BOTSWANA: NG 13 Elephant Hunt

[1r4rc]

George Caswell is tops and will do you well w anything he recommends. Any of the 450, 470 or larger doubles would work great and you'd have a thrill. Have a great time!

 

[WillMFerguson]

Bill thank you so much for taking the time to write this thoughtful response. I really want to do what you said and jump on a double rifle and never look back and go hunt this elephant with a double. There is one thing that I left out of my story I’ve always been in great health! I’ve never really had an injury in my life! I was a professional firefighter in my youth and even certified as an astronaut dive rescuer for the Kennedy space Center NASA. One of very view chosen for that job, but now at sixty years old for the first time in my life I have a rotator cuff injury to my right arm and it is severely limiting well I think I can do. I don’t have any time to get this injury fixed before the hunt. Yesterday I shot a rifle for the first time since I hurt my shoulder. I shot a 300 win mag an average weight rifle with 150 grain bullet off hand and was able to tolerate the recoil no problem and I even killed the armadillo I was shooting at which surprised me. What I’m wondering is just how significant the recoil is on a double rifle the biggest rifle I own is a 300 Remington ultra mag and a course on these past safaris I’ve used camp guns in the 375 and 458 lott caliber. The only gun Champlin has right now that would work for me is a 500 nitro in Krieghoff what do you think about the recoil of that gun thanks again so much for helping me

If you don't mind me chiming in on this, I had a left shoulder labral tear, about a decade ago. I'm left-eye dominant but RH. I am extremely recoil sensitive and have the pain threshhold of a spoiled 4-year-old. I could handle multiple rounds of .50 BMG recoil from a bolt gun just fine. Depending on the nature of your injury, it's probably not the recoil that is going to hurt, it will be trying to lift things, sleeping on that side, and maneuvering, especially requiring your elbow to be more than 45 degrees from your body. Then again, I'm not an MD and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express, last night. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Jerycmeach]

George Caswell is tops and will do you well w anything he recommends. Any of the 450, 470 or larger doubles would work great and you'd have a thrill. Have a great time!

Thanks. He only has a used krieghoff in 500 NE at the moment

If you don't mind me chiming in on this, I had a left shoulder labral tear, about a decade ago. I'm left-eye dominant but RH. I am extremely recoil sensitive and have the pain threshhold of a spoiled 4-year-old. I could handle multiple rounds of .50 BMG recoil from a bolt gun just fine. Depending on the nature of your injury, it's probably not the recoil that is going to hurt, it will be trying to lift things, sleeping on that side, and maneuvering, especially requiring your elbow to be more than 45 degrees from your body. Then again, I'm not an MD and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express, last night. Just my 2 cents.

Thank you so much for your input yes everything you describe is the symptoms I am having! So maybe you are correct and the recoil isn’t going to be that bad I have shot my 300 win mag once each of the last two days and I’ve had no issues with that I was able to buy the double rifle today and it is on its way I look forward to letting you know if I’m actually able to shoot it I sure hope I am

 

[Jerycmeach]

George Caswell is tops and will do you well w anything he recommends. Any of the 450, 470 or larger doubles would work great and you'd have a thrill. Have a great time!

Thank you I spoke with George again today I was able to find a rifle in Texas with Houston bills help and the rifle is on its way I went ahead and went with the 450

 

[Jerycmeach]

I wanted to give an update on the last minute preparation for this elephant hunt. George of Champlin firearms was amazing and gave me an introduction to double rifles a few days ago at his shop in Enid Oklahoma. We hit it off and spend nearly the entire day together in his gun vault! George only had a used .500 Krieghoff and a .470 NE that had the caliber designation stamped incorrectly on the barrel. It was unknown as to how much the manufacturer would reduce the price of the .470. It was a CHAPUIS. So I figured no gun for me after all there is only 30 days before my hunt and I am smothered with chores and projects. There is no time! That’s when Houston Bill on this site befriended me like so many others have and reached out to me. Bill said he had the almost exact some situation occurs on his elephant hunt. It was a short notice 40 day lead time to prepare for his hunt. He too wanted to use a double rifle because of the historic and romance factor. He told me about how he prepared foe his hunt with his double. Before it was all over Bill had found a 450 400 CHAPUIS for me at a gun store in Texas. A new gun and it has already shipped to my small town gun store in Kansas. Now to find some shells and see if I can still shoot iron sights or if we need to rush to see JJ in sand springs and get a red dot installed. I called him today and he was so gracious. He said he would do it for me while I waited! These people I meet on AH have been so amazing! They share the passion for the hunt and will do anything they can to help a fellow hunter prepare for their adventure! I’ll let you know how this journey of getting my first double and shooting it for the first time goes!

