Denker wrote in his e-mail, "Thomas turned 45 during his safari, and we had a really great hunt. On the seventh hunting day we took up a huge track and eventually caught up with a very thick-tusked bull with a huge head. We circled and positioned ourselves in front of the oncoming elephant, which advanced to within 10 paces when he became aware of us and faced us with head held high and outstretched ears. Thomas brought him down with a frontal brain shot from his 10.75x68 double rifle. The tusks were officially weighed by MET game ranger Dries Alberts. The longer right tusk has a length of 1.96 meters (6.4 feet) and a circumference of 55 cm (21.7 inches) at the lip." Congratulations (and Happy Birthday!) to Thomas Oechsner.
The other 100-pounder came from the Niassa Reserve in Mozambique. It was taken by Argentine hunter Carlos Elizalde and weighs 102.5 x 100.1 pounds! The larger left tusk measures 21.5 inches in circumference and has a total length of 93 inches. The right tusk has a 21-inch circumference and measures 91 inches long.
Elizalde killed this huge bull on November 4 in Block B of the Niassa Reserve with safari operator and PH "Jumbo" Moore of Kambako Safaris (www.kambakosafaris.com). Moore says they took the bull out of a group of eight other elephants. Amazingly, he says, "In the group was another bull with identical tusks, a third bull with slightly longer tusks but thinner, and a single tusker, which was........(continued)
