The Bastardization Of The Term Dagga Boy

[grand veneur]

You state only single bulls can be dagga boys which quite frankly is uninforned cluelessness....rather simple.....

Using your login only single buffalo tracks are worthy of following?

Wrote I that somewhere ?

 

[Rafiki]

What about this guy? would this be considered an authentic and truly dagga-boy?

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Look at that face, He seems to be thinking "oh God that f**k'n bird is back"

 

[IvW]

In my opinion not in the past. An old buffalo was not a Dagga-boy if it walk with a group of other buffaloes or a herd.

 

[VINOYASADO]

Look at that face, He seems to be thinking "oh God that f**k'n bird is back"

Not sure if the bird is included in the trophy fee!!

 

[WyoBull]

What about this guy? would this be considered an authentic and truly dagga-boy?

View attachment 663805

Could not possibly be a Dagha Boy, he has way too much hair! LOL Awesome Bull!

 

[grand veneur]

I wrote:

In my opinion not in the past. An old buffalo was not a Dagga-boy if it walk with a group of other buffaloes or a herd.

Definition in some articles:

Dagga boys’ is a term used to describe old and usually solitary buffalo bulls who have been forced out of the herd by young virile bulls, or have fallen behind the herd due to their need for softer vegetation.

My answer based on what was written above:

According to this definition, anyone who wants to shoot a Dagga-boy would only have to follow the tracks of solitary buffaloes, but the discussion was mainly about a definition and not about hunting. It is certain that if you stick to the above definition, few hunters will shoot a Dagga-boy, which could certainly harm the business and the advertising for it. For this reason, continues to denote Dagga-boy what looks more or less from far or near like something like this.

 

[IvW]

I wrote:


Definition in some articles:

Dagga boys’ is a term used to describe old and usually solitary buffalo bulls who have been forced out of the herd by young virile bulls, or have fallen behind the herd due to their need for softer vegetation.

My answer is based on what was written above:

According to this definition, anyone who wants to shoot a Dagga-boy would only have to follow the tracks of solitary buffaloes, but the discussion was mainly about a definition and not about hunting. It is certain that if you stick to the above definition, few hunters will shoot a Dagga-boy, which could certainly harm the business and the advertising for it. For this reason, continues to denote Dagga-boy what looks more or less from far or near like something like this.

Now you need to quote definitions from books???? Who wrote this articles? Professional people in the buffalo hunting industry??
Please man....wake up to reality.....

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

What about this guy? would this be considered an authentic and truly dagga-boy?

View attachment 663805

Depends if he's alone or not...
(Tongue in cheek)

 

[grand veneur]

Now you need to quote definitions from books???? Who wrote this articles? Professional people in the buffalo hunting industry??
Please man....wake up to reality.....

This discussion and the dispute that is slowly emerging are ridiculous. I don't know what you are trying to demonstrate. Strange conduct for a PH, if you really are one.

 

[Puddle]

I just sidestep the whole labeling thing by answering the PH with "Old. Really old. The older, the better."

Easy button.

 

[375Fox]

Now you need to quote definitions from books???? Who wrote this articles? Professional people in the buffalo hunting industry??
Please man....wake up to reality.....

I’ve really got to laugh at this one coming from the PH persona. I think you have a buffalo hunting article to finish . . . The one you started to remind everyone you are a PH . . .

 

[Hunt anything]

My first buffalo was in the Zambezi delta of Mozambique. We had stalked into a herd of about 200, we studied them for maybe an hour and found no mature bulls except for a couples of helmet heads. This being my first buff I wanted a more typical configuration. My PH said if we had time at the end of my safari we may go back and try to find the same herd and hunt one of the helmet heads on the community quota.
When we were about to walk away a tracker looked towards a huge papyrus swamp and saw a single bull coming out towards the herd. He was around 2,000 yards away. As the bull closed with the herd my PH said he was a good mature hard bossed bull but no mention of him being a dahga boy. He ended up being my very first African trophy and will always be cherished.
Later in the hunt we were still hunting nyala and came across a small herd of bulls, we watched them for a while and my PH declared a couple of dahga boys were in there. You could definitely tell a difference between the bulls when looking at this small bunch of bulls. No hair, huge necks and dew laps, gray faces and smooth bosses.
If I ever go hunt another buffalo I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot one of those old helmet heads. Although if he was standing next to a 40+” old worn down bull I would shoot the 40+”er. I’ve always wanted one
Just my somewhat rambling 2 cents.

 

[franzfmdavis]

I have yet to hunt them but what if I shoot a young bull that identifies as a dagga boy?

You will have to grab it by the hard boss to see?!

 

[franzfmdavis]

I would think that most would call this an example of a "Dagga Boy" (the buffalo not me). This old fellow was taken in TZ last October. We caught up to him at the bottom of a "jungle" covered ravine after many hours of tracking. He had no hair to speak of, scarred face and hide, worn boss and tips and on inspection extremely worn teeth. My PH estimated that he was about 15-years old. Old and tired as he was it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.


View attachment 663794View attachment 663795

Beautiful! I have to ask about the rifle?

 

[Altitude sickness]

Rafiki, that bull has more ticks than hair. Was he entered for the Rigby awards.

 

[Rafiki]

Beautiful! I have to ask about the rifle?

The rifle is a custom Ruger No 1, 500 Sharps 2.5". This guy was taken using a 570gr Peregrine Bushmaster VRG-3 copper monolith bullet at 21 yards.

