A few months ago we were discussing gemsbok here and I mentioned that I had a picture of a 41 incher taken with Vaughan Fulton in Namibia. I offered to post the picture for the hunter (Bob - "samwise") if he agreed. Apparently that post never caught Bob's attention. With the new format he was reviewing old threads, saw my offer, and asked me to post the picture. So here goes my first picture-posting attempt with eve...



How about a story Bob???

That's definitely a keeper.

Wow! Congrats..
I got a 38 incher in Namibia this July, and was very happy. Mine was shot in the Steinhausen-Area. I was told that 38" was very good there. And if I wanted bigger, closer to Kalahari would be my best bet..
Where did you take him? Story, please..

Anders, unfortunately, this isn't my gemsbok. I too shot a 38 incher - also with Vaughan (the guy on the left in the above picture). The lucky hunter in this picture is an AR member dubbed "samwise". Hopefully he'll chime in with the full story, as I'm sure I don't recall it nearly as well as he does (I heard it from him and Vaughan, who we hunted with two weeks later).

So quickly here is the story- I was hunting with Vaughan -late one afternoon we we looking through a herd of sprigbok mfor a good ram-we had decided on one when Vaughan spotted this Gemsbok come into the field. it was just at dusk and a long way off and I was a bit reluctant to shoot but Vaughan said how good it was so I shot hitting it too high. It ran and I got on it again but my rifle had failed to pick up another round so I dry fired on it. We tracked it for 1/2 hour until it got too dark and then gave up for the day. To say i was bummed is an understatment but Vaughan assured me we would get it tomorrow. Back to camp for a long night and back on the trail early next morming-we -make that the trackers tracked it for abuot a mile and came on where it had bedded-up it jumped and I shot it again -dropping it in it's tracks. Vaughan cautioned how dangerous they can be and had us stand there for a few minutes before we went up to it. Vaughan started doing a happy dance when we got up on it and I was somewhat perplexed-Look I was very glad to recover it but a bit surprised by Vaughan's reaction which was about the size of it I came to understand. When the measurements had settled and the dust had cleared it was 40 3/4 by 41 1/2 with 8.5 inch bases --a real beauty-was and am I ever happy.

FINALLY!

I can't believe you made us (me!) wait that long!! I know you are a busy man, but....

What a jaw dropper!

Thanks for sharing, and congratulations!

Cheers,
Canuck

I took a 36" bull in Limpopo last April which the PH said was pretty darn good for that area. Since I now plan on going to Namibia this Sep. I decided to have it done as a european mount and go try to find a whopper where my chances were better, photos like that make me hope I pull it off. If there were no kudu in africa, I think everyone going over would want a gemsbok first, they look noble.

I apologize for horning in on your post. I think Gemsbok are such an amazing animal. They are so difficult to put on the ground. I took this one in the Botswana Kalahari in 2003. It scored 100" exactly (43x43).



I hope to hunt with Vaughn in the next year or two. I have heard wonderful things about him. I spoke with the Namibia Professional Hunters Association in Dallas last week and they all knew him and spoke highly of him. Seems he had some difficulties with some trophies for a hunter here on AR which hasn't been sorted out. But I have to believe he will get it straightened out. There are too many happy hunter reports about him to think otherwise.

I have not hunted with Vaughn, but had the pleasure of having dinner with him at Joe's Beer House this past September. He is one of the good guys and I hope to hunt with him in the near future.

Troy,
Thanks for posting that incredible pic. I am putting in for the Ft Bliss gemsbok hunt again. Hopefully we will be able to get together and chase those critteres again. By the way seeing that monster in the pic makes me REALLY want one to top my 36 1/4" bull.

CanadianLefty sent me this picture of the pending World Record gemsbok from Namibia and asked me to post it here...



Any details CL?

Cheers,
Canuck

Thanks for posting it.

My friend sent it to me from Colorado, shortly after he came back from Safari to Namibia last June.

The only info that I have is that his booking agent sent it to him as a teaser for planning his next Safari to Namibia.

The Gemsbok apparently was shot by a client and went about 50" each side and was shot around April 2004.

Is that a bull or a cow..? Looks a bit like a cow, but I might be fooled by the length of the horns.. In that way they may appear thinner.. It`s indeed awesome..

The first gemsbok of these three is a bull-look at how heavy and ridged the horns are.

VFR1,

How did your hunt go? 14 days no Leopard or Lion. Hunted hard every day. With four days left we decided to concentrate on one bait and had time to go after Zebra and Mr Long neck and had sucess on both, also shot for bait a great Springbok and decided to keep for shoulder mount. 7700 acres is a lot to hunt. Still looking for my trophies from Vaughan, I guess it will be a while as they are being tanned there to reduce weight with the full hide on the G.

quote:

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Originally posted by Anders:
Is that a bull or a cow..? Looks a bit like a cow...

---

I don't have the answer, but my guess would be that it is a cow too.

A lot of the really long ones are cows. I shot a 42.5 in. cow gemsbuck in 2004 in Namibia. I was pretty far north, the PH said it was their biggest in 13 years with 5 PH's. His comment was that their oryx should be classified with Angolan subspecies, but for the record is a Kalahari oryx.

Without question, the photo in Canuck's post is a cow. Nothing wrong with that.

Here is a photo of my bull shot on the Botswana border in May of '04. He went 42" x 42" and 8 7/8" x 8 6/8'. He is the Gemsbuck of my dreams.

BOWHUNR

Woooooow! The horns are perfectly shaped with great symmetri as well. I`ll post my gemsbuck just for references..
This is a 38" (greenscore), and probably more representative for most of us..

Here are some more Namibian Gemsbok that Holly and I shot in the Kalahari last year with Dirk de Bod of Safaris Namibia.

Dirk's email address is kudu@africaonline.com.na

Dirk has a magnificent tent camp deep in the Namibian Kalahari along the border of Botswana.



Here is my 38" bull.



Holly's 40" bull.



My 41 1/2" cow.



Here is my 41 1/2" cow together with Holly's 40" bull.



Hunting Gemsbok and Springbok in the Kalahari is a great experience!

Beatiful pictures, thanks for sharing them!!!!
What caliber/bullet/scope combo you were using??

L

Lorenzo, we were both shooting my Jarrett custom rifle in .300 Jarrett.

We used 200 grain Nosler Partitions loaded to 3,050 FPS.

The scope is a Swarovski Professional Hunter model in 3-12x50 with an illuminated reticle.

My friend, now I understand the quality of your trophies
What a combo!!
Congrats
L