Elephant can be hunted on a minimum of a 10day Safari or it can be added to your Big Game Safari for a African Trophy Hunting fee

An Elephant Bull with heavy tusks is considered the Ultimate trophy by many hunters. The dream of following in the footsteps of legendary hunters like Roosevelt, Bell and Selous. To experiencing the excitement of tracking the worlds largest land mammal. To carry a double rifle over their shoulder, with the hot African sun on their skin, sweat running in their eyes and the sweet musky smell of an Elephant bull in their nose. To face an animal the size of a mountain, towering over the trees and staring down at them over his trunk. To stop a charge from this mega beast and to step out of the dust cloud victorious. To many, this is the legacy of a big game hunting tradition.

Contrary to what most people think, the African Elephant is not endangered, in fact they are overpopulated in several parts of Southern Africa and they can be hunted with the necessary Cites permits and hunting licenses. Elephant Hunting will test your nerves, skill and endurance time and time again. Hunting this massive beast will probably give you the greatest adrenalin rush you have ever experienced while hunting.

These Grey Giants can weigh in over seven tons and stand 13 feet tall at the shoulder, add aggression and enormous power and you have one fearsome competitor. Although they are the worlds largest land mammal, their dark grey skin provides excellent camouflage and it is miraculous how they can just disappear in the vegetation. They don’t have very good eyesight but they have excellent hearing and their sense of smell is without equal. They can move through the bush with amazing speed and can be extremely quite. Combine all these and you will find the reason why they are respected and feared by many hunters. An irate Elephant will often wait in ambush on their own track for the hunter that is pursuing them. Standing dead still and suddenly attacking with great speed and little noise will often catch an inexperienced hunter by surprise. The fatality rate of elephant attacks is estimated to be 90%, where as leopard is estimated to be 20%. Meaning that one will have less than a 10% chance of survival if it gets hold of you.

Elephant hunting is done on foot, make sure to pack a set of well walked-in boots since these animals can cover great distances in a day, a typical elephant hunt would start by scouting for tracks. Once fresh tracks are located one can determine quite a lot about the animal for example size, age, and gender. Although this might be a good indication of trophy quality it is never 100% accurate since an Elephant with big old heavy feet, doesn’t necessarily guarantee big tusks. One would often follow a set of tracks for hours only to discover a large bodied bull with small or broken off tusk.

Trophy judging can be difficult. The tusks are measured by their weight and although there are certain formulas to calculate the weight by judging the length and circumference of the tusks, it is not always 100% accurate because of a hollow nerve cavity within the tusk that will vary in size from one Elephant to the next.

The minimum legal caliber for hunting Elephant is the .375, although with good shot placement this caliber is adequate I would recommend using the largest caliber you can shoot comfortably. The .400’s and even .500’s is usually the more popular choice.

 Elephant Info

Elephants are the largest living land mammals. African Elephants stand 3–4 m (10–13 ft) and weigh 4,000–7,000 kg (8,800–15,000 lb). Males are larger than females. Elephants are herbivores and can be found in different habitats including savannahs, forests, deserts and marshes. They prefer to stay near water. They are considered to be keystone species due to their impact on their environments. They will eat leaves, twigs, fruit, bark and roots and they can consume as much as 150 kg (330 lb) of food and 40 L (11 US gal) of water in a day. Major feeding bouts take place in the morning, afternoon and night. At midday, elephants rest under trees and may doze off while standing. Both males and family groups typically move 10–20 km (6–12 mi) a day, but distances as far as 90–180 km (56–112 mi) have been recorded in the Etosha region of Namibia. They go on seasonal migrations in search of food, water and mates. Other animals tend to keep their distance, and predators such as Lions, Hyenas and Wild Dogs usually target only the young elephants. Females tend to live in family groups, which can consist of one female with her calves or several related females with offspring. The latter are led by the oldest cow, known as the matriarch. Elephants have a fission fusion society in which multiple family groups come together to socialize. Males leave their family groups when they reach puberty, and may live alone or with other males. Adult bulls mostly interact with family groups when looking for a mate and enter a state of increased testosterone and aggression known as musk, which helps them gain dominance and reproductive success. Calves are the centre of attention in their family groups and rely on their mothers for as long as three years. Elephants can live up to 70 years in the wild. They communicate by touch, sight, and sound.

Gestation in elephants typically lasts around two years with interbirth intervals usually lasting four to five years. Births tend to take place during the wet season. Calves are born 85 cm (33 in) tall and weigh around 120 kg (260 lb) Typically, only a single young is born, but twins sometimes occur. Elephants usually have 26 teeth: the incisors, known as the tusks, 12 deciduous premolars, and 12 molars. Unlike most mammals, which grow baby teeth and then replace them with a single permanent set of adult teeth, elephants have cycles of tooth rotation throughout their lives. The chewing teeth are replaced six times in a typical elephant's lifetime. Teeth are not replaced by new ones emerging from the jaws vertically as in most mammals. Instead, new teeth grow in at the back of the mouth and move forward to push out the old ones, similar to a conveyor belt. The first chewing tooth on each side of the jaw falls out when the elephant is two to three years old. The second set of chewing teeth falls out when the elephant is four to six years old. The third set is lost at 9–15 years of age, and set four lasts until 18–28 years of age. The fifth set of teeth lasts until the elephant is in its early 40s. The sixth (and usually final) set must last the elephant the rest of its life. After the Elephant looses its last set of molars he faces starvation and a slow agenizing death