Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Plains game, which species typically are the tougher hunt

As I am impatiently waiting on my 2014 safari, I am trying to determine what my wish list of critters will consist of. That brings me to my question. Which animals typically provide more of a challenge/hunt? It seems like the quest for some animals could be more of a shoot than a hunt. That may not be a correct statement as I have never set foot in S. Africa but based on the safari shows I have seen, for some species that is what is perceived. Like most hunters the quest and pursuit is what fuels us. Yes we sometime enjoy tagging out on the first day or enjoy the luck in a unique situation where we think� I can�t believe that animal was there�.

I would be curious which animal is typically the most challenging plains game to you and does that make it your favorite to hunt? If it is not your favorite to hunt, what is your favorite to hunt and why.

For me it was Eland, Wildebeest and Zebra in that order. I think it depends a lot on your situation and luck. Pretty much everyone says that Eland are pretty wiley though.

Mike

My favorite is definitely eland. At least the way we hunted them; by following a set of tracks. Lots of walking, which I enjoy, but the main source of enjoyment was watching the PH/Tracker team at work, and contributing/participating in the track with them. Beautiful animals, very good eating, and you work for it. Pretty tough combo to beat! Gemsbok are right up there as well.

Good luck!

Jeff

For plains game, the Kudu, the grey ghost of Africa, is definitely #1 IMO. Nyala is a close second. Others would be; mature warthog, bushbuck, blue wildebeast and waterbuck. An impala is always a good way to start.

Thanks for the memories. donsm70

Eland have to be in that discussion. Properly hunted, they are one of Africa's great plains game trophies. They also may be the finest eating of all plains game. A proper eland hunt involves tracking them on foot, though many are spotted from the truck and a short stalk results in a shot opportunity too.

I've had eland on license over the course of 3 of my 4 safaris, totalling 44 days with an eland 'on license'. I've seen eland on two of them, but have still not had an opportunity to shoot a bull I'd like to take. They do make a wonderful quarry, and one of these days I'm sure I'll take a splendid old 'blue' bull.

For more "attainable" PG species, probably Vaal Rhebok or Klipspringer. Tough to get to and they live in potentially hazardous surroundings.

Bongo, Lord Derby Eland, and Mt. Nyala for the higher-end species. The costs involved to hunt these three make the difficulty level go up.

I can tell you what are not a particular challenge to hunt. They would include Impala, Warthog, Wildebeest, Zebra, Blesbok and Springbok.

I've never tried for Gemsbok, Kudu, Eland, Waterbuck or Nyala but have seen many, except for Eland, that I could easily have shot.

For me, the harder ones to find when you're looking for them, are the smaller antelope like the Vaal Rhebok, Grysbok, Klipspringer and Springbok. I've taken all of the latter with a handgun.

My feeling is, it depends on the situation. What's tough for one, may be a gimme for another. Also, are you taking just a "mature specimen", or looking for a book trophy? I took 7 head of plains game, on my 1st hunt, in RSA, in 2008. I thoroughly enjoyed each animal. My favorite was my wartie. I looked at about 150 animals, before I pulled the trigger.


maddog

Hartmann's zebra

I don't think this is an easy answer.
Sable are known as easy hunts but my was one of the most challenging hunts I have done.
The environment and conditions an animal learns to exist in can make for some very "learned" quarry. The survival mode that it takes to survive in some places can lead to some challenging hunts. I have tracked animals that would circle to catch your wind. On my sable hunt for example when followed a very "learned" sable would lead us into a herd of other sable. This would end up with us bumping in to the other group scattering sable everywhere.
The better question might be which areas are more challenging?

I will be hunting in the Waterburg area of nothern Limpopo

On my two trips to RSA I found the black springbok and the blue wildebeast to be difficult. The black springbok was with a group of eland. We were busted many times. It took all day to get within shooting distance. We had to dodge ostrich with their keen eyesight. The blue wildebeast was in low bush veld in a large group. Lots of eyes and noses to detect harm. The gemsbok can be tough to hunt/stalk. If you are detected they run immediatly. Enjoy your hunt. It will be an adventure. MTG

Eland, Kudu, zebra, gemsbok....in that order for me...

Guys please tell me what it is about eland? Again I know probably all my perceptions will change once I do get to Africa and go on my first safari but Eland does zero for me from an intrigue and desire factor. I guess because when I was growing up my best friend�s family were ranchers and all I think about when I see eland is those brahma bulls in their pasture.

Has a lot to do, too, where you are hunting. You mentioned, in this instance the Limpopo, and I haven't hunted that area. But did hunt East Cape last year, and can be touch, as mountainous, and hunted in N. Namibia and LOTs of scrub brush, etc., same with parts of Zim, but in S. Namibia is desert and no cover at all, so a shoot from the truck, most of the time, proposition. We took Sable in Rhodesia and it was walk and find them through tracking, etc. They didn't seem overly spooky to me, and stood there, a lot of the time, while you got your shot off. As one person remarked, too, depends if you're looking for book stuff, but will usually see so much game, that waiting for the book size no problem. Just don't shoot the first thing you see. Tell the ph you want something book size (and hope they know how to determine that).

My one safari left me thinking gemsbok were the most difficult. I killed kudu, warthog, impala and blesbok while trying for gemsbok. Several blue wildebeast, zebra, eland, waterbuck and several other species could easily have been incidentally taken while searching for just one gemsbok. I finally got one in the last 1/2 hour of light on my last day.

Maybe it was a coincidence (sample of one safari) but this sure was my experience.

I'm with you on Eland-trophy wise- they don't do a thing for me...too bovine. JMHO....However as quarry they are superb...spooky, sharp, long-winded...they will have you walking/tracking your azz off
They are good game. Saw some big Livingstones in double canopy Miombo forest in ZIM I would have LOVED to track and hunt, but we were after Buffalo at the time...
Shot an Eland in Namibia....

Brahma is what most hunters say when they see eland and to each his own. When someone says I want a good blue bull I start breaking out in a cold sweat because those big beasts are difficult to hunt. When you hear the clicking of the bones in the knuckles when they approach you have to be real quiet. When the bush breaks you have been busted which is most of the time.

They have a slow lope that takes them a mile away in a few minutes and you have to start all over again. Milling around in their herds it is difficult to get a shot at a big bull.

Eland are also one of the species that move around the most on a property. A herd you encounter in the late afternoon will most likely be a few miles away the following morning from where you saw them.

One of the most difficult animals to hunt certainly must be the vaal rhebok. Living in the mountains it has an eye sight beyond belief and to get a shot at one is an achievement in itself. Again, the vaal rhebok is certainly a very small animal with no distinct features, yet a true trophy to have and in my opinion the most difficult to hunt.

Eland and Hartman zebra.

Eland are traditionally hunted by cutting a bull's tracks at dawn and then walking him down. They are extremely wary and a lot can go wrong on that walk. Nothing quite like trailing a group for six hours and then have a wind shift which sends them off on a straight line to the next country. They can be ambushed at a waterhole or shot off the back forty of a small game farm, but a free range tracking effort is a memory for a lifetime.

The Hartman in its native range will try you as much as any desert sheep hunt in North America. You'll crawl up and down mountains trying to get in range of a small herd. They too are very wary and their habit of abandoning the flats at dawn means they are high where they can see during the majority of available shooting hours. Unlike most of African shooting opportunities they often will challenge your ability to hit a target way out there.

Two very challenging plains game species.

Good lineup.

If they have spent time in the bush and are not recently released on a game farm, the Kudu can be a real challenge. Nyala and bushbuck are hard to hunt. They stay in or very close to heavy cover.