[quote
per my conversations and readings..if you break the broom handle of imagining one sticking out both sides of the ears and through the head..is suppose to work for braining them..

Personally I think Harlands book is awesome..The guy I plan to be hunting with --Ivan Carter..states that he strongly prefers brain shots--said he had not done a heart/lung in years..not sure if that is all hype or whatever--looks like quite a "rush" ...

Ripp

Ripp,

The trick is to break, in the center, the "broomstick" which runs from EAR HOLE TO EAR HOLE through the brain.

The trouble with this in practice is that to know where the ear hole is you need to find the rear of the zygomatic arch, which is the bone structure that runs more or less front to back under the eyes and under the glands and ends about 2-3" under and a bit behind the ear holes. The front portion under the eyes is more prominent, especially in less than bright light. The ear holes are not visible from the front and are about 1 1/2" in diameter. They are easiest seen from slightly behind broadside to the ear/head junction.

Since when the elephant raises or lowers its head the front portions of the zygomatic arch rise more, or drop more, than the end below the ear hole, if you don't key on the end of the arch and instead key on the more promoinent forward portion, your shot will be high or low. High if the eles head is up, low if it is down. Keying on the eyes has the same effect. Finding the rear of the zygomatic arch would be easy if you were to observe from a distance, but if you push in to close range, under 15yds in my book, the elephant will almost surely sense you and be moving, at least its head, when the moment for the shot comes, which is the moment the ele notices you.

Shooting elephant, I find elevation a heck of a lot more difficult to smoke out than centering the shot where the brain is. BTW, too low is generally better than too high. With a too low shot you still have the possibility of spining the ele from the front and a miss low often drops and knocks out an elephant (if you're using enough gun) while a too high shot need to be really close to have any visible effect from the bullet striking. I believe that this is because there is much more solid bone to which to tranmit energy below the brain than above which is only honeycomb.

A heart shot on an elephant is as simple as hitting a five gallon bucket and it lacks the intense satisfaction of the perfect brain shot, or even the intense "oh shit" of a less than perfect brain shot. But be aware, a poor brain shot might get your PH into the game if this is significant to you.

I've corresponded with Ivan Carter and hope to hunt with him not too far into the future. He's an ele fanatic. You will have a GREAT hunt with him.

JPK