I got an e-mail from a friend in Singapore. He's from Zimbabwe and just got back from hunting with his dad. He said they flushed a herd of sable, 16 in all. He said two bulls probably went 42" to 45". He's hunted Zimbabwe all his life and has taken some great sable. My question is, how good is 42 to 45? For me the magic number for Gemsbok is 40", buffalo is 40", kudu is 55". What is the equivalent for sable? (I can feel the $2,600 slowly slipping from my fingers as I get more into this.)

Kensco

I think 40 is also the magic number for sable. Regional genetics play a big role also. I've hunted in areas where sable were lightly hunted but most of the mature bulls topped out at 36"-38". On the other hand there are areas where you don't even look at one until it is 40" or better and the potential is there for a monster in the high 40's. To answer your question a 42"-45" is a very good sable. One of our Zambian clients in '04 shot an honest 50" but that is in the same category as a 100 pound elephant.

Mark

Anything over 40 iches is worth bragging about. If I were you I would try to go find that herd! I have hunted a lot of Sable in Zimbabwe and my biggest are both 42 inches. I think if you really want to try for the biggest Sable possible Zambia is the place to go. I would imagine the poachers in Zimbabwe are hammering them.

I have a right testicle which I have no further use for... so I'll offer that up for the 45" Sable...

I think 308 SAKO is half nuts.

It was a little early for that one John-Boy.

To me a Sable seems to take on different character after they get beyond 40 inches --The coat really gets pure jet black, and they take on those fully mature characteristics -- to include horn mass and a very muscular and filled-out looking body. These are probably all more factors of age than horn length. Not sure how long it takes a Sable to grow over 40, but he's probably a fully mature Bull by then. Took a 42 1/2 in 2004, and get nothing but OOOOHHHHs! and AAAAHHHHs! whenever friends see the photo. He looked very impressive to me on the hoof, and there was no ground shrinkage -- the most impressive hunting trophy that I've ever taken.

My 2 cents.

I believe 42" gets you into Roland Ward. Enough said.

465H&H

I saw several in the 44 range in Zambia this past summer. Unfortunately I had no tag.

Next year maybe

Sprig

Kensco
40" is the magic number for sable, however for Rooseveldt sable that number propaby is more like 37-38". As was already said, genetics and area play a big role. 2600$ also is not expensive for sable at all...

Yeah, 40" for SCI and 42" for RW.

Here's one that goes a bit better than 42" shot in Matetsi several years ago. You may have seen the PH in hunt reports for the Masai areas of Tanzania....Brian van Blerk who hunts for Adam Clements.

Heck of a nice guy and a solid PH. We saw quite a few in the "not quite" 40" size which were very tempting but Brian managed to hold me back. The stalks on these animals was amazing. We'd cut some tracks...follow them for awhile and then Brian and I would take off while the trackers followed them. We'd set up some overlooking an open area and shortly one of more would walk by looking back over their shoulders.....each would have been an easy, close-range shot. As luck would have it I had to take my longest shot of the trip on the one I shot...a bit more than 200 yards.

Sable are great and I love to watch them run as they go from zero to 60 in a couple of jumps.

Any mature bull is a true trophy, but where inches matter, I agree with the previous posters...38" to 39" is a good representative head, a trophy starts at 40", Rowland Ward at 42" and anything else is gravy and a BIG sable!

There are regional differences in horn length among the subspecies as pointed out by Mark, but for Zim I think the numbers would hold true.

They are fun to hunt, regal to behold and mine was tough as nails taking three shots with my .416!

It took me 5 days of hard hunting to get my shot on a nice sable. For 5 days we bumped them in the thick mopani scrub and acacia thorn, got busted by zebras, giraffes, and warthogs. When I did get my shot, it was on a running full out bull that was headed for Mozambique.

Steve, the PH, asked me on the way back to Bulawayo after my hunt ended, what was the one thing I would always remember. The tracking job of Dix and Steve and the way they worked together will always be fresh in my mind. The bluff charge by the elephants in the thick reeds along the Mazunga will never be forgotten. The poor bushpigs getting punted around by the zebra stallion, the kudu cows, and everything else will always leave me laughing... But top of the list occurred on the second day when we busted a huge sable bull. When he broke out of the brush into an opening he hit overdrive. He was loping along till he hit that opening. As soon as he did, he dug his haunches in and tucked his chin lowering those long sweeping horns down into a battering ram. Most beautiful moment I had under the African sun. He hit overdrive and I stood there in slack jawed awe...

Even if I wasn't stepping all over my lower jaw, I would not have taken the shot, just too risky from my vantage point. But his mane was standing tall in the breeze and his tail was whiping to gain more speed. A beautiful animal. We never saw him again.

I took this one on day 5 and he was just as magnificent an animal, though he didn't have quite the horn length of that big one on the second day.

My friend sent me a photo of a sable he shot a few years ago. It's a stunner. He followed that with a buffalo that is a brute.

He's invited me to go hunting sable with him sometime. I'm not sure I can hold fire until then. That $2,600 is looking pretty cheap.

Kensco, I obviuosly don't know what arrangements you can get for a sable, or what you'd have to pay for such a hunt - apart from your estimated trophy fee of $2600. Be aware, though, that for the regular foreign hunter in Africa, the trophy fee is only part of the cost for hunting sable.

It is quite typical for the duration of the sadari to increase if you want to add sable. A typical example is HHK in Zim, they will allow you to hunt buff and plainsgame on a 10 day safari, if you want to add sable, the minimum duration goes up to 12. Likewise, they offer plainsgame on 7 day safaris, if you want sable, you'll have to hunt at least 10 days.

I have never been able to afford hunting in Zambia, so others will be better qualified to document the fee structures in that country. But I believe Zambia adds even further fees (area fees etc) onto a hunt which includes sable. Supposedly, these fees are what make Zambian sables as expensive as they are.

All in all, the regular safari hunter must calculate quite a bit extra on top of the mere trophy fee to be able to add sable to the list of species available.

- mike

sable are one of africas most beautiful animals. I think however that they have the greatest "ground shrinkage" and any animal. I once did in a 46" that looked like he was the size of a horse standing there, but shrank to about 500#'s when we walked up to it

Rowland Ward is 41 7/8 and the record is 55 3/8.
Sable is one of the most beautiful and gracious animals in the African bush

I concur - 40" is the mark for measuring big sable. Kinda like a 30" nyala or 30" mule deer here in the states, a 40" sable distiguishes itself from the rest.

I had never thought I would see let alone shoot one that big. However, when I had that opportunity in 2004, I took it. After drying, my sable measured 43"+ along each horn.

If your friend has seen a herd with 2 bulls 42+, you would do well to find them!! Good luck.

I took one that taped out at 41 last year. It impressed the hell out of me. I cant imagine one going in the 50 range. They are indeed majestic animals. Any of you guys notice the zig zag pattern of the mane?

The Sable is one of the 5 or so animals that everytime I see one it truly is an awe inspring moment. Anyone have a pic of the Giant Sable?

Just been looking in the SCI record book. Only the top 3 made 50" or more with #1 at 50 7/8" and 50 1/2" with 10" bases. It is huge!