Watched a repeat of the episode of Dangerous Game where Jeff Rann is hunting two elephant bulls. On both bulls, Jeff misses his frontal brain shot. Kudos to Jeff and the Dangerous Game crew for showing the hunts "like it is" sometimes. No question that the frontal brain shot on an elephant is one of the most difficult shots in hunting to pull off successfully. Which brings us to the poll question. Would welcome the views of PHs that can offer their perspectives based on their experiences in the field.

Question:
What percentage of attempted frontal elephant brain shots are successful?

Choices:
Less than 20%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
More than 80%

 

To be a successful frontal brain shot does it have to be a one shot kill? I have missed the frontal brain shot a couple of times, but my quick follow up shops immediately dropped both elephants within five yards of the first shot.

Mike, I wonder also if bullet design contributes to some of the failures as well? ie Round Nose deviating from straight line penetration when the shot was placed correctly.

Mike, my one and only frontal brain shot dropped the bull where he stood but did not kill him instantly.

I think my shot grazed the bottom of the bull's brain and severed his spine.

It was successful, in that the bull hit the ground hard and never again regained his feet. But I had to fire follow up shots in order to finish the job.

IMHO, the biggest problem with frontal brain shots is the high miss, which is not fatal and which can lead to a lost elephant.

On the frontal brain shot, if one must miss, it's far better to miss low than high, as a low miss will hit the spine.

Mike,

You need to define "successful" before I can answer your question. Do you mean, instantly killed, knocked down and out cold, stopped the charge but not knocked down or just knocked down but gets back up fairly quickly?

465H&H

My first Elephant shot in the Doma area of Zimbabwe was not a sucess. The elephant was about 25 ft from the PH,tracker and myself. He was raising the trunk and sniffing the air. He obviously knew we were there. The PH was not really very experienced on Elephant but the tracker was an old hand at it. I was reluctant to take the frontal shot but they kept urging me to do it as the Ekephant was probably going to sniff us out any minute. I was using a Mdl 70 in 375H7H loaded with 300gr Woodleigh solid handloads. Scope was a Leupold 1.5-5 Vari XIII and the combination was deadly accurate in the extreme. We were in head high grass that was in our particular area rather thin,but thick enough he couldn't see us. I finally took the shop when he lowered his trunck. He went down immediately on his rump and just as immediately sprang back all the world like a jack in the box. He immediately spun to his right and when he did I hit him where I THOUGHT the heart lungs were, on re-examining the scene in my memory I quite probably shot high because of the grass. The PH was carring a Brno 602 in 458 Win Mag that was loaded with South African solid factory ammo. He put on in the chest area from the front he said. I didn't know Elephant could move so fast but he joined 3 others and headed down hill and the PH told me not to shoot as he didn't know which elephant was the one I shot. I had never taken my eyes off him so I knew which one he was but did not shoot as instructed. We headed down into the thicker grass and found where he had stopped and a huge pool of blood but they took of and kept going. After a few hundred yards i had to stop out of breath. The tracker and PH went ahead as the Elephant was heading for the Doma Safari Area where we could not follow. He got across the boundary before they caught up to him so was lost. I heard later that he died well across the line. I ,of course ,paid for the trophy and learned several lessons in return. DON'T take frontal shots at Elephants,DON'T shoot if YOU are not confident of the shot. As an aside I decided to not use 375's on Elephant again so I bought a 470NE double and sucessfully took my next elephant with it, but NOT with a brain shot.

Well I am sure that everyone can come up with their own version of what "success" means, but for me, success is when the elephant is dropped with the shot and knocked out and remains down and out for a period of time sufficient for the hunter to put in an insurance shot, if necessary, without any panic or drama (e.g., the elephant getting up, struggling to get up, etc.). Of course, success would also include the perfect brain shot.

Mike,

Out of 18 eles I have taken with frontals,two were not dropped on the spot. Both were recovered. That works out to 89% success rate.

465H&H

That is pretty darn good. I would guess that the overall percentage for all hunters is well south of 50%.

I always found when faced with the 'confrontational' head held high scenario, the shots were always too high and not effective i.e not instantaneous. Bear in mind that this posture is meant to be intimidating and is, hence the shot is often rushed.

However, when we encountered Elephant that were facing us but were unaware of our presence and the client is able to get his bearings on the reference points on the animal and can also take sometime to take in the moment then 80% chance that the Jumbo won't even hear the shot!!

Only two cows for me, but so far two out of two with the first shot. Both frontal brain shots.

The first, the bullet after passing through the brain, diverted and exited from behind the right ear.

The second ele cow, had brain matter oozing out of the ear.

Did lots of studying before one, watching those elephant nature shows is great, you can imagine where you would place the bullet. Also had calendars on the wall of elephant. Every time I saw them, again placed a bullet. Bought Will's book and also studied Buzz's DVD. It all helped, plus some luck.

Here's an interesting one that appeared on AR some time back:


Posted 03 February 2006 22:37

I know a PH in Ethiopia who "brained" an elephant and took a picture of himself on the elephant carcass with a self timer equiped camera. When he returned with helpers to extract (chop out) the tusks, the elephant was gone!

Goes to show that the bullet does not always travel through the gray matter but the considerable pressure against the brain (when missed) causes a stunning effect, temporarily putting the "lights out".
The insurance shot/s are therefore always recommended.

Side brain 1 for 1
charging frontal 0 for 1: 0% A hunting report to be shared one day!
stalking frontal 1 for 1: 100%

Total 1 for 2 or 50% with strong desire and motivation to only improve!

My first was an unprovoked charge in low light. He did not die on the spot. He was found dead the next day a few hundred yards away.

My second and third dropped instantly . I have the last one on film. It was quite spectacular.

I had 2 side brains that were severely hurt, going no where, but not down for the count after the first shot.

More puzzling to me was my second elephant. This one had caused serious problems the night before. They had killed two people . After following an estimated 17 miles, I shot it while it was running at about 40 yards. I shot for the shoulder. It dropped instantly and was clearly dead before it hit the ground. I have never understood that one. By the way, I have it on video.

First off, I have never killed an elephant so you may take my post as pure OPINION!

I have seen a number of elephant killed and from that I would say about 30% are killed outright with a killing brain shot not requiring a finisher! However in my opinion one is successful if the first attempt puts the Ele on the ground long enough to make the finisher an easy task! With this type I would say about 40-50% !
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