Well it's the big one, likely the highest scoring trophy I will ever shoot in my life! This bull is over 30". For comparison the one on the far right is over 28 on one side and just a hair under on the other side. That's a bushbuck in the middle. Looks small next to the Nyala's but it's just a hair under 16" on the longer horn. It was over 16 the day it was shot. The drying tends to shrink stuff over the years.


Not too bad turnaround Shot in June on the wall in January!

That's definitly a beauty!

What a great trophy (for that matter all three).
Congratulations.

Doug

Lovely! I'm staying in Mkuze until I kill a big one this year.

Mark

That's an incredible nyala and a very nicely done mount. Congrats twice over!

JJ,
Pretty awesome nyala! Looks great on the wall next to your others.

BigBullet

That is a awesome nyala! A trophy to be very proud of.

OH MY!!!!
I have been wanting ONE for several years now and you have TWO!!!
Congrats and that is a fine bushbuck also!

Nice heads, and really nice mounts. Who did them?

Jaywalker

Do the big ones typically turn out like that at the top?

Yes they do like a harp..They are impressive...A 30incher eluded me in 02 when he dodged my bullet...Shot into the shadow and thought he was standing with head to right and body to left and aimed accordingly.. The problem he was standing opposite and I burned him with the bullet no blood...

Superb trophy...


Mike

JJ they are truly beautiful. The Nyala is one of the prettiest trophies there is to find. 30" is an amazing animal, and to have a 28" as well, what can I say: "Well Done."

I don't think you can equate the lyre shape of some Nyala with length of horn. Some Nyalas have this, the prettiest of shapes, IMHO. Others don't. But it would be incorrect to conclude that only the lyre shaped are large, or that all lyre shaped go over 30", say.

This wonderful head looks as if he gets his length from the height of his horn. You'll find other Nyalas, where the horn length is a consequence of a deep bell, which this particular Nyala does not not exhibit to any great extent.

Super head, JJ.

- mike

I had actually no intention of shooting a Nyala as I had already taken the one mounted to the right of this one. We were just just going for a walk scouting and looking over the land he owns. We were very close to Hluhlue park and could hear the elephants it was a really great area to walk and see Africa and it's fantastic managed game land as well. I'm with my very good friend who is the land owner and also a great PH. I spot this bull and mention how big it is. He says "yes that one is very nice". We hide as the bull is coming towards us. As he gets closer I say to Mark, " I think that is the biggest Nyala I have ever seen" He says "yeah it might go 28-29 inches". I said if that bull is 30" I'm shooting it.

He replies you already killed a nice bull, .... you don't want to shoot another one do you? I relpy well not just anyone but if it's over 30" I will. We watch as it's moving in and out of the bush and now about 100 yards away. He lets out this "That is an exceptional bull, it may be 30".

I said to him........You're suppose to be the voice of reason here don't tempt me like this. Then he lets out this "Hmmmmm That I believe is the biggest bull I have ever seen". This guys has seen and hunted including darting more Nyala then anyone I know of. He lives in the central core of Natal's premier Nyala habitat.

As he glanced over at me to see my reaction to that statement my gun discharged a bullet into that bulls heart. He said with a smile, we will know how big he is now!

The numbers did not really matter to me on the first one. Just hunting with my old school mate from RSA was the adventure and experience I wanted with him. I saw several bigger the first two days I was in the tented camp with my wife. We were the first people to spend a night in this camp. My friend could not get away from his business for the Thursday and Friday we were there. We planned to hunt that Saturday and Sunday together before I had to head north and take my hunters out for the next 5 weeks.

I saw so many Nyala bulls during the first couple days wandering around with my wife in the bush. I held back because the I wanted to hunt with my friend. Then late on Friday night in the tent we could hear the rain pelting down on us. It never let up the rest of the weekend. I had to "settle" for this nearly 28" bull even though he said there are plenty of bulls bigger then this one. I guess the most amazing part of the trip is that I shot that bull while it was charging a staff member. The bull fell about 30 feet from him while in a full charge, after being hit with a centered heart shot. Nyala and Buchbuck are nasty mean critters for an antelope!

