PETER HATHAWAY CAPSTICK
He has added to the magnetism of the African bush more than
any other modern writer. As a government cropping officer, he
personally shot over 800 elephants. But he had not sport hunted
a trophy bull Elephant on his own license until this safari
with Volker Grellmann of ANVO Hunting Safaris in the Bushmanland
area of Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Peter shoots his
70 pound Jumbo on-camera ( and, just to avoid confusion among
the uninitiated, the old bull was over 12 feet at the shoulder
and weighed an estimated 14,000 pounds with two tusks averaging
70 pounds each).
Three other Elephants are harvested on-camera. The first is
a big 80 pounder taken by Jerry Heiner who, along with his wife
Bam, shares camp with Peter. The other two bulls are taken by
Ken Wilson and Dave Harshbaroer with dramatic frontal brain
shots.
But it is the experience with the aboriginal Bushmen that will
be remembered as much as the Elephant hunting. Unfortunately,
the Bushmen are being telescoped into the 21st century at such
a rate that their historic lifestyle may disappear before it
can be passed to the next generation.
The African Elephant is subject to a variety of conditions:
poaching and unregulated human encroachment where it
is endangered... enlightened game management where it
is not. Regulated sport hunters and sophisticated, government-supported
game managers are the friends of the African Elephant.
Together, they will be the salvation of Loxodonta Africana,
the world's largest living land animal. |
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