Judging Springbok

Hi

I would like a few tips on how to judge springbok.

Thanks
Dox

Springbuck are difficult to field score because you seldom get real close to them & you are usually glassing from 200 + yards. From the side you can get a fair acessment of the length but you need a frontal view to check the thickness of bases & how the horns tips point! The best looking trophies, the horns point in & are lyre shaped and very symetrical. On good trophies the horns are generally twice as long as the ears!

As with most horned and antlered game, if you must take time to estimate the size of a springbok's horns, then you probably should look for a larger one.

There will be no doubt when you see a springbok with 17-inch and longer horns.

But the best tip of all is to listen to your PH. He knows the local game better than you ever will.

Bill Quimby

Judging Springbok rams is always difficult... as other colleagues explained previously the distance is usually long... and this doesn´t helps too much.

The best way is with the length of the ears... to compare, as usually they have their ears up... and you need to see them from the front to judge the thickness of the bases... that is worst... because they are usually moving.. and they don´t stop to face you.

Here you have some examples of very good springbok rams, one exceptional, and two medal sized trophies.

This an exceptionally good trophy. High gold medal, 15 inches long and very thick in the bases. Easy to select in the herd... if you are lucky enough to find any as good as this one... Is the best i ever hunted... and i am really proud of this animal....





This is also a gold medal ram, 12 inches long, and a really beautifull picture with the moon between the horns... took in the last light of the day. Notice the enviroment of huge grass plains... where they love to live... and this is the worst terrain to stalk them... because of the lackness of any bush... Many times, stalking involves to advance like a lizard over your chest.





This is a nice bronze medal ram, 11 inches long, notice the horns are much higher than the ears... but is not so thick as the first one. Anyway... this is the usual trophy size we are gonna find in many of the game farms in South Africa.





I am in loved with springbok hunt... and i try to hunt several each year... because to kill a really good ram... is a real challenge for long distance shooters.

Jose

Jose,

Fine springeeess!!!

Monish

Thanks Jose for sharing your knowledge of Springbok with us.

If you are looking for a real big one, there are some animals like Springbuck, Kudu, warthog to name a few, where you don't use binoculars to judge them.
You will know when you see a big Springbuck even on 300 yards.
When you start looking at it again and again with binoculars, you are hoping it will make 16 inches and the more you look, the bigger they get.

Helgaard van der Vyver (PH)

Judging this ram was not to difficult, even without binoculars.
It has got everything you want, horns laying back above the bases ( age ), tips curling backwards ( genetics ), wide open lyre form, horns atleast the length of the head and naturally the basis will have tight polished rings at this stage.

I must ad that I have taken 17 inch + Springbuck where the horns goes more or less straight up from the basis and the tips do not curl backwards but old. ( genetics )
In this case it would be advisable to check on the basis with binoculars, because it might still be an imature ram with great potential.

Helgaard van der Vyver (PH)

There is nothing better than a big springbok! They are very beautiful to look at in Africa. You are right the big ones...do stand out from the crowd!

Hello guys,

I agree with what ll of you said and a good tip that I always give my clients is to look at the lenght of the ears when the animal is looking straight at you. ( Keep in mind that the tips should be pointing upwards..) This way you get a good indication on the lenght of the horns. If the tips of the horns are still pointing to the front the ram is too young. You will also be able to see a white light colour on the base of the horns which indicates that the animal is too young to be hunted.

And as all said if you see a good trophy you will not need your binocs... Here is another few good springbuck.

Really Nice pics Jacques !!!!
Hunting springboks is a real challenge that involves usually long range shooting, and it is always difficult to find some really big rams....

All the pics shown in this thread are good trophies.... but you know that we have hunted MANY small rams to have these few exceptional big ones.... because these sizes are one in a hundred.....

Jose

Originally Posted by Hartzview Hunting Safaris

Hello guys,

I agree with what ll of you said and a good tip that I always give my clients is to look at the lenght of the ears when the animal is looking straight at you. ( Keep in mind that the tips should be pointing upwards..) This way you get a good indication on the lenght of the horns. If the tips of the horns are still pointing to the front the ram is too young. You will also be able to see a white light colour on the base of the horns which indicates that the animal is too young to be hunted.

And as all said if you see a good trophy you will not need your binocs... Here is another few good springbuck.

I absolutely LOVE that fourth ram. I'd be very proud to have him on my wall!

I think I'd like to do a safari one day that would pursue a "grand slam" of springbok with an equally beautiful .25-06!

I just got my taxidermy back from my 16.5-inch springbok. The 15.5 inch one I mounted myself, which I'm not sure was the best idea. I still have the cape and I'm thinking about mounting it as well. I don't know that I realized just how big of a trophy both of them were until I got back from Namibia. Gert Van Der Walt was my ph and we looked over hundreds of them before he gave me the go ahead.
We saw the big one at last light of my last day of hunting. I missed a 200 yard frontal chest shot and then had to make another at 320 yards before he got away. Everything worked out fine.

What is the average broadside measurement for a springbok, back to brisket?

TIA

Originally Posted by Highland

What is the average broadside measurement for a springbok, back to brisket?

TIA

Interesting question, probably around 20 inches.

Originally Posted by Highland

What is the average broadside measurement for a springbok, back to brisket?

TIA

SGB-600

Girth Measurement is 31.5 inches on the Springbok Lifesize Form.

McKenzies forms are 27 to 34 Inches.

Extrapolate from there.

Firstly i apologise for the somewhat explicitness (blood) in one of the pictures - especially.
This buck was shot in the neck and looks like the bullet 'exploded' when it hit the vertebrae - almost decapitating the buck.

Taking into consideration of the above informative posts and the professionals we have here on AH, what is your best estimate on the size of these horns?

If the Springbok is looking at you, the ears are around 9 inches tall. You can figure out the rest from there.
Here is a pic of a 17,5 inch Sprinbuck from last season.

Originally Posted by fhm3006

what is your best estimate on the size of these horns?

..I'd say around 15 - 16 inch. I've seen the 'sexy' dude with the camo somewhere before also..

Originally Posted by fhm3006

..............what is your best estimate on the size of these horns?

Just under 16 would be my best guess.