Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Eland / .375 ?

Looking at a package hunt that includes "Cape Eland" - which this mule deer hunter believes is a pretty doggone big critter.

I've got a .375 I've only used on black bear so far (it worked just fine). Would a 300 gr Nosler Partition be a good choice for cape eland? I've got 150 of 'em under my loading bench and would like to use them on something other than paper eventually.

Also have lighter 270 gr Partitions, and 260 gr Accubonds as well as some old 285 gr Grand Slams.

Other 300's on hand include Sierra & Hornady BTSP bullets and a box of 300 gr FMJ Hornady bullets. Got all these doggone .375 bullets from a couple of friends who no longer hunt with their .375 rifles.

BTW - what the heck is a "cape eland" anyway? Is it somehow different from a regular eland? Is it something that has been transplanted from elsewhere in Africa to hunt in South Africa?

Thanks, Guy

Morning GuyM

The combination of 375 and 300gr NP is so good it wants to make me cry. All the other shells you mentioned will also work if you have decent shot placement, but then again, shot placement is the brother to caliber and premium grade ammunition.

Cape eland refers to the Southern eland found our way (Taurotragus oryx). As opposed to the Livingstone eland (Taurotragus oryx livingstonei). The Livingstone eland has pronounced stripes down the flanks but looks just like the Cape eland and mainly occurs in Zimbabwe, but is also found in Botswana and Zambia. In a few rare cases the Livingstone has been introduced to South Africa but our F&W people are not too keen on the possibility of hybrids so have recently started not allowing such animals to be introduced.

Then there is the East African eland (Taurotragus oryx pattersonianus) found mainly in Tanzania, Sudan and Kenya.

My favorite is the Central African Giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus gigas) from Cameroon and the C.A.R. (Central African Republic). This eland is also known as the Lord Derby eland and has a dark collar and a huge dew lap down the throat.

I trust this answers your other question about the Cape eland, ie, it is the local native eland to SA.

Almost like Cape buffalo, Northwestern buffalo and the Dwarf Forest buffalo just to confuse the issue!

I had to look up the scientific names of the non-native eland just to show that even though they are all relatives of each other (and will inter-breed) they are all regarded as different species.

A full-grown Cape eland bull can weigh up to about 2 000 lbs and is a difficult critter to hunt. Good choice to look for one of them!

Guy,

Yeah, a 300-grain .375 Partition is a good choice for Cape eland, though they can be cleanly taken with much lighter cartridges and bullets.

The Cape eland is a regional variety of eland that, unlike most others, doesn't have white stripes on its sides when adult. It's still about the size of other eland, and is native to southern South Africa and Namibia--as are other animals prefaced by "Cape." The Cape region of South Africa is where many Europeans first encountered several local varietions of game, such as the Cape (red) hartebeest and Cape mountain zebra.

Like any other eland, Cape eland ARE big--though not as big on average as those from some other parts of Africa.

Guy...any one of the bullets you mentioned would work great....


Be sure to comandeer the backstraps on that Eland.....


Thank me later....

The cape eland is the same animal as the southern or common eland. Yes, this is a big critter, but like everything else, hit them right and they die.

I have killed a grand total of one. 80yds, slight quartering away, and it collapsed from a 225gr Partition from my 338 win mag. The guys I was hunting with also killed them, one with a 338, and two with 300 mags.

Boddington recommends the .375 as min., yet I believe his daughter used a 7mm-08.

I am quite confident all the bullets you mentioned will work quite handily if you do your part. Enjoy!

405wcf

Guy, well I'll be you gonna take the plunge?

The 375 will work. So will the noslers[260 AB or the 300 NP]. One gun will be enough for all the plains game and so will 1 load.

Also, what Ingwe said.....commandere them backstraps!


maddog

I've fired precisely one round at an eland, so I know next to nothing about hunting them. For sure, they are huge critters and a medium or large bore would be appropriate.

Having said that, mine fell immediately to the ground, rolled over on his back and died with all four hoofs pointed to the sun. The kill was perhaps the most dramatic I have ever seen and/or witnessed.

Rifle =.30-'06

Bullet = Hornady 180-grain BTSP Interlocked.

Bullet Placement = The range was exactly fifty yards and the bull was quartering into my position, so I placed the bullet at the join of the neck and the shoulder. The bullet struck a vertabrae between the shoulder blades; destroyed the vertabrae, severed the spinal column and the bullet lodged under the hide on the far side ... weight of the recovered bullet is about 100-grains.

