What happens to an elephant after he's dead?

I asked the question about the ivory in a thread about having repro tusks made, but never got a good answer. Thinking more about it I got curious about the rest of the carcass. I never hear of anybody talking about how delicious the backstraps are. I can't imagine anybody shipping all that meat back home even if it was tasty.

So, what happens? Do the locals butcher and eat it up? What about the hide?

And back to the ivory question, if you are in a country that doesn't allow it to be exported, who gets it and what precisely do they do with it? Manufacture piano keys for the tribesmen?

Not Chobin' out on ya, just wondering...

Usually the natives in the locale get it. Sometimes the Elephant is a problem child and they come by and get you to kill it. Occasionally that goes to troops (at least once in ZIM) or to the capitol for some sort of feast. Dunno about the hides.

I tried Elephant once. Once was more than enough, kind of rubbery/chewy.
You hardly ever hear of an Elephant with Ivory that doesn't get sold as an export trophy, they are worth waaaaaaaaaay too much $$$ to waste.

Rich

I have shot 3 elephants and seen each and every bit of edible meat and insides go to the people who are simply starved of protein. There is nothing wasted. In all cases I had the responsibility of engaging an elephant recovery crew and the locals to get the meat. Sometimes they come to the ele, sometimes we took it to the village. In all cases it was not wasted. What I did not take in hide, I assume is sold for leather. As to Ivory someone like Ganyana can enlighten you more but if for an export trophy it is clear, if a PAC or otherwise I understand it goes into the government stores and awaits the opp to have an ivory sale which is currently in the news. No reason to feel that an old bull is wasted. As to taste I have eaten each time. It is not a filet but it is not that bad. Actually the best thing I had was elephant biltong. Actually good.

Larry

Thanks guys! What's a "biltong"?

This is what my elephant looked like a couple of hours after I shot it. Nothing goes to waste.

Like the Ph said there will be elephant eating, beer drinking and baby making tonight in the village.

http://s135.photobucket.com/al...current=M4H00329.flv

quote:

Originally posted by montea6b:
Thanks guys! What's a "biltong"?

Dried meat. Kind'a like jerky, just better tasting!

quote:

Originally posted by Mike70560:
This is what my elephant looked like a couple of hours after I shot it. Nothing goes to waste.

Like the Ph said there will be elephant eating, beer drinking and baby making tonight in the village.

http://s135.photobucket.com/al...current=M4H00329.flv

That's an impressive team effort!

Elephant laid over green sticks, grilled over on open fire to medium rare, sprinkled with some salt is pretty good eating. Cow elephant is better than bull elephant. Rank and musky bulls taste like they smell. But bulls not in musthe aren't bad. But, as I said, cows are better eating, tastier (as in milder and less gamey) and more tender.

Most elephant recoveries occur the morning after you kill one. A cold beer and some medium rare elephant at nine or ten o'clock ain't all bad!

In Campfir or other occupied areas, you will find a crowd of up to maybe three hundred very happy and hopeful villagers waiting patiently for you to show up and begin recovery. They will have brought pots, gunny sacks, anything that can be pressed into service to carry meat, entrails, etc. If it goes well, everyone will be distributed a portion of the meat. The tribal game scout will play favorites, and the ladies he has eyes for will get a bonus share, but everyone will get a portion. If it goes poorly, which will be after your ivory has been recovered, as well as the ears and the hide and the trackers have gotten a meat share, it will breakdown into chaos, with every man amd woman for themselves. The old and infirm will get nothing. Knives will be flashing as peple hack away to get what they can. There will be those who crawl into the thoracic cavity and work from the inside...just chaos.

If the elephant is shot in a concession without villagers, the elephant meat, etc, will be recovered for the trackers, camp staff, game scout. Any additional meat, and that will be alot, will be the operator's to use for rations for the staff, often for rations for anti-poaching patrols, etc.

Everything is eaten or used one way or another. The intestines are washed and eaten, the fatty connective tissue in the gut is boiled down and strained and used for cooking oil. The heads of the leg bones are cut off and the bone suspended to allow any oil to drip into a pot, then is boiled and strained for cooking also.

When you leave, the only remenants will be bare bones of the spine, the head stripped of all meat and flesh, maybe a shoulder blade, also bare white and stripped of all flesh.

The hide on a trophy bull is the hunter's and make excellent leather. The ears are shaped like Africa and are often painted, sometimes left plain. The ears can be split and the thin skin makes supple and pliable leather as well. The feet can be used for trash cans, ice buckets and the larger front feet, if skinned high enough, for bar stools.

Hope this helps,

JPK

Interesting question with regards to the ivory. In the unlikely event that an American client shoots a trophy ele in Mozambique and the tusks can not be exported, what happens to the ivory? Surely this is a great bonus for the outfitter if it ever happens!

They go to Elephant heaven and spend eternity stomping on Donkeys!

quote:

Originally posted by kukhama:
Interesting question with regards to the ivory. In the unlikely event that an American client shoots a trophy ele in Mozambique and the tusks can not be exported, what happens to the ivory? Surely this is a great bonus for the outfitter if it ever happens!

It does happen. Some clients give them to the PH or outfitter as a gift, some ask the PH or outfitter to look after them in the hope they might be able to import them at some time in the future and some (I'm sure) donate them to Govt stocks...... but although a gift of tusks is very nice and very generous, the gift of tusks aren't really a bonus as such because the tusks themselves have no value because they can't be sold.

montea6b,

Ivory;
1.) if the elephant is shot on a trophy permit in Namibia the ivory is exportable and belongs to the hunter, together with any other products (eg. feet, ears, tail, panels).
2.) if the elphant is shot as a problem animal in Namibia the ivory is also usually exportable and again together with any other products (eg. feet, ears, tail, panels)
3.) if the elephant is shot on an own use or traditional feast permit all game products including ivory belong to the state and the meat goes to the community/traditional feast.

