main image

Book Early!! Call (605) 376-5395 for available hunting dates.

African Elephant Bull Hunt

Hunting Area | Hunting Costs | Hunting Photos | Elephant Bull Hunt

WHAT GOES ON OUT THERE?

BY DAVID HULME

The Zimbabwe 2006 hunting season started with a mighty bang for Michael Pankratz of Sioux Falls, USA. That bang came on the third day of his elephant bull hunt in the Gonakudzingwa hunting concession, when he took a fine 45 pound bull at 20 yards with his .416 Remington. The bull was a crop raider and had been wreaking havoc with the cropping efforts of local villagers for weeks on end. Feeding under cover of night and crossing into the safety of the nearby Gonarezhou Park by day, the bull was aggressive and impervious to the villagers' efforts at keeping him from their modest fields. By the time Michael Pankratz arrived in the Gonakudzingwa, the midnight marauder had achieved something of an infamous reputation in the area.

An experienced African hunter in his own right, Michael booked his 2006 elephant safari with Sebenani Trails and professional hunter Boet van Aarde, with whom he had hunted before. The hunt was planned for March - the time when crop raiders are at their most active. It was also planned to coincide with the full moon period, for obvious reasons. It goes without saying that hunting a marauding elephant bull by moonlight is a highly effective adrenalin generator.

Upon arrival in the Gonakudzingwa, the hunters learn that the bull has been working over two blocks of cultivated land in Chief Zvinavashe's area, and it is to that loc-stat that they go on the first morning of the hunt. The blocks bound Gonarezhou National Park and are separated by several kilometres of typically uninspiring scrub mopani. The first day of the hunt is spent looking over the marauder's stomping grounds - assessing. Spoor and crop damage indicate that the bull has no preference for either block; he appears to split his time between the two. It is to be a hit and miss affair and the hunters toss a coin to decide which block to target that first night. Heads chooses the larger southern block. The first night is a miss, as is the second. But on the third night...

On the third evening the hunters decide to stake out a relatively untouched field of sorghum, in the smaller northern block. The majority of the north block has suffered extensive damage, and the logic behind the sorghum field stakeout is that sooner or later the bull will discover it has overlooked something. The hunters locate a suitable position on the western side of the field - ten yards into the mopani, downwind and slightly elevated. As the full moon rises spectacularly in the east, and the night creatures up the tempo, the hunters settle down to wait, senses fast tuning into the night.

All is still and quiet at 10pm, and PH van Aarde suggests a slow walkabout to relieve the tedium. The hunters make off, meandering slowly through the crop fields, stopping regularly to listen as they go. Progress is intentionally slow and an hour passes with not much ground being covered. The men are on the move when they hear the bull, munching and crunching his way through a maize field a couple hundred meters away, off to the right. After checking the wind and weapons, an approach is initiated. A few minutes later, at twenty yards, contact...

The bull looms high above, broadside on and stuffing maize stalks noisily down its gullet. After a brief appraisal, PH van Aarde pushes Michael up to the plate. Michael braces himself and the .416 roars, shattering both the elephant's shoulder and the silence of the night.

At the shot, the bull spins around, presenting its other shoulder. Michael does not hesitate - firing fast, ejecting and firing again. The bull blunders off through the maize, crashing down to earth a few seconds and about forty yards later. The midnight marauder is down. The hunters approach cautiously and, once it is determined that the elephant is down for good, the celebrations begin.

Whilst assessing the ivory with his overly elated client, Boet notes a pus filled wound in the bull's face, on the left side, at the base of the trunk. Thinking nothing much of it, the men's attention quickly reverts back to the ivory and reliving the hunt. The cruiser is brought up and sandwiches and beer consumed voraciously. From the nearby village, the drumming begins. Shangaan drums beat long into the moonlit night, conveying the news and giving thanks - the marauder would maraud no more, and some of the harvest may still be salvaged. Hours are spent in the field with the elephant, and it almost 3am by the time the hunting rig finally growls into camp.

Though they have slept only a couple of hours, the hunters are up at dawn. After a hurried cup of coffee and a rusk, they are on their way - a long day of skinning and recovery lies ahead. When they arrive at the carcasse, the men see that a healthy crowd has already gathered to offer their services. With the promise of fresh meat spurring them on, the locals take to the butchering enthusiastically. The marauder has deprived them of much of the year's food supply, and so now they would feast on the marauder.

Ever drawn back to the ivory, Boet and Michael notice that there is a great deal of pus splattered on the ground by the elephant's head, and against its front legs. The consensus is that the wound in the bull's face must be pretty deep to produce that amount of pus. Boet takes his hunting knife to the wound, digging around inside, getting under the skin and going in as deep as possible. The knife blade comes up against something solid. Boet cuts and gouges, opening up the wound a little and enabling easier access. Then he gets a hand far down into the wound and feels about with his fingers. Locating the solid object and getting a good grip on it, Boet withdraws his hand, meeting little resistance. The object is instantly recognizable as a piece of ivory. The cause of the wound is now known and it only makes the men more inquisitive - how deep was the wound, was there another ivory chip or two in there? Boet calls one of his trackers over and the two of them begin digging deeper into the matter.

The sun is burning high by the time the hunters discover and retrieve the second piece of ivory. This one is much deeper - embedded about 60 centimetres into the bull's flesh, up against the skull and tusk nerve, just below the left eye socket. The second piece is also much bigger than the first - about 15 centimetres off the tip of an elephant bull's tusk. Further investigation reveals a tennis ball sized hole in the marauder's cranium. The hunters ponder on how massive that particular impact must have been, to snap off a tusk and perforate an elephant's skull. What is most amazing about the entire scenario is that the second piece of ivory has lost a great deal of its solidity - its consistency resembles that of hard rubber. Was it that some defensive enzyme (?) in the bull's chemical make-up was trying to break down the invasive tusk tip? All in all, the discovery is a most intriguing one and an education for all.

It has been a long and tiring day and the hunters are driving slowly back to camp in the late afternoon. Though tiring, the day has also been fulfilling and interesting and an air of contentment prevails. Michael turns to Boet. 'Have you ever seen anything like that before?'

'Never,' says Boet. 'Wounds, yes, a number of times, but I've never found pieces of ivory in any of them. This one is certainly a first."
Silence ensues for a couple of minutes and then Boet mumbles, 'quite a thing, quite a thing.'
'What's that?' asks Michael.
'What goes on out there,' says Boet, gesturing at the passing bush with a sweeping motion of his arm.
Though it may have sounded otherwise, Boet van Aarde knows that he has just posed a question.

QUESTIONS FOR THE GURUS

1) Has anyone ever come across something like this before? One feels sure that men like Clem Coetsee, Barry Duckworth and Richard Harland must have. How big was the largest piece of ivory found in a wound?
2) What caused the tusk tip to lose firmness? Could it be some sort of enzyme? Would it have eventually broken down completely?
3) How old was the wound? Though the facts that it was pus filled and had not healed suggest a fresh wound, how do we explain the softening tusk tip? Surely it would take a great deal of time for ivory to lose condition like that? Would the wound have eventually healed?

Hunting Area | Hunting Costs | Hunting Photos | Elephant Bull Hunt

Pheasant Hunting
Deer Hunting
Our Lodges
Other Things To Do
About & Contact Info