Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Eland- What do you think about this one?

rnovi, Dave runs a class operation!
If I look at the background in your photo, I'm just glad I was not part of the recovery team that day!
Is that the shot high on the shoulder shoulder? Weapon?

Thanks for sharing.

Hi Marius,

Yes indeed, Dave puts on a FINE hunt!

Let's see, the Weapon: Merkel K1 in 7mm RMag. 6.5# scoped and slinger. The load was a 150gr. Nosler E-tip over 72.5gr. of Ramshot Magnum for about 3,000 fps.



You are right about the terrain! What you can't see is the elevation. We parked down low in the vale and put on a solid 90 minute stalk before we could get into shooting range. Thick brush, about 500' of elevation gain, acacia thorn - it was nasty.

When we finally got into position we were after a group of Eland some 400 yards away. As we were looking for a way up to the a second group appeared out of nowhere at 200 yards - with the bull we wanted behind a female, feeding head down in a cluster of either. We must have waited there on the sticks for over 20 minutes for them to move.



Can you count the critters in the pic?

I think we counted nearly 18 Eland and a solid dozen Blue Wildebeest on the side of the mountain above us. We kept wondering if they'd wind us the way the wind was swirling but we had parked so far away (*and they hadn't seen our approach) that they just milled about.

Right around the 20 minute mark they decided they didn't want to face to the left anymore and turned 180 degrees, starting a very, very slow walk out of this little thicket. My Bull stopped, perfectly silhouetted between two shrubs with his shoulder gleaming in the light.

I accepted the brace from Craig Done (My PH, great guy there), settled down and let fly.

That impact was right on the right side, lower shoulder and made the most incredible SCHMACK! The bullet impacted dead center on the big arm bone completely shattering the leg before punching through the ribs. That bull reared up and leapt a good 8 feet in the air and crashed straight down.

I get a second round into the rifle and sit there on the sticks. The Bull was down in the middle of the brush with only his head sticking up. He had this look about him like "What the heck just hit me???". And he just kept looking around.

The other Eland maybe walked off 20 yards and then just stood around. A few kept looking back, others were looking around to find us. The Wildebeest just stood there chewing their cud.

We had no approach with the Bull and no second shot the way he was down. All we could do was sit back a bit and wait. And Wait. And Wait.

Time gets all weird like that. I think we were there for 15 minutes, just waiting for him to put his head down. We pulled the camera out, took picture from the distance, started glassing the Blue's (they were on the dance card as well) and waited some more.

Finally the bull started to get up. I was locked in on the sticks and started saying "he's getting up! he's up! He's UP!" - I saw the left shoulder this time barely above the brush and decided to let fly on a high shoulder. It wasn't my ideal shot but it was the shot I had and I figured the real answer was to get some more lead in him as quick as possible. I did NOT want to chase a wounded Eland.

The second shot hit (that's the shot in the Pic) and the Bull went straight down. I can still remember the dust exploding off the high shoulder. With the running gear shattered on both sides he wasn't going anywhere. Still, I put another round in the chamber and stayed on the sticks another five minutes to see if there was any movement.

It was as perfect a first shot as could have been made. Except the 150gr. E-Tip just plain didn't have enough oomph to get to the heart. Trajectory was right and angle was right, just plain not enough penetration.

It took us another 30+ minutes to actually get up to the Bull. Yes, the conditions were just that tough to walk through. I really, really felt bad for the Eland Recovery Team.

This guy was a Grand old warrior! Battle scars, busted horn (the right spiral is busted off at the base), lots of blue in the hide.

He was exactly what I wanted and it was the type of hunt I long for. Another few months and he will be back to me to hang proudly on my wall!

Oh, I really like the Merkel K1. Sexy rifle, for sure. Light and easy to carry. I can't tell you how close I've come 3 or 4 times to buying one. Can't come close to justifying adding to my Arsenal of Democracy when I have multiples that do the same job.

Looks kinda like Cody Lundin.

How much on average do Eland weigh?

1750-2000#. They're big.