If you try enough elephants you will eventually miss the brain. I was lamenting a missed brain shot which I managed to make up for with an excellent quartering away brain shot made with the elephant at full speed and in high gear. It was my first elephant. The PH told me not to be so hard on myself, that he'd talked to many former culling officers and really experienced PH's like Roger Whittall and his contemporaries and that, to a man, they passed on the fact that they had all blown it on occasion.

Perfection is the goal, but...

The side brain shot is the easier. Frontal more difficult, but the frontal is a hell of a lot more fun.

If you know your PH and he has confidence in you, he will give you every opportunity to kill the elephant yourself, but he will - and should - step in to prevent a lost dangerous animal.

That is one of the problems with heart/lung shots. The PH can't be sure the client has made a good shot. As easy as it should be, some clients blow the heart/lung shot.

If you want an exciting hunt, go for a frontal brain shot at under, say, 20yds, even better closer. But know that you have paid for the opportunity to make the shot and the kill on your own, not the garuntee. If you use enough double rifle, very likely you will get a second chance prior to any need for the PH to shoot, after knocking the elephant down.

BTW, I've been told that 25% of firt time elephant hunter succeed with a brain shot. If you buy and study Buzz Charlton's DVD and practice sufficiently you will greatly improve those odds.

JPK