I've only hunted Africa once but undoubtedly my favourite animal to hunt is eland man can they cover alot of country if they want to .
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I've only hunted Africa once but undoubtedly my favourite animal to hunt is eland man can they cover alot of country if they want to .
I would love to give you an opinion on that, however I do not think I have the knowledge base to answer it. Perhaps after a few more hunts for different species.......................God willing.
I never had the pleasure of hunting Eland as I 've never seen one in my 2 hunts in Africa. There wasn't anything I didn't enjoy hunting from the Springbucks, Kudu, Gemsbuck or the 2 Wildebeests I shot. I guess my favorite would be the Impala. I've shot 2 nice ones and really enjoyed sneaking up on a hundred set of eyes and finally getting a shot. Plus the meat was fabulous!!
I have hunted a lot of plainsgame, and I would have to say my favorite is the Kudu. It is just amazing how elusive the kudu is, and how difficult it is to hunt this beautiful animal. In my eyes outwitting an old kudu bull is one of the biggest thrills that I have had on plainsgame hunts.
Tony d i would also have to agree with you that Eland is a great plainsgame to hunt... It is one of the most difficult hunts that I have done. But it still, in my eyes, does not match a kudu hunt.
Tony,
eland indeed cover a lot of country. Despite their size, they have an ability to become completely invisible even when occupying a territory. This is especially true of bulls. The breeding season is the best time to see these great antelopes. Even when sighted, they can lead you on a chase that will leave you dehydrated. Their typical 'trot' is very deceptive, allowing you to sight them at intervals and enticing you to close the gap, but never really making up much. I have found that the best way to deal with an alert group of eland is to anticipate their directions and try to cut them off or meet them on their exit strategy. Does not always work as they dont move in straight lines and takes some good instincts and knowledge of the area to determine their next moves. But it is surely an awesome hunt when you can outwit this wonderful animal and bag a big, old, blue/grey bull. If you can clearly see the white stripes on an animal, leave it alone.
The kudu is definately a challenge, hence the name "ghost". Similar hunting challenge, but both unique, in the sense that eland want to completely get away from you and keep you out of sight, while kudu have a tendency of wanting to keep you in sight, but in most cases, you wil not see it. When you do, it teases you with a couple of glimpses and vanishes again till the next movement (applies mostly in Tanzania hunting grounds).
HI,
Yes the eland can be a monster and really can give any PH a headache. Something that i always loved doing was shooting loan ram blesbuck at long distances which also can be a very hardy buck to drop ,also at those distances there are many errors that can accure.
When it comes to bow hunting my favourite animal must be the Blue Wildebeest.
Hunting with the rifle I would say Kudu get my vote.
I agree, eland can cover ground very fast! As far as favorite animal, the kudu, the zebra, nyala, waterbuck are all awesome.
For me, I love the red hartebeest, I could hunt them over and over again. They are just beautifully colored and the horns are to die for. I know they are considered ugly. But to me they are the queen of the ball.
They are fast, can see forever, and elusive on the right ranch. If hunted hard...they will run and run!
I agree with ENysse The Red Hartebeest is a very under rated & tough animal. They by far will never win a beauty contest but make a real nice trophy. I just recieved my trophies back from 2 years ago & that one really stands out. The Red Hartebeest I shot was very elusive & finally when I got a shot, a perfect broad side shot at 150 yds I couldn't believe how it took the shot, center of the shoulder, reared up, swaggered & looked at me. It then wandered along 20 yds & started staggering like it was going down. It stopped staggering and looked me right in the eyes for a few seconds before it went down!
Tough! & smart a memorable hunt! something I wouldn't have believed had I not hunted it!
Probably gemsbok. Eyes like a pronghorn, ears like a muledeer, able to run like a horse for MILES ! Most of all, they're TOUGH and will not likely lose sight of you once they know you're around. Difficult to judge in some instances, and very adaptable to terrain. I had more frustration on them last year than any other critter, I suppose that counts for alot in my book. Just my (depreciated) two cents.........
I have loads of respect for all Afrikan game. Nothing stays put there like whitetail deer tend to do here in the States. :cool:
I have hunted a few different species and I would have to rate Kudu as #1. I have also enjoyed hunting impala as with so many eyes getting a nice one can be rather difficult. There is really nothing that I have not enjoyed hunting and look forward to each new experience!
