Judging Cape Buffalo

[Bearbait1]

How does a bull wear down it’s horns?

 

[John Telford]

Seems the easy way to solve for the flaw of the measuring / scoring system would be to require a bull to be fully hard in order to be eligible.

Or a mandatory 10 point deduction for a soft boss!

 

[Bearbait1]

TTT

 

[spoonieduck]

Accurate Buffalo Trophy Assessment

Being able to accurately assess the greatest outside spread of a mature bull buffalo’s horns is an essential skill all aspirant Professional Hunters need to acquire. There is a good reason for this. Along with a 100 pound per side elephant, and a 60 inch kudu, a 40 inch or larger, ‘greatest outside spread’ buffalo has long been the Holy Grail of ‘record book-besotted’ trophy hunters – so being able to recognize what a ’40 inch buffalo’ looks like is imperative.

View attachment 173786

This impressive set of 12 year old buffalo horns has a greatest outside spread of 40 inches. The straight line ear tip to ear tip measurement of the cardboard ‘ears’ is 32 inches.

Sustainable utilization is a concept essential for the conservation of Africa’s wildlife, simply because it provides the economic engine which drives such activities. And it is thanks to this now well-accepted concept that perceptions surrounding the trophy record books are changing. To be ‘sustainable’ in every sense of the word, the offtake of a small percentage of any wildlife population for hunting purposes must be conducted in such a fashion that these activities are financially, ecologically and genetically sustainable.

To be brutally honest – in these modern-day times where hunting is increasingly under pressure from the numerous animal rights groups, the demise of the “trophy record books’ is looming. In any livestock breeding or ranching situation, a farmer or rancher will put his best, highest-performing ram or bull to his carefully selected, most fertile female breeding stock, cross his fingers and hope for the best! This is known as selective breeding, the reasons for which are primarily to improve economically important performance traits. For obvious reasons, he’ll also get rid of all the poorer quality males before they get the opportunity to breed.

View attachment 173785

There is enough space to fit one hand’s width between the extended ear tip and the outside of the horn curve. If this can be done on both sides, it’s a good indication that the horns greatest outside spread is 40 inches. (32 + 4 + 4 = 40)

On the contrary, in a trophy hunting situation, the hunter invariably targets the best, most impressive looking, largest-horned males in a population while ignoring the supposedly ‘inferior trophy quality’ individuals. To make matters worse, many, if not all of the biggest and best-looking males are usually hunted while they are still in their breeding prime, or in some instances even before they have had the chance or opportunity to breed.

Removing from the gene pool all the better-than-average trophy specimens before their ‘superior trophy quality’ genes have been passed on allows bulls or rams of poorer trophy quality to breed and pass their ‘inferior’ genes on. Over decades, this practice has resulted in the inevitable – the gradual reduction of the population’s trophy quality.

Buffalo are by far Africa’s most popular dangerous game trophy species. They always have been, but for the past century or longer, trophy hunters have systematically been targeting all the biggest, most impressively horned bulls – and the consequences of such actions are now becoming increasingly evident.

Thanks to the wonders of modern-day technology, aerial photography in high resolution digital format and large crystal clear computer screens it is now possible to age and assess the trophy quality of all the sexually mature bulls in whole buffalo populations. Having an accurate idea of what is really out there, trophy quality and age distribution wise, changes the wildlife management ballgame completely because these techniques now allow wildlife managers to set, with genetic, ecological and financial sustainability in mind, realistic and achievable trophy quotas.

View attachment 173784

Part of a buffalo herd photographed from the air with modern-day technology. With the quality of high resolution images it is possible to age and trophy assess all the sexually mature bulls within such a herd.

It is generally accepted that well managed buffalo populations, in normal rainfall season times can withstand up to a 2% annual offtake without any detrimental long-term ‘sustainable’ effects, provided of course that the right class of bulls are hunted. The secret to sustainability then is to know which age and trophy size classes can safely be removed from a population without negatively affecting its genetic sustainability.