Weight of my eland = 1,069 Kg / 2,352 pounds, guts in and blood in at the farm's butchery.

And YES, the tenderloin is ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT. We ate "steaks" made of the tenderloin that were four-inches thick, cooked in real butter over an iron-wood fire. Oh my goodness, that was the most amazing meat I have ever eaten.

Steve

Oh goodness... Steve, Mad, 405WCF, John, Ingwe, Pieter - thanks so much. Now I want one on my barbecue!

I knew they were big. Wasn't sure 2,000 pounds was fact or fiction. That's a wee bit bigger than the mule deer I usually hunt.

Wow... Need to figure this out.

Thanks, Guy

Friend Guy,

The first time I killed a 6X6 elk, I walked up and said "WOW, now that's BIG."

When I killed my first bull moose, I walked up and said to myself, "Holy CRAP, that's BIG."

When I walked up to this eland, I knew right then and there that that was the biggest furry thing with horns.

Yeah, and I said to myself for the FINAL time, HOLY SCHIT, NOW THAT'S BIG

And I was right.

By the way, I'm a little over six-feet tall.

My eland is one humongous critter. NOW THAT'S BIG.

Steve

I distinctly remember walking up to my bull elk, a 6x6 up in the Wind River range - and saying in awe out loud "That's a big SOB." Still the biggest thing I've ever shot.

Saw an eland mount on the wall of a friend's house some time ago. Oh my... Huge.

Just might be able to make this trip happen. Tight budget and all that usual nonsense applies.

Guy

Very true that!

Any of those will work just fine. While my experience is limited, it's now my favorite of all plains game to hunt. Mainly because it involves starting with nothing but a promising track, and getting to see a good tracker do his thing. The anticipation of what "could be", is wonderful. Really satisfying animals to hunt....and very good eating!

Jeff

will that combo work?

a friend of mine sells truck loads of venison, including Eland. he uses a 270 with 130grn Sierra Game King.

the problem with a 375 and a 300grn is: your excuses for not returning with an Eland just became very few.

I shot mine with a 375 as well and while I agree it can easily be done and has been done with much lighter calibers, in my case I firmly believe the 375 saved my bacon.

We had been tracking two solitary bulls for about three hours until finally they stood still at the far end of a clearing about 175 yards away in and out of the shadows offered by the trees. I lined up on the shoulder and squeezed. As I came back on target they big bull was on his haunches with the tracker telling my PH, John Sharp (in Shona) I had shot him in the rear ham. During this safari before every shot I always asked "how far and which way is he facing?" but in the heat of battle today I did not, and given the aformentioned shadows, I mistook the ham for the shoulder as the other bull was sort of behind him and I mistook his horns for the one I shot.

Anyway, I aleady had cycled a fresh round into the chamber and was able to quickly finish him with a shot to the shoulder. I was using 300gr Swift AFrames and I am of the opinion a smaller caliber, like the 300 Weatherby I also had and a less stout bullet might not have been as forgiving. That big 300gr pill broke the pelvic girdle. Fast forward to the next day when I shot a very nice impala at 80 yards quartering towards us, this time with my 300 Weatherby and 180gr Hornady Interlocks. The ram went down as if poleaxed and when we walked up to him he had a bulge in his offside ham which was of course the remnants of that 180gr Hornady (it weighed about 80 grs, with basically just the core as the picture shows, whilst the Swift weighed 299). So the question has to be asked, what If I shot that Eland with the Weatherby/bullet combo? Makes for fun speculation and yes I know the tiresome adage of shot placement, but in this case, I was glad I had the 375.

On my next safari I switched to partitions with the 300 and since switched again to TSXs and never looked back.

Hornady last on right:


Here you can see the blood trail of the initial hip shot on the eland's ham:



jorge

Jorge was this picture taken in 1969?

08 Sept 2001...

It still is a nice eland, congratulations.

.375 would be just fine, but not needed. Can be taken cleanly with smaller rounds too. I took mine with .35 Whelen, didnt go 15 yards. Shot placement is king.

.308win

Mine went down with a 225gr Aframe fired out of a .338wm....a .375 will do fine

Enjoy! 'cause , they are freakin' big!