Nyae Nyae conservancy, Namibia
Outfitter, SMJ Safaris
Owner and PH, Stephan Jacobs
August 1-10, 2019
This was my third time hunting with Stephan and it seems to get better each time. In 2 1/2 days of hunting elephant, I saw 46 bulls, of these, three would go 75# or better. After we got the bull, I saw easily 100 more elephant.
On the way to camp, I stayed over night at his ranch and enjoyed watching Stephan's son, WM, and his two buddies hunting doves and guinea fowl. MW was the Great White hunter, the fellow holding the sticks was the tracker and the youngest boy was the bird dog. They were a deadly team and had a blast.


It all starts with the track. This one measured 27", the largest track Stephan has followed was 29".

When you find a track like this, you have to follow it.

It led to this bull.

The beautiful thing about a non-trophy hunt is most of the time you follow a track it leads to a bull that is TO BIG. You look them over good, talk about their weight, how old they are, then back out and they never know you were there.
On the third day, we found tracks of a group of bulls crossing the road. In this group there were 2 or 3 big bulls so we decided to drive around to a trail which cut into the direction they were headed. If they had crossed, we would pick up the tracks there, if not, we would go back and follow the tracks from the road. Fortunately, as we were going in, we spotted the bulls standing in the shade of a clump of trees. There were 10 bulls, all packed under the trees. The bull I shot is standing on the far right with his back to us.

He was the biggest body bull in the group and his right tusk was suitable for a non-trophy but we could not see his left tusk. With a strong right to left cross wind, we were not able to move far enough forward to where we could checkout the left side so we were trying to figure out what we should do when we heard other bulls to our right. We go check them out and as happens so may times, they were to big. By the time we got back to the other bulls they had begun to feed and were spreading out. We got the wind right and went down beside the herd and found the big bull we were looking at. Stephan looked at his left tusk and said he was the one we wanted. We tried to go straight in on him for a side brain shot but there was a young bull to our right which we would have to slip around. Things were going well until we crossed a clear lane about four feet wide straight in front of the young bull. He could not smell us but knew something was not right, up went his tail and he nervously walked over to the big bull, then both of them started walking fast toward us with their ears out. We tried to retreat but of course they caught up with us in just a little bit. When they got 17 steps from us, Stephan said, "Looks like it is going to be a frontal shot." I shot and it staggered him but he didn't go down. As he turned, Stephan shot him in the shoulder and as he was going away, I hit him in the spine and he went straight down. When we walked up on him, even Stephan was beside himself as to how big body he was. We measured with a tape and he was 13' to the top of his hump.


After we recovered the meat the next day, I tagged along with Stephan as he worked on the solar pumps to get them pumping at their maximum. With the severe drought, all the natural pans in the Nyae Nyae are dry and if it were not for the 20 solar pumps Stephan has put in, the wildlife would be dying. Hunter's dollars foot the bill to install and maintain these pumps.

One morning, Stephan talked me into trying my hand at some sand grouse. Having never even shot doves, this was going to be interesting to say the least. Due to Stephan's instruction, I managed to get five. I won't say how many shells I used but I had a blast. If you get the chance, it is great fun.

I managed to take an extremely old Gemsbok which they estimated his age at 19 or 20. His horns had a ring worn into them at the base. Stephan was very excited to get a bull as old as he was.

This is a tusk from a trophy hunt earlier in the season. 22" at the lip, 42" outside, 33" in the head. It was a privilege for me just to hold it. I can only dream.

These are my tusks, 40#. A perfect non-trophy. He was aged at 42, maybe 43. Had 1" of his 5th set in. Debbie, from Botswana, has a chart showing the molars with the age and it was very interesting.

I have said it before, there is nothing that compares to hunting elephant in the Nyae Nyae.

Your “Non Trophy” IS a true trophy in my book. Well played Sir

Randy,

You just a ele killin' machine. Well done Sir!

Mark

Wow! A 40 pounder would be a trophy elephant in most other places. Well done.

Most excellent Randy!

Randy,

Congrats on a great adventure in the Nyae Nyae. Once again,

it is on my "bucket list" of places to hunt.

Well Done, Jim

Excellent write up. Congrats!

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Randy,

You just a ele killin' machine. Well done Sir!

Mark

Mark, I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. For a country boy from Alabama, it has been quite a ride. I have been blessed.

That is a huge-bodied old bull. Congrats!

JJ Fenykovis massive Angolan elephant was 13’ 2” at the shoulder and I believe is considered one of the largest ever, period.

If yours is close to that, it’s an unbelievable animal.

Superb. Broken tusks or not, that is a magnificent bull, properly hunted. Those tracks are incredible.
Thank you for the report and photos.

Hunting Elephant in the Nyae Nyae with Stephan is a dream hunt for sure!

Congrats!


Tim

Stellar non-trophy bull and great write up. I've always thought the term "non-trophy" bull something of an oxymoron! Any elephant that physically big is a trophy.

quote:

Originally posted by Marty:
Superb. Broken tusks or not, that is a magnificent bull, properly hunted. Those tracks are incredible.
Thank you for the report and photos.

+1

Thanks for sharing. Super hunt and super eli.

Good hunting

Carl Frederik

Congrats on a nice hunt - thanks for sharing.

Some day …


Morten

Thanks for sharing your interesting report. Fantastic old bull to take. I think a non-trophy bull hunt is every bit the adventure of a trophy bull if you hunt for an old, broken bull such as yours. The Nyae Nyae sounds like a fabulous place to elephant hunt.

I had the privilege of doing such a hunt in Zimbabwe once, taking a bull with both tusks broken off at the lip. It was every bit like a trophy bull hunt, just with much less ivory.

Absolutely fantastic
Heading to Sengwa research soon
Hope I’ll run into some elephants

Sounds like an excellent hunt. Congratulations.

Congratulations Randy, what a bull.

Mike
Mike Taylor Sporting
+44 7930 524 097
mtaylorsporting@gmail.com
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Pretty work Randy!!

Elephant porn! Just love it. Your non trophy is a TROPHY in my book. Well done my friend

Congratulations

Just curious, do you have pics of the nerves?

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Just curious, do you have pics of the nerves?

No,I did not look at the cavity