In David's thread on Zim's big tuskers, it is said that you must photograph an elephant in the position it falls. How difficult, or even possible, would it be to take an elephant that fell on its side and make him upright as in Anton's photo?

I have heard that people have loaded the whole elephant on a truck so if you just have the people and "tools" then it wouldnt be a problem. But with a cruiser impossible !

Anton

It shouldn't be too difficult, if one had the horsepower and manpower on site. In many instances, I think the problem would be getting the horsepower and manpower to the elephant. Those of you who have hunted and taken an elephant bull, just reflect upon the terrain you were hunting and where exactly your bull fell. In any case, I think there is something pretty special about photographing an elephant bull exactly as it fell, don't you?

Dave

I've done it and seen it done in the Selous a few times...... but it ain't easy and it ain't very precise, so you have to be lucky. We just cut a hole in the skin on the side of the Elephant you don't want to photograph and hook the winch in........ admittedly it does make the winch grunt a bit, but it works. We also make use of the standard number of hunting staff to pull and push etc.

Can I also say that Mike Podwika who posts here invented the Podwika lift to get an elephants head into a truck in short order........ takes about an hour or maybe a bit more, but it works a treat. Thanks Mike!

There is/was one operator in Zim hunting around Hwange that used a crane to move the ele from where they were shot, so as to not to scare other ele's away with the scent leftover from the butchering. I bet they could pose the ele any way you wanted! And too, in many concessions they bring in a tractor for the recovery. Me, I'll take them the way they fall!

Scott,

Now if you do a frontal or side brain shot, you will have your ele the way you want... Unless there is a slope and gravity takes over...
Now for the Podwika ele recovery of head and ivory... Once head is removed we stood up head on ivory and backed the truck up to and let head fall on tail gait and slide back into truck bed...

I was parallel to ground pulling on rope and standing on backbone of ele's body..
With trunk removed the head has to weigh still close to 1000lbs.. We had 8 of us trying to get it in the old fashioned way...

First pic after making sure he was staying on the ground... Four shots later...



After I chopped everything down and out of the way.. I was so excited I could not sit still...Took two hours for help to arrive...




Mike

Thanks for thoughts you guys. I'd be happy with however he falls, but that photo of Anton with his elephant in the sand is probably my all time favorite.

We posed mine after a bit of pictures. A couple of shovels and the winch on the bakkie along with plain old people power did just fine. We were able to move and pose it fairly easily. By the way got the wweight on the tusks today. Must have not been much nerve as the tusks went 52 lbs a side. Very good for a problem elephant. Again with a winch it was pretty easy to manipulate.

Not to hijack a thread, but how about some details on your bull, retreever? That looks like a great bull.
Did I miss the " How big?, What caliber?, Stalk, shot placement, etc.?" discussion?

People , here is an elephant that we shot this year in the Zambezi valley ... it went about 45# and was taken with a .470 by my good buddy Justin Trail.



what you do is put a double slit in the hide as far "round as possible , in two spots , one where the back leg joins the main "pauch and one in the crease behind the front leg .

thread a rope through ...

then with the winch hooked on the rope , roll the elephant towards its legs which will automatically fold under it ...keep rolling till it almost tips over and have the trackers and helpers pull the front leg out from under it ...

voila !



actually its not as hard as it looks or sounds and even a large Bots bull will roll , the key is to get the rope as far round as possible and also not to use the truck , use the winch . if the elephant has been dead more than an hour or so , the legs wont bend and it doesnt work ....

GOOD LUCK !

Ivan,

As suggested on another thread, a man of many talents!

Dave

ha ha

Hi Ivan, and welcome back, that is amazing - i never thought that could be done. We had a hard time just "flipping" it over - with the vinch almost crashing.

Very interesting, thanks you guys.

quote:

Hi Ivan, and welcome back, that is amazing - i never thought that could be done. We had a hard time just "flipping" it over - with the vinch almost crashing.

thanks anton , remember it had been there for 12 hours and was completely stiff by the time you turned it , a lot easier if its still floppy with no rigor mortis

I can see two holes in his forehead... good shooting...

Mike