David Bonde, now of Gilman and formerly of the Manitowoc area, went on an elephant hunt in Africa recently.

The hunt, it turns out, ended up being more significant than he had first planned.

Here’s David’s firsthand account:

The elephant cow tag I bid on was offered because the region I hunted is in a three-year drought.

When I got to Namibia and met the PH (professional hunter) for the elephant hunt, he informed me we had permission to hunt four private parcels with each parcel being 225,000 acres and he had gotten permission to hunt a conservancy that was 1,300 square miles in size, mostly wilderness and normally closed to hunting.

He told me the conservancy had lots of elephants, so he said we would start there.

When we got to the conservancy, the next day we were met by two game wardens who asked me to consider using my tag to go after a big bull that had been harassing some villages and had charged their vehicles.

The tag I had was a cow tag, and the warden said if I agreed to go after the problem bull, he would take care of changing my cow tag into a bull tag.

I was astonished at what I was hearing because a trophy bull tag costs four to five times as much as my cow tag.

Of course, I agreed to save the villagers from the bull and could hardly believe the opportunity before me.

The bull, they said, could be identified by a chipped tusk and it came to a certain waterhole about every three or four days.

We spent the morning driving through the rocky, mountainous bush, from waterhole to waterhole, in four-wheel drive low, until we found where a group of elephants had watered the night before.

About 2 miles from that waterhole, we spotted a group of elephants in a wooded valley, and after glassing them from about 3/4 mile away, we could see only cows and calves.

My PH decided we should sneak down to the cows and take a look, as it was really hard to see exactly what animals were in the trees.

Incredibly, after stalking down into the trees, the first elephant we ran into was the bull with the chipped tusk that we did not even see when glassing and had no idea he was there when we started our stalk.

After sneaking to within 50 yards of the bull, I was able to send some .375 H&H 300 grain solids toward the bull, and after a bit of a chase, I was able to put him down.

I was being backed up by two PHs in case things went bad, one with a .375 H&H and the other had a.416 Rigby with 400 grain solids, but I was able to drop the bull myself.

After the bull was down, the wardens cut a path through the trees to get a truck to the bull, and eventually they went and got 10 natives and the process of disassembly started.

It is quite a process to take apart an elephant. All the meat will eventually be distributed to people who live out in the bush on the conservancy.

Woodland Dunes to host ‘Saving Our Songbirds’ event

Woodland Dunes Nature Center and Preserve in Two Rivers will present “Saving Our Songbirds Together in Winter” from 10 to 11 a.m. Dec. 3.

30% of North American birds have vanished since 1970, and the birds we love to see and hear have suffered some of the biggest losses — warblers, finches, sparrows and blackbirds.

The good news is we can all take steps around our home to help reverse their decline.

Join Saving Our Songbirds Coordinator Lisa Gaumntiz as she addresses three important steps and shares some supplies and events in early 2025 to help you help birds.

The program will involve a 40-minute presentation and audience discussion, plus a companion booth where visitors can pick up a free sample of bird-friendly coffee, a native plant guide and more SOS supplies.

All programs in this series have a sliding-scale fee of $1-$10 per person. This will be collected at check-in, and cash is preferred. Registration appreciated by Dec. 2. To register, email Jess at [email protected] or call 920-793-4007.

Read last week’s column:Wisconsin’s gun deer season: When it starts and what ‘TAB-K’ means for gun safety

Santa, live reindeer coming to Farm Wisconsin Dec. 7

The countdown begins at Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center, 7001 Gass Lake Road, Manitowoc.

The center will host a magical morning from 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 7 when Santa and Mrs. Claus take a quick break from their busy schedule to stop by for a visit.

Grab a fun family photo with the Clauses or with their friendly real-life reindeer.

Fill your belly with traditional Christmas favorites at the breakfast buffet, make holiday crafts, savor the new hot chocolate bar and more.

Tickets can be purchased at farmwisconsin.org.

That’s it for this week, so have fun in the great outdoors.