Finally getting a shot at an elephant with a bow!!

[Altitude sickness]

Tomorrow is the day !

 

[Uncontrolled_round_feed]

Great write up

 

[Sh1kar]

July 18



Once again I am awake before the generator, which comes on at 6am. We have breakfast quickly and get ready for the day. I notice one bolt on my bow is almost stripped out and my stabilizers are loose. I trim down the accessories as much as I can to get more grip on the teeth but will have to fix this when I get home. I am able to get them nice and tight though.



We make the rounds through the smaller villages to see if there are any CREDIBLE elephant sightings. No luck and at 8:15 we are getting fuel in the main local town on our way out to where we were yesterday to make another attempt on the large herd we were stalking yesterday.



By 9am we are back in Chiyanba, looking for Njavuo. (Check spelling) I should mention that I was informed I could upgrade my tuskless into a trophy exportable bull, so that has opened up a lot more options. It does take a while to find some to hunt though.



We are told there is a big herd by the school. We head over there and don’t see anything near there but start looking in the surrounding bush veld and spot a lone elephant feeding off in the distance. One of the trackers wants to look for the herd, but Steve points out astutely to the tracker that one animal is far easier to stalk than 20 so we should look into this single elephant first.



Just before 11am, We began stalking this bull, which soon became 4, then 6, then a small herd. I tell my cameraman Wessel that this is the problem with the elephant population. They went from 1 to 8 in under an hour. They are like really big tribbles. We identify the best animal in the herd and stalk him for around half an hour. Every time I get close enough to think one good move forward will put me in range, my target either moves to a different tree to snack on or turns. It is frustrating but I feel like I am making progress. By 11:25am, my stalk on a good trophy bull is over.



I see a lone elephant animal under a tree. It looks like it is asleep, but it is in the way of our stalk and I have to make a wide circle around it. Looking at it through the binos, I see a lack of ivory and diverted from the big 65+lb bull to this tuskless.



I get within 40 yards and we make a decision to close a bit more. Steven stops at a tree while I continue to advance. There isn’t cover for me but a tree I am headed to I can keep between me and her head, keeping me mostly hidden. At 30-31 yards, she turned to reveal she had a calf with her. I was exposed aside from the small tree I kept between us to block her line of sight on me.



When she left, she started moving faster and faster, taking most of the herd with her. My original bull and his buddy did not flee and we were able to continue our hunt. We sit under the tree where the tuskless was and let them settle down.



One crossword later, I am still waiting and my hunt log is already up to the current moment. I can’t really converse and have no Internet or cell service, so I end up playing a game of monopoly against the computer. I feel like I am feeding my brain cheez whiz with mindless games, but I have gotten tired of the crosswords and sudoku.



12:20, we decide to get back at it. As soon as we stand up, the elephants also stand up and take off. It is like those coyote sheep dog Looney Toons videos where they break for lunch and then after lunch, the battle continues right where it left off. Speaking of lunch, we head back towards the rural school where the elephants were headed to break for lunch. Upon arrival, they had not seen our herd, so we will have to figure out where they diverted to.



After lunch, we are back cruising around looking for an any herd we can find. It takes quite some time to find a herd as this is a large area and when the travel through a thicket, it is often a long way around to the other side and then we have to scout to pick them up again. It isn’t bothersome much aside from how much time of the day is lost in this process. We are not able to get back onto any until after 4pm.



We are headed towards a group of them, but there is a wind issue as our scent is blowing in their direction. They are down below and in front with a rise between us. We had to move to right to get around them to approach from downwind. As we do, they turn back to the left and start to move away from us. We discuss moving to far side of this little valley, putting us back at the start from where we came in. Before we can move over there, they turn and come back towards us but stop out of my bow range. I have to drop down into the valley to get closer. I am 65 yards from a tuskless. She has a calf but her udder is dry so it is no longer dependant on her.



I move towards her slowly. It is difficult as I am on a slope with dead leaves and grass so it is slick and I don’t want to slip, make a racket and tumble or slide down to the bottom. I would be close enough, but she would hear and I wouldn’t like the results if she chose fight or flight. She continues to move and feed and any time I get within 60 yards, I watch her move on to another bush and I am back at 80 yards. Normally this would be a range I could shoot at, but with these ultra heavy elephant arrows, my sight goes out to 50. I might have to slide my sight down lower with the XD feature. I have not tried that out on an animal before and while this is what it is made for, shooting at an elephant for a first time try seems a bit crazy to me. Making the adjustment in the bush without even a test shot in camp? That sounds a bit too risky on such an animal.



At last, she is in an area where I am pretty sure I can close to within 50 yards, but she steps behind a bull - one below the minimum limit for ivory size so I cannot shoot that one either. I wait in the brush. There are no trees to put between us if things turn south and there are still elephants just outside of visual range but close enough to come over quickly should she raise an alarm.



