23. Eland---Namibia

The eland is the largest antelope species in the world with old males weighing close to 2,000 lbs. They eat grasses and leaves, travel in herds, and are not territorial. Both sexes have short spiral horns, with those of the male being much heavier. Eland meat is superb and because of that efforts have been made to domestic them with only modest success. This moose-sized animal can run 30-40 miles per hour, jump 10 foot fences, and live 20 years in the wild.

HUNT DESCRIPTION

I took this eland in Namibia on my last safari to Africa in 2003. The first seven days of that hunt has been great as I’d harvested record-class kudu, red hartebeest, gemsbok, and zebra. On day eight, after sitting in a water hole blind for 11 hot hours, when four eland came in. I studied each one to make sure I was shooting at a bull. One was very large, but my shot was a bit back. The next day my professional hunter and two native trackers, followed a scant trail for an hour until we found this bull. At the time of harvest, he was the world record with the bow. The local native village lived off the meat of this bull for quite a while. Literally every part of this animal, including the intestines and stomach, were eaten. We kept one hind quarter for camp food. I might add that you can never bring meat back from Africa. Just impossible and illegal to bring meat back. But you sure eat good in safari camps in Africa.