For those of you who might know or have hunted with Pete Fick of Mokore Safaris, his tracker of many years Jorrum was killed recently by an elephant. Apparently got caught out in the open without the .375 he normally carried. Pete is taking it very hard and is setting up an educational fund to take care of Jorrum's children.

CFA

I know Pete well. He is good friends with Doug Kok, with whom I hunt frequently. Sorry to hear about any loss of life. I hope the skeptics out there, who don't think these animals are truly dangerous, read and take note.

Geronimo

Geronomo,

According to Pete this was an unprovoked charge from about 150 yds out in the Save, they were hunting warthog at the time.

CFA

Damn, Fred...sorry to hear about that. There were some very cheeky cows in the Save last year. One gave us a heckuva scare and wouldn't turn after Buzz fired two rounds over her head...she was eight yards away when she stopped and her trumpeting at that range almost knocked your cap off your head! After describing the incident to the Hammond manager, George Hulme, he informed Buzz she had been a problem and wished we would have shot her. We traveled that road every day after and never found her again!

Those eles are from stock brought over from the Gonou Re Zhou and don't care for humans much. Have to wonder if that old bush bitch caught up with your friend's tracker.

Tell us if we can do anything for the family.

Russell,

Yes the cows in that area are cheeky and can be dangerous we saw several when I was hunting with Pete and Jorrum in 2004. The elephant that killed him, however, was a bull. The client and his daughter that was hunting with them at the time is a banker at Grand Rapids St. Bank in Minnesota he is accepting donations for an educational fund for Jorrums 5 children, he was the sole provider. His e-mail is steve.wilcox@grsb.com his phone is 1-218-326-9414. Pete is talking with the childrens head school master to acertain costs to keep them in school. I know that any help would be appreciated.

It will be hard for Pete, Jorrum had worked for him for 15 years and they made a great team. he was a quiet man with a great smile and an awesome tracker.

Fred

This is so sad. How is it that the ele had to come a 150 yards to get the chap and nothing could be done to prevent it ???

According to Pete's e-mail they had all left the truck to go after a warthog taking only a 30-06. When they were about 200 yards from the truck this bull winded them and charged. Pete took the 30-06 and told the rest including Jorrum to run back to the truck he got by a tree and waited until the bull was about 60 yards out and still coming for him and fired over his head the bull stopped for a few seconds then continued his charge. Pete shot the bull in the face at about 10 yards with the 30-06 and turned it. Then the bull ran off to the left and whereas the rest had continued on to the truck Jorrum apparently had stopped at the edge of the clearing to to watch Pete and the bull. The bull picked up Jorrum scent and turned and ran him down and killed him. In the two weeks we hunted together in 2004 he always carried his .375 but not this time. Tragic. In the future I know I will not leave the truck without at least one heavy rifle in the group. They hunted for the bull that afternoon and the next day but the last I heard they had not found him yet.

We met Peter at a Taxidermist shop in Bullawayo with his clients a few day after the incident.
He ran through the details and was visibly distraught as one would be.
ozhunter

That's a real shame and a waste of a good man. You've also got an ele with a bullet in his face walking around. Could happen again.

I have never understood why a PH would leave the truck without his rifle. They probably have their reasons but it makes no sense to me. In rural Alaska, we don't go anywhere without at least one gun in the group.

This was on the African Hunting Forunm

The following tells the story of this most terrible incident as I know there are folks all over very concerned.
I was on a leopard/plains game hunt with Mokore Safaris in the Save Valley Conservancy (south east Zimbabwe) with regular client & good friend Steve Wilcox & his 22year old daughter Melissa, from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, U.S.A.

It is Melissa’s first trip to Africa & she was actually doing the hunting. We started the hunt with a bang on 23 April with a bunch of impala for leopard bait .By the 1st of May Mel had taken a huge leopard & Kudu, Eland, Wildebeest & two Zebra. The 2nd of May was Steve’s birthday & early morning Mel took a big waterbuck & later Steve took two zebra. Late afternoon we went to this area where a big warthog was regularly seen feeding in an opening. I stopped the vehicle about 200 - 300 yards from the opening, so the hog would not hear us. In green Mopane woodland we walked in ahead on the road.

Jorrum has been my main tracker for 12 years & before that was number 2 tracker for three years. Over the years we had a very good understanding of each other & our respective roles in our field of work. It has always been my policy in situations such as this for him to carry his .375, which was always loaded with 4 solid rounds. This was both for protection as well as for assisting in bagging wounded non-dangerous game. This also made it easier for me to set the clients up on the shooting sticks. When on long walks or hunting dangerous game I always carry my .470 double.

Although certainly most of the time this is how we did it, I did notice that while we were walking down the road that on this occasion the rifle was not on him. I almost told him to go & get it then decided we would just quickly check if the hog was there & if not go straight back to the vehicle & look for other game. The only rifle with us at this time was Mel‘s 30.06. When we got to the opening the warthog was not there
but a bunch of Eland, Zebra & Impala instead. Our safari was being filmed by Lauri Alainthwaite (from Osprey Filming Company) & he proceeded to get footage of the other game. When Lauri was done, we proceeded to walk back down the road to the truck where a 2nd tracker & driver were waiting for us.

