If hunting Eland the right way(tracking and not from the back of a truck or a blind) it can be more difficult than hunting Cape buffalo.
Cape buffalo are much more predictable than Eland. Buffalo will typically water twice a day. After the morning drink you can be assured that if you track them you will catch up with them when the day heats up. With Eland it is a different story. They do not need to water everyday, they do not always stop for an afternoon siesta. Once they realise you are after them they just keep going.
As mentioned once they start on their trot only a bushman can keep up.
Heaven help you if you wound a big bull, they can keep going forever and can absorb a remarkable amount of lead before succumbing.
I have only spent more time walking hunting elephant.
I well remember a hunt where two clients, a father and son had wounded a large eland bull out of a bachelor herd of 5 large bulls(all where shooters with large tufts and dewlaps) using a 458 Lott they had brought along in preparation of a Buffalo hunt the next year.
The clacking of the hooves of the 5 bulls was clear as they approached us through the bush. We had picked up the tracks of these 5 bulls early in the morning after dragging the roads the previous evening. The bulls had become aware of our presence and had commenced with their famous trot to put distance between us and them.
We had an idea of where the bulls where headed and we left the tracks to try and ambush them. They came trotting by about 30 yards from our position and the client took aim at the second bull. At the shot the Eland jumped about 8 feet in the air and after hitting the ground on all four legs opened the afterburners! All 5 bulls disappeared into the bush in a huge cloud of dust!
The shot was placed a bit too far forward and had hit the bull in the brisket. Small spots of blood was found and the trackers commenced tracking. Blood soon stopped and we stayed on the tracks. The track of our bull showed that he was walking normally and that the right rear hoofprint had a distinct twist in it which we used to ensure that we were tracking the right bull.
Tracking continued for the rest of the day(the bull was wounded at about 08h30 in the morning). Two despondent clients and us headed of to camp after marking the tracks when it became too dark to continue.
The mood in camp was a bit somber and sore feet was the order of the day. All were off to bed early and back on the track at first light.
Not long after we resumed tracking, we found where the bulls had stopped to feed and bedded for a while during the night. The trackers started sorting out the tracks and after about 45 minutes they determined that the 5 bulls had been joined by a younger bull during the night. The 4 big bulls that were with our bull had departed and the younger bull had remained with our bull and they headed of in a different direction.
To make a long story short, we tracked our bull until lunch time(that we had on the tracks in the bush), when the father announced that he could go no further.
Bearing in mind that we had not seen any of these Eland again or any further blood since the shot was taken the previous morning. Despite the trackers and our words of encouragement that we were confident that we would find the Eland he could go no further. We summoned the truck on the radio taking the father to camp and the rest of got back on the track. By 16H00 the son could no longer continue. We again reassured him that we were now close. The trackers were adamant that we would get our Eland before dark. He just could not carry on. The truck was again summoned and met us at the closest track we could find. The father had come along and they both decided to wait in the truck as it was getting late. We again continued on the track and within 45 minutes of resuming we got our first glimpse of our bull. Rifles went up and a 375 H&H and 416 Rigby barked at the same time, slowing the bull down. Another two shots from each rifle well placed eventually finished the bull.
It was a great hunt and a positive outcome and both clients could not contain their emotions as we left them with this magnificent bull for a private moment as both burst into tears.
So yes hunting large Eland bulls can be hard work but is extremely rewarding!
All the best to you and make an Eland one of your priority animals, you will not be sorry.
Shoot straight!
I need an eland to complete spiral slam and have hunted them several times, so far I haven’t found the ONE. Gives me a good excuse to keep going back
cheers
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