From what I read on A.R, I get the feeling that most members are not so much interested in the measurements, but the more obvious good looks of a trophy.
This boils down to age and immature animals just do not deliver the goods. Does not matter how or how long you look at it, it will not look better,if you know what to look for.

Besides the fact that old animals had the chance to reproduce and spread their good genes, an old trophy is so much more appealing due to colour, mass, shape and some still have length if you are lucky.
Everybody hunt under different circumstances and time does not always allow, but I will definitely not shoot an immature trophy just for the sake of having one or because it had the right size.
What do you say ?

I had the privilege of taking this old Eland bull, they do not get older than this.

That is one super Eland!! Wow!!! I shot a Eland with the Blue-gray skin color and the long mop on it's forhead, but it didn't have the black muzzle!

what a beautiful animal!!!

Congrats to the Eland!!! He'll look great on your wall!!!!

Helgaard, when did you shoot that old boy? That's a beauty. I agree with your overall assessment of trophy hunting. I'm more interested in taking a nice mature animal than I am in killing the biggest book trophy. In fact, just a couple weeks ago I shot a fat old blue wildebeest cow. That was a fun hunt!

On our last trip, we had the good fortune to take a sable, eland, bushbuck, warthog, baboons and buff that we all way past prime according to the PH's. The warthog in particular was sagging and in rough shape. Three of the five baboons we took had no front teeth let alone canines to defend with.

I agree with you, the old past prime animals are what I like to hunt. I am not an "inches" person, and do take the largest I see, but I prefer the oldest.

I reciently bookied a hunt thru our friend Ray A. with Pierre Von Tonder. Elephant is on the menu and when asked wht am I looking for size wise my response is I would rather take an old bull with one broken tooth and charactor than a perfect matched set on a youngster. Simply my preference. I like the old critters with the wits to have survived for so many years. I think it says something about my hunting.

Broken horns and scars are all pluses in my book. That said if I came across a 100 lb jumbo he's gong to be mine. HUnting is such a personal thing and everyone has the right to make the judgements for themselves.

BTW, Love the eland I would have taken him in a NY second.

Helgaard:

Where was this guy hiding when I was looking for Eland? Unlike women, I like them old and large in measurements.

bob S.

Talking of women, this guy must have been on a mission from somewhere. It happened early this year when I discovered it's tracks on the free ranging side.
From the size of the tracks I decided to waste no time, grabbed the next and only thing handy out of the pick-up, the old 30-06 of all things and went for it.
When I eventually found him and recovered from the amazement of what I am looking at, I realized that I have to shorten the distance somewhat to make sure my shooting iron does the job.
On 40 yards the old 30-06 made no mistake.

That is one fine beast! If he could talk he'd have a lot of stories to tell. Waidmannsheil!

Hi Helgaard!

That is an awesome old bull! Congratulations on a really fine trophy animal.

I have seen a bull as old. My friend Don_G shot a grand-daddy of an old bull back in 2002...


I generally preferred a gnarly old bull over a pretty young one too. I managed to take a few nice old animals on that trip, most notably and old WB and and old Gemsbok....





The kudu I took this year was also an OLD bull. His teeth were worn to nubs and he was covered in scars. I am sure he wasn't long for this world...



Cheers,
Canuck

Canuck, That is one helluva Kudu.

I am 100% in agreement with you.

An old bull of any species, no matter the size, is preferable to me than a bigger, wider or longer, but immature specimen.

Some who post here disagree with that philosophy, but they are in the minority, and just flat out wrong besides.

Omuhona, if I ever saw an Eland that would qualify for a full body mount, this would be the candidate, too bad the things weigh a ton. I absolutely love the coloration and of course the grizzled old face. What a bull.

Is this a Namibian Eland?

Canuck, fantastic Kudu!

Gimme a scrum cap buffalo or an eland with horns worn down to 11 inches anytime. Hopefully the scrum cap will be so old as to be deaf so that I can sneak up to within 10 feet to pop him.

However, I do like a deep curl kudu.

Oh, dear ... Helgaard. I thought that my eland hunting days were over when Margaret shot hers. Looking at the picture of yours (again) seems to have ignited some kind of fire deep within me. That is never good (or inexpensive) for me ...

Couldn't agree with you more. Talk about a "blue bull" thats the most amazing eland I've ever seen. Interesting that the other old one pictured is not really blue.

Canuk, thats one fine kudu. I love the outward facing tips indicating extreem age. In my book if that guy measured 49 it would be a better trophy than one that measured 60 but had inward facing tips...