 

[Jerycmeach]

George Caswell is tops and will do you well w anything he recommends. Any of the 450, 470 or larger doubles would work great and you'd have a thrill. Have a great time!

I want to thank everyone for all there help! The community here on AH is so helpful! Houston Bill, Mark Biggerstaff, and many others have encouraged me and help me find a double rifle to use on this elephant hunt. I thought there was no time and George at Champlin did not have anything in stock to sell me that was in my price range and in the caliber that I thought my injured and unrepaired at this point rotator cuff could tolerate. One thing led to another. Houston Bill came to the rescue and found a 450 400 chapuis at a gun store in Beaumont Texas I believe. The gun should arrive in Kansas in a couple of days. Meanwhile Mark Biggerstaff is sending a box of bullets to get me started. I could not find any anywhere. I say all this to commend everyone on this site that has been so nice to me. Encouraging me to follow my passion and try to get a double rifle in time to take it on this hunt.
Now I am worried about getting the necessary paperwork to take the gun on Qatar. I have read the posts on this site about the need of using a service. I think I will reach out to some of the names that I have seen mentioned on AH such as Gracy's travel. I have already booked my tickets on Qatar but maybe I can still enlist the help of one of the travel services to take care of the gun paperwork.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Your most welcome Jerry. Pleasure talking to you. More ammo on the way and will be in your hands late next week. Also Qatar paperwork is not that complicated.

 

[cajunchefray]

I am excitedly looking forward to my upcoming elephant hunt in Botswana’s NG 13 with Leon Kachelhoffer. If you want to become infuriated at the way the fake media portrays hunters and hunting in Africa just google NG 13 elephant or Leon Kachelhoffer and read one of the many “hit pieces” written in the national and international media in April and May of 2022. We all can remember the way Corey Knowlton was treated. The Texan that hunted the Rhino in Namibia to benefit conservation. Corey was attacked with death threats and phone messages saying things like I am going to rape your wife to death and make you watch and burn your house down with your kids inside! Lovely people, aren’t they? These kind hearted, caring, anti-hunters. Leon was treated the very same way for his crime of investing years of effort and a huge amount of money to develop this hunting concession which will benefit all the wildlife and the area tribes. I am so passionate about the conservation aspect of “funding conservation through hunting in Africa” that I had to book with Leon and do this same hunt on the “one year anniversary” of him being crucified for harvesting the hundred pounder. I will be able to interview Leon and the local tribes and council and get the story first hand on how they were falsely accused. I will see the benefits first hand and hopefully someday be able to spread the truth about how beneficial “tourist hunting” is to conservation in Africa.

Leon came to my hunting Lodge in Kansas this winter and we planned our hunt. I cannot believe the hunt is only about a month away. I feel so unprepared.

I want to thank everyone on AH for being so helpful! Through the wonderful friends I have made on AH I was able find guidance to wonderful outfitters and discern which companies I would like to hunt with. If this hunt goes as I hope I will have been blessed to go on three hunts to Africa in just 22 months. I have harvested several leopards and three cape buffalo and fantastic wild lion and 26 plains game animals. I have been in Tanzania for 28 days and in Botswana for over 30. All this is beyond my wildest dreams. I definitely feel like Cinderella! What I mean is that my paygrade and education I was never meant to go on all these fantastic adventures! God has blessed me and I am thankful! Covid stole my Alaska fishing business because it was largely based on cruise ship clientele. This nightmare of my losing my business caused me to have the time off to go to Africa.

This October I floated the Snake River for twenty days and hunted with a recurve bow made for me 40 years ago by Jim Brackenbury. I took no supplies and lived entirely off the land. I slept on the gravel under the stars and called in 18 bull moose. I used a kayak I made myself about 30 years ago. In the end I shot a bull at 8 feet away with an arrow that was 60 years old. A browning micro flight and a vintage fred bear broadhead. I have an article about this adventure that will come out this next month I believe in a western hunting magazine.

The reason I mention this Idaho moose hunt is that by using Old and Vintage equipment I was able to make this hunt one of the most amazing adventures of my life! I knew the unit had produced an average size shiras bull of only 28 inches. I did not care about the size of the antlers I cared about the “size of the adventure”! Think about those words for a minute!

Today I spent the day with George of Champlin Firearms in Enid Oklahoma. What a gentleman! He opened his shop on a Saturday just for me and he spent hours and hours teaching me about double rifles! I have hunted all of my life and had never touched or seen let alone fired a double rifle! So now you see why I told the story about the moose hunt this oct with vintage archery gear! I am only 30 days or so away from my Elephant hunt and I am just now discovering the romance and history of the double rifle! It is all I think about! I am so afraid that I do not have the time to do justice to acquiring a double, learn to shoot it well, and be ready for this elephant hunt. On the other hand I am afraid that if I take the elephant with a borrowed camp gun I will forever regret that I did not hunt the elephant with a mor classic and historic firearm. Oh well! Ha!

