Here we go again…

[VertigoBE]

Just found this on my Facebook feed… seems a lot of conclusions, and public naming/shaming without all the facts again. Anyone can further clarify?

Name of the company (very very well known outfitter, also on AH) name of the PH, and the client, plus the company he works for have all been mentioned in public view. I deleted it from the screenshot, in order not to add to the histeria.

But that looks like an awfully young elephant indeed.

@BRICKBURN if this is not appropriate, do not hesitate to remove. But I’d rather have someone who was involved, clarify, so I can respond on FB with the real story as well.

 

[jasyblood]

@VertigoBE Sending you a PM.

 

[PeteG]

I think this is very old...
Perhaps being resurrected to reignite the anti fires.

 

[PARA45]

Could it be that the picture was altered? That is too much of a coincidence how it laid and the elephant does look small.

 

[Hunt anything]

Lots of questions on this one, was it charging and no choice but to shoot it? Was it already injured and a mercy killing? Had it killed someone? Was it a crop raider? Of course none of this matters to the antis, the animals have more rights than we do according to them.

 

[wesheltonj]

I am familiar with the photo and what happened. It is indeed a old photo, that keeps circulating on the internet.

 

[jasyblood]

I read the hunt report on another forum a few years ago. This happened in 2018 and this cow charged and they had to shoot it.

 

[Certus]

I read the hunt report on another forum a few years ago. This happened in 2018 and this cow charged and they had to shoot it.

Well there ya go, the Facebook post claims male - probably because of tusks.

 

[VertigoBE]

I read the hunt report on another forum a few years ago. This happened in 2018 and this cow charged and they had to shoot it.

Thank you for the clarification @jasyblood

 

[baxterb]

Yup. Old news being recycled.

Amazing how the poster thinks they know something about the event.

i was in BFE Kenya and my wife sent me this same pic, which was sent to her by her aunt she never talks to. She asked if I knew anything about it. I said yup, I’ll tell you all about it when I get home.

the internet is a powerful thing.

 

[VertigoBE]

I wrote this on the fb page that had this ‘story’. Since then no more “castrate and kill that scum” kind of posts anymore.

This was an unfortunate accident of a cow elephant that charged two hunters in 2018. It was them or the elephant. The pride in the picture is not for the sad affair of unnecessarily shooting this too young elephant, but for surviving a full on elephant charge on them. It is why the front legs are below the body, it was full out running to the ph and the hunter when they stopped it only about 20 yards from them.

These hunters were at the time hunting for tuskless elephant, to improve the gene pool after the many years of illegal poaching.

 

[375Fox]

But that looks like an awfully young elephant indeed.

Zambezi valley elephants are not large bodied like other areas, not even the bulls. Take a look at their website or Tanks report from last year and you can see elephants are much smaller than people think elephants would be, particularly the cows. I don’t know the age, but looks fully mature to me and in this situation obviously wasn’t a consideration. Here are some photos from very close to same area (buffalo for size comparison).

 

[VertigoBE]

Zambezi valley elephants are not large bodied like other areas, not even the bulls. Take a look at their website or Tanks report from last year and you can see elephants are much smaller than people think elephants would be, particularly the cows. I don’t know the age, but looks fully mature to me and in this situation obviously wasn’t a consideration. Here are some photos from very close to same area (buffalo for size comparison).View attachment 473720View attachment 473721View attachment 473719

Thanks @375Fox I must admit I’ve only seen elephant from afar up until now, so I do not have much experience with the different sizes from different regions.

My comment on the age was actually more inspired by the small tusks, but I suppose that there too regional differences can be large.

 

[DLSJR]

I’m acquainted with both fellows in the photo. 100% a cow that charged and nearly got them. They were hunting tuskless cows in Zambezi Valley and this cow charged them from close range. There is more to the story about what happened, but it’s not mine to tell.

This image has been abused by anti-hunting groups for a number of years to denigrate two really good men, and all hunters by extension.

 

[VertigoBE]

I’m acquainted with both fellows in the photo. 100% a cow that charged and nearly got them. They were hunting tuskless cows in Zambezi Valley and this cow charged them from close range. There is more to the story about what happened, but it’s not mine to tell.

This image has been abused by anti-hunting groups for a number of years to denigrate two really good men, and all hunters by extension.

This is why I requested help to have the real origin of the story so I could reply on the fb post.

And thanks to AH members (@jasyblood) that post has in the mean time been removed. So no further agitation will be caused there. Goal achieved, case closed.

 

[Philip Glass]

Not all elephant hunts are trophy hunts. There are many cull hunts available. Elephants are grossly overpopulated and need to have their numbers reduced. People get stupidly emotional over some things. In Africa it’s meat!

 

[elephantmaster29]

It seems Elephants need to be reduced quite a bit. It would be nice to see hunting prices drop for elephant tags.

 

[375Fox]

It seems Elephants need to be reduced quite a bit. It would be nice to see hunting prices drop for elephant tags.

Issue isn’t pricing, it’s quota issued. No country is prepared to offend tourists with the amount of cow quota that needs to be issued to be effective or resume culling. Lowering prices on bulls beyond the point they’ve already reached would just devalue areas unfortunately. The cheapest (exportable) bull hunts come from areas with nearly no other game, which shows little goes back into the areas for conservation.

 

[elephantmaster29]

Issue isn’t pricing, it’s quota issued. No country is prepared to offend tourists with the amount of cow quota that needs to be issued to be effective or resume culling. Lowering prices on bulls beyond the point they’ve already reached would just devalue areas unfortunately. The cheapest (exportable) bull hunts come from areas with nearly no other game, which shows little goes back into the areas for conservation.

What would the cow quota need to be?

 

[gillettehunter]

In Chobe national park the elephants have permanently damaged the ecology according to authorities there. There could be literally thousands culled there.
More recently I read about Kruger. The article I read indicates that the carrying capacity is about 7,000 elephants to continue damage to the ecology. Currently they estimate 40,000-50,000 elephants in the greater Kruger area. That’s a lot to cull.
Bruce