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nainital
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posted
As per Rowland Ward�s records, 276 or so bull elephants with tusks weighing more than 100 lbs. is the all time harvest. Of these 59 weighed more than 145 lbs. The world�s record seems to be the Kilimanjaro Bull, shot circa 1897, whose tusks weighed 237.5 and 226.5 lbs. Some old accounts, as far as the XVIII Century quote even heavier weights. Several Spanish hunters related that at Rejaf, Sudan, they saw a magnificent pair weighing 95 kilograms each one, and W.Robert Foran shows a photo of an impressive bull shot by a Mr. Bishop, weighing some 190 lbs. or near it.
The King of Murripa, shot by Harry Manners in 1937 weighed 185 and 183 lbs.
My question is: which is the best bull of modern times?.
Wally Johnson said that he saw two 200 pounders during his long hunting career...
You, the African pundits, may have the answer..
 
Posts: 1020 | Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina | Registered: 21 May 2003Reply With Quote
Michael Robinson
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Here's a very informative and interesting site with information on the largest elephants ever taken.

Safari Press World Records Elephants

[ 08-29-2003, 21:13: Message edited by: mrlexma ]
 
Posts: 13396 | Location: New England | Registered: 06 June 2003Reply With Quote
rick3foxes
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posted Hide Post
Hmmm...

Bring up the pictures of the #4 and the #7 records on your screen side-by-side....

If Gates' tusks are within 10 pounds of Manners' tusks, I'll eat my hat.

Either the wrong picture is associated with the numbers, or somebody needs to demand a "recount" on a set of calibrated scales.

Ruark has a photo of him standing with a set of 110-pound tusks, and they are almost identical in size to the Gates tusks.

[Roll Eyes]

Rick.
 
Posts: 1099 | Location: Apex, NC, US | Registered: 09 November 2001Reply With Quote
<SkiBumplus3>
posted
Rick,

I also noticed a difference. What could the explanation be?

Ski+3
 
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GeorgeS
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Large nerve cavities will result in 'light-for-length' tusks, and vice-versa.

How tall were Manners and his helpers? How tall was Elgin Gates?

George
 
Posts: 14623 | Location: San Antonio, TX | Registered: 22 May 2001Reply With Quote
Crosshairs
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posted Hide Post
Rick,
How would you like that hat prepared?
Cross [Big Grin]
 
Posts: 337 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 15 March 2001Reply With Quote
Gatogordo
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posted Hide Post
Gates was well known for hyping his trophies, for instance, the obviously fake photo of a "doctored" kudu he used on the cover of one of his books. I would bet that Rick3foxes hat is entirely safe.
 
Posts: 17099 | Location: Texas USA | Registered: 07 May 2001Reply With Quote
CoonDawg
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posted Hide Post
So whats up with #5 & #6? did they get lost?
 
Posts: 271 | Registered: 11 May 2003Reply With Quote
RIP
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posted Hide Post
Harry Manners was a 5'6" giant of a man.

Elgin Gates was 6'6" or was that 6'8"?

Even so, Elgin is blowing smoke up someone's ass if his tusks are over 110 lbs. each. Somebody had his thumb (or foot) on the scales on that weigh-in with Elgin.
 
Posts: 28032 | Location: KY | Registered: 09 December 2001Reply With Quote
<J Brown>
posted
Here is what I posted a few months back in regards to Gates 180 pounder:

quote:
I looked at the world record gallery on the Safari Press website and I found the Elephant listing to be quite interesting http://www.safaripress.com/shop/page334.html . What I noticed was that the #3 and #7 tusks look far too small to weigh as much as is claimed.

Now I am a novice at this but I really have a hard time believing the #3 tusks weigh 192 and 189lbs, they seem far too thin to carry this type of weight. Even more hard to believe are the #7 tusks belonging to Elgin Gates weighing a claimed 176lbs and 181lbs. Gates' tusks are listed in Rowland Ward's which does remove some of my doubt but then again Gates did have some of his triphies delisted because of inconsistencies.

If I had to guess I wouls say the weights of both the #3 and #7 sets have been overstated by at least 50%.

I am interested to hear if others think these tusk weights are correct.

Jason
and
quote:
I measured the length of Gates' tusks along the curve on my computer screen and compared it to his height and going by the stated length of the tusks(8'11") Gates would have to be darn close to your seven foot estimate.

Looking at these trophies #1, #2 AND #4 look HUGE, almost unreal. These tusks are so huge it is hard to picture a live elephant carrying them. #3 and #7 on the other hand look big but lack the eye-poping feel of the others.

Jason
and
quote:
When Craig Boddington was a young man he met and was befriended by Elgin Gates at at a shooting event in Hawaii. He said Gates loaned him a fine shotgun so he could shoot. In his own words Boddington said he will always have a soft spot for Elgin Gates.

That said Boddington admits in his book Where Lions Roar that Gates had three trophies (which at the time of entry were new records for Mozambique) pulled due to doubts about their origin. According to Gates the kudu, nyala and sable he entered as new records were all taken in one safari in Mozambique. The trophy that threw up the red flag was the 56" sable. Three all time records in one safari was sure to raise some eyebrows but a 56" sable from mozambique was just too hard to believe.


[ 08-30-2003, 18:52: Message edited by: J Brown ]
 
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jorge
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The outward appearance of tusks can be deceiving. The real "maker" when it comes to tusks lies in the size of the nerve inside the tusk. If the nerve is a long one, it detracts from the weight of the tusk so Gates' tusks might not seem to weigh the stated poundage.

Maybe Craig can post to the validity of your statement, but from what I have been able to read and speak with people that new him, his trophies were legit. I'm also happy that he used a 300 Weatherby [Smile] jorge
 
Posts: 7145 | Location: Orange Park, Florida. USA | Registered: 22 March 2001Reply With Quote
Nickudu
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In a given elephant tusk, nerve cavity variation is 10lbs., at most. Because tusks are kidney shaped, trying to estimate their weight from a single perspective is difficult, at best. I have no doubt as to the validity of the weight of Mr. Gates tusks.

[ 09-01-2003, 07:45: Message edited by: Nickudu ]
 
Posts: 11017 | Registered: 14 December 2000Reply With Quote
<J Brown>
posted
quote:
Maybe Craig can post to the validity of your statement, but from what I have been able to read and speak with people that new him, his trophies were legit. I'm also happy that he used a 300 Weatherby jorge
Jorge
You can read what CB wrote about Gates in the Mozambique chapter of "Where Lions Roar".

Jason
 
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nainital
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Thanks to you all for the very interesting data.
I must add that the weights of the number 1 were taken when "fresh". Thus the present 226.5 and 214.5 are correct and refer to the same animal.
 
Posts: 1020 | Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina | Registered: 21 May 2003Reply With Quote
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