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Yes quite a few members have. I saw this a day ago but thought to leave others reply first. So I'm surprised no one has yet replied?

I hunted two tuskless cow elephants in the Northern Omay concession. On a cow tusker permit. One was completely free as a true cull, its trunk having been cut off in a poachers snare. I had the option to also take a cape buffalo bull but seeing I still had a cow permit, we kept on, on that until filled. Normally the PH said it takes a day or two to fill, but it took us about six days to fill as the elephant were unexpectedly quiet with little movement on the dirt roads. Usually elephant are found by driving the roads looking for tracks and then followed up. Of course we looked over several herds before and after the first cull, and it was all great fun, and some memorable moments, especially when the elephants were unaware of us, we were sitting watching them on a cliff until they cut our scent and all immediately raced away downwind.

Most exciting was being chased away from the first downed cow, four or fives times by the herd, dust in the air a hundred feet, trees being broken down, trumpeting, and backing away from the herd double rifle raised just in case.

Another time being in the middle of a herd, with swirling winds, the elephants unable to identify where we were. They would race off in a direction to stop to listen and smell, then do it again as the wind swirled. Until they broke off into lots of confused groups with elephants running about everywhere. Very exciting and probably a considerable element of danger, but never a very close encounter that time.

Another time being told to race around a tree and shoot the cow waiting to ambush anyone coming around the tree. I rounded it cautiously as the cow would have been all of eight feet away when I got around the tree, facing me, ready to squash what was following it. I was happy when she took fright and ran away instead before I got around the tree as eight feet away from a facing elephant is a little too close!

Hunting a buffalo herd, with three elephant bulls just in front of us, maybe twenty yards ahead, unaware of us, we had to keep stopping to let the feeding bulls move on, before following the buffalo herd. None of the buffalo were mature enough hard bossed bulls so this one and only encounter with buffalo meant no horns to bring home. The main hunting area was higher up over the escarpment in the Omay hills. The better elephant area was down on the Valley flats near Lake Kariba.

So I think you can guess from my comments, I find cow elephant hunting in the herds quite exciting and definitely worth doing.

I long to do it again and also hunt cape buffalo again.

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"