Hank2211
AH legend
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2010
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- Canada, United States, Zimbabwe, South Africa (Eastern Cape; Northern Cape; North West Province, Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo), Namibia, Cameroon, Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Argentina
One of Ten
After I completed the Tiny Ten on a recent hunt (found somewhere here!), I decided to create a thread with one post dedicated to each of my hunts for the ten antelope. This may sound a bit self-centered, and I apologize in advance if it is, but my intention, apart from memorializing to some extent my hunts for these magnificent little creatures, is to allow others to insert their own experiences of each one where applicable. So fear not, you won’t be hijacking the thread if you post details or pictures of your own hunts. The invitation is open.
Steenbok. Wintershoek Safaris, Northern Cape, Aug 13, 2011
I was on my first safari in South Africa - at Wintershoek Safaris Wag’n Beitje Lodge, when I saw what was, for me, the first of the Tiny Ten. It was a steenbok, running across a field some distance away. It would run, leaping, or perhaps bounding, from time to time, and then stopping to look back. But never for long. I asked my PH, John Tinley, what it was and he said a steenbok, an antelope I’d never heard of, and would I like to shoot one? I said yes, of course, but the one we had seen was long gone.
Early one morning, a couple of days later, we saw another steenbok, or perhaps the same one - they are reasonably territorial - and tried for a shot. I say tried, because I never got a shot. Not because the little fellow wouldn’t give me one, but because I couldn’t see him in the scope. It was a cold South African morning, typical for a Northern Cape winter, and every time I bent over my scope my glasses fogged up and I was unable to see anything, let alone shoot. John kept saying “shoot” and I kept saying “I can’t” although there were perhaps a few other, more descriptive, words inserted. I would look up, clear my glasses, look down, and they would fog up again. I found the situation extremely frustrating, and in those days I could go from calm to over-the-top frustrated in seconds. (I’ve since become a much calmer hunter, benefiting both my hunting and my relationship with my PH).
We never actually went out looking for a steenbok on that safari, which would likely have been the kiss of death (to my chances, not to the steenbok). But we did see one, one day, when it was warmer and my glasses less prone to fogging. And it did give me a shot, and I did miss . . . But not on the second shot. Steenbok down. I was pleased, not because I had gotten a steenbok - I was really looking for more glamorous game at that point - but because it had been the source of so much frustration and it was nice to put that past me. I really didn’t give the little guy much thought after that.
I hadn’t even heard of the Tiny Ten when I shot the steenbok, but John mentioned it, and I more or less forgot about it as we searched for other game. It wasn’t until I got back home that I actually took some time and looked up what that meant. I haven’t been able to determine who actually invented the concept, but the research I did indicated that if Peter Flack didn’t invent the term, he likely had more than anyone else to do with popularizing the concept. More recently, Craig Boddington wrote an article on the Tiny Ten and similarly gave Flack credit for spreading the word, and that’s good enough for me.
Steenbok aren’t particularly rare, although one with big horns is as rare as is any other, larger, species of antelope with big horns. Their range is quite widespread in southern Africa (and parts of East Africa) and while they can be hard to spot in even reasonably short (by African standards) grass, once they begin to move, they’re pretty obvious. This was likely a good place for me to start the search for the Tiny Ten - had I started on one of the harder-to-find varieties, I might not have become quite as committed to the cause. As it was, once I had read up on the species on the list, I decided that while I wasn’t going to book a hunt with one of these as a primary target any time soon, I would make a point of looking to get whichever of the list was available in any area I was hunting.
Little did I know that I would one day make these little fellows the main focus of a hunt, nor that I would have so much fun looking for each of them.
The steenbok shares its genus with the two grysbok (more on them later). There doesn’t seem to be general agreement on how many, if any, sub-species of steenbok there are - Carton-Barber in African Game Species and Subspecies (2017) says eight, while Wikipedia claims either two or twenty-four (!). Regardless, it seems most of the differences are in the amount of white found on the coats of each, so I decided not to worry about it.
The steenbok seems to sit in about the middle of the Tiny Ten in terms of size. It ranges in height from about 16-24” and in weight from about 15-35 lbs. I’d say a 35 pounder would be a giant among steenbok - I’ve seen many since I shot the first one, and never seen anything approaching that size. Horns range from about 3” to 7” but again, I haven’t seen any of the 7” monsters in my travels. Mine was one of the smaller variety . . . as you can see.
