Rowland Ward Manners Tusks

We have been subscribers to Magnum for 20-plus years and enjoy every issue very much. As custodians of the world’s oldest record book, we have been following the stories of the venerable Mr. Gregor Woods in regards to the Harry Manners tusks for many months. Finally, this week, the long-awaited final instalment arrived in the form of the July issue.

After checking our records and talking with Mr. David Hall, the person who sent in the information to the editors in the 1970s, we have removed the Harry Manners elephant tusks listing from Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game. It is permanently expunged unless definitive proof can be presented to the editors that this elephant existed and that its tusks weighed what is claimed. We are aware that unfortunately not all records are entered with veracity. The conservation of game, promotion of fair-chase hunting, and authenticity of record-keeping are our foremost goals, and we will continue to maintain this standard as we have for well over a century. In addition, we have adjusted the entry for the 1946 Wally Johnson elephant in the Natural History Museum of Maputo. The hunter is now listed and the museum is noted as the current owner. Our records show this elephant was displayed and weighed at the CIC World Exhibition of Hunting in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 1981 and its weights were re-confirmed at that time.

We want to commend Mr. Woods for an outstanding job of hunting/conservation journalism and an excellent series of articles. As for Magnum, please keep up the excellent work.

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