Fo those of you who usually come and hunt later in the year July and ownards this is what you miss seeing a kudu bull in prime condition what a sight ! This is the true king of antelope for me.

Glorius is right!

Wow! What a trophy! What good photos too!

Good luck to all the Infinito clients: The one who baggs this one is one lucky SOB!

In good hunting!

Andrew McLaren

Nice bull. Makes a guy want to head for the airport right now.

WOW ... what a pretty boy!

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew McLaren:
Wow! What a trophy! What good photos too!

Good luck to all the Infinito clients: The one who baggs this one is one lucky SOB!

In good hunting!

Andrew McLaren

Thank you Andrew. I'm curious, we got forwarded an invite by you to an AR gathering by another outfitter. The e-mail asks for the invite to be forwarded to like minded ethical hunting individuals. He seems to think we are..... Are we invited or not? I'm a bit confused as we did not get the invite, but are asked by this guy to go?

This picture was not taken at one of our hunting areas. En route to Mozambique we slept over at Marloth Park, next to the Kruger National Park, and on the way back stayed over there again. Frederik one morning early took a stroll down to the river to take some pictures for marketing for the photo safaris he wants to guide.

One can see Fred is pro photographer when you look at these pictures.....what a BULL!

My favorite is still the one that appeared in the African outfitter twice of the two Impala Rams, the smaller one framing the big one in the back with his horns. Fred, maybe post that for our friends again buddy?

What a handsome bull full mane, nice ivory tips, and outstanding highlights...

Mike

Taxidermists should ALL take note: Kudu horns are NOT black. They are gray, thus the name Gray Ghost, as is their overall body color. Great pic Frederik!
Cheers,
David

King of the spiral horned antelope, IMHO.

Great photos!

Nice bull. I also like the two ox peckers on his back!

quote:

Originally posted by L. David Keith:
Taxidermists should ALL take note: Kudu horns are NOT black. They are gray, thus the name Gray Ghost, as is their overall body color. Great pic Frederik!
Cheers,
David

I beg to differ. I have killed two kudu in Namibia and their horns were varying shades of brown with the tips and worn portions a translucent tan. I think the "gray ghost" nick name refers to the color of their hide. One of the kudu I shot was very old and his hair was white.

I do agree with you that their horns are NOT black. Same with gemsbok, their horns are a very dark brown during life. After a trip to the taxidermist their horns are usually a nice "plastic black."

Jason, maybe I should have been more precise; A Kudu's horns are "blond" in the interior. The next layer is a very dark charcoal or black if you will. The outer layer is a base of gray but will depend upon their locality. Red clay will leave mineral stains in various shades of reddish brown. Gray to Ash clay will leave stains that vary from dark gray to almost white. I'm sure if we look at all Kudu from various localities and countries, we could come up with a few other shades too. The older rams will remove these layers from rubbing or digging their horns into the ground. I have seen some with "ivory" ridges running up the entire front edge to some only having blond or ivory tips. Age appears to play a role in this. My point is, I have yet to see a live Kudu with "plastic black" horns as you say. I couldn't agree more. After the boiling process, all this base coat including mineral staining is usually gone, and what we generally receive is the shoe polish job. Even on some outstanding mounts.
Regards,
David

Is that kudu thin? He looks thin.

Beautiful pics on a beautiful bull..

The reason for most kudu mounts having blackened horns doesn't lay with the taxidermists. It is with the piss poor pack and dip locales that your trophies get sent to after you leave. They boil them in a oversized vat that is jam packed with various heads or varying states of decomposition. The fat, meat and hours upon hours of overboiling results in the horns soaking up large amounts of fat and grease from the meat and fat laden skulls.. Add to this the severe problems that overboiling creates, you can see that the taxidermist (Stateside) is almost never at fault with this unfortunate and ugly side effect of African hunting.
Ive dealt with this problem with countless client's safaris, as well as my own.. no amount of coaching, asking, biching, complaining etc seems to get through. Cheap, uneducated labor is the norm there.
The best thing to do if your horns come back in the crate blackened is to take a heavy duty wire brush to them and get as much of the overboiled burnt outer layer off, then take the horns to the nearest car wash and hit them with a high pressure hose. Once dry, rehydrate them with a small amount of lemon oil or something of the like. It helps bring the true colors back out.