South of the Zambezi in 400 to 650 mm annual rainfall areas where buffalo naturally occur, such bulls become sexually mature in their fifth year but they will only be big heavy and strong enough, with a boss sufficiently hard to withstand the rigors of “test of strength” contests for dominance and consequently breeding favors by sometime in their eighth year. Such a bull’s breeding tenure lasts on average about three years. Bulls considered past their breeding prime are consequently those twelve years of age or older.

The buffalo bull aging process was discussed in a previous article. To recap briefly, by measuring the crown heights of the lower jaws two, first molar teeth, the buffalo’s age in years can be established. This information, when compared to other easily visible signs like boss development, horn tip sharpness, the extent of neck and shoulder muscling and the condition of the ears makes the live age estimation of mature buffalo bulls easy. With practice it is now possible to age live bulls to within a year. In some cases it is possible to get to within a couple of months.

View attachment 173783

When the aerial photographs are enlarged to this size, all the sexually mature bulls are easy to identify, age and trophy-assess.

To ensure genetic sustainability, along with age, the only other estimation required is that of the greatest outside horn spread – and this too is easy to estimate accurately when one realizes that the straight line, ear tip to ear tip measurement on a mature buffalo bull when its ears are ‘pricked’ and alert, is between 32 and 33 inches. The width of a man’s hand is roughly four inches. This means that a buffalo bull with an outside horn spread that extends a hand’s width past the erect and extended ear tips on both sides will measure 40 inches (32 + 4 + 4 = 40)

As previously mentioned, a bull with a 40 inch spread or better has long been considered a real ‘trophy’. But if the truth be told, such bulls in most safari hunting areas are these days few and far between. In some such areas only 4 % of mature buffalo bulls now fit into this trophy size category. The vast majority of bulls now fall into the category of having a 36 inch spread or less.

So where does this put things from the perspective of genetic sustainability? This question was the driving force behind the recently formulated Greater Kruger National Park Hunting Protocol (excluding the Kruger National Park where hunting is not permitted). The protocol now states:

The following categories of Buffalo may be hunted:

• ‘Classic buffalo bull’ – Unlimited spread, minimum age 12 years.
• Management buffalo bull – sub 36” (Rowland Ward) spread, minimum age 7 years, not a scrum cap or broken horn bull.
• Cows of 12 years or older, without dependant calves may also be hunted

View attachment 173782

A ‘Classic’ trophy bull – at least 12 years old and with a spread of about 38 in. Bulls this age are usually loners and they will have led a full and hopefully reproductively successful life. Their removal from the gene pool at this stage of their lives will have no effect whatsoever on a population’s genetic sustainability.

View attachment 173781

Bulls like this fall into the ‘Management’ category. This 8 year old bull has an estimated 35 inch spread

What this essentially means is that bulls with 40 inch or larger spreads can still be hunted – but only those 12 years old or older – in other words only after they have been afforded every opportunity to have led a full reproductive life.

The offering of discounted and younger, management bulls is an attempt to ‘right the wrongs of the past’. By removing such bulls from the gene pools before they get the chance to breed, and by allowing superior ‘trophy quality’ bulls every opportunity to pass their genes on, it is hoped that with time the trends of declining trophy quality in some buffalo populations can be reversed. Only time will tell if this will happen, but what is encouraging is that the will and the technology is now out there to make sure it does.

