Aussiesteve,

You are quite correct in saying that the eland is a massive animal. According to the real experts a really big eland bull weighs more than a really big buffalo bull!

But is eland the biggest "plains game" animal?

In reply one can ask: "Is the giraffe a plains game animal?" If you say "Yes", then that is your biggest plains game animal.

We all know that the "Big 5" [elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and [traditionally] black rhino] are not called plains game, but either Big 5 or Dangerous game. But is white rhino one of the Big 5? Yes, I know that financial considerations caused the general acceptance of white rhino as the last one of the Big 5. But is white rhino really one of the Big 5? If you say "No", then that is your biggest plains game animal. Then we have to establish the status of the hippo? He is NOT "Big 5", but he is bloody big! Some talk about the "Big 6"! It really becomes semantics and nit picking!

The eland is a bloody big animal! Period.

Are they shot at long distances? Thinking a moment before attempting a reply makes me think of a signature of one of the posters on a forum: "Vegetarian" is an Indian word meaning "poor hunter"! A poor hunter may be forced to shoot at an eland at rather long range. They have excellent eyesight; and in the grass-covered mountains where the Cape eland does so well they can see you from a long ways off. Where the are regularly hunted such a sighting results in a rapid turn-around and departure at a deceivingly slow looking but actually ground eating fast trot to the next mountain slope. Much the same applies to hunting eland on the Free State grassveld! If you hunt these areas you may be forced to attempt a rather long shot. [I'm not tendering to be your PH and be responsible to get you really close!]

But even Cape eland, and definitely the similar sized Livingstone eland, does very well in much denser bushveldt. Here a typical shot distance may be 50 to 75 yards!

Either way the 340 Weatherby Magnum can be very good eland medicine - PROVIDED you can shoot it well under actual hunting conditions.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren