big buffalo pics n size

stinkystomper · Apr 9, 2012

So let me start out by saying all you guys on here really really really SUCK! especially billc. africa hunting is the coolest invention since sliced bread and this forum is completely dead.

That being said im excited about my upcoming buffalo hunt. I'm being told we have a really good chance at a buffalo between 42 and 43" wide. I'm wondering if you guys wont mind posting up pics of buffalo you have killed along with thier size. Seems like I have no idea about buffalo size. I see some bulls that my jaw hits the ground when I see. Then the hunter tells me its only 38". Others I shrug off as one I would never shoot and then I put a tape on it to see it is a 43" buffalo. I'm more into shape than width on buffalo so I'm wanting your opinions if you don't mind. heres a pic of two buffalo that were taken on the place in zim where I will be hunting. What do you guys guess they will measure? I was thinking something like 46" to 48".

so what are your guesses and please post up some pics with the known size if you guys don't mind.

Buckhunter1955 · Apr 9, 2012

This buffalo is only 36" but he has a good heavy Boss, and for the area in Mozambique he was well above average. I saw wider Bull's but over all this was the one I wanted to kill after seeing hundreds.

billc · Apr 9, 2012

You must just miss me and my loving ways.If you want to talk and do some manly bonding just send me my airline tickets and info on that buff hunt your donating to me.Did you by chance look at that post on ah with the full body mount nyala he has a croc mount if you go to his site.

wetmule · Apr 10, 2012

Stink here's a few nice bulls that I've photographed over there in recent times. First pic is a dream bull IMO.

CAelknuts · Apr 10, 2012

Stinky, I don't want to burst your bubble, but I'm guessing that top buffalo at around 40" or so, and the 2nd buffalo at 37-38". Also, note that the second buffalo appears to have soft bosses, which show as whitish coloration at the center of the boss. That is the sign of an immature buffalo bull.

Now, for the buffalo of many lifetimes, look at that absolute monster that wetmule has posted. That top buffalo is probably 48-50", but look at those hooks and super heavy boss. THAT is an incredible buffalo. 2nd pic is about a 34" bull on the left, and a wonderful bull that'll probably go around 44-46" on the right. That bottom bull with the oxpecker is probably around 33-34" and appears to be a young bull.

There is so much more to a buffalo bull than just spread. How deep are the curls? How massive is the boss? How long are the tips, and so on?

Figure around 32-33" from ear tip to ear tip as a good starting piont when judging buffalo.

Where are you going hunting? A 42-43" bull is one hell of a fine trophy for anywhere, even in most of Tanzania. If you want mid-40's buffalo, you should be hunting in northern Tanzania, especially around Tarangire Park in the late fall.

wetmule · Apr 10, 2012

LAST EDITED ON Apr-10-12 AT 11:58PM (MST)[p]A few more Buffalo.... I'm no expert but nothing I've seen or photographed comes close to that first exceptional jumbo bull. Buffs are so cool! Good luck on your hunt!

stinkystomper · Apr 11, 2012

What I want in a buffalo is one that has massively wide boss's and hard all the way through. I do see the immature boss's you are talking about now. I want one that dips down deep and curls up hard and hooks in. I also want one that carries mass all the way through to the tip and has horns sticking out past his ears on each side at least 5" or so. I guess I just have no clue how to judge buffalo.

I will be hunting about 2 hours south of bulawayo in zimbabwe near john sharps safari concessions. I forget the name of the place. John sharps doesn't shoot buffalo that I like but the safari company I booked with gave me the option to jump to the tuli block in botswana and then to another concession in mozambique if we cant seem to find a suitable buffalo in the other places we hunt. Were going to the lowveld of zim for me and my wifes leopard and then from there just hop around for a few weeks kinda touring the concessions of africa and trying to find some exceptional trophies. This is going to be the coolest anniversary I think I will ever have. Thanks a lot for the pics guys. these buffalo really get me going. Knowing my luck I will shoot a 28 incher thinkin hes a monster. after missing the size of those buff I posted I think I need to calm down a little more.

stinkystomper · Apr 11, 2012

wetmule's first buffalo pic is gonna give me wet dreams. Were just gonna have to see how it goes. Terra says shes gonna shoot a bigger bull than me so I guess we'll see.

littlejoe · Apr 15, 2012

Jim Zumbo said about elk that any elk is a good elk. I think that holds for Cape Buff as well. Any mature bull is a good bull. My good friend took the biggest buff in Zim a couple of years ago and it is 43" and massive, etc. He has several buff in his collection and they are all unique and special in their own way. By far at the top of my list but just not been able to do it yet and still a few years down the road.