After I completed the Tiny Ten on a recent hunt (found somewhere here!), I decided to create a thread with one post dedicated to each of my hunts for the ten antelope. This may sound a bit self-centered, and I apologize in advance if it is, but my intention, apart from memorializing to some extent my hunts for these magnificent little creatures, is to allow others to insert their own experiences of each one where applicable. So fear not, you won’t be hijacking the thread if you post details or pictures of your own hunts. The invitation is open.
Steenbok. Wintershoek Safaris, Northern Cape, Aug 13, 2011
I was on my first safari in South Africa - at Wintershoek Safaris Wag’n Beitje Lodge, when I saw what was, for me, the first of the Tiny Ten. It was a steenbok, running across a field some distance away. It would run, leaping, or perhaps bounding, from time to time, and then stopping to look back. But never for long. I asked my PH, John Tinley, what it was and he said a steenbok, an antelope I’d never heard of, and would I like to shoot one? I said yes, of course, but the one we had seen was long gone.
Early one morning, a couple of days later, we saw another steenbok, or perhaps the same one - they are reasonably territorial - and tried for a shot. I say tried, because I never got a shot. Not because the little fellow wouldn’t give me one, but because I couldn’t see him in the scope. It was a cold South African morning, typical for a Northern Cape winter, and every time I bent over my scope my glasses fogged up and I was unable to see anything, let alone shoot. John kept saying “shoot” and I kept saying “I can’t” although there were perhaps a few other, more descriptive, words inserted. I would look up, clear my glasses, look down, and they would fog up again. I found the situation extremely frustrating, and in those days I could go from calm to over-the-top frustrated in seconds. (I’ve since become a much calmer hunter, benefiting both my hunting and my relationship with my PH).
We never actually went out looking for a steenbok on that safari, which would likely have been the kiss of death (to my chances, not to the steenbok). But we did see one, one day, when it was warmer and my glasses less prone to fogging. And it did give me a shot, and I did miss . . . But not on the second shot. Steenbok down. I was pleased, not because I had gotten a steenbok - I was really looking for more glamorous game at that point - but because it had been the source of so much frustration and it was nice to put that past me. I really didn’t give the little guy much thought after that.
I hadn’t even heard of the Tiny Ten when I shot the steenbok, but John mentioned it, and I more or less forgot about it as we searched for other game. It wasn’t until I got back home that I actually took some time and looked up what that meant. I haven’t been able to determine who actually invented the concept, but the research I did indicated that if Peter Flack didn’t invent the term, he likely had more than anyone else to do with popularizing the concept. More recently, Craig Boddington wrote an article on the Tiny Ten and similarly gave Flack credit for spreading the word, and that’s good enough for me.
Steenbok aren’t particularly rare, although one with big horns is as rare as is any other, larger, species of antelope with big horns. Their range is quite widespread in southern Africa (and parts of East Africa) and while they can be hard to spot in even reasonably short (by African standards) grass, once they begin to move, they’re pretty obvious. This was likely a good place for me to start the search for the Tiny Ten - had I started on one of the harder-to-find varieties, I might not have become quite as committed to the cause. As it was, once I had read up on the species on the list, I decided that while I wasn’t going to book a hunt with one of these as a primary target any time soon, I would make a point of looking to get whichever of the list was available in any area I was hunting.
Little did I know that I would one day make these little fellows the main focus of a hunt, nor that I would have so much fun looking for each of them.
The steenbok shares its genus with the two grysbok (more on them later). There doesn’t seem to be general agreement on how many, if any, sub-species of steenbok there are - Carton-Barber in African Game Species and Subspecies (2017) says eight, while Wikipedia claims either two or twenty-four (!). Regardless, it seems most of the differences are in the amount of white found on the coats of each, so I decided not to worry about it.
The steenbok seems to sit in about the middle of the Tiny Ten in terms of size. It ranges in height from about 16-24” and in weight from about 15-35 lbs. I’d say a 35 pounder would be a giant among steenbok - I’ve seen many since I shot the first one, and never seen anything approaching that size. Horns range from about 3” to 7” but again, I haven’t seen any of the 7” monsters in my travels. Mine was one of the smaller variety . . . as you can see.
Mine was the blue duiker. It took three safaris in two different countries to finally take one. I have no idea how many hours I spent ghosting trails to finally have a "bull" in my sights with 
