quote:

Originally posted by hhmag:
That black wildebeest was shot on the concession you will be hunting on. Effing monsters there. Also took 2 18" plus blesboks there and a 37" waterbuck. Don't say the name of the place...my secret

Not One Word!

Mike, a really good black wildebeest can be a little difficult to judge. I have seen cows with headgear every bit as big as the bulls in some herds. What I look for is the dip rather than the tip. I want to see the top of the horn at the bottom of the dip (inside of the curve) go lower than the eye. A bull that does this , even if his tips are worn down, will have good mass and make a great trophy. I have seen many a bull with tips come back over the top of the horn (without good dip) that measure only 23 or 24. The best combo is the ones that have the inside of the curve below eye level and the tips even with the top of the bosses. Good combo of mass and length.

I look for the same in blues, the inside of the curve. It should be at the tip of the ear or past. White beardeds seldom get that big, but most others can. When the tip of the ear and the inside of the curve are even, the bull will generally go in the 27 to 29 class, as has been my experience.

Here's a Blue Wildebeest I shot that has a 30" spread. I don't know what it measures tip-to-tip or what the overall score is.



Holly shot this big boy. The spread was 29" and it measured 47 6/8" tip-to-tip with 6 2/8" bosses. The total SCI score was 60 2/8".



She shot this magnificent Black Wildebeest in the Eastern Cape earlier this year. It measured 59 6/8" tip-to-tip with 12 6/8" bosses. The total SCI score was 85 2/8".