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Not sure of the tracking side of it.

In Namibia one outfitter to consider is Karl Stumpfe. I hunted with him, and he was a professional outfitter and PH. Wrth speaking to him of your desires and see if he can deliver what you are looking for.

I hunted eland in Zimbabwe way back in 1994. In the West Nicholson area South of Bulawayo on the Beitbridge road. We did track them for may five kilometres. Was trying to take a klipsringer when we surprised a herd of eland, which spooked and ran past us. The PH yelled, "Don't shoot", but I wasn't anyway. Did not want another 25 plus km tracking job on a wounded eland like we had done on a wildebeest which I stupidly wounded. Actually in total it was more like a 32 km tracking job, with the extra seven kms the second day when we found the dead wildebeest.

The tracking is mostly done by the black trackers, who usually see stuff far earlier than mazungas (whitees). And in the 40 deg C heat, they were welcome to it. Often only a bit of blood, on the ground or a twig everywhere hundred metres.

For the eland it was a run after them for maybe two kms, then slowing down to a fast tracking job. I was pleased I spotted on rear leg knee of an eland first, before the blacks, through a tiny gap in the bush a couple hundreds of metres ahead of us. Of course George one of the trackers immediately noticed my intense look and jabbered the news up the line. After five kms of running, jogging, and then walking, we got a shot at a nice bull eland, an angled shot with the .30-06 and 200 gr Nosler Partition Semi-pointed bullet took out the heart of the eland. At about 90 metres. We ran forward, the bull tottered, a second insurance shot form broadside caused the bull to collapse. And we waited quietly for the bull to expire.

Enjoyed that hunt immensely. Last animal I took in 1994 in Zimbabwe.

The best personal tracking jobs I enjoyed was with Matt Graham in the Cobourg Peninsula for banteng. The soft often moist soil made tracking easier for whitees. I could even tell how fast the banteng were running and when the bull slowed down to walk. ALAS too late as he stopped to watch his back track and spotted us and was off for good.

My last water buffalo was tracking a wounded water buffalo bull. I did find him, and he was looking for me as well.

The most expensive tracking job was for a wounded hartebeest in Namibia. The not enthusiastic tracker didn't find any blood. I did! Two hundred metres away from where it had started, a dislodged pebble had a drop of blood under it, in the grass ... Unfortunately we never caught up to that hartebeest again. Only one of two animals in hundreds where that has happened over the years to npot be recovered and put down. As the property owners wife said, "Sometimes the jackals need to be feed too."

A tracking hunt for several eland, or other larger beasts would be an interesting hunt, for someone fit enough to do it.

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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"

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