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WDM Bell

(Extracts From Big Game Records book circa 1931)

ACCORDING to Professor H. Fairfield Osborn,
man has been a hunter of mastodons and
elephants for the sake of their bones, ivory, and
flesh, for a million and a quarter years.

The question of the comparative danger of
various wild beasts has always been a highly
controversial subject, but, certain it is, that the
pursuit of elephants is one of the most dangerous
of sports, and most hunters of experience have
placed the elephant either first second or third,
on the list of dangerous game.

In the early days of South Africa, when these
animals were to be found in relatively open
country, it was possible to pursue them on horse-
back, but the constant persecution to which they
were subjected had the effect of driving them into
the " fly " infested country of the interior where
horses could no longer be used. With this princi-
pal exception the African elephant is hunted
on foot, and if consistently followed up this
represents the most exacting form of sport in the
world,

The restrictions now placed upon elephant
hunting seem to preclude the possibility of the
enormous bags that follow ever being equalled,
and elephant hunting as a remunerative pro-
fession is a thing of the past.

So far as I have been able to ascertain, the most
successful African elephant hunter of all time is
Mr. W. D. M. Bell, who has killed 983 bulls and
28 cows, making a total of 1,011 elephants.*

W. D. M. BELL

I am greatly indebted to Mr. Bell for the many
intimate details concerning his career which
follow.

Born in 1880, he formed the fixed intention of
becoming an elephant hunter at an early age.
He landed in Africa towards the end of the last
century, and success attended his earliest efforts.
Since that time he has spent sixteen and a half
years on the actual hunting grounds and has shot
in the following localities: Kenya, Karamojo,
Abyssinia, Sudan, Lado Enclave, French Ivory
Coast, Liberia, French Congo and Belgian
Congo. All these countries contributed their
quota of elephants to his enormous bag as the
accompanying list shows.

W.D.M.B. in Hit. 23rd March 1931.

18

AFRICAN ELEPHANTS

Locality. Bull Elephants.

Mombasa-Malindi Coast . . 14
Tana River . . . . 17
Masindi District . . .23
Mount Elgon . . . -42
Mani-Mani . . . . 91

Dodose 63

Dabossa ..... 149
Lado Enclave .... 266
French Ivory Coast . . .80

Liberia 27

French Congo .... 189
Belgian Congo . . . .22

983

With regard to these figures Mr. Bell says : " I
have not included cow elephants shot for meat or
in defence of myself or attendants. The number
so shot is 28, making the total 1,011 ".

The largest number of bull elephants he ever
shot in one day was 19. Other days yielded 17,
16, 15. on three occasions, 14 and 12 on three
occasions. His best month produced 44, all kilted
in three consecutive days, and in his worst month
he did not even see one.

His most disappointing day he describes thus :
"54 bull elephants (mostly huge) found and
counted, all travelling steadily along. Got
directly into path and waited until leaders bore
ten and fifteen paces to front on either hand and
then succeeded in dropping only 5 out of that
magnificent millionaire herd. They split up in
all directions and at Hell's own gait. Alas!
what should I have done ? " His most pleasantly
memorable experience "When my partner said :
' Well, Bell, I'm damned ', after watching me
from a tree-top run down and kill 6 large bulls
out of 6 in long grass, at mid-day, in as many
minutes ".

His heaviest yield of ivory as the result of one
day's shooting amounted to 1,643 Ibs. of soft ivory
from ii head containing 21 tusks, one being a
single tusker. The average weight was over
77 Ibs. and the value 863.

The following detailed results which he has
kindly given me are, I think, of exceptional
interest.