I sure wish they would rot the skull, whack the horns with a rubber mallot and pop them off, THEN boil the skulls!! We'd all have much nicer end products from our taxidermists.

quote:

Originally posted by Alpinejaeger:
Is that kudu thin? He looks thin.

Saeed, I think you missed one!

quote:

Originally posted by Alpinejaeger:
Is that kudu thin? He looks thin.

This boy is far from thin please remember that most african antelope dont have any thick hair or coats covering their bodies. You can see the muscles standing proud and the thickness of his neck that he is not thin at all but in peak condition.

BTW, this is a good bull but he his not exceptionally big in horn length but who would not shoot him when hunting kudu for the very first time ? This would make a very nice trophy in my book.

Unfortunately the bigger boys where we hunt dont allow for good pictures like this they vanish as soon as they get suspect.

Photo as requested by Charl.

quote:

Originally posted by Alpinejaeger:
Is that kudu thin? He looks thin.

Kudu are quite a thin lanky animal, yet very impressive to watch.

My Mother¡¡¡¡ who preciousness of animals.

Oscar.

Great pictures of beautifull animals Frederik.

I´m torn between do or not do regarding hunting kudu.
I have not taken one yet, mainly because I have no room for a shoulder mount.
(And I feel that an European scull mount don´t pay respect to such a regal animal).

But those pictures get my heartbeat running again.
So for the next trip, kudu will defenately be on my list, skull mount or not

Fantastic Photography !
What pro equipment are you using ?

quote:

The reason for most kudu mounts having blackened horns doesn't lay with the taxidermists

Scott, all any experienced Taxidermist has to do is use his/her airbrush to bring the horns back to true color. I know of dip/pack processors that steam off horns, but they still get discolored by the end result. The true problem is, no one I've seen has their eyes open. Kudu horns are not black when their living. Frederik posted a wonderful example of what I'm talking about. A number of other African animals do not have black horns; noses, eyelids or ear linings. I'm still scratching my head on this one....
Best regards,
David

Awesome Greater Kudu!

quote:

Originally posted by Arild Iversen:
Great pictures of beautifull animals Frederik.

I´m torn between do or not do regarding hunting kudu.
I have not taken one yet, mainly because I have no room for a shoulder mount.
(And I feel that an European scull mount don´t pay respect to such a regal animal).
But those pictures get my heartbeat running again.
So for the next trip, kudu will defenately be on my list, skull mount or not

To each his own, but I feel that a kudu European mount is one of the most impressive, evocative displays of any trophy.

quote:

Originally posted by Ej:
Fantastic Photography !
What pro equipment are you using ?

I have a couple of different lenses but the camera I mostly use is a minolta dynax7D. The lens used was a 400mm fixed Sigma.

Jason.
The one and only reason I said so is that the kudu has such a distinctive face and neck.
It is one of the most regal antilopes I know.

I would love to go for a shoulder mount, but my apartment doesn´t have room enough.

Solution will be a scull/European mount if I ever get one, and Frederiks pictures have triggerd my apetite

Great pictures and a beautiful bull. Was he alone?

Anyone want to estimate the length of his horns?

I'll start with 50"

Kudu is the main animal I'll be hunting on my next safari which starts in four days.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Mine will be a euro mount with a photograph below it. My house is too small for a nice shoulder mount.

quote:

Originally posted by Safari-Hunt:

Most impressive!! When you walk into samwises house, in the foye, there to greet you is a shoulder mount of similar magnificent Kudu. A sight to behold!!

In two weeks it will be joined by a Pedestal Cape Buff with 16.5 inch bosses!