When hunting species like zebra or gemsbuck does the sex of the animal matter to hunters?

[btheis13]

This is my Gemsbuck, and it was a female. The PH told me it's a monster, and we are going after it, then he said shoot, and I shot. He never said it was a female, and I found out when they took it to the skinning shed. I'm still very happy with this animal, regardless of sex.

View attachment 605928

It is huge! And unique, and a trophy.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

When hunting species like zebra or gemsbuck does the sex of the animal matter to hunters?

Gemsbuck females have longer horns than the males, but is it custom to only shoot the males?

Female zebras are larger and have the nicer hides, but should the stallions be target?

Are there any other species that the females are commonly harvested?

@btheis13
I don't know about female zebra being bigger
This is my stallion. Now he his beeeg.
My son's female gemsbok was a cull animal but she had nice 40" horns, where as the make I shot had 38" horns. The males were considerably thicker than the female BUT BOTH were good quality in my books.
Bob

 

[Doug Hamilton]

It depends not only on the desires of the hunter, but also the environment. On a fenced game farm, unless it is a put and take operation, a certain number of female animals will have to be culled to maintain proper herd balance. As noted, the longest Oryx tend to be female. In a true unfenced concession, unless one is hunting a specialty female target like a tuskless elephant or lioness, your PH will be working very hard to find the best representative bull of a given species he can in the time allotted. Oryx might very well be an exception if the client is focused on length. All the zebra I have taken were stallions and we worked very hard to insure that they were. I think the fighting scars give the rug or pedestal mount additional character.

I have only killed one zebra. It was a stallion. I was told it was a large one, and I never felt a need to.kill another one. This is the first time that I have read that zebra mares tended to.run larger than males. It sounds like you have shot more zebras than I have. Are the mares bigger?

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I may be past my prime, but I ain't dead....yet!.....so yes I find sex to be more fun than important. Just not as important as in my younger carefree years.

Since females are the only ones I hunt. I prefer to hunt at night at local waterholes between 11pm and 2am. Although I have been lucky a few times during mid morning and mid afternoon.

Oh, OOPS, my bad, your wanting opinions on hunting female vs male critters.

As for hunting in NA and predominantly after meat for the freezer, I generally go for the more tender female whitetails.

In Africa I prefer to hunt quality representatives of the species. Which usually means hunting rams/bulls.

However, on my last trip to Africa the outfitter/PH in Zimbabwe internationally or mistakening identified a young(?) female hippo as a bull and had me shoot her, she had a calf in the weeds on the other side of the river.

In RSA gemsbok was on my list and the gemsbok I was fixated on was a female from the first time I saw her.
Since the gemsbok was a female we passed on her; I never insisted on hunting her even though my PH knew she was the one I wanted. She has long symmetrical horns and big body.

We continued to hunt for a good bull. As time was growing short and no really good bulls were being spotted my PH checked with the concession owner. Since the gemsbok was an older female, the concession owner gave his approval for me to take her.

What was or might have been an easier hunt on day one, by day four it was a much more challenging hunt. Seems when she knew she wasn't on the list, she pranced around, modeling for the camera. Now she knew she was on the list and became more cunning and difficult to hunt.

Our focus was on her and she knew it. She kept along side or in thick brush, and inside and along side the rest of the herd preventing a clean clear shot. We hunted her from early mid morning till late afternoon. Finally as we started to give up for the day she gave me the opportunity for a broadside shot at around 250+ yards. Another 2 shots into her later and she was down. View attachment 605252

@Ridge Runner.
Fortunately I'm married so no longer need to hunt females. Like yourself I may be past my prime but it's no use hunting females it's far to dangerous. Besides that at my age my new midnight is now 9pm. After that I turn back into a pumpkin.
When hunting game in Australia it mainly for my freezer so it's usually a female or young animal.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

The original title was "Does sex matter?", or something to that effect. I thought it was genius.

@cash_tx
Sex is mind over matter.
If she don't mind it don't matter.
Bob

 

[hoytcanon]

You will likely have to make that decision on the fly. My Gemsbok was in a small group and they were steadily on the move. Had to make a choice quickly. This female was taken August of 23 with horns a bit over 40". View attachment 605235

And apparently you weren't happy about it...

 

[.300RUM]

I detect some sarcasm here,

Dang right I was happy, and my first ever African animal to boot.

 

[hoytcanon]

I detect some sarcasm here,

Dang right I was happy, and my first ever African animal to boot.

Smile, Brother... you are out hunting! You look like someone peed in your cornflakes.

 

[Hunt anything]

I prefer old bulls, I’ve only shot 1 gemsbok and he was definitely not the longest in the herd but definitely the heaviest.
As far as zebra go if I ever shoot one it will hopefully be a scarred up old stallion but with that being said it will probably never happen unless we find one that has been injured or something. My wife whom is extremely supportive of my hunting has put cats, giraffe and zebra off limits.

 

[Justbryan]

I prefer old bulls, I’ve only shot 1 gemsbok and he was definitely not the longest in the herd but definitely the heaviest.
As far as zebra go if I ever shoot one it will hopefully be a scarred up old stallion but with that being said it will probably never happen unless we find one that has been injured or something. My wife whom is extremely supportive of my hunting has put cats, giraffe and zebra off limits.

My wife did the same, but I have now shot many cats, a giraffe, and a zebra. She now wants another Zebra to mount. My first zebra became an ottoman. Oh, my wife was present when I shot the giraffe and she cried and was mad at me a few days. She got over it and we are still married.

Going against our wife's wishes may be more dangerous than hunting Elephant with a bow.

I too prefer old bulls and stallions.

 

[Hunt anything]

My wife did the same, but I have now shot many cats, a giraffe, and a zebra. She now wants another Zebra to mount. My first zebra became an ottoman. Oh, my wife was present when I shot the giraffe and she cried and was mad at me a few days. She got over it and we are still married.

Going against our wife's wishes may be more dangerous than hunting Elephant with a bow.

View attachment 612851
I too prefer old bulls and stallions.

So what your saying there is hope! I would like a zebra rug and absolutely love to match wits with a leopard one day! I was in on the preparation for a couple of leopard hunts in Mozambique and found the chess game with an old Tom fascinating.

 

[dchum]

I prefer old bulls, I’ve only shot 1 gemsbok and he was definitely not the longest in the herd but definitely the heaviest.
As far as zebra go if I ever shoot one it will hopefully be a scarred up old stallion but with that being said it will probably never happen unless we find one that has been injured or something. My wife whom is extremely supportive of my hunting has put cats, giraffe and zebra off limits.

Hmm so not “Hunt anything” haha!

 

[Hunt anything]

Hmm so not “Hunt anything” haha!

Touché

 

[C.W. Richter]

You can find some BIG male gemsbok in Namibia! 41"+ I believe their bases are larger as well. This one measured 39 3/4" on one side and 40 3/4" on the other! 'Got one in SA 7 yrs. prior and 7" shorter. I believe a 50" female was taken in Namibia. When you find one it appears to dwarf the (possibly) longer, thinner female horns. Also, regarding Zebra, the PHs there say R&W calls for stallions in the 13" range to be considered true trophies! (They do say that.) LOL I wasn't the official scorer on this Hartmann's, so I do not recall the measurement...