im kinda new at this place and was wondering what makes a trophy dagga boy??

My preference in a Trophy Buffalo is an old gray faced hard Boss bull .
Preferably hunted away from the big herds.

I second the above and am a believer in Kevin Robertson's message: do not be tempted to shoot the younger bulls with the long horns and softer bosses.
Those animals cannot head-butt and fight to breed, so have simply not passed their genes on to the herd. Rather sacrifice some length for age (and character) and do your bit for the conservation of the herd genetics at the same time.

Hard boss, tight curl...It's a Cape Buffalo, NOT a Texas Longhorn...

Hard boss, deep curl, spread is secondary.
- mike

glad to see the responses here ! hard boss which means no soft grey skin at the edge of the hor and a nice clean line where the horn ends and the skin starts ..NO hair on the tops of the hiorns , in some cases a strip of skin with hair on it between the horns though ...

dont be chasing width , a good curl on a big boss bull with get you just as many inches on sci scoring anyway.

one thing with buff is that the hunt is great , you will be among them every day in a good area and will have the opportunity to select , that makes the hunt as important as the trophy ...hold out for a solid boss bull ...you wont regret it ...

yzm19

A trophy buffalo as others have said has to have a hard boss. An old buffalo with a hard head and a 33" spread is a trophy and the experience of hunting him will be exactly as exciting as if he had a 45" spread. Of course there are areas were you can expect old and wide.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
An old buffalo with a hard head and a 33" spread is a trophy . . . .

Mark, I have one like that on the wall of my trophy room.

Needless to say, I agree with the other posters on this thread. Old and hard.

What makes a trophy buffalo??

Simply, the hunt itself.

I disagree with everyone except post driver.

It is the experience. All the rest is secondary.

I agree with Wendell. Funny thing is that Wendell has had way above average luck on buff starting with his first trip over the big pond. The point is that the experience is the primary trophy and then you look for maturity. From what I know of the guys who have already posted, they wouldn't disagree much if at all.

I hope to find out for myself one day. My son and I are planning our first safari next May (plainsgame) but I already catch myself thinking about buffalo more and more frequently. By the way, I agree with what everyone else said.
Jeff

Heres the one that wrenchmaster plugged in the Selous Sept 14

Nice boss on that one Steve. Was the big crease on the shoulder from a bullet, cat scratch or what?

PH said it was from a lion and wasn't more than 48hrs old.The bullet hole is right on the point of the shoulder. He felt that the lions might not be far off. We already had one buff in the truck and left the back half for the lions.

quote:

It is the experience. All the rest is secondary.

How come all the guys that say that are always the old timers who already have the biggest trophies hanging on their walls?

Yes a dagga boy an old buf is a great trophy...
But when you look at the hunt from the beginning to the end, tracked him for miles and kept the wind right and you close up the distance to yards and you smell the buf and you postition for the shot that is your trophy..
Here is mine...



Mike

Ivan, sorry for hijacking your picture but this one would do it for me.



Character character character.

Buffalo is like woman you either like boobs or you like their backside if you get both what a bargain its all about the hunt and experience.

the only difference is you can hunt many Buffs and it is cheaper than woman

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
Yes a dagga boy an old buf is a great trophy...
But when you look at the hunt from the beginning to the end, tracked him for miles and kept the wind right and you close up the distance to yards and you smell the buf and you postition for the shot that is your trophy..

Agree,
And the Buffalo has fooled you up high in a Kopje, and just waits for you to come, he charges from above from a distance less than 15 meters and you shoot him at 6 paces, he change direction a bit and passes between yourself and a tracker, the gap is less than 2 paces, he goes down because of the wounds your .404 Jeffery has made to him, but comes up again and are attempting a second charge, but one finish him off with a brain shot...

The so called "Throphy quality" becomes irrelevant -It is the HUNT that counts!

The Klipspringer Buffalo of Senuko, Save, Zimbabwe, November 2007;


Merry Christmas

Mats

My vote goes to a good hunt/stalk as my first priority and then good bosses followed by drop and curl....... but even the biggest Buff in the world, isn't a good trophy without being taken the right way.

safari hunt , i agree ...also agree with you shakari ...its actually the difference between hunting and shooting ....