Is a Bontebok worth it ?

Charlie64 · Feb 23, 2026

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Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus) only in RSA (plus Lesotho) & a fantastic come back story from the brink of extinction to relatively sustainable numbers. When compared with Blesbok the saying is that the Blesbok is jeans & a sweatshirt whilst the Bontebok is black tie & dinner jacket - or words to that effect.

But is it one for the hunter that has already filled the trophy room with dozens of African animals & is out after the exotics or is the Bontebok one that any RSA hunter can put up on the wall next to a Blesbok shoulder mount & everyone will see the difference straight away ?!

Would be great to hear from those that have or are looking at them & maybe some photographs !

Cheers

.

Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS · Feb 23, 2026

if you like it, then why not hunt it

Scott CWO · Feb 23, 2026

Bontebok are more colorful. Beautiful skin. See bontebok above and blesbok below.

kpoynter · Feb 23, 2026

Well…part of your question pertaining to wall space and telling the difference…
No, you will absolutely not see a discernible difference.
I wouldn’t let that influence my decision. If you hunt long enough or do several safaris wall space disappears entirely.
Bontebuck are a great Hunter Conservation and Success story. 20 years ago there were VERY few….now…they are common in SA areas.
I would shoot one now if I was in an area where available and at a reasonable cost

Ontario Hunter · Feb 23, 2026

I'm pretty much a skulls on the wall only guy so there really would not be any point in taking one for trophy purposes anyway. I'm not sure I could tell the difference between one and blesbucks already on the wall. If I was a social butterfly with lots of wall space, yes I think I would have one shoulder mounted just to explain to dinner guests the difference and the remarkable story behind saving the species.

Andrew62 · Feb 23, 2026

I took this bontebok with @GAME 4 AFRICA SAFARIS. It is my understanding, with proper paperwork, they can now be brought back into the US. I stopped getting animals mounted years ago, so for me, I give no consideration when taking an animal as to what I’m going to do with it, all I want is a picture.

Philip Glass · Feb 23, 2026

First of all we should hunt for the experience. Does everyone mount every deer they shoot? No. It doesn’t always have to be about the mount. Mine was not importable due to the owner being old and unable to keep up with the record keeping requirements. I was not that disappointed because it was a great hunt.
I would hope hunters would be pursuing them in great numbers now that they are off of CITES and importable. It would be nice to see Blesbuck replaced on ranches with bontebok!

Red Leg · Feb 23, 2026

I guess the question is what do you mean by "worth it." If it is a quality of the hunt question, I am rather confident that you will find little discernable difference between shooting it or a blesbok - many of which, in my admittedly limited experience on South African game farms, seemed to spend a lot of time standing around rather stupidly.

If it is important to point at one on the wall and explain that you have killed what is to you a special animal, then you should do it. If by "Bontebok is black tie & dinner jacket," you mean it costs more as a trophy fee - that will certainly be true.

Charlie64 · Feb 23, 2026

@redleg what I mean by black tie & dinner jacket was taken from a PH who describe the hide & colours as radiant vs a blesbok.

To clarify what I mean by ìs it worth it` is whether you can clearly see the difference between the two or whether an untrained eye would look at a Bontebok & think / say its a shiny Blesbok .

I guess I am asking those that have hunted both - is the difference that clear to see in the two or is it marginal??

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ActionBob · Feb 23, 2026

Charlie64 said:
.

Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus) only in RSA (plus Lesotho) & a fantastic come back story from the brink of extinction to relatively sustainable numbers. When compared with Blesbok the saying is that the Blesbok is jeans & a sweatshirt whilst the Bontebok is black tie & dinner jacket - or words to that effect.

But is it one for the hunter that has already filled the trophy room with dozens of African animals & is out after the exotics or is the Bontebok one that any RSA hunter can put up on the wall next to a Blesbok shoulder mount & everyone will see the difference straight away ?!

Would be great to hear from those that have or are looking at them & maybe some photographs !

Cheers

.

If you want it for the mount, do a full mount to do it justice. I enjoyed hunting Black Wildebeest and Red Hartebeest more than Bontebok and Blesbuck. Although the second Blesbuck hunt I was on became a real challenge as it became a last minute, late day add on with an inexperienced "PH" who couldn't tell a male from a female. We had an incredible stalk on a big female up until the last minute when the sex was determined

Hahaha

mdwest · Feb 23, 2026

Philip Glass said:
First of all we should hunt for the experience. Does everyone mount every deer they shoot? No. It doesn’t always have to be about the mount.

