What do you consider to be the more obscure trophies of Africa? Everyone takes a Kudu and an Impala, but what trophy is really quite different? I know not too many people take Bongos (mainly because of the specialized hunt), and there are a number of trophies that are usually just chanced upon such as a caracal. What else though?

I've heard of people taking porcupines and I think honey badgers are legal in some areas.

On my last trip I shot a hornbill and a lilac breasted roller. The ants distroyed the hornbill but the roller made it back to the taxidermist and it should be mounted soon.

Kyler

A genet comes to mind.

...when I was in Namibia I had a chance to shoot White-throated monitor - I politely declined (not even sure if it would be legal tho) - however reading of mambas being shot - reptiles may be interesting trophy (if legal of course)...

Yellow backed duiker

Soemmerings gazelle

Dibatag (not hunted at the moment)

Africa is a big place and there seems to be a tendency for Americans to hunt in primarily Southern and Eastern Africa with the corresponding lack of information/interest in the game in other areas. Derby Eland are only available in Central Africa, Patterson's Eland are only available in parts of Kenya, perhaps Ethiopia. There are several sub-species of Kudu, you might want to go to Chad to get a Western Kudu. We all know that Mountain Nyala is only available in Ethiopia. One fairly rare trophy, and quite beautiful, is Lesser Kudu and while they may be available in Tanzania, I haven't heard of a lot of hunters who have taken one.

If the Okapi is legal to hunt it would certainly be obscure.

The three that come to mind in some of the more common safari areas are the BONGO,(rain forest) PUKU,(Zambia) and the SITATUNGA (Swamps of Zambia, and Botswana) . The little red Buffalo,(Western Africa) and the giant forest hog,(western Africa, and Etheopia), along with the tiny antilope (all over), and the smaller cats!

There are many obscure animals across the globe. I would love to hunt some of them but most likely I would take one if happened upon by chance. Most of them would be smaller animals.

One of the southern species that comes to mind and you never hear of someone targeting them is the suni.

Another good reason to leave some flexibility in your funding when hunting and just by chance you have an opportunity to take one of the 'uncommon' species.

I took a suni and a red duiker on my last Safari, along with a number of other animals, and it was definitely not a cakewalk. There were two other hunters hunting the area and both were specifically hunting for suni. One had make three prior hunting trips for suni and had not taken one. The other had made one prior trip. Fortunately for the fourth time hunter he scored on the very last morning of a 12 day hunt(extended his hunt by two days). The other hunter went back to Houston empty-handed.

Giant Forest Hog.

Would love to hunt for one.

The rarest and therefore most obscure African trophy would have to be the Walia ibex of Ethiopia. Only two were taken legally in the last half of the 20th century. The hunters were Jay Mellon and Prince Abdorreza of Iran.

Others qualifying for this list might also include the pygmy hippo and a couple of the forest duikers of West Africa.


Bill Quimby

what about the Giant Sable of Angola? The Palanka as its called if itsnt ectinct that is.

How about an Addax

Quote Addax are one of the most endangered mammals in the world. Current estimates show there to be less than 500 individuals left in the wild.

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-bytes/animal...a/addax-antelope.htm

I guess that rules them out - Ionides must have been one of the last to shoot one

Mtn Nyala, bongo, forest sitatunga, Lord Derdy's eland, giant forest hog, Red River hog,
What about bush pig, gerenuk or beira ?

Chanler's Mountain Reedbuck comes to mind.
Rich Elliott

I saw a show not too long ago where they were hunting a Red Hartebeast. They were quite unique. I'd never heard of them before that.

It took me several years before I got a Bushpig and also a Caracal. African Wildcat is another one that's worth the cost of a full mount. And I have shot a porcupine (actually about a dozen of them) but didn't bother with the mounts.

If someone shows me how to post pics without using up my bandwidth, I will be happy to oblige on the porcy and the red cat.

Would someone help Russ out on his pictures?

quote:

Originally posted by Bloodnativ:
I saw a show not too long ago where they were hunting a Red Hartebeast. They were quite unique. I'd never heard of them before that.

Huh?

Tsessebe don't seem to feature much in trophy bags.

quote:

Originally posted by RAC:
Huh?

Ok. I looked up red hartebeast and that wasn't what they were hunting. Hell, at this point I don't know what the hell it was. It looked sort of like a cape buff but different. I've never seen one before or since.

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:
Tsessebe don't seem to feature much in trophy bags.

There's a nice population of tsessebe at Lemco. Supposed to be the fastest of all antelope, right? Kind of ungainly to look at while standing still or walking, but when they kick into passing gear, they are neat animals.

How about the Royal Antelope and the Bates Antelope.

Excellent replies all around. I'd never even heard of some of these. If anyone has pictures, trophy photos or not, please post them.

delete

Man, that's a big bushpig, Scottyboy!

Serval and Civit cats are way cool, but rarely taken.

