I have just this last week been hunting in Lokisale (Massailand Tanzania) with rungwa safaris , the rains have been very late and here are some things that struck me –

We killed 5 buffalo in ten days with our three hunters , all friends hunting out of the same camp with 3 PHs –

Now any of you who have hunted early season or green season for buffalo will remember the absoulute tanks that they are , their necks are two feet thick , they weigh in the region of 2000 pounds and are giant black bundles of muscle and attitude – very different to the bony and shrunken animals one sees at the end of the dry season – here are a few dry season photos of buffalo before they put on weight –

Then its not long after the rains break and the grass turns green that the same animals are HUGE – I know that there are some vets on the forum , what rate do you think , in pounds that they can gain , it seems mighty fast to me – now heres the interesting tuing from a PH perspective

At the end of the dry season I find I am often prone to some ground shrink , albeit just an inch or two here and there but nevertheless and it suddenly struck me on my last safari that it is the opposite on early season hunts where there is ground growth – all because the horns looks so much larger on the smaller bodied animals than they do on the huge giants !!!

Late in the dry season , their bodies are pretty light , look at the lack of neck thickness that makes this buff horn look huge –



on the other end of the scale , look how the huge body of this bull makes his horns look small !!! – they both had about the same boss and the same width !!! 14 inch boss , 35 inch spread – great old bulls both of them just remarkable difference in body !



this bull really got me with his small body !!! nice old boy – lucky he was for bait anyway otherwise it may have been my ass in the salt !!!



another angle of him , look at his body !


this one grew , he had a huge body , I thought 38-39 , he was 41 !!!



small body – 43 “


huge body 43”



anyhow , it just struck me and I thought some may be interested !

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Amazing Buffalo! Makes me home sick!

I can't speak for buffalo but cattle on high quality forage will gain 3 to 5 pounds per day. Those are some great pictures and an excellent reminder of what we need to take into consideration when judging the quality of a buff trophy!

Like hunting Saskatchewan Whitetails...a 300 pound body can make any set of antlers look smaller.

Ivan,

Any pics of the 5 Lokisale buffalo that were just taken?

Ivan,

This is an excellent thread, very refreshing after all the crap that we have had to wade through with the antis here on AR of late.

Hi there will ,
The buffalo we took were
41, 41, 43, 42.5 and 41.5,
here are photos of 4 of them –











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Thanks Ivan for pics of the recent kills as well. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that I recognized the larger hunter with the semi-bald head in the third and fourth pics. If I'm not mistaken, he was the hunter on an episode of TAA where PHs Ivan and Deano (Dean Kendall) had the dubious distinction of tracking this wounded buff into the thick stuff, subsequently being charged by the buff, and Ivan braining it at close range with his 600.

UEG - you are correct - the .600 realy calmed him down !!!

Interesting thread but screw the bodies as I can't take my eyes off the horns. Some really ancient buffalo you have collected there.

Any pictures of thin Lions?

Hi Ivan,

Those are realy fantastic Buffalo! I am refering to some of the pics, and something I have been wondeirng the last couple of months. I notice some of the old bulls still have some hair in the area where the bosses meet. I hunt in the Zambesi Delta, and we have taken bulls in the 8 year class, that was nice and hard, with this tuft of hair in the middle. Now some people, and they have critised some other hunters trophies on here, will see this as a sign of being a soft bossed bull?

None of the Buff I hunted in Zim or South Africa had this feature.

I spoke to a wildlife vet here in South Africa and he speculated that it might a phosphate shortage in their diet?

I know these Bulls, just like mine, are more than just shooters. Just would like your two cents worth on it?

Time to wind down now!

Cheers,

There is NO mistaking a hard boss vs a soft boss. It's as close to black and white as you can get IMHO.

I'm talking during post mortem inspection as I do realize that under hunting conditions, mis-judgements (Is this a word?) does happen.

Interesting... that bait buffalo you were worried about looks pretty solid to me. Heavy bosses, nice drops, slighty worn tips but good measurements across the length of the horn. What am I missing Ivan?

Thin or stout, Ivan, the big horned bulls are still BIG!

quote:

Those are realy fantastic Buffalo! I am refering to some of the pics, and something I have been wondeirng the last couple of months. I notice some of the old bulls still have some hair in the area where the bosses meet. I hunt in the Zambesi Delta, and we have taken bulls in the 8 year class, that was nice and hard, with this tuft of hair in the middle. Now some people, and they have critised some other hunters trophies on here, will see this as a sign of being a soft bossed bull?

None of the Buff I hunted in Zim or South Africa had this feature.

I spoke to a wildlife vet here in South Africa and he speculated that it might a phosphate shortage in their diet?

I know these Bulls, just like mine, are more than just shooters. Just would like your two cents worth on it?

Time to wind down now!

great question ,
its genetic weather or not the horns join , the sign of age is a distinct hard line between horn and skin , rather than a grey soft skin that slowly becomes horn -

as far as area specific features , sometimes within the same herd i have noticed some buff whose bosses meet and yet others have a strip of skin down the middle -

personally based on this fact i would not think its a mineral deficiency - but thats just my 2c

quote:

Interesting... that bait buffalo you were worried about looks pretty solid to me. Heavy bosses, nice drops, slighty worn tips but good measurements across the length of the horn. What am I missing Ivan?

only that his thin body had me judge his horns at around 41 wide and they were 38- as you say the horns have everything going for him and to be honest the hunter didnt mind either way -was very happy with his but 3 inches is a long way off and was due to the small body -

Yup, we are on the same page! Thanks!

Here are a couple of pics of an Okavango delta bull , great spread , old , but still with a strip of skin between the horns and even some hair on the bulge in front of the horn –







And heres another Botswana bull , see how its completely closed at the back , has a huge boss ,in fact the boss almost bulges from above his eyes – he is old but very distinctive hair between the horns at the front !

I think that this goes to show its just genetics and just like people have different features , so do these guys ! makes hunting them all the more interesting !!

I never thought about how much the body size varies with the season. I'm amazed at the differences shown in the pictures! The necks and shoulder width of the bulls shot in the dry season seems almost to small to support their heads. Of course I've only seen one bull up close and mine was shot during the green season of June in Zim.