The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting Question about old time ivory hunters burrying ivory.Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Question about old time ivory hunters burrying ivory. | Login/Join |
| One of Us |
I'm currently reading Months of the Sun and he makes mention frequently of burrying ivory to get it later. I have noticed this in many of the other books I have read as well. How on earth did these guys find their ivory later on? These guys were travelling very long distances for months on end, it seems near impossible to find this ivory reliably. They must have had a method, maybe it was as simple as a compass and map? | ||
|
| One of Us |
I wondered that many times myself. Seems every ivory hunter/poacher did this extensively. | |||
|
| one of us |
Perhaps they were referring to the task of burying to loosen the tusk from the skull to let it soften before removing or having the hack it out with a hatchet which could cause damage or destroy the ivory. We left our skulls buried for approximately 8 days befor the tsk or teeth could be loosened. Frank | |||
|
| one of us |
No, they are referring to burying it to hide it. Nychens mentions it several times, so does Taylor, iirc, others too. Two things would help, one is of course a good land mark. The other is a good tracker. Many of those guys have fantastic senses of direction and near photo memories. Also, if you know an area well enough... JPK  Free 500grains | |||
|
| One of Us |
Wilbur Smith's books are full of it too. I would say they found it the same way eskimo\s found their food caches under the snow. They marked it's location well. | |||
|
one of us |
Well, let's see. If you were a bank robber and buried a stash of cash somewhere in the woods, do you think you would forget where you buried it? These guys were to doing this for a living, not piddling around on the weekend shooting leftover does! Find the ivory or go broke. Seems like quite the incentive to me to remember.  ------------------------------- Will Stewart / Once you've been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun. --------------------------------------- and, God Bless John Wayne. NRA Benefactor Member, GOA, N.A.G.R. _________________________ "Elephant and Elephant Guns" $99 shipped “Hunting Africa's Dangerous Game" $20 shipped. red.dirt.elephant@gmail.com _________________________ Hoping to wind up where elephant hunters go. | |||
|
| One of Us |
It isn't really the same at all as a bank robbery would be one stash and you would be choosing where you wanted to put it. I was just reading a story in Months of the Sun where they were leaving elephants where they shot them, there were lots of different groups in different spots in an area they had never been to before. To top it off he sent off his tracker and others who weren't even on the hunt to find it later on. It seems unbelievable that they could remember where all these random elephants were shot. | |||
|
one of us |
Bell did it also and mentions in one of his books about burying it on a riverbank with a wooden cross over it. When he came back he found that the river had uncovered a bunch of it but that nothing was stolen because the locals thought the cross over it was bad medicine. I'm sure that they buried such stuff in places where the local geography, etc. would be very distinctive. Frank "I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953 NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite | |||
|
| One of Us |
since this was before GPS i imagine they used lorans   | |||
|
One of Us |
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how long ivory lasts when buried in typical Afican climate? I know they are still finding useable Mammoth Ivory, so it must hold up well. It's fun to think that a stash of this buried ivory (100 pounders) is out there waiting for someone to dig an outhouse and find. There has to be some percentage of the old ivory hunters that for one reason or another didn't get back to pick up their goods. "I envy not him that eats better meat than I do; nor him that is richer, or that wears better clothes than I do; I envy him, and him only, that kills bigger deer than I do." Izaak Walton (modified) | |||
|
| one of us |
I seem to remember reading that some Ivory Poacher hid his ivory inside the hollow trunk of a big tree. I looked inside a coule of them when I was in Zim but did not find any ivory, nor any mummified African Chiefs. DOUBLE RIFLE SHOOTERS SOCIETY | |||
|
one of us |
That, along with leaving some man made markers such as blazes on trees and piles of stones....
The Mammoth ivory is in permafrost. I thing ivory burried in a warm climate will rot within a few years. One of the iconoclasts(Lake or Lyell or ?) stated in one of his books that ivory will rot within a couple of months of being buried. He seemed to be implying that those who claimed to have burried their ivory were full of BS. I have always doubted that it would breakdown as quickly as he claimed. Jason "You're not hard-core, unless you live hard-core." _______________________ Hunting in Africa is an adventure. The number of variables involved preclude the possibility of a perfect hunt. Some problems will arise. How you decide to handle them will determine how much you enjoy your hunt. Just tell yourself, "it's all part of the adventure." Remember, if Robert Ruark had gotten upset every time problems with Harry Selby's flat bed truck delayed the safari, Horn of the Hunter would have read like an indictment of Selby. But Ruark rolled with the punches, poured some gin, and enjoyed the adventure. -Jason Brown | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting Question about old time ivory hunters burrying ivory.
Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia