I was curious as to the folks that have shot elephant with big ivory, and I classify big as over 50lbs, how did you find the elephant.

Was it finding a big old track and following it up. Or following a decent size track and finding big tusks. Or was it spot and woo-hoo, lets go get that big boy.

The biggest ivory I have yet to see I saw from the plane as we were landing at Sengwa Mouth on the Zambezi. We never could find the bull or an ele in that area with big old feet.

My biggest as of yet has not broke the 50 pound mark.

Thanks

BigB

BigB,

I will defer the details to those with much more ele experience than myself. But basics dictate you have to be in an area where such magnificent bulls live.

Then I would like to share with you the words of a mule "deer whisperer" guide I had years ago in Wyoming. When asked how to shoot a 185 buck, he replied "Don't shoot a 160".

Good luck!

I don't have much knowledge but on one particular day I had a lot of luck (and really good trackers)...

We followed a big track from about 10am until just before dark to collect this 57x60 with Rory Muil (I bet it wasn't far from yours... isn't that Gavin in your photo? In fact if memory serves I think we just missed you in '02 when your wife shot the 45" buff out of Kabuba Camp).

Kyler,

That is Gavin in the photo, nice elephant Rory does well with big ele. Yes we left right before you arrived in 02 when my wife shot that big buff.

BigB

I've spent days following tracks but the biggest I ever personally shot was by pure luck. We were passing a deserted village on a small track at daylight when we saw many elephants coming our direction from a huge open area. We watched them file by and saw a decent bull (60 lbs as it turned out) bringing up the rear. After he was down I sent the jeep (an old CJ 7)back to the camp to get my wife and anyone else who wanted to come because most of the campstaff had never been to an elephant kill before. You could actually drive up to this one.
While they were gone a 90 pounder walked by.
I got some pictures to prove it. So for all of my days of walking my biggest bull was by LUCK
(except I shot too soon). I highly recommend it.
Rich Elliott

African mojo... On my first elephant hunt in Zim, I had the pleasure of seeing one of the worlds strangest animals a pangolin.. Had a book about the strange animals in the world in my library and said to the PH can I hold him and get a picture... Got it and low and behold I find out it is a sacred animal and good luck... I then won the buf hunt here on AR and upgrade to a 21 full bag safari in the Selous and while there guess what I see and tell Pierre van Tonder I have to hold that guy, a pangolin and guess what 2 days later this guy walks out 65lbs 76 & 74 inches...

I like pangolins

quote:

Originally posted by BigB:
I was curious as to the folks that have shot elephant with big ivory, and I classify big as over 50lbs, how did you find the elephant.

Was it finding a big old track and following it up. Or following a decent size track and finding big tusks. Or was it spot and woo-hoo, lets go get that big boy.

The biggest ivory I have yet to see I saw from the plane as we were landing at Sengwa Mouth on the Zambezi. We never could find the bull or an ele in that area with big old feet.

My biggest as of yet has not broke the 50 pound mark.

Thanks

BigB

I don't have an ele to show you but I do have that 470NE rifle BigB is holding in that picture, and the biggest thing it has taken since I got the rifle is a 250 lb wild hog!
.......

GO WHERE THEY ARE AND GET REAL DAMN LUCKY.
ANYBODY TELLS YOU DIFFERENT IF FULL OF IT.

BigB

We shot the bull in my banner 57x58 by finding his track and following him. Big ivory in my estimation is a product of shear luck or being able to looking over a lot of bulls. For instance in the Forestry areas bordering Hwange it would not be unusual to look over 200 bulls in a two week hunt.

Mark

Sounds like most hunting, luck and hard work and being where the big ones are equals results.

If I could find a pangolin I might just find some big ivory also.

I guess another way to get big tusks is not to shoot ele with small ones, but it is still exciting.

Mac, that 470 always was a good shooting double. As I recall the test target had the holes touching at 50 meters.

Thanks

BigB

Great Advise - we have hunted over 100 elephants in our prime elephant hunt area NG 47 in Botswana and without doubt the 2 ingrediants for a big tusker are LUCK and perserverence, as to finding a bull over 50 pounds the old saying fish where the fish are - holds true - in Botswana every year we hunt over 400 trophy bulls and the annual elephant report compiled for the department of wildlife shows a average for Botswana in excess of 54 pounds over the last 5 years - so any outfitter in Botswana should get you a good chance on a 50 pound plus bull. The Niassa area in Mozambique is at present the place for monster ivory - but USA does not allow importing of ivory from Mozambique. Tanzania is also recording some great tuskers but success ratios remain low in my opinion. Some good bulls have also come out of Zambia recently.
There are some great deals in the current global economic melt down - In Botswana there are some elephant in prime areas still available in Botswana for the 2009 season which ends in September - anybody wanting a good chance at a 50 pound plus bull for under $35 000-00 can contact me and I can hook them up with colleagues who have some unsold quota - saf.bots@info.bw - Graeme Pollock

Graeme Pollock,

I would encourage your friends to post their hunts on our discounted hunt forum. Just make sure they follow the rules and disclose all the details.

Brett