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If you could only hunt Africa one more time what would it be for? After LaRitas brush with cancer last summer that's the system I've started using to plan any future hunts, "if I could only do one more hunt". That's how I decided on the Musk Ox hunt, if I could only do one more I wanted to see the Arctic and hunt Musk Ox. You just never know when your health may take a turn for the worst, your finances may change or for that matter how long you'll be here. So with that said if you knew you could only hunt Africa one more time what would it be for? Myself, well there lies the problem, I'm really having a hard time trying to decide between a 10 day tuskless elephant hunt or a 14 day leopard hunt. The problem is I WANT both and just don't know which one I want the most. I hope to do both but then again you never know. On one hand if it really is to be my last trip to Africa then I think I'd have to chose leopard. I admit I have a thing for hunting big cats and would like to have an African Lion, Mt. Lion and Leopard in my den. I've got the African lion, I'm planning and preparing to hunt Mt. Lion next winter, which only leaves the leopard. But on the other hand how can your African hunting career be complete without hunting elephant just once. And for that matter how much longer will hunting tuskless elephant be "affordable"? Then there is the romance of hunting elephant, it is the hunt books are written of, the stories that awake your soul. Being in the middle of a herd, only 20 yards away from your VERY large trophy of a life time. It's the reason I just bought a new 375H&H but then again I bought a .338win last fall with leopard in mind, so far I haven't shot either. So what do you do? ______________________ | ||
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I would hunt the best elephant, in the best place, at the best time, with the best hunter I could afford. | |||
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Amen to that brother | |||
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Of the two hunts you mentioned, I'd take the tuskless elephant hunt. You are far more engaged in the hunt, as opposed to the leopard hunt, where except for taking baits, you are sitting in a blind, waiting. George  | |||
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George, maybe I got way too carried away with my personal choices, and I appreciate your thoughts, but I'd also like to know, if you care to share, what your hunt would be. ______________________ | |||
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Of the two hunts you mentioned, there is no contest, elephant cows, and I would shoot more than one. I would do 21 days and shoot 6 cows or so. There is nothing more exciting than hunting elephant cows. I would also shoot a big bull elephant if you can afford it. I would do it with a double rifle.  DOUBLE RIFLE SHOOTERS SOCIETY | |||
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I'm going to have to disagree with most here. But the game sought after being a very personal thing, my choice would be the Leopard, if the ele hunt is for a tuskless cow! I can live with not haveing the holy grail "BIG FIVE" so the ele is not nescessary to make my life complete. I'll never have the Big Five anyway, because first I can't afford it, and secondly the Big Five is no longer available to anyone. The black Rhino, is not available, and IMO the white Rhino is not a proper substitute. NOW! If we were talking about a TUSKED BULL, that is a very different saddle horse! I have no desire to simply shoot just ANY elephant, any more than I'd shoot just any lion, or leopard. I'd much rather collect a good Tom Leopard than any non-trophy elephant. I'm of the opinion that the world's cats are far more available today, but will not remain so for long! The tiger,snow leopard, and Jaguar, are already out of the picture, though the jaguar is no more endangered than donkies, he is still off the list to hunters. I'd hunt he Leopard, and start saveing for the ele hunt like it was actually my last, and make it as big a tusker as I could find, on a one species hunt! That ele would mean something to me! You know what they say about opinion! Everybody has one, and like somthing else everybody has, most stink! Anyway that is mine!  ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith  | |||
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If your dream is to hunt leopard then why hunt ele? If it was me I´d choose ele because I don´t know when my knees will give out on me and hunting leopard from a blind doesn´t involve much walking -so that would decide it for me. Save up for the big hunt? I´d rather hunt plainsgame every year than wait three years to hunt one of the big five. | |||
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Given you two selections, the choice is easy for me; elephant, a big bull. Now as for me, it would be lion, not nessesarily over bait, but "walking it up." Unfortunately, given the prices of today's lion hunts, It'll be just about impossible for me. Oh well, I have night carrier landings to soothe my savage soul. jorge USN (ret) DRSS Verney-Carron 450NE Cogswell & Harrison 375 Fl NE Sabatti Big Five 375 FL Magnum NE DSC Life Member NRA Life Member | |||
