Gentlemen,

We saw elephants almost every day, but large bulls were very few.

Once we found 9 bulls together, none had more than about 30 pounds each side.

On another occasion we saw 11 bulls. One would have been a great trophy if he had not broken one of his tusks. Another one was around 40 pounds, and as it was early on our hunt, we decided to wait and see if we could find a better one.

We had 3 days left of our hunt, so we went to cruise the road bordering the national Park, to see if any bulls were coming in from there.

We could see 4 bulls standing under the shade of a tree just inside the Park, one of which we thought would go over 40 pounds a side. So we thought of coming back in the afternoon and see what they might be up to.

Sure enough, they crossed into our concession when they finished their siesta, and we took up their tracks. It was just before 5 in the afternoon, and we had about one hour to find them.

Luckily, about 20 minutes later, we caught up with them, and found them to be 5 bulls.

The one we were after was second in line as they fed along.

We followed the usual routine in hunting elephants. That is staying downwind of them, and walking parallel to them, getting closer all the time.

Our bull managed to get on to the other side of the other bulls, so we thought our chance of getting a shot at him was not so great, as we did not have that much time left.

He must have found a nice bit of grass to feed off, as he stopped, and the rest of them passed him by.

We got to about 50 yards from him, and he was feeding facing away from us.

Roy put the shooting sticks up, saying I should be ready to shoot as soon as he started to follow his friends, who were about 100 yards to our left.

As usual while hunting, things do not work out as planned. Our bull turned to the right, and was going to be hidden behind a mopane bush any minute.

Roy could see some branches between us and the bull, at about just where I wanted to shoot. He was telling me to watch out for these branches, forgetting that I am shorter than he is, and my sight picture was clear for a shot.

I aimed just ahead of his ear hole and fired. His rear legs let go first, and he dropped down to the ground. We ran up to him, and I put another bullet through the top of his head.

I was using the Barnes Monolithic solids 300 grain bullets, at 2700 fps. We recovered both bullets. One was found next to his other ear hole after going through the skull.

The other was found in his throat

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Welcome back and congratulations, Saeed. How many elephants does this make for you now?

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

George,

This one makes it the bakers dozen - 13.

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Congrats Saeed! I hope you got video of that one. Its sounds like another great elephant hunt (as opposed to elephant shoot)!

Canuck

Congratulation nice Elephant.Have you every shot any of your Elephants on the shoulder?

Hamdeni

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Fantastic! Sounds like a great trip!

JohnTheGreek

Saeed,

I really appreciate your hunt, the way you describe it and everything else you put into words, besides the great effort of running the forum.

However, this is the first time, that I disagree with you and your fellow hunters and PH. The cause ?

I think that posing standing up the dead body of a game animal, is improper, something short of not paying due respect, and somehow in opposition with many concepts we should follow as ethical hunters.

IMHO, and hope this, in no way should be misinterpreted

Gustavo

Gustavo, they just wanted to look taller.

Gustavo:

I think they won...

Otherwise it would have been the other way round.

It seems to be a tradition. I have also done it.

Antonio

Saeed: What a distinguished picture, the three of you with the pachyderm! It looks very African. Is there a lower limit on the size of tusks that may be taken or could you have shot a 30 pounder if you wanted? Congratulations. The bullets you recovered look like they could be reloaded.

Robert

Can I ask a dumb question , what does one do with an elephant carcass? I know what I would do with deer or elk or rabbit etc but for something that enormous I really have no idea. I know the tusks are highly coveted but what is done with the rest? It seems like one of those might be able to feed a small village for a week or so. Are they any good eating?

..

Gustavo,

I kind of feel for the big fella too but I doubt if the elephant minds at that point. Might as well savor the moment..

Sounds like you had a grand hunt Saeed, keep the details coming.

Robert,

There is no lower limit on teh size of elephant that can be hunted.

We try to find a mature bull. On 2 seperate occasions before, I have shot a single tusker, because of this, and his large tusk too.

Gustavo,

Everying of that elephant was eaten - except the lungs and penis, which was left for the vultures.

They were waiting so impatiently, they started coming down almost before we drove off.

You can see the carcass in teh background. The heart is being carryed by our trackers.

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Gustavo,
There is nothing wrong in taking photographs with your trophy, it is something that has been done virtually from the time cameras were invented. Before that, it was the artist's pencil or brush.
In India, where I was brought up, it was considered direspectful to the animal, if one rested a foot on it or sat/stood on it. However I think this is more a cultural issue as opposed to an ethical one.
Geoff

Saeed,

I'm positive about the kind of hunter you and your party are, I have not a single trace of doubt about you and your friends, being true gentlemen, and maybe in your culture that's OK. Who knows ?

I love hunting, but as said before, I pay due respect for the beast, and it was not my intention to say you feel on the contrary!

Best regards,

Gustavo

Gustavo,

No offence is taken my friend, we all have different ways of taking our photos with our trophy animals.

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com