Only hunted Namibia once I can say that all the animals I hunted were enjoyable for their own reasons but my favorite(s) was the impala. Such an amazing animal and not easy to hunt. That said, the zebra, yes I said zebra, was my hardest trophy to obtain as they are smart (horse smart!), wary and was just flat out hard to hunt.
I guess everyone has a favorite African animal to hunt, and I think the PH and the stalk or circumstances dictate how it ranks in your books. I've killed a few brown bears over the past years and can say that the zebra I hunted was just as exciting as closing in on a few of my brownies...just that the zebra isn't going to eat you if you make a bad shot (which I did).
Best of luck finding your favorite African plains game!
-Derek
On my two trips (so far) to RSA I hunted hard and long for bushbuck.
The terrain along the banks of Limpopo River was both beautiful and challenging, and the sneaky bushbuck kept slipping away all the time.
I nailed one at last, but he is a smart and cunning opponent, so my favourite so far is the bushbuck.
I would be hard pressed to pick one animal, but I do love to hunt Kudu, and Eland are huge and that adds something so I better include them. Gemsbok are so majestic that one could not leave them out. Those are the top three requests I get when booking plainsgame hunts btw...
I love to hunt the Mountain Rhebok, and the Vaal Rhebok, that is a test of your skill with a rifle if there ever was one and The Bushbuck has to have a special place with me. I never come home without another Zebra, come to think of it, and I especially like the Zebra of Tanzania.
A big old wart hog is something to behold, and never overlook the beautiful Waterbuck or the Nyala and who would go to Africa and not shoot the Wildebeests, Impala, Springbuck..
If you include the USA, you have the Whitetail, Coues, Del Carmen Whitetail, the huge Whitetail of Canada, Mule Deer and Pronghorn and the Rocky Moutain elk, bighorns and goats..tough choice, couldn't make that one.
It is almost impossible for me to pick a favorite, but if push comes to shove on one animal that I would pick over all the rest and if you include the big 5, then I would pick the Cape Buffalo. I love hunting those black bulls, always have and always will...
While I love hunting plains game in general, my personal favorite is the bushbuck. They love the wild places and are such a challenge to hunt in daylight.
Have been party to hunts at night with spotlights not as a participant but as a spotter and while I will not condemn, this style of hunting does not do justice to this little guy.
Mario
While they are all good, the one I keep hunting over and over is the Zebra.
Either mountain or common, I really like taking them. Lots of eyes, always in motion and no horns to worry about. Just a pure hunt.
Of course, I'm about at the point of having wall to wall zebra rugs now too.:D
Highland, this really created a visual for me in my mind and gave me a chuckle... picturing your wall to wall Zebra. My next zebra I will do a pedestal mount like a chess piece... I should have done this with my last Mountain Zebra I shot it on the mountain at 350 yards, it fell half way down the mountain... that skin has more stitches in it than Frankenstein.
Having hunted all SA Game for 30 years now and it really is a hard pic. But I do have to go with walk and stalking a big Kudu bull in the Bosveld. It is definitly the crown juwel. This said, hunting Gemsbok in the Kalahari, Springbok in the Free State or Bosbok in the Eastern Cape is all amazing hunts aswell. I believe that what makes the defference in all hunting experience's is the location. I like to hunt game in its natural habitat, because that is the ultimate chalence. What has become a shame is that as the hunting industry has increased, more game farmers are stocking more veriaties of game to provide "total packages" for the international hunter. This however is causing hunters to hunt game wich are not in its natrural habitat. Because of the fast differences in climate and landscape in SA, the spread of our game's habitat is just as different. That is why I would recommend to make sure you hunt the right game in the right area to get the REAL experiance.
I like that pose. The only problem is, I'm running out of room for any more pedestals or wall mounts and the best spot is reserved for a sable.
Unless I put an addition on the house. <grin> and how many hunts would that cost?
Do I have to pick one? Mountain Zebra was absolutely my favorite animal just because of the way the hunt turned out. We kept our eyes open for them at all times during my 14 day hunt. We hunted waterholes, walked and glassed and finally got lucky on the second to last day finding fresh tracks from a herd of 6-8 leading away from a waterhole one morning. After careful stalking for 2 1/2 hours we caught up to them and I shot the stallion at about 40 yards. That was the only zebra I saw that trip and I really didn't see him until I had him in my scope. My PH estimated him to be around 27 years old, face was scarred and faded and his hooves were almost worn out. I really enjoyed Kudu and Gemsbuck too, and I hope to enjoy Eland this coming March.