Botswana Elephant Hunting Opportunities Expand This Season

Another big elephant has hit the ground in Botswana this hunting season. Jeff Rann of Rann Safaris tells me that an American client took an 86-pound elephant in his new area CT 1. This was also Rann's very first elephant hunt in that block. "As I stated in the January 2010 issue of The Hunting Report, I was confident that this was one of the top elephant concessions open to elephant hunting in Botswana, and I am happy to report I did not overstate this fact," says Rann. (See Article ID 2376.) The lucky hunter is Frank Cox, who booked through Beverly Wunderlich at J/B Adventures & Safaris. The official weights on the jumbo are 86 x 83 pounds. (See photo in the Trophy Gallery section of our website.) He killed the bull on the ninth day of his 14-day safari. Rann says the key to their success was passing up on bulls of 55 to 65 pounds, walking for five to six hours a day, and holding firm to a goal of over 70 pounds. "This is not a concession for the first-time hunter or one unable to walk all day," says Rann. "This is a million-acre wilderness with few roads which has never been fully hunted or explored since elephant hunting re-opened in Botswana in 1996."

In addition to this elephant, Rann says another client took three big jumbo between the season opener of April 6 and May 10 when he e-mailed me with the news. PH Richard De Bufano put the hunter on a 73-pounder on this first safari of 2010. The client then hunted with PH Murray Hibb who produced a 71-pounder and a 62-pounder all in CT 1. "CT 1 has proven to be as good on average and with the possibility of even better ivory than the Delta concessions," says Rann. Also, he reports that more than 1,000 buffalo have been seen in CT 1 while hunting elephant in April alone. "With a quota of only five buffalo for 2010," he says, "some very good trophies will be taken."

Also, for those of you........(continued)