Quality of Antlered Game in South Africa?

[Sabre]

I have generally seen fallow deer offered by a lot of SA outfitters. However, the vast majority of trophy photos I have seen, the quality is poor in comparison to even free range fallow in other countries. I always assumed it was because of the habitat being much different than one they were designed for.

Another thread mentioned Sambar and Rusa Deer being at a SA outfitter, which I hadn't seen before. Maybe because I wasn't looking or just less common.

I have also seen Axis Deer listed in SA.


So, I have seen fallow deer in SA and I have seen many trophy photos of them from there. I have not experienced the others and haven't seen SA trophy photos of them. Are all the antlered species in SA generally smaller in trophy quality and more busted up (as compared to a habitat closer to their natural environment)?

I would love if some people had photos or personal experiences from hunting them there.

 

[Muskox]

Hunters Hill has Sambar, Rusa, Axis, Hog Deer, Pere David Deer and I have seen red stags on offer at other locations.

Never seen a fallow that was of decent size in South Africa.

I have killed 3 fallow bucks all in the 2.5-2.8 kg skull weight range around 147-160 CIC points. Here in Europe these are trophy size but small. Never seen a fallow from South Africa that was even close.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Never seen a fallow that was of decent size in South Africa.

Sure, they are not comparable to some of the monsters in Europe, but I think these are decent. There is no doubt that you have to hunt the correct area. All of these posted, are free range by the way.

 

[Muskox]

Those are quality bucks for sure.

I like the length. Something our Slovenian trophies are greatly lacking.

First buck is from 2025, other two bucks are from 2024.

The first buck was crazy heavy he was judged to be 8 years old.

The other two bucks have more length of tine, but he weighed more.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Very interesting the different scoring methods. Here, we would not consider the weight of the antlers for a second, and I would not be able to judge one by weight either. Over here, its all about length and the width of the palms. The tines are a bonus.
Very interesting indeed. One of those Fallows in Hungary that look like a moose is certainly a dream of mine.

 

[Muskox]

Very interesting the different scoring methods. Here, we would not consider the weight of the antlers for a second, and I would not be able to judge one by weight either. Over here, its all about length and the width of the palms. The tines are a bonus.
Very interesting indeed. One of those Fallows in Hungary that look like a moose is certainly a dream of mine.

Yes the 5kg-7kg fallows are insane!

They also cost $5000-7000.

A friend of mine killed a big fallow in Bulgaria and it was over $7000. His wife shot it, and she called him and told him not to shoot anything until they got it measured. He was there to shoot a gold medal red stag and she was going to shoot a standard fallow.

The guide got her goat, and she shot this 6.5 kg fallow and that ended the entire hunt for both of them. I think he shot a 2 year old wild boar and they were done.

Maybe you could find someone selling frozen fallow semen and build up your South African quality. there are some huge fallow in America now. I don't know what they weight ut they are close to the Hungarian guys in size.

 

[Muskox]

FALLOW DEER – Big Time Whitetails And Exotics

bigtimewhitetailsandexotics.com

 

[375Fox]

At least for fallow deer I don’t think the incentive to develop them is there. Their rut takes place before the majority of international hunters start coming to South Africa. It’s a nice add on at a reasonable price. I think they are popular with locals also.
The big “free range” fallow bucks in Europe are highly managed. They’ve had genetics introduced and developed by professional game keepers to get them there. Many cases even though they aren’t fenced, the fallow deer populations are essentially islands disconnected from other fallow deer populations. The true free range unmanaged bucks aren’t nearly that size. So I think it has a lot more to do with intensive management than nutrition alone. Free range fallow deer in New Zealand are relatively modest trophies also, same with red stag.