quote:

Originally posted by Buzz Charlton:
Bill 73

I refer to elephant bull hunting rather then tuskless. The reason being is that tracking a single bull in the terrain that the Valley offers means that you better have

1/ EXCELLENT TRACKERS- I have hunted Ele bulls in most concessions in Zim and outside of the Valley the tracking, at a risk of generalising, is very easy.

The Save /North western areas etc have a lot of Gussu sand and easy well marked roads making tracking and cutting tracks easy. You do not need an expert tracker.

In the Valley you better have 2 expert trackers as well as a good driver as unlike other areas the blocks are huge and tracking extremely hard. There are generally a lot more cows vs bulls in the Valley making staying on a track hard unlike say Kazuma where we do our big bulls and where you are lucky to see a cow herd on a 15 day hunt.

2/ YOU NEED TO BE PHYSICALLY FIT- I would say that an average daily tracking session on an elephant bull in the valley is 5 of more hours. Day in and day out it takes its toll. The bulls for what ever reason, and it may be due to poaching pressure in the past, travel great distances. Combine this with the huge blocks this can result in tracking and elephant bull from sun up to sun down with out catching it. This, in my eyes ,is as it should be- it is fair chase! The fact that the elephants are on high alert if they hear you or smell you you are in for a few more hours tracking before you catch them. This is unlike other areas where one does not have to even check the wind!

3/ YOU NEED TO ADJUST TROPHY EXPECTANCY- The valley average has been 35 lbs a side for many years and the price reflects that.