She turns back towards me, but still I cannot get a broadside shot. Then, I see as she steps behind some bushes on the hill side and disappears into the thicket above. We have zero chance of following her in that and no protection when/if we are put on defense. We are done. It is 5:30pm. There is only an hour of light left.



As we head back, we pass by the house, if you can call it that, for one of the trackers. He tells us there is an elephant there. It is 5:45pm. What else can we do but investigate, right? We look and there is a bull there. We approach undetected. There are two. There is some brush in the way, so we try and get a better look, but we have to get closer to see. We move up and into the edge of the bush they are in. I see him. 35 yards away. No obstructions. Quartering away. Perfect angle. PERFECT!!



Ivory is too small. Not legal weight. Look at the other bull. Same story but a bit further back. Both are fully mature bulls and likely won’t ever make the legal minimum. I could shoot either of these with the bow right now and it would be a done deal. Instead, I am stuck in no man’s land. The elephant must be either over 66 lbs (15kg per tusk) or zero pounds.



Beaten by the odds again, we head back to camp. It is well over an hour to get there, but the drive through the mopane forest is relaxing and eases my frustration from the day.



After dinner that night, I learn that since it is the weekend, the Zambian government will be unable to upgrade my permit as I must pay in dollars and banks are closed. I am now locked in to the tuskless permit for the remainder of the hunt. This closes off most of the potential targets to me.

Rats!

What about the PH tip cash?

 

[mrpoindexter]

July 19

I lay in bed thinking about the coming day. While I have two days hunting left on my safari, if I shoot an elephant and have to recover it the following morning, this would be my last day. Elephants can run a long way on a lung shot. Should I miss the heart and have a late afternoon shot, I would need to recover in the morning - something not possible on my final hunting day. While not positive, I think being there for the recovery is a necessary component of officially bagging an animal.

I feel the pressure mounting to get this done. I hear the starting of an engine in the distance and then the hum of a diesel generator kicking on. A few moments later, the lights kick on. There is no time to lie in bed. I am quickly up and brush my teeth, get dressed and head to breakfast.

I check my messages and Laci tells me she wants to see a video of the elephants in camp. I send her the photos and video I took a few days ago. I recall looking at the elephant just next to my lodge. I was a mere 4 yards from him.

7 am, we are at Ammon’s house, waiting to pick him up.

7:30, still looking for elephants. We are quite far removed from the village and see a sign that says “ZULULAND”. I think it is funny to see a billboard where there is no traffic, but I learn the government wants to build a settlement here and relocate people from the city. The only jobs they would have would be to cut down the trees to make charcoal. Is this the progress that Zambia is trying to create?

7:45 we find some fresh tracks. The guys start looking to see where they went.

8:10 we drive past another couple large swaths of former Mopane forests that have been chopped down and replaced with. Corn.

We pass a couple people heading out into the bush with a bag. We ask where they are going. They say they are making charcoal but we notice they have no fuel and no axe. They are likely going to search their snares to see if they caught anything.

It is 9am and we have yet to see an elephant. There are some elephants up by Mr. Brown’s lodge but we cannot get explicit word from the parks department that they will back our right to hunt there.

10:15 we stop at a villagers house. His grainary was broken into by 3 elephants. 85 year old mother still working, shucking and shelling maize. So poor and robbed by the elephants. Life is hard here.

11:00 we stop for lunch at the future remote tent camp. After lunch, I switch my bow over to XD settings. New range goes 30-64 yards via fixed pins and the range finder might be able to get perhaps as close as 28 or so. I don’t expect to shoot further than 65 yards, but I can’t really see myself getting closer than 30 yards either. If I did, top of sight window will be close enough. There really is a lot of drop on a 1,250 grain arrow. I may have wanted to practice with the extra distance settings more first, but the heaviest arrows is the main reason I bought it and this is as heavy as I have. The only other reason is to get to 101 yards on my lighter arrows for 3D events like Redding and the Fresno Safari, which ironically is also an elephant shot.

It is after 12:15 and I am getting antsy to start moving and see an elephant today. I look around and I am the only one awake. I start packing up the camp. The staff see me and come assist in packing up the table and chairs. Steve hears the noise and wakes up. “Did they call?” He asks? I said no. “Why are you packing up the table?” Bwana wants his elephant. Steve then tells me he is waiting for a call on where the elephants are. They will be bedded down now and should start moving around 2.

I get my chair back out and try to catch some rest. A day and a half left and here we are taking a siesta. I would rather be sitting in a blind where at least I would have a chance at a bushbuck, warthog or zebra.

1:20pm and still just sitting here. 1:30. I asked how far away the waterhole blind was when. Hours away. Guys packed up the truck. Steve on the phone asking for elephant locations. 1:40 and we finally start moving.

