Well, almost.

At about noon on the first day of my safari in Zimbabwe, we picked up a good elephant track and followed it until near dark. The second day we followed it for about 5 hours. This elephant was putting down tracks. He was going in a straight line to somewhere. We decided to abandon this track as this bull was not casually meandering through the mopane, he was headed somewhere in a hurry. The PH, Rory Muil, recieved word on the radio that there was some elephant activity in another part of the concession (about a 2 hour drive away).

We arose early (4:00AM) on the third day and drove south for two hours. At about 8:00AM we were driving the road looking for elephant tracks when the tracker tapped on the top of the hunting car. 100 yards ahead of us, just off the road, was a bull elephant. Rory and I got out and stalked to within 30 yards of the elephant. Rory whispered to me, "He's about 40 pounds, I think we should take him. I'm going to back you up."

On my first night in camp, I asked Rory what his policy was regarding backing up a client on an elephant hunt. He said, "It's your elephant and your safari. There are only two times when I will shoot: (1) when there is a question of safety, or (2) when we are near the boundary of the concession." It seems a few weeks earlier, a client hunting with Russ Broom wounded an elephant about 8 miles from the border of the adjoining Chete Safari Area. They were unable to catch up with the elephant and Rory was sent into Chete to kill the elephant. After two days of tracking, he lost the track when the bull mixed with a herd of cow elephant. As it turned out, my elephant was less than 3 miles from the border with Chete.

Rory moved off a few feet to my left. The bull was facing to my right and quartering towards me. He was casually eating and completely unaware of our presence. The bush was pretty open, but as the elephant slowly moved toward me, I had to move a few feet to the right to get a clear shot. The elephant continued to feed and move slowly towards me, but he never offered a complete frontal shot nor a side shot. Finally, after several minutes (some of the most exciting in my life) the elephant turned slightly to his left presenting me with a side shot at about 25 yards.

I fired. The elephant immediately began to run (it's amazing how fast elephant are). Rory fired a shot into the bull's shoulder (because of Rory's position to my left and the elephant's rapid departure to my right, the shot went in at an angle). I fired my second shot at the elephant's right hip in an attempt to anchor him (it was high and missed the hip). Rory fired his second shot. By that time, the elephant had disappeared into the bush. Rory fired a third shot into the bush. [Later, upon inspection of the downed elephant, we discovered that Rory's second and third shots hit the elephant on the inside of the right hind leg and one was a Texas heart shot].

We followed in the direction the elephant ran for about 50 yards but saw no sign of the elephant. As we had only one tracker with us, we had dropped off the other tracker and game scout further up the road so that they could check a pan for tracks, we went to collect the other tracker and game scout. When we picked them up, they said they heard an elephant crash to the ground. The elephant had gone up a hill for about 200 yards and gone down. Apparently, he had fallen down on the way up the hill before going down completely, as he chipped off the point of his right tusk. We were unable to find the chipped piece.

When Rory and I got to the elephant it was down and barely breathing. I put a finishing shot into its chest. My first shot was well placed but apparently had missed the heart (no blood came from the trunk). It was almost exactly a hand's width above and a hand's width in front of the top of the armpit crease as per Robertson's book The Perfect Shot. I don't know why the shot missed the heart, I don't think the elephant was standing on higher ground than I was when I made the shot. Itwould have been nice to have tracked this bull for hours, but you have to take them when you find them. I got more than my share of long walks while hunting buffalo over the next 7 days.

Elephant hunting has to be some of the most intense hunting in the world. I must admit that I found it exciting, frightening and full of tension. I was able to remain calm and focused while only 25 yards from a very large and dangerous animal. One never knows how one will react when in a situation like this for the first time. Frankly, I'm proud of myself for maintaining my concentration and composure. I think my previous experience hunting Cape buffalo helped. However, the immediacy of danger presented in elephant hunting far surpasses any such danger presented in most buffalo hunts.

Here are few pictures.














Regards.

Terry

P.S.
My rifle is a .416 Rem Mag built by Roger Biesen on a pre war Model 70 action. I used factory Federal 400 gr. Trophy Bonded solids. Rory was using his Model 70 .458 Win Mag and solids.

Here is a link to my hunting report in the Hunting Reports - Africa forum:

Hunting Report

I can't imagine the intensity! Thanks for the pics.

Terry,
Congratulations, excellent bull and a great story.
My buddies who have hunted elephant tell me you will almost give up on everything else to do it again! Hunting jumbos has to be a thrill and a half. I think 2004 is looking big,gray and wrinkled for me!

T.Carr
Sounds like an exciting experience. What type of rifle and loads was the PH using? Were ya'll able to recover any of your bullets. How far did they penetrate?

