The hunt took place back in May. Kruger says they tracked the rhino for about 20 kilometers until dark. The next day they found the old bull's track near his favorite waterhole. After several hours of tracking and bumping him a couple of times, they found him resting under a tree, where Sardarov made a 70-meter shot to take the rhino.
Meanwhile, Peter Thormählen of Thormählen and Cochran Safaris Namibia, who purchased one of the other two rhino concessions, says he expects his first rhino client to arrive this month. He promises to send me a report and photograph. I still have not heard back from the third concession holder.
When I first reported on these rhino concessions back in June, Thormählen told me he expected a possible new world record to come from these hunts because the animals had not been hunted in over 20 years. If you look at the photo of Sardarov's trophy, however, you will notice that it is not at all a monster-sized rhino. The reason for that is that these older bulls were originally transplanted to protected areas and had their horns cut at that time to prevent injury during transport and perhaps to discourage poaching. The hunts currently on offer are for these bulls which are now past their prime. Younger and probably larger bulls are not available to hunters.
The reason for this, according to Namibia's Director of Parks and Wildlife, Ben Beytell, is that CITES issued........(continued)