I may have missed it, but read no mention of boss wear. As a matter of fact, the old bulls pictured have rugged bosses. I am no expert in judging buffalo but can relate an experience. We were in the Zambesi Valley just after the war, and were in a location known as the 'Tunza Track.' We drove right up on a solitary bull who showed every indication of being blind. His boss was smooth and he measured 44 inches. The animal was covered with muliple scars and he was both battered and poor. We all agreed that he was ancient. My friend and I flipped a coin and my friend shot it. We would have measured his molars had we known that they are excellent indicators of age.
On the other hand, I've lived on a large Texas' ranch over 25 years and, despite everything I've learned, I still make serious mistakes in the aging of whitetail deer. Tooth wear measurements are basically worthless. I'll give you an example. The animal was a mature whitetail buck with good antlers. He scored in at about 140 inches. The average weight of a mature whitetail buck in my part of the country is 130-155 lbs, live weight. This guy weighed 225 and all without supplemental feeding. I examined his teeth using F W standards. The buck was an impossible 1.5-2.5 year old. Conversely, I've seen a few quite small 'young' bucks, with small antlers, that [using tooth wear] age over 6.5 years old. You can't win 'em all.
Also [personal opinion], I believe it difficult to shoot the genetics out of a herd. Yes, it could be done if you took thousands of years to achieve it but, given the relatively short time people have been hunting big horns, I doubt there is much danger. What does happen is that the biggest bulls get shot first, leaving bulls that are [generally speaking] smaller horned and younger. Keep pressure on the herd and you wind up with small horned bulls, most of which are relatively young. Yes, there will be a few old bulls among them with small horns, too, which could contribute to small horn genetics way down the road. Maybe.

 

[Mark.b]

How does a bull wear down it’s horns?

As a bull ages horn growth slows significantly and the horns are simply worn down over time through fighting, rubbing on brush, etc. Consequently, very old bulls often have very short horns, particularly those that spend most of their time in heavy brush country.

 

[cal]

Hunt the oldest Buffalo you can find, leave the tape measure at home. Easy as that. I've hunted many species in many countries and I can honestly say I have no idea what one of them measures. Its not important to me at all. The company you are with, the wildness of the area you are in, the amount of fun you have, the hunt itself, the clean kill and lastly an old trophy full of character to remind you of all the above are what you want. Well, that's what I want.

Having said that, if I hunt a big old Elephant one day I may just have a glance at the scales

I hunted this Buffalo in the Luangwa, Zambia with my brother and a great PH. The hunt was a dream come true in every way, this old trophy has pride of place in my living room. I'll post a hunt report with more photos at some stage.

 

[Philippe]

Hunt the oldest Buffalo you can find, leave the tape measure at home. Easy as that. I've hunted many species in many countries and I can honestly say I have no idea what one of them measures. Its not important to me at all. The company you are with, the wildness of the area you are in, the amount of fun you have, the hunt itself, the clean kill and lastly an old trophy full of character to remind you of all the above are what you want. Well, that's what I want.

Having said that, if I hunt a big old Elephant one day I may just have a glance at the scales

I hunted this Buffalo in the Luangwa, Zambia with my brother and a great PH. The hunt was a dream come true in every way, this old trophy has pride of place in my living room. I'll post a hunt report with more photos at some stage.View attachment 369524

Beautiful Buf ! Congrats

 

[Mort Hill]

Hunt the oldest Buffalo you can find, leave the tape measure at home. Easy as that.

+1

 

[Nyati]

+1

+1 and congrats for a great bull.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Hunt the oldest Buffalo you can find, leave the tape measure at home. Easy as that. I've hunted many species in many countries and I can honestly say I have no idea what one of them measures. Its not important to me at all. The company you are with, the wildness of the area you are in, the amount of fun you have, the hunt itself, the clean kill and lastly an old trophy full of character to remind you of all the above are what you want. Well, that's what I want.

Having said that, if I hunt a big old Elephant one day I may just have a glance at the scales

I hunted this Buffalo in the Luangwa, Zambia with my brother and a great PH. The hunt was a dream come true in every way, this old trophy has pride of place in my living room. I'll post a hunt report with more photos at some stage.View attachment 369524

Precisely!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

The most beautiful buff is the one with the blunt horn who would just as soon stick it through your thigh anyway.

 

[ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS]

Field Aging Buffalo Bulls

The recent Rigby competition and numerous comments at the trade shows, has led me to believe that very few clients know how to judge the age of a buffalo bull in the field. As we at Ndumo Safaris really go out of our way to target older than 12-year buffs, I thought some of you may find my pointers interesting.