2:40pm and we finally reach the area where the elephants are alleged to be. Now we must look for them. We drive up into the bush and keep our eyes peeled for any sign of our quarry. We see three young children carrying bags of reeds coming from the direction we are headed. We ask them if they have seen Njovuo. They have not. They say there are none where we are headed. At least we only spent an hour driving here on my next to last hunting day in Zambia. I have about 3 1/2 hours of light left. I have not seen a single elephant all day. And now I cannot even upgrade to a trophy elephant but can only shoot a tuskless. Without a dependent calf. From less than 65 yards away.

4pm and nothing has improved. Still not a single sighting or even a credible tip on where they could be. Villagers say they know where elephants are, but when pressed for details, all they have is information that is days old.

4:30pm and we had reports of 2 elephant bulls. One with tusks, one without and were able to locate them. The wind is blowing our scent directly to them, so we move all the way around behind. I see one on the left and there is one further to the right. Can’t move on the left one without the right one smelling us.

Work the bull on the right. Steve has his guy call the government official liaison or whatever he is to see if there is any way to upgrade my permit. While we move into position. I see why he is excited about this bull. He carries between 85 and 90 pounds of ivory. Would be a number 7 or 8, just passing Fred Bear!

We move closer. The scout is on the phone with the Zambian government guy. He is standing next to the park ranger. They will give us a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Quartering away. Looking away. Oblivious to our presence. Already in range. I could close another 20 more yards if I so chose and there are no dry leaves between me and the tree I would move to. I am good here. No need to fuck this up trying to make it an easier shot. It is a fucking elephant. Can you get a bigger bullseye? The challenge is less archery accuracy and more the stamina to walk that much, the draw weight needed and mostly the nerves. I got this.

Arrow nocked. Feet positioned. Release hooked. Set. Lifting to draw. Glance to my left.

Thumbs down. I give a gesture of “huh?” with just me head to get confirmation so I don’t misread the signal.

DOWN. No go.

I lower my bow, but my spirit sinks even more. I back out to the group. We decide to follow him and see if we can find the other bull. We circle around but the river bank is way too steep for the elephants to come down so we head back into the thicket to flow their trail.

We see the big bull again but cannot get past him to find the other elephant. He turns toward us. Ears flare out and he comes at us. We back up. Steve warns the scout and ranger not to fire.

We look at him, as he swings his head around and he turns and runs off into the bush.

It is a tough and frustrating walk back to the Land Cruiser. Steve looks as Wessel and says “I don’t want to see any footage of that elephant.” Wessel looks right at him and replies “I don’t want to see footage of any more elephants.” I chime in “I want to see footage of one more elephant. Dead. With an arrow in him.”

Misery loves company and we all laugh and head back to camp.

One more day. This essentially takes the Chobe bushbuck off the table, as well as the rest of the plains game I was eyeing on the trail cam and likely the hyena as well unless I get lucky with an early success on the elephant tomorrow. Blue isn’t really my color, so I am not holding my breath.

I plan on working a full day tomorrow to try and connect on the elephant, but I am really beginning to think about how much that one day I lost from the airline has cost me.

I hope I sleep well tonight. I have over an hour long drive back to camp to decompress my frustrations. Luckily, I am not a stress eater, otherwise, I could eat an elephant and we all know that isn’t happening tonight. Humor gets me through , I guess.

 

[Altitude sickness]

keep the faith. Good luck tomorrow.

 

[slam8031]

Keep grinding!!!

 

[DieJager]

I am getting frustrated as well reading this, damn what a grind. But still tomorrow to connect on your elephant. Fingers crossed!

 

[spike.t]

Well @mrpoindexter I won't depress you by saying you won't believe how many ele there used to be in that area 30 or so years ago....

 

[ACM]

The suspense is killing me. I can’t image what you’re feeling! Even though the stakes are quite high now, don’t forget to soak in every moment of your hunt.
Hurry up and stick that ele tomorrow, we know your going to!!!!

 

[Slaton]

Keep reading with anticipation of a perfect arrow flying. Killing in the last day always makes for better stories! Ready for the next update

 

[Datchew]

My buffalo finally made a mistake on the morning of day 11 that I needed.

Wait for it. You just need one chance. Keep the focus

I'm loving this hunt report

 

[ACM]

Same for me. My best Buffalo was taken in the last hours of light on the final day of the hunt. Worth every struggle and step!

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Enjoying your report and writing style sir !!
Good luck on your last day.!

 

[Safari1]

It must be a good elephant area for trophy/gun hunters?

 

[Safari1]

Well @mrpoindexter I won't depress you by saying you won't believe how many ele there used to be in that area 30 or so years ago....

It doesn’t sound bad now?

 

[mrpoindexter]

Good area here for certain. The worst day we only saw two elephants and one was a top 10 world record for bow. Just starting last day now.

 

[spike.t]

It doesn’t sound bad now?

Yup ..but used to see even more back then....

 

[Uncontrolled_round_feed]

Anybody want to put odds on this one? Been reading with great delight this thread and am thoroughly invested!

 

[jomw10]

Suspend is killing me!

 

[TKessel]

Me too, I think it will happen!