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If I just did one last African hunt, I probably would say bull elephant. I have taken a few leopards, so that effects my decision. The elephant would complete the big four for me, and since black rhino is out of reach for most everyone, that leaves the elephant. I don't know that we will ever see a better time than right now for elephant hunting in Africa, and there are some fairly good deals out there. Although tuskless elephant hunting is a real rush - from everyone I have known who has tried it, there is still enough trophy hunter in me that I would like to have something more tangible than a photo and memories of a dead elephant, and a set of tusks on each side of the big stone fireplace would be nice to look at in my old age, even if they were not 100 lb'ers. Now if I can just find the extra $$$. That said, if I did not have a leopard, that would be my choice. | |||
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I've hunted both elephants (bulls though, not cows) and leopards. I've been shut out so far on elephants but I've killed a leopard. If I were after an elephant, I would hold out for a trophy bull, not a tuskless cow. I'd definitely take a leopard over a cow elephant. Leopards are incredibly beautiful and are a difficult quarry--albeit a little boring to sit and wait for in the dark. Mike Wilderness is my cathedral, and hunting is my prayer. | |||
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Thats another good point. There is just too many other hunts we hope to live long enough and be able to afford to do, to save for 3 years to hunt a big bull. I think a tuskless hunt will more than quinch my thirst for elephant. As to the big 5, I too have know plans on completing that. I have no interest in rhino and very little in buffalo. jorge, I'm with you!!!!!!!! If I could afford it, I'd share a camp with you and we'd hunt Lion every year but I can't a afford it either. ______________________ | |||
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As to the cow elephant and not being able to ship anything back home, I don't have a problem with that. In fact after just paying Coppersmith over $3900.00 in the last 3 weeks, $1600.00 plus for our trophies from Namibia and $2200.00 plus for our South Africa hunt, I really like the idea even more of just taking photos and leaving the rest behind. At this point there is only 3 trophies we hope to hunt that I'd consider shipping back, a kudu for LaRita, a leopard and maybe a eland, if I ever hunt one. We've talked about it and have no plans to ever ship anything back that we already have, its just not worth it. We're looking at it this way, our hunt in RSA was more or less $9500 including airfare and we just spent almost half that to ship trophies. If we'd left the trophies in Africa from these last two trips then we'd have almost half the money saved to go back. I just want 4 things from hunting elephant, the experience, LaRita there to share it with me, good photos and a elephant hair bracelet from MY elephant. ______________________ | |||
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I'd probably do a hunt for elephant, lion, cape buffalo, and a bunch of plainsgame in Tanzania (or wherever success is the best for lion). I've never been to Africa, but lion is on top of my list. Mark, Have you tried looking into Buzz Charleton Safaris. He has a great reputation and offers a lot of specials on hunts. I'm sure you could get a tuskless elephant and leopard combo hunt for a pretty decent price from him. He has a special right now for a tuskless elephant, a lioness, and a hippo that's $16,000. You might be able to swap the lioness for a leopard. ____________________________ If you died tomorrow, what would you have done today ... 2018 Zimbabwe - Tuskless w/ Nengasha Safaris 2011 Mozambique - Buffalo w/ Mashambanzou Safaris | |||
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Jorge, I'd pay a tidy sum to get launched off a carrier in a two-seater at sundown, go through a few high-g manuevers and experience a night landing. If you can arrange it, it could put some change in your pocket to help pay for that lion.  ______________________________ "Truth is the daughter of time." Francis Bacon | |||
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The next elephant I kill will have no less than 100 lbs of Ivory or I will never shoot another one, so that would be my holy grail...unless someone found me an Ethopian Sable... Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Well, let's see: How about going to Tanzania for a couple of buffalo with my best two friends and at the same time, "escorting" Russell, "our" Gulf War II vet that a bunch of us on AR are sponsoring on his dream hunt? Those are my plans for 2005 and I wouldn't change a darn thing. BTW, I'm chipping in for an AR Zebra for Russell... anybody want to treat him to another animal? Or a night at the Sea Cliff or something. Contact Ray at if you do contact Ray at ray@atkinsonhunting.com . I believe LTC Taylor is scheduled to go back to Iraq next year, so let's make his "dream hunt" a good 'un! JudgeG ... just counting time 'til I am again finding balm in Gilead chilled out somewhere in the Selous. | |||