First off, let me just say that the only way to determine a buffalo’s age with approaching 100% accuracy, is to measure wear on the back molars. People like Kevin Robertson has done great work in developing a graph that can be used to accurately plot a bull’s age against the wear on his back molars. Since this is difficult to do on a wild buffalo, here’s what I consider for when looking over a potential bull. (Like in anything else, there are some exceptions, and I will handle them under each pointer.)

Hard bosses

A fully mature bull obviously has a completely hard boss. And here I have to digress for a moment, as even this is not as clear cut as it seems. When talking to potential hunters at the trade show, it becomes clear that there is a general misconception to the definition of what a completely hard and solid boss is. Quite a few thinks that for a buffalo to have a solid boss, the two bosses must be fused together without any gap between them. Not so at all. Most mature bulls with completely hard and solid bosses have a split between the 2 bosses. Very few develop completely hard bosses that fuse when they are fully mature. What you should rather be looking for is soft tissue that has not yet developed into a hard, solid boss, especially on the front edges of the bosses. Also, between the bosses, while the bosses are still developing, there tend to be a lot of hair. Bulls younger that around 5 years, are just starting to become hard, and at around 7 to 8 years, most of the boss tissue becomes hard, with just the edges remaining soft. Thus, a fused boss is no indicator of age.

Here is a bull in the 12 years plus bracket with a “fused “boss, and a bull that looks like there is no gap between the horns, but in fact is only 6 to 7 years old. This bull was shot many moons ago in my uninformed days.

An example of an old bull with a clear gap between the bosses:

Exampes of an immature bulls, note the slight white between the bosses, and the front edges of the second buffalo's bosses, indicating a bull that's around 7 years old.

So now we can at least determine when a bull is older than 8 years old, but is that old enough?

Body mass and dewlap

At the age of around 7 to 9 years old, bulls become breeding bulls and in an ideal world should be left to breed. They start developing big, muscular necks and bodies from around 10 years old, especially in the early season with plenty of green grass available. They are easily distinguishable from the younger 7 to 8-year-old bulls, just by sheer size and muscular looks, the older bulls, around 12 years and older, also develop a distinct dewlap and a curved “Roman” nose. They stop breeding at around the age of 12 years, so tend to hang more with bachelor groups or prefer their own company. This is not to say that all bulls in a bachelor group are mature or old, as younger bulls also join these groups. Also, real old bulls may not be in a herd, but they may satellite a breeding herd for the added security. In dry areas, that they may have to walk far for grazing and water, they slim down quite a lot towards the end of the dry season. As they approach the age of around 15 years in such areas, they start losing body condition and are either killed by predators or just die of old age and general wear and tear. In wetter areas, they may live longer.

Example of Roman nose and dew lap clearly visible on these bulls:

Horn shape and wear

Horn tips that sweep back, horns that has not yet dropped at the bottom curve and sharp horn tips are all indications of younger bulls. Old, past breeding bulls tend to have blunt horn tips, the drop of the curve tend to be lower, the horn tips tend to not point above the bosses. This is not cast in stone, as genetics also play a role, and may be used as an indication only. At the age of around 12 years and older, they also start wearing their bosses smooth. You can clearly see the shine on the bosses as they become more and more polished and less and less of the grooves on the bosses becomes visible. This happens more in wooded areas than swamp areas, as the bulls wear their bosses smoother if there are more trees and shrubs in an area.

Examples of older worn horn bulls. Look at the blunt tips, and the smooth bosses:

Examples of bulls that are too young, note the sweeping horns, the high tips and the rough bosses. (Last 2 were shot as management buffalo).

Facial hair and ears

Really old bulls start losing facial hair, especially around the eyes and boss bases. Some areas (like again the swampy areas typical,) this is not so pronounced. I have seen bulls lose their facial hair at a younger age in Uganda, making it easier to make a mistake. Older bulls also tend to have more tattered ears.