CAelknuts · Apr 24, 2012

Wetmule's five recent pics show 4 very nice mature bulls, and one immmature young bull. The top bull is excellent,moderate drop to his curls, good spread, a very nice bull. The 2nd bull, while he has a fully developed hard boss, is very flat across the curls, and his spread isn't that wide, probably around 38" (which, by the way, is still a good buffalo in this day and age), buffalo #3 is one I LOVE. He's a big old bull with large boss and that broken/broomed horn adds a ton of character. I've seen a few bulls like that, but never shot one among my 6 buffalo. I'd love to shoot one like that for my next bull. Buff #4 is a youngster. His bosses are soft, and there is still a large gap with lots of hair between them. He needs probably another 5 years before he looks like those others. The fifth bull is a dandy, good bosses, nice enough drop, wide spread, large curls with long tips still. I'm guessing he's a mid-40s bull, the stuff dreams are made of.

I'd shoot bulls #1 or #5 in a heartbeat, and in most areas you'd be very fortunate indeed to take such a bull. Bull #3 lives in many areas with large buffalo populations, and he's the kind that some hunters would never shoot, while others crave bulls like him.

CAelknuts · Apr 25, 2012

One thing that you may want to note among the big, old bulls in these pictures is how some bulls have bosses that are grown fully together and tight to each other, while other bulls, despite having fully developed, hard bosses still have hair between them as they never grew all the way together. This is a genetic trait I'm told, and you tend to find one or the other characteristic in certain areas more than the other. The bulls I shot in Deka, which is next to Matetsi and Wankie Park, had bosses the grew right to each other. The bull that I shot in Charara, up near Kariba, had a large gap between his bosses despite being a mature bull. I shot two bulls in Botswana and they both had a little gap between their horns, in between the Deka bulls and Charara bull in amount of gap.

This is something you'll want to note, as the degree of gap and amount of 'white', soft boss is of particular important in judging the quality of a bull. You DO NOT want to shoot any immature bull with soft bosses, regardless of his spread.

Buckhunter1955 · Apr 27, 2012

LAST EDITED ON Apr-27-12 AT 08:23AM (MST)[p] CAelknuts how about some photos of all these bulls you've taken. I'm sure we would all love to see them.

CAelknuts · Apr 29, 2012

Let me see what I can do. All the photos are old, but I'll figure out how to scan them or something and put them on. Might take a few days, but I'll try. Since they are dead buffalo, it is easy to give spreads and such.

CHWine · Apr 30, 2012

How about modern pics of trophies or skulls?

Venison and Zinfandel are GOOD!

txmuley · May 5, 2012

don't get hung up on width, much more than width on buffalo, kinda like muleys - we shot 16 buffalo, several were over 40", but hands down the coolest of the bunch was "only" 38" - he had extemely heavy bosses and dropped down very deep, i personally didn't really like the very old worn down bulls and passed on alot of them, nowadays those are considered the true "trophy's" but they didn't do much for me, some of the truly old bulls would only tape about 35" because they were so worn down

CAelknuts · May 6, 2012

TX, I agree, there is a LOT more to a bull than just spread. Hey, if anyone can help me post some pictures, I've been having a hell of a tough time getting them to load onto my computer for some reason so that I can post them. If someone can help me I have a few pictures to share.

stinkystomper · May 9, 2012

email the pics to [email protected] and I will post them

heres a buffalo skull that was at the sci vegas convention. This is what got me to thinking I needed a euro mount buff skull. This bull was killed on the border of the kurger. Its boss's were right at 21" across. Its spread was 49". It was an absolute monster!

scottyboy · May 9, 2012

I remember that skull.
It was right near the entrance.
It is a twin to the bull my good friend took 6 months ago. His also came from the Kruger boundary area, only on the Zimbabwe side.
He even thought it WAS his bull when we walked in on Thurs morning! (at the time, he had yet to collect his crate Stateside)

Helluva bull. Has it all for sure.

