Top 5 plains game?

Spot and Stalk or Stalk and Spot, these are my favorite to hunt:

1. Kudu - the Grey Ghost is such an iconic African trophy.
2. Eland - find a fresh track on the road and follow it until you catch up to it is my preferred way to hunt Eland.
3. Sable - A big trophy in an open range area will give you a run for your money. Love how they climb up on anthills to take a look and always seem to know where you are before you know where they are
4. Bushbuck - Generally always is about a nice walk along a beautiful river's edge until you find the right mature buck. And in wild areas, this can often have you bumping into Eles, lions (or at least their tracks), cape buffs laying in thick reeds, hippo pools full of noises out of a Star Wars movie, and other critters that make for a wonderful hunt even when you don't find that right bushy.
5. Roan - Finding the right mature trophy and then getting a shot at it in an open range setting can take days to close the deal.

All of these hunts I prefer have a fair chase to them, an element of significant risk that the deal isn't closed upon the first stalk, take some studying of the horn quality and age before a shot is taken, and a yearning to do it all over again even when you are successful with the first trophy of each.
 
EPIC SAFARIS said:
Spot and Stalk or Stalk and Spot, these are my favorite to hunt:

1. Kudu - the Grey Ghost is such an iconic African trophy.
2. Eland - find a fresh track on the road and follow it until you catch up to it is my preferred way to hunt Eland.
3. Sable - A big trophy in an open range area will give you a run for your money. Love how they climb up on anthills to take a look and always seem to know where you are before you know where they are
4. Bushbuck - Generally always is about a nice walk along a beautiful river's edge until you find the right mature buck. And in wild areas, this can often have you bumping into Eles, lions (or at least their tracks), cape buffs laying in thick reeds, hippo pools full of noises out of a Star Wars movie, and other critters that make for a wonderful hunt even when you don't find that right bushy.
5. Roan - Finding the right mature trophy and then getting a shot at it in an open range setting can take days to close the deal.

All of these hunts I prefer have a fair chase to them, an element of significant risk that the deal isn't closed upon the first stalk, take some studying of the horn quality and age before a shot is taken, and a yearning to do it all over again even when you are successful with the first trophy of each.

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I really like the way you describe the whole experience, especially the fact that the hunt isn’t just about getting the trophy. The tracking, reading the terrain and spending time figuring out the animal seem like a huge part of the appeal. Kudu would probably be my favorite from your list, but Sable sounds like a seriously fun challenge too. I also like Bushbuck because the whole walk along the river sounds like an experience in itself, especially when you never know what wildlife you might come across. I like that you mention the possibility of coming home empty handed too. That makes finally getting the right trophy feel much more rewarding.
 
Kudu is top of the list. An impressive trophy and hard to hunt. If you classify giraffe as plains game, I'll put them in second place. Very hard to hunt. They have big eyes way, way up in the air and there's typically many eyes together watching everything in every direction. And they're not easy to knock down, for obvious reasons. Surprisingly challenging. They don't make a particularly glamorous mount on the wall but giraffe rug is quite impressive. I enjoy hunting the lowly impala. Cheap to shoot, wary, and the skulls always look quite elegant on the wall. We spent most of a day stalking a very nice ram during my recent safari last month. Boy, did he give us a run for the money. My fifth one. Black wildebeest and springbuck are tied for fourth. They don't give close shots very easily and wildebeest are tough to put down. I guess gemsbuck would be fifth in line. Beautiful animal and typically in herds making it difficult to get in range. Females have horns and similar body size and color as bulls. Females can also be pregnant any time of year. So sorting out which animal in the herd is shootable can be a challenge. Also, gemsbuck can be aggressive. Ask me how I know! Waterbuck would be a close sixth place.
 
wildfowler.250 said:
Folks I’ve been back reading old posts with interest and there seems to be lots of top 10 posts - basically covers a good chunk of what’s available!

What would your top five plains game be for a week hunt? And even better, why?

Just to get some ideas for myself going forward. I’ve a mental idea. I think if I could split a South Africa hunt down to kudu, springbok, impala and zebra, I think I could still come away and say I’ve covered a few key animals but interested to hear what folk rate? Maybe throw a wildebeest in there.
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That’s a solid list to start with, and honestly, your mental draft hits a really good sweet spot for a first or even a return trip. Trying to cram ten different species into a single week usually turns the whole thing into a whirlwind of rushing from one spot to the next, so keeping it down to a manageable handful lets you actually enjoy the hunt.
 
