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It would require some real research on my part to turn up which hunting block we used at the time, although it may have been Block 4. This was in October, and the river was mostly dry, although near our camp there was enough water to swim in and attract some hippos. Hunting consisted of driving the Land Cruiser along the dry river bed in low range, low gear with the tires largely deflated for traction. When we found a water hole which the elephants had scooped out, we dismounted and examined the tracks. If they were fresh and promising, we followed on foot. As a rule, we would catch up with our quarry about noon, when they would be resting under a convenient tree. Inevitably, we would find very large elephants with ivory toothpicks sticking out of their mouths.

Once, David Williams, my PH from Ker, Downey and Selby, indicated that our elephant was shootable, and I was about the press trigger, when he stopped me and said that he was no better than the one I already had (from the sisal plantation: 68 and 70 pounds). I had my blood up and had been ready to shoot, so I was furious when called off. I got over it.

After three weeks, and a lot of hot, dry walking, we had given up and were driving back to camp, when we were flagged down by a local, who had gotten the word about what we were looking for. He said that he had located a huge elephant with huge ivory only a short distance away. With a certain amount of resignation, resulting from frequent disappointments in the past, we sent the two gun bearers out with him to investigate. They returned, grinning from ear to ear.

We loaded up the guns and followed them into the rather thick woods, eventually coming across the old boy feeding. We approached from directly in front and I was confronted with a frontal brain shot which I was reluctant to take (1) because the angle of the head made it difficult to locate the brain, which is very small in cross section from the front, and (2) because there was a large limb between me and the aiming point, and I was afraid I might hit it and deflect the bullet.

However, when we attempted to get around to the side, something alarmed him and he deliberately moved off. The brush was so thick, we couldn't see him, although he was only fifty or so feet away. By getting on our hands and knees, we could see the tip of his trunk, the tip of the tusk and his feet, as he stood facing us and moving his head from side to side. If he had located us, I have no doubt he would have charged.

Eventually, he moved off and began feeding again. We moved forward, and came across a clearing. On the other side of the clearing about 75 feet away, behind a large bush, so that only his head was visible, we could see him reaching up to tear a branch off a tree using his trunk. Having his head in a more or less vertical position complicated the brain shot further, but I decided to attempt it. He went down from the first shot from my .458, but was clearly not dead, or even stunned. I fired several more times at his indistinct form which was all I could see through the underbrush, trying to avoid hitting the tusk.

We would have moved closer, but his "askari", which was off to our left, at the edge of the clearing, was making a frightful uproar and clearly would have charged, had we tried to cross the clearing. Eventually, the struggles subsided, and the "askari" cleared off.

David was convinced that the tusk would go over 100 pounds, but as luck would have it, the nerve was enormous, and the resulting void reduced the weight beyond expectations.

This was the only elephant I took in heavy brush. The other three were out in the open and I had no difficulty lining up a shot. In retrospect, I think I would have been better off using my .505, but I was determined to test my .458, and ended up having to do it under most unfavorable circumstances. It did the job, however.