Thanks again everyone on AH for your help in my journey to support conservation in Africa through hunting!
Below a picture of George and I at his Champlin firearms shop in Enid Oklahoma taken today.

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above a recent scouting picture of an elephant on NG 13 taken by Leon and sent to me.
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above a picture of me four decades ago with the same bow that I used on the moose hunt this past October.
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above a picture of Leon Kachelhoffer and I at my lodge in Kansas this winter.

above floating the snake river in Idaho for 20 days this past october with the 40 year old bow and 30 year old kayak I built myself

My wild lion from Tanzania this past August.

Me with the same bow I carried above the artic circle In Alaska 40 years ago as seen in the previous picture I used this past Oct on the snake river in Idaho. Makes me want to use a double rifle on the elephant hunt to make it more historic and romantic.View attachment 519823
My Botswana Leopard was mounted by Robert Vitro and was displayed at SCI in Nashville. I have not seen it in person yet. Alan Porter of Colorado is providing trucking of the mount from the show back to my lodge in Kansas. It was just loaded on the truck this evening after the close of SCI Convention and I should see the mount soon.

Nice Lion, harvested from Tanzania, doesn't get much better than that!

 

[Mort Hill]

Saw your beautiful leopard mount in Nashville at SCI Convention. You will be very pleased! Best of luck on your elephant hunt and I hope it is every bit of the adventure and experience you desire!

 

[sierraone]

You guys are above my paygrade. But I met George several years ago at DSC when J.J. was still working for him full time. It is nice to know though that our humble hunting forum enable us in some degree to keep up with these hunting legends and what they are doing. Good luck to all of you in your upcoming hunts or big double sales that enable these hunts to happen. Waiting to read your stories.

 

[Safari1]

Where did you get the lion in Tanzania?

 

[Jerycmeach]

Saw your beautiful leopard mount in Nashville at SCI Convention. You will be very pleased! Best of luck on your elephant hunt and I hope it is every bit of the adventure and experience you desire!

Thank you so much Mort! I received my double rifle today and I’m going to try to get it together and take it with me on the Elephant Hunt thanks for all the help you’ve been and I look forward to talking to you in the future you were a great resource when you talk to me about what to expect in Tanzania

 

[Jerycmeach]

Where did you get the lion in Tanzania?

Rungwa. With mawatisi safaries.

 

[Jerycmeach]

You guys are above my paygrade. But I met George several years ago at DSC when J.J. was still working for him full time. It is nice to know though that our humble hunting forum enable us in some degree to keep up with these hunting legends and what they are doing. Good luck to all of you in your upcoming hunts or big double sales that enable these hunts to happen. Waiting to read your stories.

I am so happy to be going on these adventures actually I should never be able to afford something like this but Covid stalled my business in Alaska that being my fishing business charter fishing business that was dependent on the cruise lines that lead to a couple of things a Covid loan disaster loan and then ultimately a few weeks ago the sale of the business all together that I had built for over 30 years so actually I’m a passionate outdoorsman who is committed to the message of how hunting funds conservation in Africa and I want to participate in that.
Also speaking about the paygrade I’m kind of foolish in that I am as bad as a gambler or a drug addict which I am neither and I am putting every dollar I have access to towards my passion. If this all goes well I will have gone to Africa three times in 22 months and gotten the wild lion the leopards the Cape buffaloes the plains game and the Botswana elephant. Hopefully I am learning a lot about how hunting funds conservation I am immersing myself in the research for that while I’m there and I hope to somehow get a voice or a platform to promote that in the future

 

[Jerycmeach]

I received my rifle today and I have an appointment with JJ on Wednesday if I decide that I need the red dot installed I think that’s the direction I’m going but I thought I would shoot the rifle first when I receive the one box of ammo that I have coming it should be here shortly. The caliber is 450 400.
I thought I would also post a magazine article that has come out recently in the digital version but not yet in the hardcopy. This is about a moose hunt that I had in October in Idaho. The reason I think it’s applicable is that it shows how much fun I had reliving my childhood using vintage equipment my old bow and arrow a kayak I made in a 60 year old arrow that’s the same reason that I want to use the double rifle on this hunt. I have gotten caught up in the romance and history of the double rifle I just wish I had considered all this earlier so I had time to prepare but I’m trying

 

[Jerycmeach]

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Congrats Jerry
Ammo shows to be there Monday.