 

[ActionBob]

I’m not sure I agree entirely with the definition you’ve described. A dagga boy or dugga boy is a hard-bossed, old bull Cape Buffalo. It doesn’t necessarily mean solitary in my mind, it means it is not a young protecting member of a herd.

Often times you can find Dugga Boys as pairs and trios in the bush.

What happens when they converge? I chased a pair of Dagga Boys for 19km in the bush and couldn’t catch up to them, but knew where they were going. I headed for a pan and watched 25 cows, calves, and young males come to the pan and waited. Sure enough, ten minutes later the pair of old hard boss males I was tracking came out of the bush from the opposite direction and mixed amongst the herd at the pan.

Did I kill a dugga boy by your definition, or was the fact that there were two nullified that term? Would it have been a dugga boy had I killed it earlier that day in the bush, but the second it was surrounded by a herd did it lose its standing as a dugga boy at the pan? Had I waited until the herd dispersed and then shot it at the pan, would it have been a dagga boy again? Maybe it wasn’t at all, but when I shot it, it left only one old bull left and that one suddenly became a dagga boy by the miracle of subtraction?

I’m being farcical of course, but I don’t think our definitions line up. A Dagga Boy is an elder buffalo bull with a hard boss that is either solitary or retired with 1-2-3 other similar hard boss bulls.

As a general rule, you don’t shoot herd bulls that are soft bossed because they are studding the herd and protecting it.

To quote the OP... He does use the term "solitary" but then goes on to say they "live alone or in small groups".

So you want to pick apart the grammar go ahead. But it's my opinion the spirit of the OP's post is dead nuts right on.

Case in point a taxidermist posted a picture of an obvious soft bull that most would not consider a "dagha boy". However labeled it as one. Then backtracked. Sort of....

I really think the OP covered the issue quite well. I think a big part of it is just simply calling out the BS! There is too much of it.

I recall a South African outfitter once advertising a Sable hunt by saying "come hunt the Royal Sable". Royal or Giant Sable cannot be hunted legally and are critically endangered. That outfitter defended himself saying something to effect that he meant all sable have a Royal presence. But is is misleading marketing and it is dishonest. Same thing for the Spiral Slam, in fact even more so! Getting a true Spiral Slam is an amazing achievement! Getting 4 or so spiral horn antelope in South Africa is nice but nothing terribly difficult. Yet Outfitters continue to advertise the South African spiral slam as The Spiral Slam. If they label it as the South African Spiral Slam, so be it.

Especially to novice African hunters this is all very dishonest. As is the way the term Dagga Boy is haphazardly thrown about about.

No the OP is right on point.

In my opinion, a dagga boy is easy to define but harder to determine. Dagga boys are older, solitary male Cape buffalo that have left the herd and now live alone or in small bachelor groups. Typically past their prime breeding years, dagga boys are characterized by worn horns, scarred and balding hides, and a survivalist demeanor, marking them as dangerous veterans of the African wilderness.

 

[Mort Hill]

I would think that most would call this an example of a "Dagga Boy" (the buffalo not me). This old fellow was taken in TZ last October. We caught up to him at the bottom of a "jungle" covered ravine after many hours of tracking. He had no hair to speak of, scarred face and hide, worn boss and tips and on inspection extremely worn teeth. My PH estimated that he was about 15-years old. Old and tired as he was it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.


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I like the bottom picture of the two Dagga boys side by side….

 

[hwr239]

To quote the OP... He does use the term "solitary" but then goes on to say they "live alone or in small groups".

So you want to pick apart the grammar go ahead. But it's my opinion the spirit of the OP's post is dead nuts right on.

Case in point a taxidermist posted a picture of an obvious soft bull that most would not consider a "dagha boy". However labeled it as one. Then backtracked. Sort of....

I really think the OP covered the issue quite well. I think a big part of it is just simply calling out the BS! There is too much of it.

I recall a South African outfitter once advertising a Sable hunt by saying "come hunt the Royal Sable". Royal or Giant Sable cannot be hunted legally and are critically endangered. That outfitter defended himself saying something to effect that he meant all sable have a Royal presence. But is is misleading marketing and it is dishonest. Same thing for the Spiral Slam, in fact even more so! Getting a true Spiral Slam is an amazing achievement! Getting 4 or so spiral horn antelope in South Africa is nice but nothing terribly difficult. Yet Outfitters continue to advertise the South African spiral slam as The Spiral Slam. If they label it as the South African Spiral Slam, so be it.

Especially to novice African hunters this is all very dishonest. As is the way the term Dagga Boy is haphazardly thrown about about.

No the OP is right on point.

Very well said!

 

[CZDiesel]

Please take note that the correct Zulu word is DAGHA.
Dagga refers to Cannabis, and there is no word like Dugha.

Hmmm Rigby seems to think Dagga Boy is correct? They even wrote a book on the subject…

Rigby Dagga Boy Book - John Rigby & Co.

Rigby Dagga Boy book is the ultimate coffee table book for anyone who has experienced the magic of a buffalo hunt or those for whom bagging a Cape buffalo is a lifelong dream. Limited to just 1,000 copies, the book features over 70 stories interspersed with behind-the-scenes photography and...

www.johnrigbyandco.com

And have a Dagga Boy award?

The Rigby Dagga Boy Award returns for 2025 - John Rigby & Co.

We are thrilled to announce the return of the Rigby Dagga Boy Award, after the success ofLearn more

www.johnrigbyandco.com

Who knows lol