Ontario Hunter said:
Kudu is top of the list. An impressive trophy and hard to hunt. If you classify giraffe as plains game, I'll put them in second place. Very hard to hunt. They have big eyes way, way up in the air and there's typically many eyes together watching everything in every direction. And they're not easy to knock down, for obvious reasons. Surprisingly challenging. They don't make a particularly glamorous mount on the wall but giraffe rug is quite impressive. I enjoy hunting the lowly impala. Cheap to shoot, wary, and the skulls always look quite elegant on the wall. We spent most of a day stalking a very nice ram during my recent safari last month. Boy, did he give us a run for the money. My fifth one. Black wildebeest and springbuck are tied for fourth. They don't give close shots very easily and wildebeest are tough to put down. I guess gemsbuck would be fifth in line. Beautiful animal and typically in herds making it difficult to get in range. Females have horns and similar body size and color as bulls. Females can also be pregnant any time of year. So sorting out which animal in the herd is shootable can be a challenge. Also, gemsbuck can be aggressive. Ask me how I know! Waterbuck would be a close sixth place.


I enjoy hunting the lowly impala. Cheap to shoot, wary, and the skulls always look quite elegant on the wall—almost reminds me of how calculated you have to be when lining up multi-selection tickets, like figuring out the math behind a system betting strategy where one missed leg doesn't automatically ruin the whole payout.
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Spot on about the kudu - they're practically ghost animals once the pressure gets to them, absolute masters at disappearing into thick bush right when you think you've got a bead on them.
 
wildfowler.250 said:
Folks I’ve been back reading old posts with interest and there seems to be lots of top 10 posts - basically covers a good chunk of what’s available!

What would your top five plains game be for a week hunt? And even better, why?

Just to get some ideas for myself going forward. I’ve a mental idea. I think if I could split a South Africa hunt down to kudu, springbok, impala and zebra, I think I could still come away and say I’ve covered a few key animals but interested to hear what folk rate? Maybe throw a wildebeest in there.
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I would swop out springbok for wildebeest in that list. Springbok are cool to add to the list, but you HAVE to include blue wildebeest on any Southern African top 5 PG list!
 
Black Wildebeest
Warthog
Zebra
Kudu
Warthog
 
For me sable, LDE, sitatunga, bongo and Mt Nayal in no particular order are top of the heap for me,
 
Sable, Kudu,Eland,Waterbuck,Gemsbok. I tell everyone I would shoot those first if I had the money. If you couldn’t afford the Sable like myself when your starting out then my first specialty animal would be an Nyala.
 
Okay, people have explained why they like kudu, bushbuck, eland, warthog...but I haven't seen anyone say what makes waterbuck special. My son has one on our trophy list for a safari next July.

Any truth to a report I read somewhere that waterbuck smell and taste bad? Do they make good leopard bait?
 
i would put Gemsbok in if I were looking. I like the straight horned animals and we had Gemsbok on the grill the same way some other meats were cooked. It stood out as one I liked of the selection we tried.

Kudu and Warthog would make the list.

I did not hunt Zebra but I would.

I guess it depends on on which animals you really want. If you are a trophy hunter you may as well list what you want you can probably renegotiate or add something if needs be
 
Betterinthebush said:
Sable, kudu, eland, nyala, bushbuck.

I reckon it’s going to take me 3-4 hunts to complete my list. I’m fine with that.

..being optimistic here, of course. If it takes me 10 I’m fine with that as well.
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Probably this ^ ;)

I've hunted them all, but if I "had" to go again, they'd be high on the list. Though I'd probably substitute the Sable for an Impala for a first time hunter.

And I can never resist a big Warthog... ;)
 
RolandtheHeadless said:
Okay, people have explained why they like kudu, bushbuck, eland, warthog...but I haven't seen anyone say what makes waterbuck special. My son has one on our trophy list for a safari next July.

Any truth to a report I read somewhere that waterbuck smell and taste bad? Do they make good leopard bait?
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Waterbuck are a very proud and regal antelope to me.
If properly skinned they taste fine, someone needs to pull the skin back while the skinner does his knife work to avoid getting the hair oil on the meat.
 
Ain't been to Africa yet, that's scheduled for next May. With no personal experience this is my top 5 at this time.

1. Kudu
2. Zebra
3. Impala
4. Gemsbok
5. Bushbuck
I can't seemed to get to enthused over a warthog, I have shot tons of feral hogs over the years it just hard for me to get fired up over one.
 
gregrn43 said:
Ain't been to Africa yet, that's scheduled for next May. With no personal experience this is my top 5 at this time.

1. Kudu
2. Zebra
3. Impala
4. Gemsbok
5. Bushbuck
I can't seemed to get to enthused over a warthog, I have shot tons of feral hogs over the years it just hard for me to get fired up over one.
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Warthog can grow on you, especially when they have 10+” of tooth sticking out of that magnificent ugly face!
 
Kudu, zebra, warthog- and impala in my book for the first 4. They just say Africa to me. After that it is something regional like gemsbok for Namibia, or bushbuck or nyala.
 
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