Genet cats too, which you have to hunt at night.

Sitatunga are obscure, but beautiful. Guess you could consider Lechwe obscure, for non-africa hunters.

Grysbok and reedbuck aren't well-known either.

I shot a civet last year but wondering what to do with it. Any ideas?

I was watching a waterhole in Namibia and had an African Wildcat come out and flatten itself on the water's edge. It would leap up at Sand Grouse swooping into the water right at dusk. It was really interesting, as they look for all the world like your neighbors tigerstripe housecat.

Hey guys, "obscure" means little known, not rare nor difficult to hunt nor seldom taken.

Porcupine, serval, civet, genet, African wildcat and caracal are found across southern Africa, and therefore not obscure, especially among experienced English-speaking African hunters. These creatures also are not difficult to take because all except the porcupine readily respond to varmint calls at night.

Suni, grysbok, bushpigs, red river hogs and the bush and blue duikers also are neither rare nor obscure.

Puku, sitatunga and the red, black and Kafue lechwes are well-known to anyone who has hunted in or who was wanted to huntin Zambia.

Mountain nyala, bongo, Lord Derby's eland, giant forest hog, and gerenuk are not "obscure" to those who have hunted in central and east Africa or know about its important game animals.

Addax, scimitar-horned oryx and giant sable are highly endangered, but both have had considerable publicity among hunters and the public recently, so although they are rare they probably can't be called "obscure." Besides, the addax and oryx are hunted in Texas.

In my personal list of "obscure" African animals I listed earlier (Walia ibex, pygmy hippo, and a couple of the west-African duikers), I should have incuded the Ethiopian wolf and the golden and fishing cats.

Bill Quimby

Water Chevrotain?

I'd like a grand slam of African pigs starting with a Giant Forest Hog, Red River Pig, Wart Hog, and Bush Pig.

I guess the west africian duikers must really qualify as you don't know their name.

"I guess the west africian duikers must really qualify as you don't know their name. "

Some of the duikers of west Africa are the Jentink, Bay, Ogilby, zebra, Peters, white-bellied, black-fronted, black, and Maxwell. The first four are less obscure than the others.

As others have mentioned above, also qualifying as "obscure" are the water chevrotain, beira, and the royal and Bates antelopes. I guess we also should add the Swayne and Phillips dik-diks, and a few of the many African gazelles such as the Pelzeln, Speke, Isabelline, Egyptian dorcas, Eritrean, and Korin.

Also qualifying in varying degrees of obscureness ((is there such a word?) are the korrigum, tiang, Swayne hartebeest, nagor reedbuck, Sesse Islands sitatunga, dwarf forest buffalo, black-faced impala, northern white rhino, and forest elephant.

I would have loved to have hunted any of them.

Bill Quimby

Oops! I almost forgot North Africa's Barbary wild boar and red deer. The Barbary lion has been extinct for a long time, but I did see an old, moth-eatean lifesize mount of one in Cairns, Australia, recently.

Bill Quimby

Bill, of those you have listed how many can one hunt today forgetting the cost? I think the Ogilby, Zebra and Peters duikers are on license also I think the Royal and Bates can be hunted can the Korin. I know the Black faced Impala can be hunted in Nambia but not imported into the USA.

....."Also qualifying in varying degrees of obscureness ((is there such a word?) are the korrigum, tiang, Swayne hartebeest......."

You can't count the tiang, Bill. We have them by the hundreds and, at this time, have 11 per year on quota. We used to take the Harrar dik-dik in the Dire Dawa /Jijjiga area but that area is no longer available to hunt. Guess it's become obscure
Rich Elliott

"Bill, of those you have listed how many can one hunt today forgetting the cost? I think the Ogilby, Zebra and Peters duikers are on license also I think the Royal and Bates can be hunted can the Korin. I know the Black faced Impala can be hunted in Nambia but not imported into the USA."

Die Ou Jagter: I don't know. Many of the smaller antelopes were hunted mostly in Liberia for a while, but I don't know of anyone offering hunts there since its civil war, or even if hunting is still allowed. Forest elephant and many other west African species still can be taken in Cameroon, though. As for north Africa, Europeans still hunt wild boar in Morocco (red deer are protected, I believe). The others, if listed as CITES 1 species, probably can't be hunted.

 
"You can't count the tiang, Bill. We have them by the hundreds and, at this time, have 11 per year on quota. We used to take the Harrar dik-dik in the Dire Dawa /Jijjiga area but that area is no longer available to hunt. Guess it's become obscure. Rich Elliott"

Rich: If a poll were taken of AR's regular contributors I suspect few would know much about the various types of Ethiopian game, other than the Melenik bushbuck and the mountain nyala. Nonetheless I'll remove the tiang from my list.

Bill Quimby

I guess some people have a diff definition of the word "obscure" than the rest of us.. I think someone got the word obscure mixed up with the words "rare and unhuntable"...