Meat
On average it takes about 6 hours for an elephant bull to be butchered and transported out. Usually there is a blood spot, maybe piece of hide where the meat is placed on whilst butchering and some bigger bones if any left at the spot.
Depending on the locale in communal areas, folks from nearby villages and sometimes not so nearby will walk to the place and assist with butchering and also fill up maize bags, basins or any other contraption to transport their own meat.
In government areas, the game department together with the outfitter will load the meat and take it to the nearest village/s for distribution. Very little if anything goes to waste.

After it's shot the elephant, quite literally, disappears.

Short story.

Shot an ele at day break. Returned in PM to find nothing left except a wet spot on the ground and the penis. Don't know if the penis was forgotten or just not a delicacy.

Mark

What happens to the meat is dependent on where the elephant is shot and whether it is a trophy (exportable) or non-trophy (non-exportable). In Zimbabwe, if it is shot on a government concession and is part of the operators paid for quota the meat and hide belongs to the safari operator and he can use it as rations for his staff or sell it on the open market. Sometimes it is made into biltong and sold and I have seen it sold to one of the crocodile farms. If it is a ration animal the meat goes to Parks for their use as are all animals that are killed in self defense.

On communal lands the meat is given to the local natives that show up at the kill site. The hide and tusks go to the tribal council and they can sell it.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Returned in PM to find nothing left except a wet spot on the ground and the penis. Don't know if the penis was forgotten or just not a delicacy.

Mark

Somebody with a better sense of humor than I could make something of this...

Regarding ivory, now we are getting somewhere; "Goes to the state"... "stockpiled"... "no value if it can't be sold"...

This is the root of my curiosity. I picture a vast government warehouse somewhere full of tusks just sitting there gathering dust. What REALLY happens to them then?!

quote:

Originally posted by montea6b:
I picture a vast government warehouse somewhere full of tusks just sitting there gathering dust. What REALLY happens to them then?!

Those warehouses do exist in many/most African countries. The tusks contained therein come from a variety of sources such as seized, pick ups and PAC etc.

Sometimes they sit there gathering dust for years and occasionally, a few countries apply for and usually get permission for a one off sale (usually auction) of their stockpile.

Non-exportable ivory and hide shot on Parks land in Zim goes to the Parks stores for subsequent sale, mainly to the "manufacturers" in China, or to the local leather products guys. Parks has to fund their own operations and this is one way they do it. PAC elephant shot on Communal land goes to the District Council for resale again to "manufacturers" who are supposed to have licenses. PAC elephant shot on private land, under permit, goes to the landowner. An elephant shot without a permit is poached and that stuff finds its way to the black market. It would be very interesting to know what % of ivory in Zim goes through legal channels with all the proper paperwork. I think it's probably less than 75%.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
...occasionally, a few countries apply for and usually get permission for a one off sale (usually auction) of their stockpile.

Who do these sovereign nations ask for permission? Is there some global organization or treaty that polices the ivory trade?

P.S. Where did that quote on your signature line come from?

quote:

Who do these sovereign nations ask for permission?

CITES

quote:

Originally posted by montea6b:
What happens to an elephant after he's dead?

I was gonna say that if he was good he goes to Elephant Heaven, and if he is a rogue, he goes to Elephant Hell, but somebody beat me to it!

Chobe, is that you?

Just kidding!

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:

quote:

Who do these sovereign nations ask for permission?

CITES

Yes, Charles has it. For more clarification, CITES is an international treaty and the acronym stands for Convention on International Trade in Endagered Species, iirc.

montea6b, get yourself a copy of Charlton/McCallum's DVD: "Hunting the African Elephant." Not only is it a great Elephant hunting video, but it shows a couple of answers to your question: in living color.
Regards,
LDK

Monte,

For years I had the same question so when I was lucky enough to experience the process I tried to help clarify it. Several years ago I wrote an article about what happens to the meat that was published in Sports Afield. If you'd like I'll be glad to email you a copy.

Kyler

Here is a thread I put together on this topic a few years ago. I shot this elephant in Namibia, in the Caprivi region.

What happens to an elephant . . .

He was butchered and bagged, and I am sure eaten with great gusto, by the local people.

It's different in the Selous, in Tanzania. Because the Selous is a true wilderness area, I'm afraid that almost all of the meat goes to scavengers.

Whatever the hunting party does not take for camp meat is devoured by lions, hyenas and carrion-eating birds.

But keeping people out helps to reduce human/elephant conflicts and poaching, and keeps the number of elephant in the Selous as large as it is.

Of the elephants I have shot, nothing was wasted.

In tribal zones the meat is given to the local villagers. The Head Chief gets the trunk.

When I have shot elephants on land where there are no villagers the Safari Company butchered the elephant meat, and it is sold and given to locals.

I have eaten a fair amount of elephant meat, It tastes good to me.

Especially of you put a little Grub Rub on it.

That is one of the things I like about hunting in Zimbabwe. The meat, and other animal products are not wasted.

Ditto. Not even a bloody spot left on the ground when they're finished.

The Rogue Elephants get to stomp more Donkeys because there are more of them in Elephant Hell, which is where most Donkeys go. Elephant heaven is Donkey Hell and Donkey heaven is Elephant Hell, it just works better that way.

I have found ele meat to be extremely tough. The first time I tried 4 or 5 small pieces my jaws were tired from chewing. The most tender parts are the cheeks. That muscle is about the size of a thick and the same size as a rib eye beef steak but not as tender of course but at least it is chewable and the taste is very good.

465H&H