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Well the trail of huntable hundred pounder elephants is cold
for many years now and most people who have seen a true
hundred pounder in the hunting veldt has gone on to where
hundred pounders go when they die. In present days, hundred pounder
elephant only remain in memories and recordings of great hunts of the
past and we fuss about the great men who performed those hunts.
Living elephants that carry hundred pound tusks remain ghostlike in
wildlife sanctuaries and only offer rare sights to the fortunate.
Are there such things as perfect hundred pound tusks? Tusks that are
beautifully symmetrical that would go a hundred pound or more per
tusk that could be recorded in say, Rowland Ward Records of Big
Game? If there was, where would one start looking for such treasures?
“Go north young man”, I can hear someone say, on the contrary, South
is where earliest documented elephant hunts took place and south is
where Vasco da Gama traded small bells and red caps for ivory bracelets
with the early Hottentots. Da Gama wrote in his log, “we actually
found some of their droppings near the watering place where they had
gone to drink”. That was at Mosselbay on 25 November 1497.
The earliest documentation of an elephant killing a hunter in the Cape
was in 1661 when an enraged wounded bull killed Pieter Roman after he
fired several shots into the bull.
In 1695 Johannes Guilielmus de Grevensbroek would write, “… some
of them are of such size that I have seen a single tooth (I should call it a
horn) that weighed more than one hundred and thirty pounds”.
Mr. Péringuey, once director of the South African Museum at Cape
Town, wrote, “through the generosity of Mr. M.J. Breda, of Zoutendal
Vley, Bredasdorp, Cape, we have received a tusk found embedded in the
sand near the sea-coast but at much higher altitude, measuring, when
restored, 8feet 6inches and weighing in its present state, 112lbs.”
The Flederman tusks, taken by the late big game hunter Harry Felderman
in the late 1930s in
Portuguese East Africa,
grant a certain royal
ambience to even the
humblest surrounds.
Glimmering with that
specialness that only
ivory of real stature
possesses. When I first
saw them, it felt like I
had entered the presence
of a king, as indeed he
was when he roamed the
vast wastelands of
Africa. He was not equal
in size to the other
commoners of his
species. Like the Saul of
biblical times he stood
A Perfect Hundred Pounder
By Hendrik van der Schyff
“For those of us who hunt elephant, there is always the anticipation and thrill of a
possible meeting with a 100 pounder, spurring us on even when the trail is cold.”
Gordon Cormack
head and shoulders above his royal guard who accompanied him, a great
emperor, with ivory sceptres to match his grace.
Having “discovered” this ivory treasure in perfect state looming
mystically like precious artefacts in the catacomb of a medieval emperor,
I also discovered the story behind these ‘rediscovered’ hundred pounder
tusks.
Harry Flederman made faithful notes of this classic hunt and also took
some rare photographs of a legendary figure in Southern African hunting
history.
Harry Flederman had planned a hunt for buffalo and elephant in the
Sena district at Marrumeu in Portuguese East Africa where he arrived
on Friday 4 September 1936 after boarding a Trans-Zambezi Railway
train in Beira.
At Caia, a railway siding in Marrumeu, he was met and welcomed by
the Chefe de post.The Commandant, as Harry refers to him, went
through the formalities of filling out the necessary licence after which
he left by lorry to meet his guide and host, none other than the world
famous Gustave Guex. After the usual formalities they left on foot and
made camp near the Cinqua River for the night.
Picture some sixty native bearers led by Guex’s two trackers, Janasse
and Cambadza, spread out in single-file twisting through the African
bush. This is the stuff of the romantic past and just the stuff Harry was
yearning for.
Four years later Harry Manners, author of the book Kambaku, visited
Guex, and would later dedicate a whole chapter of his book to experiences
and conversations with this renowned hunter of Marrumeu.
The next morning, concentrating on finding elephant, they started off at
dawn, the air was hot and humid. Soon they came across buffalo and
wild pigs, waterbuck and baboons. They came across elephant tracks
and followed up immediately through thick elephant grass, undergrowth
and swamp but the herd
soon caught their wind
and made off. They
started back for camp
and on the way met
locals complaining of six
crop raiding elephant. It
so happened that one of
them had big tusks! Just
what Harry was after!
Expectations ran high.
The following day was
overcast. Rain poured
over them as they made
their way through more
Left - Harry Flederman and Gustave Guex pronounced “gay”, with Flederman being the tall one
and Guex the shorter fellow and exactely the way Harry Manners describes him in his book
KAMBAKU. Right - The scene of the slaughter - the tusks being removed from the skull.
swamp and thick
vegetation towards the
village, bringing much
relief from the previous
African Hunter Vol. 10 No. 5 www.african-hunter.com Page 45

days intense heat. In due time the safari reached
the kraal where the elephant were said to have
caused damage and they decided to make camp
further on. An old native from the village joined
up with them and, together with Guex and Harry
set off to follow the spoor. One animal indeed
left enormous footprints as he went.