Funny how the vastly different horn shapes make them look so much different in size. Yet the horns are about 3" longer for the bigger one.

Beautifully shaped horns. They actually look like a Mt. Nyala. In fact, I've told Mt. Nyala clients better to take a set of horns like that, with the nice kick out in the low thirties than a staight one (or converging ones)in the mid thirties. A "classic" shape.
Congrats!

Rich Elliott

mho: Your correct that not all Lyre shaped Nyala are over 30". I have seen dozens of them shot and never seen a single one over 30" before. This is the only Nyala I have ever seen in my whole career over 30" Prior to this one the biggest have all had the parallel or "goal post" shaped horns. I was beginning to wonder if the Lyre shaped horns ever made it past 28"

This is much like Kudu to me. I would prefer the lyre shaped horns over the parallel horns even if the Lyre bull was much smaller. There is just something about that shape that is the classic Nyala look I was after.

The best trophy to me is in the way it looks not the score. Although with this bugger I have both.

There was a leopard kill of a big bull with the lyre shaped horns. We found the still somewhat fresh partial body up in the tree hanging from the horns. I told Mark I was going to climb up there and get those horns before I left. I wanted them for the house to show people the different shapes of Nyala horns. The bull was exceptional, probably 27-28" with this deep Lyre shape.

For some reason I forgot about climbing up there to get them after I shot this one!

JJ,

You have lived my dream! Congrats!

If you are from Ellisras, you probably know Christo and Marlese Carstens?

JJ,

Yeah, forget the bull in the tree. You shot his Sire!

Rich Elliott

quote:

Originally posted by JJHACK:
This is much like Kudu to me. I would prefer the lyre shaped horns over the parallel horns even if the Lyre bull was much smaller. There is just something about that shape that is the classic Nyala look I was after.

The best trophy to me is in the way it looks not the score. Although with this bugger I have both.

Totally, totally agree.

When I hunted Nyala last (actually only the second time, but "last" makes it sound like a lot more ), I exclusively hunted for a bull with lyre shaped horns. It becomes difficult to be picky enough to want both shape and length even on a 10 day hunt, so eventually one has to choose. Choosing shape was worth every minute of the hunt for me. I just LOVE that shape. IMHO, the Nyala must be right at the top of Africas most beautiful trophies.

Although my bull was exceedingly pretty, he lacked the length of yours, and a lot of that must be attributed to his lack of a deep bell in the horn. Pretty bugger, none the less...

- mike

I have felt for a very long time the two most impressive Plains species are the Sable and Nyala. Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder.

As is the typical case around the African campfire we often talk about this. I would say that many people have had the same opinion that these two rank at or at least very near the top. The nice part about nyala is that they are such a great hunt. That thick Natal habitat and their sneaky quiet solo lifestyle is just so much fun to watch. Plus, even though they are thought of as such a magnificent trophy, they are still within reach cost wise of most hunters. Sable on the other hand living in the more open habitats, and in herds don't have the same hunt quality in my opinion, and they cost a heck of a lot more money to shoot!

I agree that the sable must be way up "the list" as well - few antelopes can match the regality of a coal black sable...

What keeps the nyala right at the top of the "prettiest trophy in Africa" for me, is the fact that when both nyala and sable are mounted as shoulder mounts, the sable looses out somewhat on account of his long and slightly odd-looking face. The shoulder mount almost takes away some of the regality of the sable, probably because the massive chest is no longer visible.

The Nyala, on the other hand, is not nearly as regal live, in fact, he often looks a bit stooped, the way he sneaks along. But mounted, you can really enjoy the elegance of his face, and a good cape makes the mount even more striking.

I guess if you had the room (or $$$) for full mounts, it would be a hard choice.

- mike