NE 450 No2,

The PH was using a modern Winchester Model 70 in .458 Win Mag. He was shooting solids but I don't know what specific bullet he was using. I believe his ammo was from Superior Ammunition.

We recovered just one bullet. It was from my first shot and was recovered from just under the skin on the opposite shoulder. It was in pristine condition.

Regards,

Terry

I feel for you, elephants are like Heroin, once your hooked, your hooked, nothing like it except perhaps Buffalo, well maybe, maybe not.

I really like your tag LV!!!

T.Carr
Thanks for the info.

Terry,

That sounds like the hunt of a life time! I cannot imagine being so close to an animal that big.

WOW! Great story! Nice animal!
I am headed over in 2 months to Zim. It started out as a Buffalo hunt but if the opportunity arises I can chase a tuskless cow.(maybe between now and then Ill get enough OT for the tusks ) I wasnt sure about it at first but stories like yours are getting me worked up. I hope your PHs rifle worked well as I am taking a 458 win mag bolt. And ill bring my ruger #1 as a backup rifle its 458 lott. Thanks for sharing your story.
Dean

Terry,

Good story, hunting elephant is the most exciting thing you can do and it is addicting. I am booked with Russ for next year. Rory will PH for my buddy as he did last year and I will be hunting with Gavin. Makes me wish I was going this year but those elephant carry a big price tag.

BigB

TCarr

Thanks for the photos and story.

Sounded like an exciting hunt and sometimes you have to take the easy ones (ie did not have to track for miles) to make up for all the hard ones.

Terry,

Congrats on your hunt, great story and pictures. What are you planning for your elephant. Tusk mounts?, skin panels?, feet stools?, tail hair bracelet?

bmpregler,

We are going to mount the tusks on low pedestals. We are having the ears tanned in ZIM (although there may be some problem with the ZIM taxidermist getting the chemicals for the tanning process - the PH is checking into this for me). We will just keep the tanned ears for future use. We also saved two panels to be tanned and I'm going to have two rifle cases made.

The tracker made us some hair bracelets (and we are getting the rest of the hair - Carol wants a hair bracelet with gold knots like the one we saw at the Dallas Safari Show). The tracker also made us bracelets from the bottom of the elephant's foot. You soak it in very hot water until pliable then you slip it over your hand. Once it's dry, the only way to get it off is to cut it. I had the tracker cut one so I can bend it and slide it on and off my wrist (see the bottom bracelet in the picture below).



Regards,

Terry

[ 06-25-2003, 20:20: Message edited by: T.Carr ]

Terry,

Your story has me pumped for my trip. I hope I am as fortunate.

Perry

Terry,
Who were your trackers?
When we hunted with Rory last year he was using Tino, Tetious, and Samuel. I think I recognize Tetious in your photo but I can't imagine Rory hunting without Tino.

Kyler

Kyler,

Our trackers were Tino and Davey (a new guy and a very good tracker). I think Tino has been with Rory for something like 15 years. Tino also made our bracelets.

Regards,

Terry

Terry,

Excellent story & photos! Congrats on a great hunt.

Regards,
Dave

Good story and good photos! Congratulations Terry!

Thanks for the story and photos. An experience like yours is why I dream of Elephant... in my opinion, the grandest of sport.

Well done Sir!

Something about elephant that makes you feel so small!!! Im sure you got boyh lungs with that shot but it never hurts to have a backup on elephant. I shot mine in the armpit crease with a 375 and he went about 200 yards. It was Stigand who said after you have hunted elephant you cant take any other form of sport seriously. I personally will make exception for buffalo to that rule.

Humm just wondering why does that ele look so small??Im sure it huge but i guess its just they way it was photographed.

Ninja Hunter,

According to the PH, the elphants in that area of ZIM are not very large in the body. Although, he said that mine was a big bodied elephant for that area.

I was hunting in Masailand last season with a PH who was born and hunted mostly in Botswana. We saw several elephants in that area and the PH said they were very small bodied compared to the Botswana elephants.

There seems to be a regional variation as to elephant body size.

Regards,

Terry

Thanks Terry ^_^ For a secound there i thought you where i Giant there.

Regard's Jason

was it a heart lung shot or did you try for a brain shot????

if you did do a lung heart shot why didnt you try a brain shot ? ....example head was covered by brush or wrong angle.

bpbb,

It was a heart-lung shot. I didn't try a side brain shot because it is much easier to shoot an elephant on heart-lung shot than a brain shot. Especially if it is your first elephant.

Now that I have seen and inspected an elephant up close, I am more confident that I could make a side brain shot. It helps if you have seen the elephant's ear anatomy up close, so as to properly place a side brain shot.

Regards,

Terry

[ 07-15-2003, 02:45: Message edited by: T.Carr ]

thanks for the responce i was just woundering thats all.