Did anyone else see the elephant hunt on the outdoor channel last night. It was On Bass Pro Shops Hunting.

The guy was hunting with Rann safaris in Botswana.

There was an incredible sequence at the begining where the PH stood off a bluffing elephant by yelling at it (gun up of course) but never shot it.

Anyway, the guy made a frontal shot on the elephant at 7 yards. The bull seemed to swagger, but ran off. He put another shot into it immediately following, then began to run around the tree between him and the bull. The PH was ahead of him, as his sling got caught up in the sticks. It then cut to the elephant squatted on all fours (didn't roll over) with the PH checking to make sure he was dead.

I think there was some reference to a 60 yard run.

I wonder if the initial shot didn't connect but stunned the animal? A brain shot would collapse the animal on the spot, correct? Would a running bull that fell dead from a body shot or collective damage end up squatted and not rolled over?

You can almost make out the shot in one quick view. It looked low to me, but I know almost nothing except from reading books and looking at pictures dreaming of doing it myself one day. The bulls head was tilted level to up at the shot (going from memory) and the shot seemed to be quite a ways down the trunk (again, I may be wrong).

Not meaning to insult or belittle at all. It was incredible footage! Just wondering what could have happened. And, It would be a good learning experience on shot placement. Fascinating!

He made some reference to the PH that he could make follow-ups pretty quickly, seeming to imply "don't shoot my elephant!"

Air times are :
Tue Aug. 31, 2004 11:30 PM Eastern
Thu Sep. 02, 2004 2:30 PM
Sun Sep. 05, 2004 9:30 PM

Don't know if it will be the same show. I am going to try to tape it and watch in slow motion.

The first shot actually looked a little high and to the right (yanked the trigger?), but at the end there was a hole right in the middle of the base of the trunk. I think that elephant just got a really bad headache at first. There is no telling how many shots they had to put in him to down him. Also, at the end when the PH said to put "one in his ear hole" the elephant was sort of leaning on his side against some brush/trees but when the camera cut for a second and they came back the elephant was sitting up his knees.

Check out Saeed's video of a brain shot elephant, they seem to just collapse.

Bill

Watch the godamn film then tell me the elephant wasn't set up for the video.

They didn't fold his legs under him they rolled him against some trees and stetched his front legs out in front of him.

If the Egyptians could build the pyrimids with the use of human hands I'll bet the Botswanan's can figure out a way to prop up an elephant for a picture....

Haven't you ever seen a Land Cruiser roll an elephant over with a winch?

Metalman,
24 hours has passed and with it my recollection of the exact events of that program, but I thought the bull was leaning heavily on his right side before ending up dead on all fours. BTW we used a Landcruiser and a BIG rope to flip my elephant from his left side to his right when we were skinning it. That said, getting his feet under him would have taken quite a lot of work! But with enough afromatics anything is possible!

I watched it!!! Now I wish I hadn't, it renewed my elephant fever

I saw it too. Did anyone else notice the loud breathing from the camera man? I thought that was very distracting.

Armchair QB: I thought the hunter jerked his shots, I did not like his huge scope for such a close shot. Probably why his first did not connect. His second shot looked high and was bungled. But to give them all a bunch of credit, that elephant was VERY close and looked VERY big.

Sometimes we wonder how people get a bad image of hunters and then we see how poorly done 98% of the hunting shows are.



If you send a bumbling bubba with a mouthful of tobaccy somewhere where we see his fat ass breathing and sweating like he just ran a marathon and yelling "I tell you what thats a good'un" when he obviously doesnt know how to spell the name of the animal he just shot with "insert sponsor name" rifle and "insert sponsor name" scope, they aren't doing anything good for hunting.



I'd love to see a show done about a real hunt with a person as passionate about the adventure they are undertaking as many of the members here. Scratched rifles, worn slings, old hats and real emotions about the hunt as it unfolds. Not the directors cut.



I have not seen this show and do not mean this as an insult to the hunter and outfitter involved, just an observation that too many times holds true.



Nickudu had such a video of one of his buff hunts. Very well done.



I'd pay good money to see some camera crew try to follow Will around trying to convince him to wear a brand new shirt!