Through the rain the trackers followed the trail
of the elephants. Having hurt his leg previously,
Guex was having trouble keeping up but as they
came to very thick forest and bush the trackers
got excited, a sure sign that the trail was getting
hot. Harry climbed into a tree trying to see ahead
over the bush and long grass and was delighted to
spot the big bull and his five askaris feeding in
the long grass not more than 300 yards away.
The hunting party changed direction and
approached the elephants from down-wind.
Constantly checking the wind, Harry and
Cambadza closed in trying to see if the big bull
was endowed with big tusks but the very
denseness of the grass and undergrowth made it
difficult. But then the big bull raised its head revealing a pair of
magnificent tusks. Harry was ecstatic but he couldn’t find a clear shot
so decided to play it safe and retreat to get a better angle. They met up
with Guex and the other trackers near a small anthill.
From here on, I’ll let Harry tell the story:
“Carefully made observation and saw quarry about a 100 yards off -
took a glance through field glasses and admired huge tusker in front.
Took careful sight in poor light along barrel of my 9.3 mm rifle and
aimed for a heart shot. He staggered and then recovering from the
shock bolted with the rest. We took shortcut to where elephants were
heading and after careful stalking again saw them. The tusker was
evidently hard hit and impeded the progress of the rest of his followers.
After making another detour we again secured a favourable
position on a slight rise. I aimed two shots for the
temple at about 80 yards and was
thrilled to see the big fellow collapse.
Confusion now reigned in the
elephant ranks and one fellow looking
as big as a house and presenting a
very awe-inspiring sight came plunging
past us at a tangent about 15 yards off.
(As Guex was in need of meat we were
out to get as many of this bunch as we
could.)
We then opened fire on the rest but decided
to spare a smaller bull. I brought down two
others, or so I thought. Guex finished two
others - as he told me later. We could not
locate the one elephant that had made off, but
started shouting and waving our arms to
frighten off the animal we had decided to spare.
He would not budge but presented a threatening
aspect. Guex had only four cartridges left for his
10.75mm rifle whilst I had now run out of
ammunition for my 9.3 mm, so we decided that I
should take my .303 and proceed so as to let the
elephant get my scent and so scare him off, whilst
Guex prepared to cover me. After proceeding to
windward and getting to within 20 yards of him, he
raised his trunk aloft and spread his great ears. I
Harry Flederman just prior to his death in
the mid nineties.
shouted but he did not move. Guex then fired
from his position as he thought the animal must
have been wounded. The elephant trumpeted but
stood his ground. Then I sailed in with my .303
firing half a dozen shots at close range and down
he came with a crash.
We then carefully examined the fallen monarchs
and found that altogether five were down. After
examination we came to the conclusion that I
was responsible for three all told. Only one of the
six escaped. My feelings were curiously mixed -
triumphant and delighted at having bagged such
a rare tusker and also sad at heart at having
killed two others. Nevertheless I comforted myself
with the thought that Guex had required the meat
which would not be wasted, and furthermore,
these animals had been causing a lot of destruction
and proving themselves a menace to the natives
round about.”
I have seen and experienced the tusks of a few
hundred-pounder elephants from up close and
have seen a few living specimens with a hundred
pounds or more per tusk. Most of the tusks I’ve seen are blemished in
some way or the other. Elephants have a working tusk which frequently
is cracked, worn down or broken depending on the type of terrain they
frequent. A perfectly symmetrical pair of tusks weighing a hundred
pounds and more per tusk is a rare find and I have seen only the famous
Kruger Park bull, Mafunyane, who had the most perfectly matched
pair. Both chisel tipped tusks weigh 121 lbs and are both 8ft long.
Harry Flederman’s bull too had a pair of tusks that is as close as one
could get to a perfect pair. As a result of the “soft” swampy terrain the
elephant lived in it shows no damage or wear and appears almost
artificial. Preserved and delicately matured by nature for
over fifty years, at 122lbs 8ft 6” (18½” circumference)
and 118lbs 8ft 5” (18¼” circumference) they once ranked
125 th in the 24 th edition of Rowland Wards Records of
Big Game. To put the cherry on top, Harry’s tusks are
the third largest recorded tusks hunted in Mozambique.
Harry Manners hunted the elephant with the heaviest
recorded tusks in Mozambique. Also almost perfectly
symmetrical, they weighed 187lbs and 185lbs
respectively, and remain the fourth largest recorded
tusks in the world. However, their whereabouts
and/or existence are uncertain today which makes
Harry Flederman’s tusks even more authentic.
Hundred pounder elephants were extremely rare
in the heydays of ivory hunting and having been
sold as articles of commerce, not many tusks of
elephants hunted then exist anymore. Those
that do are considered priceless artefacts and
for exhibition only. What does all this say?
Only that the chances of one hunting such an
elephant under such classic circumstances
or alternatively possessing such a pair of
ivory sceptres is extremely rare.
The Portuguese Hunting permit.
The Flederman tusks described above
are for sale. For more information
contact the author
on e-mail: schyff@absamail.co.za
Page 46 www.african-hunter.com African Hunter Vol. 10 No. 5