Eland

Just got my Eland back from our trip to South Africa two years ago. I've had my taxidermist do one of them every couple of months so it's not such a big hit paying for them.

Looks great!

Sweet!

Nice!

Nice one.

Nice Eddie. Good Eland bull that.

Nice eland and smart idea to spread out the taxidermy so it doesn't hit you all at once.

Quick story on my eland. On my first safari, I went to Nambia for ten days and was able to get most of what I wanted, but not an eland. I saw them almost every day, but the bulls where always running, or not with the cows.

In South Africa, we saw cows every day, but no bulls on the main ranch we where staying at. After several days, we decided to go to another ranch to hunt eland. It was only half an hour away, so we got there just after first light. The manager of the ranch had sent his guys out to look for a bull and a good one was spotted across a big canyon, probably a mile away.

We drove around the mountain and came up the opposite side, parking before we got to the top. Then a long stalk over the top of the ridge, and then down it to where we where close. Then crawled on our bellies for a hundred yards to those rocks you see in the background. I took the shot from the edge of the rocks, aiming for the heart, and hitting him in the neck, breaking it. The best miss I ever had!!!

He dropped right where he was, which was a huge relief for everyone there. They where all prepared for a long tracking session because that's what normally happens with eland. Or at least, that's what I was told.

To get it out, they drove a Landrover up as close as they could, cutting down trees and brush that was in the way. Once they couldn't get any farther, they pulled out the winch and several hundred feet of chain. I never seen anything like it. They just kept pulling out chain until they got to the eland. They they pulled it from it's back feet through everything in it's way!!!!

Very nice, that fellow is taking up some wall space! Most don't realize how big the horns are due to the body size