Beaird says they stopped for lunch near a water pan that had been attracting numbers of bulls. During the break, apprentice PH Ryan Lankin climbed a nearby tree and spotted a large bodied bull at the pan but could not make out the ivory. Upon taking a closer look, they discovered the bull had one long, thick tusk. The other side was broken about a foot from the lip. Judging the bull at about 70-pounds, the party tracked the elephant through the brush about a quarter of a mile on foot before Beaird took it with a double-lung hit.
Upon official measurement, the long tusk measured 73 inches long, with a 19-inch circumference at the lip. It weighed in at 81 pounds. The broken tusk was only 12 inches long but weighed 32 pounds. Seems nerve damage from an early injury had caused the tusk to break. (See photo in our Trophy Gallery.)
In that same concession with Johan Calitz Safaris, Kelly LaFay shot a bull weighing 72 x 52 pounds. (See photo in Trophy Gallery.) Ronnie Crous was also the PH on that hunt. LaFay shot his jumbo on the hunt following Beaird's. He too booked through Jeff Neal.
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