Funny, but the only 2 whitetail we have on the wall (euros) are pretty unremarkable… one pretty traditional 8 point, and one sorta ugly, broken tipped 11 point…

Between my wife and I, I honestly don’t know how many whitetail we’ve killed in our lifetimes… but it’s certainly in the hundreds…

The two on the wall are there because of the experience… they were wiley, difficult animals to take.. watched over multiple seasons, that finally screwed up and stepped out during the rut… and they were taken less than 2 hours apart.. one by me and one by my wife at a different blind about 1.5 miles away…

It was 100% about the experience and the memories we wanted to capture… and not at all about the quality of the mountain at all… they could have easily been scraggly old 6 point cull bucks or monster 12’s and they would have gone on the wall just the same…

coreydb · Feb 23, 2026

I see the fur on the Bontebok is similar to the Sable. It surely looks like the Blesbok "dressed to the nines" though.

Ontario Hunter · Feb 23, 2026

Red Leg said:
I guess the question is what do you mean by "worth it." If it is a quality of the hunt question, I am rather confident that you will find little discernable difference between shooting it or a blesbok - many of which, in my admittedly limited experience on South African game farms, seemed to spend a lot of time standing around rather stupidly.

If it is important to point at one on the wall and explain that you have killed what is to you a special animal, then you should do it. If by "Bontebok is black tie & dinner jacket," you mean it costs more as a trophy fee - that will certainly be true.

Exactly. Blesbuck are not very challenging to hunt. It was the very first animal I took and I had to think to myself is this what African hunting amounts to? Shooting oblivious dumb animals from quad sticks? Helen Keller could do this. Fortunately next up were impala and warthog. Very skittish and wild. The last blesbuck I shot was an after lunch affair. We finally got my black wildebeest into the salt after carrying the carcass in a "sail" a good two miles cross-country to the truck. After eating the property owner asked if I'd go shoot a blesbuck for an upcoming wedding feast. Sure. That took about forty minutes. I have seen bontebuck and they don't behave any differently.

Odinsraven · Feb 23, 2026

Yes they are an amazing success story - indeed - LJ Safaris on here have access to some amazing ones !

Hunt anything · Feb 23, 2026

My only experience with either was a blesbok in 2021, it was just as SA was reopening after Covid. I think the only hunters that had been on this particular farm had been local bolting hunters and had worked on the blesbok and springbok pretty hard so they were spooky as hell! My PH said that this behavior was somewhat unusual.
If I was ever on a farm with bontebok I would probably shoot one if the price was right and skull mount it and flat skin the hide and lay it next to a blesbok flat skin for comparison.

buffybr · Feb 23, 2026

Ive hunted both Bontebok and Blesboks. The hunts were very similar except the blesboks were in small herds, and the Bontebok was by himself.

My Bontebok has a shinier and "richer" coat, and my bontebok (and many others that I've seen pictures of) has a solid white blaze on his face, while the white blaze is not solid on most of the blesboks that I've seen.

If you're doing a Euro mount, I don't think that you could see any difference between the two.

My bontebok above, and blesboks below...

Ontario Hunter · Feb 23, 2026

Last I knew raising bontebuck was highly regulated. Behind fences only and no blesbuck anywhere near them. This is to keep blesbuck from interbreeding which apparently is not uncommon. To restore the species fully requires pure gene pool.

Nyati · Feb 23, 2026

I shot a very nice Blesbok in 2008, since then I had several opportunities to shoot a Bontebok, but since I only do euro mounts, I could not see the difference.

NIGHTHAWK · Feb 23, 2026

I enjoy Blesbok hunting. I have 4 different color phases. Bontebok will be added too. Blesbok was the first animal I took in Africa. The last 2 I shot were at 380 yards each. That’s as close I we could get in open country.

I wouldn’t give it too much consideration. Hunt them all, they are beautiful and fun to hunt!

I shoulder mount at a minimum.

Found this online:
Blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi) display 4 main color phases: the Common(reddish-brown), White(ranging from pale tan to white), Copper (dark, metallic reddish-brown), and Yellow/Golden (golden-tan). All phases share the signature white face blaze (often divided by a brown line) and white buttocks/belly.

wildwilderness · Feb 23, 2026

Only you can answer if it’s worth it! If you are one who likes all the color variations, have a bunch of springbok, impala, etc then you probably want a Bontebok!

I’m more interested in the Big 5 and see much of the plains game as a fun bonus if the price is right and fits into the main target of the hunt.

Is a Bontebok worth it ?

Charlie64

Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS

Scott CWO

kpoynter

Ontario Hunter

Andrew62

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Philip Glass

Red Leg

Charlie64

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mdwest

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Ontario Hunter

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