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Forrest: I just saw Tom Brokaw get a ride in the back seat of a Tomcat and flew over Afghanistan. "VIP" rides are not all that ucommon. When i was ship's company on NIMITS and JFK, we had lots of folks spend a couple of days with us and witness flight ops. After all these years it's still a thrill like no other, although I supspect walking up and facing a lion's got to be up there also. Unfortunaely for both of us, I'm flying a desk right now and maybe, just maybe I can get one more sea tour before I retire. I miss it already. jorge USN (ret) DRSS Verney-Carron 450NE Cogswell & Harrison 375 Fl NE Sabatti Big Five 375 FL Magnum NE DSC Life Member NRA Life Member | |||
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I am going to differ from the majority of posters here and say mine would be Buffalo and Gerenuk in Tanzania. Just my idea of a last hunt if I had to choose. Global Sportsmen Outfitters, LLC Bob Cunningham 404-802-2500  | |||
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If I could only hunt once it would be an old style moving safari with porters for a mixed bag including Lion. All on foot and fair chase.. | |||
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If I was made to plan my "last" safari I would plan on doing whatever I could afford to do with my sons along. If the cost allowed nothing more than a warthog or two it would be good enough. What I could hunt isn't nearly as important as having them along to share the experience. If the budget would allow it, I'd go to Botswana for the biggest elephant bull I could find, I've got all the rest. | |||
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My last hunt would be Buffalo in the Okavango delta. I'd use a 470 NE double with iron sights so that I had to get close. I'd take along my 7X57 for some pot meat - impala, lechewe and the odd Kudu if it presented itself, but Buffalo would be the focus. TerryR | |||
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btt Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Me too. | |||
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I would go to Namibia and hunt those expensive 80-pound average elephants they hunt on the Botswana border. I might even combine it with a full-bag CAR or Cameroon rainforest hunt. After all, what's money when you are about to enter that great hunting ground in the sky? | |||
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jorge I'm not fussy...I'd "settle" for a ride in ANY fighter,land or sea But those carrier landings at night have got to try the old sphincter.How's the cat launch feel?Hunt as long as you can As hard as you can. You may not get tommorrow. | |||
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Jorge, the rest of you jet jockies, I'm envious as Hell! I'm just a simulator flyer, ie FighterAce. My wife gave me a ride in an AT6 Texan, as a Christmas present, a couple of years ago. I got to fly it a bit, do some rolls, split S's, I had a blast! Kept my breakfast down and cam away with a great respect for you folks who turn and burn! Rusty We Band of Brothers! DRSS, NRA & SCI Life Member "I am rejoiced at my fate. Do not be uneasy about me, for I am with my friends." ----- David Crockett in his last letter (to his children), January 9th, 1836 "I will never forsake Texas and her cause. I am her son." ----- Jose Antonio Navarro, from Mexican Prison in 1841 "for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Arbroath April 6, 1320-“. . .It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.” | |||
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Jorge and I met in Jacksonville for supper last week. He brought his wife.... all we did was talk about carrier aviation.. Boy, I'll bet she won't go to supper with me again! One thing we agreed upon is that there is no more hectic, but professional atmosphere than the deck of a carrier at sea. A bunch of teenagers and a few young men, operating a multi-billion dollar capital ship... and when you are the pilot, it's all done just to get you airborne so that you can do your job. It makes you humble and proud at the same time. As Jorge and I left the restaurant, we both agreed that most everything pales next to flying a fighter (or an attack a/c, or even an S-3) during shipboard ops... and perhaps that's why we hunt DG. It's pretty darn close. BTW, coming aboard a carrier at night will do the work of Immodium, but a cat shot on a moonless night will do the job of Ex-Lax. So, the perfect hunt would be to take a night cat shot from somewhere in the Indian Ocean in an TA-4J (so your sweetie could be with you), then trap on a SATS field in Botswana with the weather of 200' and 1/2 vis, then take a 100# elephant with a shot to the brain... while charging... with your Royal Grade H&H .500/.465..... and back to the boat with a pitching deck...etc.  | |||
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Ernest just about covered it all, the immodium/exlax analogy is EXACT!  He did forget one thing though....File your flight plan for 5,280' MSL and get your "Mile HIgh" qual on the way! jorgePS: Ernest, she's been listening to all that stuff since she was in the womb! HEr dad was an aviator and her grandfather on her mother's side was a plankowner on the Langley! (for the unenlightened, USS Langley (CV-1) was our first aircraft carrier). USN (ret) DRSS Verney-Carron 450NE Cogswell & Harrison 375 Fl NE Sabatti Big Five 375 FL Magnum NE DSC Life Member NRA Life Member | |||
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