Me, I like crusty OLD worn down bulls. They get me going more than spread or boss size. If he's got those attributes, even better. But age is my primary factor in looking for a shooter buff bull.

------------------
DRSS

stinkystomper · May 9, 2012

I would post the pic of me holding the skull but I made him look like a 38" bull. Yes you are right though. He was just to the left as you walk in the main entrance. I'm gonna get one that big someday before I die..... OK maybe im smokin crack but at least I can dream right?

CAelknuts · Jun 5, 2012

Can someone give me an email address that I can send some buffalo pics to in order to have them posted? For some unknown reason, I cannot download pictures from my computer. Yes, I know how to do it, I've done it many times but I think our Citrix system is somehow blocking me from posting the buffalo pictures I wanted to share for this thread. I've got a few of live bulls, and some mounted heads and skulls to help stinky with his judging skills.

llamapacker · Jun 6, 2012

Dan,
I sent you a PM with my e-mail address. I'd be happy to post the pictures.
Bill

stinkystomper · Jun 6, 2012

[email protected]

llamapacker · Jun 7, 2012

Some of Dan's pictures:

CAelknuts · Jun 7, 2012

RE: big buffalo pics n size

LAST EDITED ON Jun-07-12 AT 10:41PM (MST)[p]Thanks for posting those for me. That top bull is a 39" bull that I shot in northern Botswana. Note how far apart his bosses are. Even though they are fully hard, and he was an older bull that broomed his tips, his bosses don't come near to each other. That seemed to be a characteristic of buffalo in that area. (Yes, that is hanging in the garage next to another buffalo skull, as you can see from the junk).

The second bull is the first cape buffalo I ever shot, and ironically, the only one I've ever killed with a single shot. That bull is 41 1/2" with a 12" boss. If people wonder why buffalo hunting gets in your blood, this bull is the reason. We were tracking a group of 6 bulls on foot, and a couple finally seperated from the others. We crawled in thick brush right up on them, and this bull turned and fed right in front of me. At 13 yards, he paused with a mopane treee covering his shoulder and swung his head to look right at me as I knelt with my .458 on his shoulder. Roy Vincent, my PH, was kneeling right beside me, not saying a thing. The bull broke to run and as soon as his shoulder cleared the tree, I sent a 500 grain Hornday soft into his shoulder. Roy yelled that I missed as the bull had no reaction to the shot. We got up and ran after him, only to see him literally do a flip as his nose dug into the ground and his rear went right over the top. Only bull I've killed with one shot.

The third bull went 42 1/2" with a 15"+ boss. Note that his bosses are not even, as the right side is heavier than the left. Those last two bulls were shot in the Deka Safari Area in Zimbabwe. Nowadays, it's pretty tough to find bulls like that in most areas of Zimbabwe, but they still exist if you hunt hard and are lucky to find one.

I hope these help you guys a little more with judging skills.

just_a_hunter · Jul 19, 2012

RE: big buffalo pics n size

LAST EDITED ON Jul-20-12 AT 01:45AM (MST)[p]Here is my 43&3/4" bull.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n32/papsblueribbon1/impalabuff001-1.jpg

Todd

CAelknuts · Aug 4, 2012

RE: big buffalo pics n size

LAST EDITED ON Aug-04-12 AT 01:39PM (MST)[p]Here are some live buffalo pictures I took a few years ago and was finally able to load

Nice bulls, what do you guys think they go?

CAelknuts · Aug 31, 2012

RE: big buffalo pics n size

I really like this photo I took, had trouble downloading it till now. How would you like to be looking at this fellow at 20 yards?

CAelknuts · Aug 31, 2012

RE: big buffalo pics n size

Here's are a couple nice buffalo that Ernest Dyason and Koos Moulder of Spear Safaris took with their hunters in South Africa.

This last bull isn't very wide, but you might never see a bull with a bigger boss.