is the first clue.

The Kruger elephant are generally regarded to have large bodies, which makes judging ivory somewhat difficult. A method of rough field judgement I learnrd was to multiply the length of ivory sticking out from the lip (in this case 5ft) x the circumference at the lip. This is tough to judge from which angle you look at the animal, but here I'm guessing 17". Doing the math we get a weight of 85lbs. Now depending on the nerve length, and density of the ivory there would be some effect.

Lovely elephant anyway. I have just seen ivory taken here in TZ some 2 weeks ago..in the 90lb category.

Thanks Guys

your imput is highly apreciated

While I do not know how much HE would weigh [not exactly important to me as I am not a poacher, and will not be selling the ivory]
the tusks are very beautiful.

I would shoot him in a heart beat.

i wouldnt say that is a very old bull , he is not gian bodied and doesnt have that "saggy" look of a truly old bull ..

yes the ivory does thicken , and actually grows exponentially with age , the older they get the faster the ivory grows ,

its always hard to judge froma photo , better photos make ivory or horns look bigger , we all know that from trophy photos

if you look at the truly huge tuskers , their ivory has very little taper and they are always very old looking , very deep wrinkles , huge heads and giant bodies ,

another interesting thing about elephant is that they neverstop growing , so an old bull will have a lot more body mass in his last ten yesrs than when he matured ...aqll interesting stuff ...sometim,es just the huge body size of an elephant can make you underjudge his ivory especially in botswana or southern zimbabwe where their body size is huge ...

i shot a bull once for meat for the pum,p attendants in hwange , he had one tusk and one brooken at the lip , the one that was sticking out was badly chipped and even though it only stuck out about 10 inches , went 40# , the other piece was broken at the lip and weighed 32#...he was 4 m 20 cm at the shoulder , just a monster.

i know that "duke" broke his one tusk off in the last three months or so ,, about 20 inches from the lip and the piece weighed 40kg ...thats 88 pounds!!

here is s video of him (if i can make it work !!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7ZglKMsfws

ps. he is estimated at 140 pounds a side

I wonder about these estimate formulas. I just measure one of the tusks sitting on my coffee table and using the very dark circumfrential stain which I judge to be the position of the lip I measure the distance to the tip to be 28 inches. The circumfrence at the lip/stained point is 15". Using the formula it would be 2.3 x 15 = 34.5lbs. The tusk is stamped 44lbs which is a full 25%+ higher. I know the nerve cavity has a significent influence but this tusk has a rather large cavity. The other tusk is 16" circumference and 22" length and weighs 39.6lbs which again is 1lmost 30% heavier than the formula. It would seem the formula is on the light side if anything judging by these two tusks.

zimbabwe ,
there are a few different formulas and they are definitely specific to their areas , in the zambezi valley where the ivory is not as dense and longer and thinner , length in feet from the lip x circumference in inches =pounds ?? works out okay ...in the south western populations (bots, zim, nam) the overall length in inches , provided the tusk is 18 inches at the lip is equal to an inch per pound , for every inch less than 18 take off ten% and for every inch greater, add ten %..

having said all of that , none of these formulas are meant to be 100%, as much as we would like them to be .... just ways to be somewhat close in judging ..

zimbabwe , if you take the overall length in inches what does it measure ?

Ivan,
I was not meaning to have any disagreement, I thought all these estimations were for the appraisal of the trophy on the hoof. If it's out of the skull you can of course just weigh it. Overall length of the longest tusk I have is 54" which under the second formula would mean the weight to be 38lbs which is still light but not by as much.I have no disagreement with any of the formulas just question their relevance. I just shot what I thought was a nice trophy and worried about the weight afterwards. While not very big by most standards here I'm quite proud of it and pleased with it each time I glance at it on the coffee table. Probably one of the most exciting times of my life. Standing on the edge of a herd of about 30 and actually shooting one of them from a distance of less than 20yds definitely makes the heart rate go up.

zimbabwe , guess what , its the biggest tusk on YOUR coffee table ... for me its all about the hunt , actually some of my very best hunts have ended up with lesser ivory ...

44 pounds in this day and age is a good trophy ,

your trophy is still just as nice ..

i always like to see ivory laying unfettered , for people to touch and appreciate ...

for all of us who hunt elephant , judging is the hardest part of it all !!!