Yield from five best Safaris
Weight of Ivory - Value

14,780 Ibs. . . .7,300

14,247 Ibs. . . . 7,082

12,814 Ibs. . . . 6,923

11,024 Ibs. . . . 4,792

10,670 Ibs. . . . 4,230

o

AFRICAN ELEPHANTS

Best Year

Ivory sold . . . 7,300
Expenditure . . 3,100

Profit 4,200

Worst Year

Expenditure . . 3,400

Ivory sold . . . 1,563

Loss 1,837

These are wonderful figures, but the extra-
ordinarly severe nature of the work may be
judged from the fact that Mr. Bell informs me
that his average yearly consumption of boot
leather amounted to 24 pairs, and he estimates
that the total mileage covered on foot, including
going to and returning from hunting grounds,
amounts to 73 miles for every elephant killed.

His most unpleasant experience he describes as
" Travelling hot-foot 8 hours at 6 miles per hour
on enormous track in wet season to find a tuskless
bull ! Killed to prevent a recurrence ! " The
feet of his native assistants, carrying water bottle
and spare rifle, lasted on an average for four
months, at one month on and one month in the
base camp. Their soles he says were then right
down to the quick, in spite of sandals. One of
his men alone stuck it for ten months on end, but
then retired altogether. Since it may prove of
interest to know some of his rules of life when
engaged in this arduous work, I will quote the
following from the notes he has given me : " Best
method of keeping one's own feet in working
condition in spite of rubs and blisters, is to wash
socks every day and powder them thickly with
boracic. Best diet for hunting sour milk and
dried buck meat (biltong). Next best elephant
trunk, cut small and stewed, with native vege-
tables and flour. Worst diet for hunting the
ingredients in what is known as doing yourself
well ".

Mr. Bell has related many of his experiences in
his most excellent book, " The Wanderings of an
Elephant Hunter ", which was published in 1923.
There is nothing more remarkable in that book
than his account of a day in the Lado Enclave
in which he ran a herd of elephants to a walking
pace. This notable day started by his killing a
white rhino with a magnificent horn; by 8 a.m.
he was at the heels of the herd of elephants and
at sundown, or 6 p.m., he found himself passing
the carcase of the rhino he had killed in the
morning, having travelled all day in an enormous
circle. He had the herd well in hand by 2 p.m.
and at the finish they seemed quite incapable of
anything more than a walking pace. He bagged
15 bulls from the herd, but though he often
attempted to repeat the feat with other herds he
was never able to live with them except for a
short distance.

With regard to rifles, Mr. Bell tried many at
one time and another including a double
.450/400 and magazine rifles of various calibre.
He formed a very definite preference for maga-
zine weapons and for many years used the .275
and the .256 in every kind of country and against
every kind of game. His greatest successes were
achieved with the 7 mm. Rigby-Mauser or .276,
firing the old round-nosed solid bullet.

As a big game shot it is difficult to write re-
garding his skill. Most first-class men are reticent
on this subject, but those who have read Mr.
Bell's book, "The Wanderings of an Elephant
Hunter", will have quickly sensed the fact that
it was written by a man of exceptional ability
with the rifle. An exact knowledge of the
anatomy of game, a rule never to fire unless he
knew exactly where he was placing his bullet,
and a temperament that enabled him to retain a
perfect control over himself in every moment
of danger or excitement were important con-
tributory factors to his wonderful success. He
invariably carried his own rifle, and the natural
aptitude which he must undoubtedly have
possessed, together with the years of incessant
practice which his life as a hunter entailed, com-
bined in giving him an almost complete control
over his game, irrespective of the angle at which
it presented a shot. For actual examples indicat-
ing his skill I am able to give two instances, but
since these relate to experiences with buffaloes
and lions I must refer the reader to the respective
chapters devoted to these two animals. Outstand-
ing ability with the rifle would not alone account
for Mr. Bell's success; an iron constitution and a
physique capable of withstanding the constant
exposure and strain to which it was subjected, a
thorough knowledge of the game he followed, and
last, but by no means least, a complete under-
standing of, and ability to handle the natives,
were all vital factors in his truly wonderful career.

---------------------

F. C. Selous has said: "as regards viciousness
I should be inclined to put the buffalo third
on the list ", and W. D. M. Bell who has shot
them in East, West and Central Africa has
described them as " worthy game in thick stuff
but ludicrously easy things to kill in open
country ".

