In all the hunting I have done, I have only been disappointed when I compare my trophies to someone else's. Since I do not have a #1 entry in the book, there will always be someone with a bigger set of horns than mine.

I have acted foolishly on safari and been upset when my animal, hunted in fair chase, did not make the book or meet my expectations. Looking back now, I am embarrassed for my actions.

My wife put things in perspective one day when I told her a story about a client who shot a deer and was disappointed because it did not score what he thought it would.

She looked at me with a disgusting look and said.. "so, he took the life of an animal, and had the audacity to be disappointed because the animal did not meet his expectations?" I was embarrassed to be a hunter at that time.

Any animal hunted in fair chase is a grand trophy. I do still measure my trophies, I wish I could quit, but I just can't! I try now to remember the hunt more than the score. Unless your animal is extremely large, measuring the horns (in my opinion) has never sweetened the experience for me.

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Wendell Reich
Hunter's Quest International

Welcome Wendall. I think we've all been guilty of this from time to time. It's only human nature to be competitive and is not necessarily a failing. It is downright sinful, however, to permit the mental degradation an animal and the treasured memory of its' passing through the use of a tape measure.

Well said.

Well, now that that's out of the way, Buffalobwana, what's your best "B&C" Muledeer score?!

We like to have fun here too!

Once again ... Welcome Aboard!

I try my best to kill a representative example what ever animal I have gone after on my out-of-state hunts. If the critter happens to be exceptional that is great, but not necessary. I do this to complete my hunt, take a new species and to have a full memory of my trip. I have enjoyed all my hunts, but always feel I have left business unfinished when I don't collect an animal during trips out of my usual hunting area.

I always wonder if people that kill really exceptional animals feel disappointed by animals they take on later hunts. If they do, it must feel terrible to have such a great experience as hunting diminished because of the lack of a few inches of horn, bone, hair or hide. I would much rather make a good clean kill on a "small" animal that I earned than be gifted or stuff up a "trophy".

This year was my first time to hunt Cape Buffalo. The guys I was hunting with kept asking me what kind of trophy I was looking for and we discussed the various horn configurations that make up "trophy" bulls. I didn't know what kind of trophy I wanted as I had never seen a live Cape Buffalo before and my only criteria for this trip was a dead buffalo after a good first shot. I ended up taking what was probably a small buff-I don't know because I didn't measure him. However, to me he is wonderful and came after a long tracking job and a few busted stalks and a very good kill shot. The experience was made even richer by doing it with two fantastic hunting partners who I admire and enjoy being with. All these things together make that buff a huge trophy to me and the absence of mass, width, and length of his horns diminish him not at all in my book.

Perry

Perry,

There is no such thing as a small Buffalo, only small hunters.

I am sure most here would agree.

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Wendell Reich
Hunter's Quest International

Nickudu,

Um, well...lets not talk about the Mulies. How about Whitetail? 156 3/8 B&C, 9 pt, no teeth in his mouth. Old, old deer. I remember it like it was yesterday. When I shot him I was not aware that there was a scoring system. The innocense of youth. I wish I was still that innocent, or at least I wish I still did not know about the scoring system (since I was never really that innocent)!

The biggest Mulie I have in my house scored 170 even. I bought him at a consignment store last week for $100!

I will hunt in Wyoming Nov 1-3 this year for Mulies, let's talk then!

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Wendell Reich
Hunter's Quest International

Wendell,

I have no problems with people trying to shoot a bigger trophy animal.

The problems starts when getting a record book trophy animal becomes the holy grail of the hunt.

When I went on my first African hunt, my PH met me at the airport, and while driving to the hunting camp, he asked me what animals I was after.

My answer was that I would hunt whatever animals he had on offer.

His next question was what trophies I was looking for. Again, my answer was that I would shoot any mature animal he advices me to.

I hunted for 21 days, shot may be about 28 animals. And if I remember rightly, 22 of these would have made the record book, including a possible #1 reedbuck.

I am trying to get an "Outer Circle" club going as against the "Inner Circle" that SCI have.

I am well on the way of becoming a full fledged member, as I have shot an elephant with one tusk, an impala with one horn and a warthog with one tusk too.

