The next morning there were about fifty people from the neighboring villages at the rig to begin the hunt.
Two days later they were back and, with great ceremony, presented me with a huge elephant steak that had been smoked and dried in their usual cooking fashion.
It had hair sticking out of the meat that looked like toothpicks.
I accepted the gift for PR purposes while trying to decide how to dispose of it without them knowing.
My radio operator was one of the hunters, and he described the hunt with great detail to me.
There were two cow elephants instead of the one that I had assumed, and they had ran these elephants all day and through the night, never letting them stop to rest.
Early the next morning when the elephants were too tired to run and could barely walk, they made the kills.
This was done by one hunter then the other running up to the side of one or the other and taking one shot in the ear then backing away to reload.
Many shots later both elephants crashed to the ground.
He proudly exhibited the rifle that was used to make the kills - a single shot .22 bolt action rifle!
He proudly exhibited the rifle that was used to make the kills - a single shot .22 bolt action rifle!
That's one way to do it with a .22. Another is up the nasal cavity. Then there's the trick with a 12-bore shotgun, inserted up the rear after lifting the tail, suppository fashion. Marksmanship is not an issue, and the damage is done by internal haemmorage from the expanding powder gasses, with the type and direction of the shot load of less importance. The primary factor in the choice of shooter for that sort of most rude slaughter aside from stealth, is that the shooter be the fastest runner possible, for obvious reasons. And the more the beast runs, the more it injures itself, with death coming after two or three days of agony.
There was a kill of a circus bull in the US in the mid-1960s using a .22 short, by a drunken rube showing off his handgun to his lady companion. Imagine his surprise upon being presented with the bill for his localized safari, following the beating he received from the animal's handlers.
The .22 shot is evidence of bullet placement. I have seen the same thing done on large game in Alaska and lower 48.
Elephant hair is tough I still have a bracelet made of the elephant hair that I was given while I lived in Thailand. Tough stuff.
Stay Safe !