Of the few trophies I've shot I'm proud ot the buff below. Very old guy...

Brett

[IMG/][url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=322469&c=500&z=1"]

Brett

Looks like a big hole in his forehead, what caliber is your DR? Where and how did you whack this bull?

475

All the holes are in his chest. I shot him on the Zambezi escarpment in Zim, 2003. The rifle is a .470 by William Douglas.

Best regards;
Brett

Had I found this Kudu before the one I got I'd have taken him.....he must of died of old age later.

Nice pictures all!

I know some species lose a lot of horn to wear/tear as they age. Are eland most prone to this? I know reedbuck also can lose the hooks at the ends of their horns...any other species that drastically lose horn as they grow old?

I'm in the planning stages of my first safari and in going through the list of animals that I am interested in trying for, Eland was never on the list until now!

Eland hunting is quite challenging and well worth the time invested. This old geezer took us about 3 hours of solid stalking before I shot him at 175 yards. He was very "blue" and has a great tuft of red hair. jorge

Eland has been on my list since I was 10 years old!!

When I see photos like these I think about going on an "Eland only" safari and take several (like some go on a "Buff only" trip).

quote:

Interesting that the other old one pictured is not really blue.

Brett, It actually was very blue. Not as dark as Helgaards looks in his picture, but VERY blue nonetheless. In the bright sun like that, neither my camera or Don's managed to capture the true color.

RE: my kudu, it is a good looking old bull for sure. I wanted a wide, deep curled, outward pointed tips, OLD bull. But how many of those exist?? I turned down MANY inward pointing bulls, some over 55", but there was no turning that bull down when we found him!

Cheers,
Canuck

I think we should give a lot of credit to the PH's who guided us when it comes to selection. At least I know that I depend greatly on their experience to make that judgement through binoculars which isn't always that easy, even for them. I have been extremely fortunate in that area as all of the animals I took on my only guided safari, in South Africa, were old guys.

Nice post and you nailed it, that's what its all about...

Brett,
The tips turning out is a gene pool, not a sign of old age, that's an old wives tale that has been disproven according to a study done in Kruger Park...I was told this by Hannes Swanapol, (when I mentioned that none of the Kudu had kickers,) who has some of the largest Kudu in RSA and none of their big, old, Kudu on the Seleti Game Reserve have kicked out points, not even the plus 60s...

For what its worth and it may be argueable I don't know, but I have seen so many old huge Kudu in my life that turned in, that I am of the opinion that it must be so...

Ray,

Kanuck's kudu has two complete (360 degree) revolutions. Younger bulls typically have fewer, as they age they seem to go to two full revolutions max. Do some mature kudu never reach two full revolutions?

Brett

quote:

The tips turning out is a gene pool, not a sign of old age,

RAY: Actually, I think it is generally a sign of both working together. Not many OLD kudus will point out because they don't have the genetics for that trait. And by the same token, not many YOUNG kudus will point out, because they may not have A) the genetics for that trait and/or B) the time to have grown their horns to the point they will point out. I think you need TIME and GENETICS working together, other than perhaps relatively rare occurences of good genetics, great habitat and conducive weather(eg. 3.5 yo full curl bighorn rams, or 3.5 yo 160" whitetails).

Tips pointing out are not the end all an be all of Kudu trophy quality, for sure. But to my taste, one with tips pointing out is much more aesthetically appealing than one with tips pointing in...even if the latter is bigger.

One day I dream of the holy grail of kudu's (to me anyway)...OLD, deep curls, wide at tips, and tips curling a half turn out. That should keep me going back for a lifetime, eh?

Cheers,
Canuck

Old Eland bulls are not what you would call elegant and their typical trot maybe contribute to the fact that they are not high on the list.

This does not mean that they are easy to hunt. Being by nature shy, the fact that they live in dense bush and that they become almost nocturnal when disturbed, makes it a challenging hunt.
In Northern Namibia where there are still plenty Eland you might spend days getting up early and walking after them into their 'Hotels' as we call it.
These are shaded open areas in dense bush where they like to spend most of the day.
When spooked they usually cover lots of ground before settling down again.

"Fine men are remembered for their reaction after a kill"

I think mine is the oldest, as he actually seems to be losing hair!

I could not pass up the chance to share this photo of a "blue" bull from the Selous!

Helgaard, where was this guy when I was hunting with you?!!!
Peter.