While on a plains game hunt in the summer of 2005, my PH only let me shoot trophies that were on their last year or two of life. I understand the ecology of this limitation and applaud the outfitter for it, but how is the age dtermined?

On American game once the animal reaches maturity I have no idea if it's just matured or could drop dead tomorrow.

7mm. guy

well considering the room im in there will be alot of answers for your question. im doing alot of reading on this subject at the moment and i can tell you that age is determined by the following:
horn structure - length etc
body of the animal - it takes a certain age for an animal to reach a certain shoulder height etc.
for example impala: (southern impala)
adult shoulder height ram 85-95 cm
adult body weight: 57kg
life expectancy: approx 10-12 years
reaches rowland ward min length in 5 years

when considering the animals age all the above is taken into consideration. im sure there are alot of other ways as well, but im sure the above is applicable for most animals in determining age

not at all hard - when I first cindy garrison I knew she was to young for me to bag

7mm,

Depending on species, aging can be done from horns (often quite precise up to a point for some species like impala, blue wildebees etc), colour, size, social status (eg rhino calf behaviour and size relative to mother), tusks etc.

However, most conclusive aging comes from tooth wear (both sexes), placental scaring in females (number of young giving an idea of age) etc and other 'wear' signs, tooth wear being the most common and best.

Craig Packers Lion nose colour index is very interesting too...

In my opinion, others please contibute, I may wrong, to be able to call 'the last year or two' of life in most species of animals with certainty is very talented indeed! I don't know manyt people who admitt to having that sort of judgement from eyeballing an animal on the hoof.

Once dead and can be closley examined with some of the indicators mentioned above - yes, but on the hoof....especially an animal that still looks healthy...as most trophies do, I am not too confident of this....

Sure if it looks haggard, poor condition, immuno-compromised with heaps of parasite infestations etc and it's early winter, most people could say thats is time is nigh...but unless these very blatant signs are evident..it seems tough to make that call with certainty...just my 2c!

For example, if I saw a 'ghost moose' with all the ticks and hair loss in winter, with my african backgound I would say its probably a gonner (and some are), but many survive, so for me, even that is a not a sure sign.

Cheers

Very true what Kayaker said. The only physical way to make a guestimate in the veld is to look at the condition of a specific animal. If all the animals are in good condition and one or two is in not so good condition ie. ribs showing, hipbones sticking out etc. then the animal is either busy nearing the end of his life or he is struck with desease.

Another helpful sign is the amount of wear on the horns and marks on the horns, sometimes older animals have darker horns. Old fighting marks on the skin may also give a clue.

To judge an animal in its final year or two in life is very difficult.

The above said are all true, but I feel experience have lot do with it. If you have been around these animals your whole life, you learn topick up on it. If I take Ndlovu's example above. An Impala ram can have 25" horns when he is 7 years old (good gene pool), and be the said height and weight. If you do not know what an 10 year old Impala ram looks like, you will struggle to make out the difference.

Kudu for one "looks" tired of life when they cross the magical 12 years. I know of one bull that made 16 years(he only had one horn, so easy to identify) and he was shot on his last legs. Bag of bones he was, and he weighted only 137kg's.

Where African game are concerned, it is knowledge of the species AND experience that counts. Teeth are a dead give away, but what animal will smile when you ask him to, just before you pull the trigger ?

www.infinito-safaris.com

It was judging on the hoof i was wondering about. One timme after examining a preticular animal he said soft just before we drove off to keep looking. I guess as that prticular species ages its horns get more solid. my springbuck had several gouges on his horns.

7mm. guy

Butch,

I hate to break it to you but I don't think age is the only determining factor in whether or not you could bag Cindy.

Mark

Oh, my! Off target again!

quote:

In my opinion, others please contibute, I may wrong, to be able to call 'the last year or two' of life in most species of animals with certainty is very talented indeed! I don't know manyt people who admitt to having that sort of judgement from eyeballing an animal on the hoof.

Right on kayaker.

Also, a lot of empahsis is given to horn length, but it is rateher horn wear that is important, as genetics differ. When most animals reach a certain age, you can tell they are that old or older, but definitely not accurate without seeing the animal very close up, like in being able to see his teeth. A springbok ram's horns, for instance, will start curling back at 21 months (according to Bothma et al.), So, when hunting an area where the horns do curl back (so dont), you can with absolute certainty say a springbok is 21 months or older, but thats about it.