Hunting Elephant with the .505 Gibbs

[Gert Odendaal]

IvW, thank you kindly, the info is much appreciated..yes, we are way, way beyond culling as a solution, it is just not possible ...nature maybe intervene with a strategy of her own... Maybe a fresh meat contract to the Chinese Government maybe an option

 

[grand veneur]

In the long report from @IvW that I read , in addition to the failed methods of translocation , contraception and culling , the “laissez faire“ is also given as an option. As a Frenchman I like this option !

Nevertheless , it does not look very good , especially when it comes to elephant trophy hunting.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

We have , give or take ... about a thousand elephants in Bangladesh , Mark Hunter . Around 300 of these elephants are domesticated ... while the other 700 are wild ( rough approximate) .

In India , there are an estimated 32,000 wild elephants dispersed across the 30 states of India ( rough approximate ) .

Major, what are the domestic elephants used for? I know in some countries (Burma) elephants are used for logging.

 

[Major Khan]

Major, what are the domestic elephants used for? I know in some countries (Burma) elephants are used for logging.

Elephant rides for tourists , Master Smith . They also make excellent platforms to shoot Bengal Bush Boars or kakar deer from ... during beats . That is a different kind of thrill ! I only do it once a year .

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Fascinating. An elephant back tour of the jungle would be very exciting.

 

[krish]

They are fun to ride.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

The Africa elephant can be domesticated as well..maybe the Kruger National Park needs to consider training a huge amount of elephant bulls for the anti-poaching units members to be more effective...an elephant is able to track much better than the best dog used by these anti-poaching units...IvW, maybe we need to consider this as another possible option to remove overpopulated areas , train those elephants and transfer them to game reserves where poaching is devastating elephant and rhino populations , if every anti-poaching unit member in a game park/national park has his own two elephants to do anti-poaching trails /tacking/follow up operations it maybe making a dent in the population crisis and the elephant at last pay for his way to be in a game reserve .. This is Elon Musk type of thinking here..he made the impossible , possible...

 

[krish]

The Africa elephant can be domesticated as well..maybe the Kruger National Park needs to consider training a huge amount of elephant bulls for the anti-poaching units members to be more effective...an elephant is able to track much better than the best dog used by these anti-poaching units...IvW, maybe we need to consider this as another possible option to remove overpopulated areas , train those elephants and transfer them to game reserves where poaching is devastating elephant and rhino populations , if every anti-poaching unit member in a game park/national park has his own two elephants to do anti-poaching trails /tacking/follow up operations it maybe making a dent in the population crisis and the elephant at last pay for his way to be in a game reserve .. This is Elon Musk type of thinking here..he made the impossible , possible...

I have heard that African elephants can not be domesticated like Indian one's. But in history it has been used against Roman army. So I dont know. Yes HANNIBAL used them. They must have been tamed.

 

[krish]

From wikipedia

The Second Punic War broke out in 218 after Hannibal's attack on Saguntum, an ally of Rome in Hispania. He then made his famous military exploit of carrying war to Italy by crossing the Alps with his African elephants. In his first few years in Italy, he won a succession of dramatic victories at the Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae. He distinguished himself for his ability to

 

[grand veneur]

I have heard that African elephants can not be domesticated like Indian one's. But in history it has been used against Roman army. So I dont know. Yes HANNIBAL used them. They must have been tamed.

Hannibal did not use African elephants , but a smaller North African species that no longer exists today.

The technology of the war elephant comes from Southeast Asia. Persians and later Parthians used Asian elephants against Alexander and the Romans.

 

[krish]

Almost all kingdoms in old Bharath continent which is Indian sub continent used elephants as one of their 5 contingents in war.

 

[grand veneur]

It was not a good technique , rather only of psychological value to provoke terror at the enemy.

You need elephants who are ready to fight , which was not always the case , the elephant can hardly distinguish between friend and enemy , and if it is injured he leaves the battlefield.

The Romans quickly understood how to fight it and never used it in a battle.

 

[Gert Odendaal]

I have heard that African elephants can not be domesticated like Indian one's. But in history it has been used against Roman army. So I dont know. Yes HANNIBAL used them. They must have been tamed.

krish, the Africa elephant as well as the Cape Buffalo have been domesticated here in Zimbabwe/Tanzania and the buffalo here in Limpopo...they are breeding Cape Buffalo on the same principles as cattle ...breeding disease free buffalo and huge trophy bull gene quality buffaloes...

 

[grand veneur]

The Indians , Persians , Parthians and Carthaginians had no rifles caliber 505 Gibbs yet to kill the War Elephants in case of emergency.

( to come back to the topic ! )

 

[krish]

War elephants when injured had no friends or enemy in particular. The went after every thing. So the MAHUT hope I spelled it right will pierce its brain with his sharp weapon called Angush and kill it from what I have read.

 

[krish]

krish, the Africa elephant as well as the Cape Buffalo have been domesticated here in Zimbabwe/Tanzania and the buffalo here in Limpopo...they are breeding Cape Buffalo on the same principles as cattle ...breeding disease free buffalo and huge trophy bull gene quality buffaloes...

I knew about the cape Buffalo but not elephants. Thanks for the info.

 

[Major Khan]

@krish is 100 % correct. There was always a risk that the Indian elephant would go insane during the war ... frequently due to gun fire , but often due to other factors as well . I have personally been fortunate enough to guide multiple shikars from the tops of an elephant howdah ... in my life . There was always a chance that the elephant might go insane , while the shikar party was hunting a royal Bengal tiger or a forest panther . This happens even more so ... in the case of forest panthers . Elephants can still REASONABLY be expected to keep their cool if a royal Bengal tiger attempts to charge the shikar party ( while they are on top of an elephant howdah ) . However , the exact same elephant will lose his mind if a forest panther decides to charge the shikar party . The elephant will go insane ... attempting to escape the forest panther's wrath.