Reading here and through brochures, it seems a cow elephant can be had in Zimbabwe for only $2500 trophy fee.

Has anyone taken a safari for a cow elephant only? I was looking through a few 7 day Buffalo specials. I wonder if anyone has ever taken a short specialized cow elephant hunt. Would beat a buff hunt in my book. It is a freaking elephant!

Any of the agents here with offers of such a thing?

I had a cow elephant added on to my buffalo hunt just for throphy fees. If I had problems getting my buffalo I wouldnt have had time for the elephant but it worked out. I found the elephant hunt more exciting than the buffalo.
Dean

MM - I did a tuskless cow hunt with Buzz Charlton in April of this year. It was a great time, and as much as I love buffalo, hunting ele is better. There were others in camp after buffalo, and for the life of them they could not understand why I was hunting tuskless ele when there was no "trophy". So it is not for everybody, but I'm hooked on the tuskless.

The $2500 sounds about right as the trophy fee, you are going to have the day rates on top of that. Adding tuskless/cow as mentioned is an option depending on where you will be hunting.

I posted on AR previously a photo album/report plus videos, here are the links:

Zambezi Valley April 2004

Video Clip #1

Video Clip #2

A friend is there right now trying for a cow with his bow, will report the success. Nothing can be exported though from what he says. _BAxter

I would love to do it just for the experience. Having paid this week for the import/shipping of the trophies for last year's safari, the no import almost seems a blessing Just kidding, but the experience and nice photos would be just fine. How many can say they have been elephant hunting!

Has anyone ever seen a cow elephant only hunt?? You see a lot of 7 day buff offers for x amount of money. Wonder what offers for a short, specialized safari for 1 cow elephant would be? Am I the only one that would jump on a relatively inexpensive safari like this??

Bill C

Thanks for the videos! Makes my heart pump faster watching them!!

May I ask what the trophy fee was for each? Was the first a tusked cow?

Metalman

Try Dudley Rodgers at tshafari@mweb.co.zw or Bill bedford at ingwew@mweb.co.zw. I know Dudley still has quota and I suspect bill may for this year. If next year is what you want most of the big operators will accomodate or one of the smaller guys like Buzz or Andy Hunter.

Note, For Zimbabwe only - Tuskless refers to any elephant without tusks - Bull or cow, and there is no export of the skin.

Cows are seperate on the quota and have tusks that can - with effort be exported.

Bill, you got a link to Buzzs webpage? Doesn't he hunt in Zim?

Buzz is at buzzcharlton@zol.co.zw

Andy Hunter on chipitani@zol.co.zw

MM - The trophy fee was $1800/ea, which may be a little lower then normal as this was an early season hunt. Day rates will vary, but I'd expect to pay between 9-10K for a 10-day 2-cow ele hunt in Zim. Both were tuskless cows, which for me is where the challenge comes in. Not every herd has tuskless ele, and if they do, it is not always possible to get a shot. When we found a tuskless cow, we had to watch for a while and maybe nudge them a bit to verify that the tuskless cow did not have a young calf. All the while there is a cheeky cow watching over things, and perhaps a young bull or two hanging out at the back of the herd (but upwind from you).



Mark - Buzz's website is at http://www.buzzcharltonsafaris.com. He primarily hunts in the Zambezi Valley (Chewore, Dande areas), although he is doing some hunts in Moz also. Ganyana listed his email, as well as Andy's who also hunts the same areas. I spent some time in camp with Andy and found him to be a good hunter and all around nice guy.

Ganyana,

Is Chewore North still a good place to hunt tuskless elephant? I think Mr. Charlton has the 5 head hunt up there?

Is there any advantage to a late season hunt, or can you get rained out?

Its alot of money ($17,500 plus a charter flight) but sounds like alot of hunting too!

Do other Zimbabwae outfits offer a multiple tuskless hunt like this?

Andy

Andy

Please send my consulatancy fee to member PWN

Chewore north & South. Dande and Guruve are all adjacent concessions.

I think most operators along the zambezi escarpent will offer multiple tuskless/cow hunts. Most operators have plenty of quota which isn't always easy to sell. Ad Ray Townsend to the usual Andy/buzz/ Swainsons/ Ingwe (Ingwe has Guruve, and Swainsons have Dande. Ray has the back end of Makuti. Andy & Buzz buy quota off the big boys.

I'm Sure HHK would also accomodate in Chete or Chirisa.

Late season. Bush is more open, water is limmited and game tends to concentrate at the few available water points.

Early, there are more problem ele's so the chance to ad some cheep PAC to the hunt, and the ones you want are raiding the fields in the tribal areas (Dande, Guruve and Rays area.)

Bear in mind that tuskless ele are not as easy to come by now compared to when Don first put them on quota in '97 to try and correct the genetic drift problems being encounted in the general population. Then you could book a five tuskless ele hunt and reasonably expect to shoot five in two weeks. Now you'll be lucky to get two in the same period. Cows (with tusks are a different matter. We have an estimated 50,000 of them so feel free to choose!

Ingwe used to offer cows in job lots of four

I CAN OFFER YOU AN COW ELEPHANT HUNT THIS YEAR, $600 X 10 DAYS, $2500 TROPHY FEE. PROBABLY CAN INCLUDE HIPPO OR CROC AS WELL INCLUDING PLAINS GAME. CAMP IS ON THE SHORE OF LAKE KARIBA WITH PLENTY OF ELEPHANTS AND THE FISHING IS GREAT.

ALSO HAVE ELEPANT BULL AND COW HUNT. $700 X 10 DAYS. BULL, $10,000, COW $2000. YOU CAN SHOOT BOTH OR JUST ONE. PLAINS GAME INCLUDED.

BUFFALO HUNT, 10 DAYS X $500, TROPHY FEE, $2000.

SEE MY WEBSITE FOR FURTHER INFOMATION, WWWW.ZWSAFARIS.COM