Mr. W. D. M. Bell, whose opinion of the buffalo
I have already quoted, has probably shot more of
these animals than any other man. In the course
of his career as a hunter he has killed between
600 and 700.

In connection with the above I will now quote
from information that Mr. Bell has kindly
supplied me with: *" In parts they (buffaloes)
were the regular ration for the camp. I remem-
ber killing 23 out of 23 with a high velocity .22
rifle partly to see how effective the tiny 80 grain
bullet was but chiefly because meat was required.
I must have killed between six and seven hundred
of these animals in all. Their hide was a con-
stant trade article. Cut into sandal and shield
sizes they never failed to attract an abundant
supply of flour 1 '.

Lest the novice or moderate shot should be en-
couraged by the above statement to attack the
dangerous game of Africa with a .22 rifle, I feel

it should be stated that Mr. Bell is probably one
of the most brilliant big-game shots that has ever
lived. The high velocity .22 rifle in the hands of
such an expert may well be an adequate weapon,
but it is usually regarded as in the extreme of
small bores for use against dangerous game.

As Mr. Bell was primarily an elephant hunter,
fuller details of his career are to be found in
Chapter I, but by way of comment on his bag of
buffaloes, it can again be said that he spent six-
teen and a half years on the actual hunting
grounds, and, as his reputation spread and
increased among the native tribes, his camp
following grew in proportion. The bag is cer-
tainly enormous, but it must be remembered that

the hungry mouths often numbered hundreds
and it was vital to him to obtain and maintain the
good-will of the natives in the many remote parts
where he penetrated.

Mr. W. D. M. Bell, whose career as an elephant
hunter I have dealt with in the first chapter, has
kindly supplied me with the following notes on
his experiences with rhinoceroses in Equatorial
Africa: " Regarding my bag of black rhino I
find that out of a total of 63 killed no less than
41 were shot when presenting some sort of
menace to either myself or to a line of porters or
to an encampment. Of the remainder only three
were killed for food, thus indicating the richness
of the other and better meat harvest, while the
remainder were chiefly killed for making sandals
or for rewarding natives with shield pieces. In
my time the horn was not worth taking unless of
unusual size.

" During my elephant hunts west of the Nile on
the banks of that river the white rhino was very
plentiful. The greatest number I ever saw in one
day was eleven but I saw some every day. They
were quite inoffensive, unlike the pugnacious
black, and hardly ever required shooting. Other
meat was plentiful and I killed three only ".

That great African hunter, Mr. W. D. ML Bell,
was mainly concerned with elephants, but in
some interesting notes that he has kindly
furnished me with, he says: "With regard to
lions I merely killed any that caused annoyance,
such as roaring round camp, stampeding porters,
and so forth. The total so killed is 25".*
Leopards he shot, when he came across them,
provided he was not close to elephants at the
time, or by waiting for them at water-holes, etc.
Mr. Bell shot 16 leopards during the course of his
hunting career.
I have already indicated in the
chapters devoted to African elephants and
African buffaloes that Mr. Bell is a rifle shot of
outstanding ability, it is therefore particularly
interesting to know his views on lion hunting,
I quote the following from his most excellent
book, 'The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter" ,
in which he says : " The reason of the high
mortality among those who hunt lions casually is,
I think, the simple one of not holding straight
enough. Buck -fever or excitement, coupled with
anxiety lest the animal should slip away, is
probably the cause of much of the erratic shoot-
ing done at lions. This frequently results in flesh
wounds or stomach wounds, which very often
cause the lion to make a determined charge; and
there are a great many things easier to hit than
a charging lion. Great care should be taken to
plant the bullet right. The calibre does not
matter, I am convinced, provided the bullet is in
the right place. Speaking personally, I have
killed sixteen lions with .256 and .275 solid bullets,
and, as far as I can recollect, none of them
required a second shot ".

--------------------
Von Gruff.

Exodus 20:1-17

Acts 4:10-12