 

[Ryeboy86]

AMAZING read and BEAUTIFUL rifle!! I haven't had the pleasure of meeting anyone off here in person, but it seems to be like a GREAT group of guys. I hope you have an AWESOME trip! I'm in Yuma, AZ. Let me know if you ever want to come hunt in the desert for Javelina. Coyote, Gamble's Quail or Dove! Looking forward to reading your hunting story!

 

[Jerycmeach]

AMAZING read and BEAUTIFUL rifle!! I haven't had the pleasure of meeting anyone off here in person, but it seems to be like a GREAT group of guys. I hope you have an AWESOME trip! I'm in Yuma, AZ. Let me know if you ever want to come hunt in the desert for Javelina. Coyote, Gamble's Quail or Dove! Looking forward to reading your hunting story!

Thanks so much!

 

[Jerycmeach]

Here is the way things are progressing. I received the new CHAPUIS double rifle with the very much appreciated help of Houston Bill. He reached out to me here on AH and has been amazing! That is the beauty of this community of passionate hunters that participate on the AH forums. Many of the AH members have done these international hunts for years! They know the ropes; not only on the firearms such as this double rifle craze that I am currently in, but they also understand the steps that need to be taken to take a firearm into these foreign countries. It seems daunting to me to get all this going in less than three weeks. Purchasing a double, shooting it to a point I feel proficient with it, and also getting my paperwork and permits together to actually get to the elephant camp with the rifle. Ha! We shall see if it all comes together. Here is where I currently am in the preparation. Houston Bill knew someone from Benelli which I am told now owns CHAPUIS. For years I took yhe Benelli guys hunting at my lodge in Kansas. Mike Holly was the national sales manager at the time and he and I became friends. He would bring the gun buyers from Dick’s,Cabela’s, Bass Pro, and others on whitetail hunts with us. Man what fun we had. I hear he went to Heckler and Koch and I don’t know if he is still with them or not. I got off track there forgive me! Houston Bulls friend at Benelli did some research and found a 450 400 CHAPUIS new in the box in a gun shop in Beaumont TX. I bought the gun and it was sent to Kansas. Now I had no shells. To the rescue came Mark Biggerstaff and his gun shop in Texas! One box is what he had and he sent that. By the following week he had more 450 400s and he had three more boxes of Hornady dangerous game solids on the way. Once again this he AH brotherhood pulls the rabbit out of the hat to help a guy try to get to his hunt with a rifle and ammunition! Ha!
the rifle arrived damaged! Lever was bent down and scraping the wood of the pistol grip when I trying to open the rifle after assembling it! The lever would not return to its resting natural position with the gun closed! Crap! I’m screwed I thought! I called my new friend George owner of Champlin firearms. Remember it was not more than a couple weeks ago that I visited George at his gun vault in Enid Oklahoma to touch and hold a double foe the first time in my life! George spent the day teaching me about doubles and telling me all kind of historically significant things about them and their development! As Jerry Clowers the southern comedian from Liberty, Mississippi used to say…
“he flung a craving on me”! I had to have my own double and hunt this elephant the “right way”! The old way! At least in my mind that’s what I thought.
So, I called George my new buddy at Champlin. I told him I had issues with the rifle. George said basically, damn son! Your out of time! No way JJ can get you repaired and on your way in time for this hunt! I called JJ hoping for a miracle. You guessed it! Just like the way the Ah brethren came thru so did JJ. He said he can fix the gun! He says the nimrods do this all the time! Meaning the people that staff these gunshots have no experience often times in the way a double rifle actually works. Can you imagine being JJ and devoting your life to these rifles and taking great pride in them and their care and use only to have someone mistreat your baby! Well, it turns out that when they put the gun back into the box, new gun mind you that they had assembled to take some photos of it prior to me me agreeing to buy the rifle over the phone, th hat they left the lever that opens the action far to the right in the “open rifle position”. JJ pointed out to me that you are suppose to manually depress the little tit that sticks out on the top of receiver. Forgive me I do not know the proper names for these things in a double. I am a green horn! But JJ explained neophytes often do this and then shop the gun. In shipping that leaves this mispositioned lever subject to impact damage. to add to my misery I had assembled my double rifle after receiving it. Man was I excited! I tried to open and close it not recognizing at first that the lever was bent down! I scraped the finish off the wood of the pistol grip by actuating the lever before I recognized the problem. Crap! JJ says go get a night to eat and in two hours you will have a trijicon RMR mounted on your rifle and your lever will be repaired and I will even fix the “boo boo” to the wood! Ha! Must be a French thing! I haven’t said boo boo or heard boo boo in regards to a minor injury in a lot of years!
I look forward to shooting the rifle and I will let you know how that goes!