BOTSWANA: Elephant Hunt With Johan Calitz Safaris In June 2021

[GA Hunter]

Great report and an amazing outcome. Congratulations sir!

 

[Elkbugling]

Congratulations! What bullet/load were you using in your Lott? How bad was the deflection after it hit the zygomatic arch?

 

[Tucketed]

Well written, amazing hunt. Thank you much for sharing. Congrats on some beautiful memories

 

[Nyati]

Great adventure, fantastic bull, congrats

 

[Scott CWO]

Congratulations on a grand trophy and Happy Fathers Day!

Thanks and same to you, Sir!

 

[Scott CWO]

@Scott CWO Is Johan optimistic about trophy importation to the US?

Yes and there was a meeting in Gabarone just days ago. Everyone knows Botswana has too many elephants in many areas so they are hopeful about the “case by case” evaluations but these will take the USFWS a long time to process and catch up. If my ivory is never allowed in, the shipper in Maun also makes realistic replicas to ship me and I will have the real ivory sent to a friend in Canada. Canada accepts any CITES export permit, even from a non-citizen. There were also some rumors floating around that Botswana would not be allowed to issue CITES export permits for this year but I have been assured this is incorrect. Time will tell on all of this.

 

[Scott CWO]

Congratulations! What bullet/load were you using in your Lott? How bad was the deflection after it hit the zygomatic arch?

I was using Federal factory loads with Woodleigh 500gr monolithic solids. I believe Ronnie said the bullet hit the arch and then went just under the brain. It dropped the bull immediately but was still moving a bit. Definitely heavily stunned and moving slow. Ronnie never shot because I was right there with 5 more rounds down in the magazine and a .458 Lott. I told him earlier he was welcome to follow me up if the ele wasn’t dead but he told me he wouldn’t if I was getting the job done. He said he doesn’t like shooting someone else’s ele unless absolutely necessary. The bull didn’t pop right back up on it’s feet like how you sometimes see them act on videos, which gave me enough time to move around and keep shooting. I don’t want to start any big debates here but after experiencing what I did, I’m definitely glad I had the Lott with five more rounds down over a .375 with the boundary 200 yards away. In this case, I still felt undergunned and grateful that it wasn’t too thick of vegetation to move around. There were other really thick areas where it would have been more difficult to make follow up shots.

 

[IvW]

Excellent elephant congratulations!

 

[Scott CWO]

Great report and congratulations on your bull. What more would you have done had you stayed the full days? What would you plan if you went back again?

@375Fox contacted me directly and asked me to clarify my answer to the above question as to what other animals I could have hunted in NG41 had I stayed the whole 14 days. The short answer for me is none. I didn't reserve any other quota for other species upfront and they sold out quickly. I already have taken most of the other species available and other safaris booked elsewhere. The gemsbok was an exception but I had to leave NG41 to get one.

When I first booked ele, I was also offered buffalo and some plains game. Leopard is also available. All the species are on strict quotas. Although Johan in NG41 has a quota of 20 buffalo, the other species quotas are quite low and you have to reserve them when you book. This is the first year of hunting being open again in Botswana and Johan hopes that more species will be added and some quotas increased. Although possibly not a complete list (confirm with Johan), I believe the species available this year were, elephant, buffalo, leopard, kudu, impala, zebra, tsessebe and wildebeest. Unfortunately, roan, waterbuck, lion, jackal, hyena, etc.. were not offered although populations are robust. Ronnie told me that some of the quota numbers were ridiculously low while others were more reasonable. The government is still influenced a lot by the anti-hunting sentiment of the photo safari operators and is therefore being quite conservative on quotas to start. I don't remember the exact quota numbers for some of the PG species but they were unreasonably low like - 2 or 4 or 6 for species that are really common. Lots of politics and not biology going on there! The operators are hoping things loosen up as time goes along. Right now, they are just grateful to get anything.

Johan and Ronnie are thinking they will have at least seven more years of hunting due to the current president and the vice president being pro hunting. It is sort of the norm in Bots that the vice president is the next president. Therefore, they just finished building a really nice new main camp in NG41. If you want to go, you better get booked.

When hunting ended 7-8 years ago, they tore down all their camps in all their concessions and thought hunting would never return. Johan was forced convert NG32 in the Okavango Delta to a photo safari operation and his son runs it still. Believe me, his son would rather be hunting! They are actively working to be able to reopen some of the other concessions that do not have either hunting or photo at the moment.

Neither Johan or Ronnie think that hunting will ever return to the concessions in the heart of the Okavango Delta that are now photo concessions. It cannot be overstated what a huge loss this is/was to safari hunting. Unfortunately, the photo safari operators in the Delta are very well entrenched. It is one of the few areas in Africa where photo safaris work fairly well, especially with Maun being so close as a hub for incoming tourists and supplies. It is pretty economical to get the photo tourists out to the camps. It's a large volume business. COVID really hurt the photo businesses but it is thought that they have weathered most of the COVID downturn.

 

[Ravensview]

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your awesome adventure

 

[1dirthawker]

@Scott CWO

great story, thanks for sharing. i suspect your bear guiding experience helped you on the ele. can't shoot 70 pounders if you will shoot/settle for 50 pounds. so, well done.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Congratulations on an outstanding Bull!

 

[Foxi]

I was using Federal factory loads with Woodleigh 500gr monolithic solids. I believe Ronnie said the bullet hit the arch and then went just under the brain. It dropped the bull immediately but was still moving a bit. Definitely heavily stunned and moving slow. Ronnie never shot because I was right there with 5 more rounds down in the magazine and a .458 Lott. I told him earlier he was welcome to follow me up if the ele wasn’t dead but he told me he wouldn’t if I was getting the job done. He said he doesn’t like shooting someone else’s ele unless absolutely necessary. The bull didn’t pop right back up on it’s feet like how you sometimes see them act on videos, which gave me enough time to move around and keep shooting. I don’t want to start any big debates here but after experiencing what I did, I’m definitely glad I had the Lott with five more rounds down over a .375 with the boundary 200 yards away. In this case, I still felt undergunned and grateful that it wasn’t too thick of vegetation to move around. There were other really thick areas where it would have been more difficult to make follow up shots.

what a bull-you did right with the Lott
well done
life doesn't get any better !

 

[BC.Pat]

Well done ! as others have said it takes a lot of guts to stick with the "plan".
Congratulations a well deserved , executed Hunt & Trophy!
Thank you for sharing!

Respects
Pat

 

[Frederik]

Thanks for sharing your excellent elephant trophy hunt.

 

[jacques smith]

Scott, excellent bull and report, thank you

 

[VertigoBE]

Excellent hunting report and congratulations with a great elephant bull @Scott CWO ! One day I'll have to get a safari on elephant organized as well. You make me dream of the possibilities! And it took real guts to not take that elephant on the 3rd day, to hold out for bigger. I don't know if I could have done that!

Cheers!

V.

 

[Scott CWO]

Excellent hunting report and congratulations with a great elephant bull @Scott CWO ! One day I'll have to get a safari on elephant organized as well. You make me dream of the possibilities! And it took real guts to not take that elephant on the 3rd day, to hold out for bigger. I don't know if I could have done that!

Cheers!

V.

Thanks but I think it was more foolishness than guts! Lol.

 

[Jim Schmid]

Very excellent detailed write-up of a fantastic hunt...congratulations!

That must have been very gratifying to find the same big bull days later, confirm he met your size goal, and then harvest him just before he walked out of your hunting area! Whew!

What a heart stopper to see the unlocked gun case!

Glad the whole trip worked out for you...producing a trophy of a lifetime and top tier memories!

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Great report and congrats!