A good friend of mine is trying his best to catch up with achievements.

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Saeed,
I am going to (for the first time) put a tape on the buff that I shot in 1990 as soon as I get home from work. I think I may have a prime candidate for the new "outer circle" awards!

You know guys, Perry hit the nail on the head for me. I went to Zim in June on my first African trip - 15 days of which the first 5 were a buffalo hunt. We hunted *very* hard for 4 days - lots of walking, stalking/crawling into large herds, bachelor herds, seeing lots of buffalo up close (some at 30 yards), chasing them, etc. I ended up shooting a decent buffalo on the morning of the last day and the thing I will remember most is that I consider I had a genuine, "proper" buffalo hunt with everything I expected from the experience none of which was really changed one way or the other by the size.

Saeed, I may never catch up with you, but I want in.

A few of my qualifications:

1. Smallest Bear shot in Saskatchewan last year.
2. One horned Springbok (I was more proud of this than my trophy Springbok that I shot incompetently and wounded, that was a sad day).
3. One horned Eland, old as the hills. I took him as a trophy, and he remains one of my finest African memories.
4. Female Leopard, she's absolutely beautiful. (no cubs)

All of these animals provided me great joy in the manner in which I hunted them. Since there was no chance at a record book entry, measuring them was not even considered. They are my sweetest memories.

Damn the tape measure!

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Wendell Reich
Hunter's Quest International

I've hunted places where if you wanted to be successful you shot the first mature animal you saw and were happy and I've hunted places where there were more animals and you could be a bit selective and then I've hunted places that had a lot of mature animals and you could be even more selective...all can be fun and all have their pros and cons but I've learned one lesson (at least one) and that is ......If you want to shoot a big specimen of whatever animal you're hunting, you can't shoot small ones...you must be willing to go home without an animal with only the memory of the trip as a trophy.....I guess one of the other lessons is you can't shoot a large specimen if they aren't in the area because you're digging in dry ground.

95% of the time, the safari client shoots a top trophy by virtue of being in the right place at the right time.

You can be proud of a superior trophy, but you should not be ashamed of any mature animal taken fairly on its own ground.

That said, I always tell the PH that I want the best possible trophies. The final decision to shoot is always the client's.
George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Snake,
Welcome Aboard! We've certainly got some great guys here, as you can tell by these posts. Enjoy!

Hi gentlemen. I was thoroughly enjoying this discussion so I thought I'd join in.

For me the hunt is its own reward. My best trophies are locked in my head, or backed by Kodak paper. Hunting for mature animals, on their own turf, is my only real objective most of the time.

I do consider myself a "trophy hunter" at times though. With some species, to prolong a hunting season or to just add to the challenge, I will set a specific objective (# of points, horn length, or a certain characteristic like mass). But its usually just to test my will, or to prolong what I love most (hunting).

You won't see my name in a record book. I do not begrudge others of entering their animals, I just choose not to. Too many people I know place far too much emphasis on scores, and won't give you the time of day if you don't have something in "the book". If I could enter them anonymously, though, I would. As a wildlife enthusiast, I do like the idea of tracking the largest specimens of hunted species. In all honesty, I do at times feel a little hypocritical for owning and reading the B&C book, but not entering.

Regards,
Canuck

In '98 I shot what I considered a good representative Impala on the first day of my hunt. I was proud of it, and It was book quality. Several days later, the PH showed me an Impala that would go at least 27" and might be the #1. I told him that if he's sure it was #1, I'd take it but I was happy with the one I had. He couldn't swear it was #1, and I passed. Another hunter took that Impala a few days later, and it was top 10, but not #1.

Last year I shot a Nilgai in Texas which was very close to #1. It wasn't, so it won't even go in the book. I would only put it in there to honor the animal.

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JD

Thanks, Nick, I read the forum religiously but I learn more than I have to say so I haven't posted a lot... yet.

Finn Aagaard had an old American Hunter column that well echoed Wendell and PWN ...

He included a great story of how another PH he knew in Kenya helped a client take an impala. The client immediately whipped out a tape measure and was anguished to find the horns 1/4" short of "the book"--whereupon Finn's friend grabbed the tape and threw it in the thornbush and cried, "Let's hunt now, shall we?"