Myles and John in the first 7 days tracked and found in excess of 35 elephant bulls, of those 7 were in the 40lbs class, 2 in the 50-55lbs class, and 1 possibly 55-60lbs. We got charged 3 times, the most serious charge was in an open area where a mock charge turned into a full charge. He only stoped when Myles fired over his head at 20 paces.

Followed a bull nicknamed 'bare foot' who as you can see has absolutely no tread left on his feet, meaning he is ancient! He joined a with a huge herd of elephant. We saw 1 bull that we thought would be 'bare foot' at 15 paces but could only see 1 tusk in the 55-60lbs class. Only when he ran did we see he had two!

1st shot penetrated completely and exited the left side of the chest.

2nd shot through the pelvis and penetrated and measured 60"

This is a wounded bull that we had seen and reported the day before. Tracked and killed with the aid of National Parks.

Back-up shots .416 REM. Same GS custom loading.
1st shot penetrated chest from right and exited left.
2nd shot, side brain shot exited left side.

Chewore North frontal brain shot, 60" penetration with the .375 H & H.

Rifle - interarms Mark X action, Lilta-barrel McMillan stock.

Bullet - 300gr GS custom flat nose.

This was the most intense hunt I've ever been on. Myles and his trackers had us on elephants each day. We tracked for 6-8 hours daily, covering over 70 miles during the first 7 days.Forget "mock" charges. We had 3 old bulls that that wanted to pound us and one buffalo cow that was turned at 3 paces in thick jesse.We walked up on 4 different Dagga Boys and ran into lions on more than one occasion.Early season hunts are certainly not for the faint of heart! The bush is exceedingly lush and thick. It made for continual adrenaline rushes due to close encounters,and also probably provided us with more older bulls since they are more secure in the thick stuff.I didn't have an opportunity for a brain shot on my bull as he was walking fast in heavy cover. Myles had told me to take the highest percentage shot that I had when it came down to a trophy bull. As it was, I had less than 8 seconds to decide that this was the bull for me and then to make the shot!Hippo hunting and Tiger fishing on the Zambezi was icing on the cake. Great fun and truly a trip for the ages.

-John Clader, April 2006