Day 5 - Elephant Down
After the night of last night, I was super sleepy and though the butler came at 5:30, I was convinced he had the wrong time. The PH was concerned that me, the game scouts and the trackers, at least one of us would not be able to go, more concerned with me. And though I was moving slow, by 6:20 I was ready to go. A little bit of breakfast though I didn’t really want any but I knew I better eat. Off we went and to the national parks boundary. The drive there was very uneventful and I was just happy to be in the truck. I was pretty excited to be hunting again convinced that my hard work from yesterday would be rewarded today. When we get to the main turnoff there are broken branches. This is a good sign and The PH checks it out. There is still salva on the branches so they are really fresh. We turn down the road and can see the herd entered our hunting area, we drive down further to see if they exited. One group did but one group didn’t. We turn around to get ready to take up the track as we are approaching the branches an elephant crosses the road into the hunting area. We get out of the car, gun loaded and I am ready to rumble! We go maybe two hundred yards and there they are, sticks go up but the elephant spook! Damn!!!! Off they go but not far and settle back in, we see two tuskless, we go for the bigger one. Sticks go up but the elephant is starting to move, I am on them but she is at a jog. Dalton yells heart lung her. Shit she is jogging 60 yards and getting further and ¾ turned away (obviously there is no way to practice for this shot), I swing through and shoot, hear the thwack and see her crunch. Well she is hit but who knows where. Dalton shoots and hits her hip and I see the legs drop. I am ready to run after but the we have to watch out for the herd. I have no idea where they went but they were hauling ass back behind us. All clear, we approach where the elephant buckled, and nothing. No elephant, no blood, I am almost sick to my stomach. Why did I take that shot, why did I wait for the sticks, what happen, I am replaying everything and I am about to throw up. The PH says, "don’t worry we will get your elephant she didn’t run to the park and she isn’t with the herd. I don’t lose animals." I appreciate the words but shit the way this trip has gone. The trackers start going to work and what they do is amazing they step by step track this animal.
We don't go far and we start to find some blood, this is a good sign. It is dripping enough I can follow it. This is a real good sign. We are moving slowly and jump her after 100 yards of tracking, a shot from me and shot from the PH but she is still going, after going over some rocks, Damn, sick to my stomach again. We starting tracking from where we last saw her. I ask the PH what to hurt elephants do, do they run, do they go to water, he told me they stand and wait, they listen for danger and try to regroup. Well we got another 100 yards and we see where she stood, blood and runny crap, another 20 yards she stood, same thing, another 20 yards same thing, and for a 4th time. The game scout tells me your shot was good, we are going to get your elephant. At this point we here some voices, we have gotten to the village road and people from the village were walking towards the original shots, talking about how much elephant they were going eat and how excited they were. It was amusing during this tense situation. We cross the road and go 50 yards we are getting close to a going down hill. The PH says stay with the trackers I am going to stand on these rocks and glass into the valley for her. He tells me if I see her shoot. After 20 yards the tracker jumps on a rock and says Mike there she goes. I jump up and we are running along this ledge. I shot trying to break the hip, thwack, she is still going, Damn. The PH is now running with me, I see the whole group, trackers and game scouts running at full speed to cut her off. She is moving slow and comes across the rocks, the moment she sees us, she trumpets, ear flapping, head shaking with all of her fury. A volley of gun fire ensued. I see at least 3 shot hit her head, so let me tell you if you aren't hitting the brain and they are jacked up they can take some lead. However the final stand was over and the elephant was down. She was 35 to 40 years old and was a great cow to have taken.
We were only 200 yards from a village so we had people there immediately, they were giving me hugs and little kids were high fiving. I had some old ladies give me a hard time for shooting so much. They didn't speak English but did a reactment of an elephant getting killed with one shot and me shooting multiple shots. But I can't imagine this hunt ending any other way. It was battle, a fight and it took everything I had.
My first shot was a good one, it entered the back leg and was lodged in the chest cavity by the front leg. The rest of my shots well they were ok, haha. I had my elephant she had only gone 400 yards from the original shot. I got to meet the chief and give him the trunk. I was a truly humbling experience. We had to keep everyone back so the trackers could get their meet. I helped some of the local sharpen knifes which I was surprised they really didn't know how to do. The pictures were taken and it was off to camp for a proper lunch and some rest. The villages were on that elephant like ants and it was a pretty big celebration.
I have attached some pics but none with my face, I hope you guys understand.