While we were still in the opening we saw a bull elephant walking parallel with the road & about 150 yards off. Almost as we saw it, it lifted it’s trunk, smelled us & immediately charged. Although these elephant in this region have a reputation for being aggressive(especially the cows)this is unusual, but not unheard of, for it to
come from such a distance & totally unprovoked. I immediately grabbed Mel‘s rifle & told them all to get out to the truck at which Steve, Mel & Jorrum ran off down the road. I moved back a few yards to a medium sized Mopane tree but still stood in the open with Lauri who opted to stay with me.

Seeing the bull still coming, I fired a shot over it. The elephant stopped instantly at about 60 to 70 yards with the shot. At this time I looked to see where the clients & Jorrum were & noticed thankfully that Steve & Mel were still going a long way down the road & Jorrum too but he was off the road to the left. The elephant stood there for a few seconds & then continued it‘s charge straight towards Lauri & I. At about 10 to 12 yards I shot it in the face which turned it off to my left (I have no doubt that this shot saved my own life & possibly that of the cameraman.) I believe that after the shot the elephant was trying to get away & as I watched it taking off I recall thinking that we were out of danger. I could see neither the clients or Jorrum & presumed they had continued on to the vehicle.

Then the elephant (now about 150 yards from me) trumpeted made a sharp turn to the right & proceeded to chase Jorrum. I can only speculate that Jorrum, instead off continuing on, had stopped once he was out of the opening to watch the proceedings behind him. It is not possible that the elephant left me to chase him but instead happened to run off in the direction that he had stopped & must either have smelled or seen him. At about this time when I realised what was going on, I again fired at the elephant but with no affect. Once I knew the situation was hopeless, I told Lauri that we needed to get out of there to the vehicle before there was more shit. With haste we went around & back to the vehicle where I was relieved to see both Steve & Mel but no Jorrum. I told the guys that I thought the elephant had caught Jorrum, grabbed my .470 & proceeded to check things out. Although the elephant was gone, my worst fears were realised when I found my trusted friend & tracker dead.

I went back to the vehicle & told the others the terrible news. Then (accompanied by my other tracker & driver)we went off to try & kill the elephant. Tracking was difficult & occasionally we heard the elephant area , but, alas, never caught up with it due to running out of daylight. After I realised that we would probably not get the elephant my emotions ran away with me. Early the following morning I took Professional Hunters, Neil Duckworth & Leon du Plessis, with their full compliment of trackers, to the scene to try & track down the culprit, while I went off to handle all formalities .Unfortunately they too failed to get it.

I am almost certain that before we got out the vehicle to bag the warthog, we must have driven past the elephant but had not seen it due to the dense green bush. Then ahead of it we stopped, parked the cruiser and then proceeded to walk. Meanwhile the elephant must have continued to walk parallel to the road and then smelled the vehicle where we had stopped.

When Lauri & I went back to the vehicle we saw the bulls‘ fresh dung to attest to this.
During this time we were probably filming the eland & zebra. While we were walking back he must of continued on only to once again smell us & then charged. Obviously I am very upset & emotional to lose someone so close to me. It has to be the worst day of my life. Jorrum left 2 wives & 5 children, aged 2 – 17 & he was the sole breadwinner for the family. In my 25 years hunting dangerous game, seven of which were with National Parks, I can uncategorically state that Jorrum was definitely the best tracker I have ever seen. I will most certainly be setting up a children’ educational fund with Steve to have all the kids educated. I know many of you were very fond of him to & whoever would like to help can contact myself, Mokore Safaris or Steve Wilcox. Folks in U.S. dollar terms annually it will not amount too much.

I will be visiting with their school head master soon to investigate costs associated with their education and will have a better idea of the annual goal for Jorrum’s Fund.
Steve‘s contact details are -
Grand Rapids State Bank
Box 409
Grand Rapids
MN 55744
email - steve.wilcox@grsb.com
tel. - 218 326 9414(work).

Thanks to everyone that has so far been in contact with me, your friendship & support goes a long way.
Sincerely Pete.

My sincerest condolences and prayers to be with you.

A sad incident. Very sorry to hear of it.

The lesson I see in it is that even as client hunters we all need to be prepared to shoot dangerous game even when we are not hunting them - knowing where to shoot and having a big enough caliber to do the job.

Its natural to think that when we are hunting warthogs or impalas that we do not need an elephant gun.

This incident makes me think that I would not like to leave the truck with less than a .375.

I agree a very sad story indeed and an incident which will affect all those concerned for a long while..

I wonder if some 220grain solids or similar been available for the 30-06, would that have made a difference?

I know they would'nt be a replacement for .375H&H or larger rifle, but if you have to hunt in a DRG area with a 30-06, are they worth having?

There is no way to say this without sounding disrespectful to the PH or the deceased and that is NOT my intention...this is not about what the client should have been carrying. It was the PH's responsibility (and him alone) to maintain safety for the group. If it would have been the client who got stomped than the PH would have probably lost his ticket. Again, I mean no disrespect as this is a very sad situation. That PH will always have to live with what happened on his watch. Terrible for everyone involved.

Wow, that's a tough story to read.

My sincere condolences to the family and all who were involved in this tragedy.

This tragedy brings home once again the importance of never being more than arms reach from your rifle. There is nothing liking being in Africa with a fine, powerful rifle in your hand. It doesn't matter whether P.H. has his or not, I always have mine.

Tom

My condolences to the family ,native guides and trackers always do ahard work for us PHS or clients ,last year in my area two were shot one killed another badly injured while hunting ducks with french clients .juan