Examples of facial hair loss:

Here's a bull from Uganda, that I aged at under 10 years old, note the amount of hair loss already seen on him:

As I mentioned, there are exceptions to all of the above. For instance, I have seen buffalo hunted by my colleague’s on South Africa’s ranch land that was aged at 16 years plus, which had rough bosses, sweeping horns, and no hair loss, making them look a lot younger. Remember that a lot of ranch buffalo are micro chipped when released, so the owners have a very good indication of how old they are without having to look at the molars of a dead bull. I contribute this to the fact that they obviously have a much easier life, having feed and water always available, and within short distance, plus no predators to speak of.
I know that these old bulls are not everyone's cup of tea, and when you are paying for the hunt, you do have a choice in what you want to hunt, but I really believe that all of us should target these old real dagga boys exclusively as trophies. They are not only cool looking, they are wiser, more difficult to hunt, and more cantankerous.
If you consider all of the above, and again, this is slightly area specific, you should be able to at least be able to determine that a bull is over 12 years old. Which, again, is the type of bulls we should all strive to hunt.

 

[Royal27]

Fantastic post!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Learnt a lot. Thank you Ndumo.

 

[VertigoBE]

That was very interesting, thanks @ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS !

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

Some good input on this topic and one that i always enjoy discussing... I have guided and hunted over 500 buffalo in Tanzania and confirm that each trophy is unique. I was brought up hunting old animals and from a very early age have instinctively judged every animal on wear & tear before judging size. Nothing like taking an old animal and working for it. They rarely come easy and as the saying goes - its the clever ones that grow old.

A good buff is an old buff - no two ways about it! A professional hunter should easily judge this from the boss and other factors such as body development, penis sheath, hanging testicles, posture etc. The important part of buffalo hunting is getting as close as possible so that you can make clear judgment and also have a clear shot.

It is crucial to assess the animal from the side and the front as angles can play tricks on anyone. A fully developed boss is a clearly visible feature of a bull and if you are familiar with buffalo hunting, easy to establish. Some are older than others, but the key is to avoid undeveloped bossed bulls as they are almost certainly still breeding bulls and part of a herd, even if not with one at the time.

Spread is judged mainly by the method explained by Jaustin. But in some genetic pools, like northern Tanzania, the buffalo are much more massive and therefore could be judged smaller than they actually are (which cannot be a bad thing). If the spread of the horn is a hand-width from the tip of the ear, then you can safely assume it is in the 40" bracket and any more than that, why wonder - get a good shot in!!!

I admire hunters who seek exceptional trophies and encourage the practice, but in my books, a young animal, unless harvested for special reasons, is no exceptional trophy. Stay true to ethical hunting and let the young ones develop to their full potential while keeping the population sustainable. Judge your hunting before your potential trophy.

Buff... where are you headed for your buffalo and will you be bow hunting? Cheers.

really enjoy the sentence in your post "judge your hunting before your potential trophy"

 

[Nevada Mike]

Here are two Tanzania bulls from this year's hunt... Older bulls with decent bosses.

This bull, not mine, was taken in Lukwati North in Sept. '22. He measured 52"! Huge norns, but a weird bull. No idea how old he was.

 

[geoff rath]

A great read, but haven't read it all; advice given to me was to pick the oldest-appearing bull in the bachelor herd, and LISTEN TO YOUR PH!!

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

Definitely not old enough, I would have to assume (knowing Mike) that he was injured or had a snare. Or some other problem. Absolute tragedy otherwise for this bull to be killed, makes zero sense.
Your two bulls are very nice!! Congrats!
My best,
Jaco.

Here are two Tanzania bulls from this year's hunt... Older bulls with decent bosses.

View attachment 502955

View attachment 502958

This bull, not mine, was taken in Lukwati North in Sept. '22. He measured 52"! Huge norns, but a weird bull. No idea how old he was.

View attachment 502959

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

I differ there
That bull is a good age
Sometime buff horns develop weirdly. I reckon that bull would never ever develop a boss mich like a cow
Maybe he had different hormone levels or something similar that just made his horns develop that way

I have seen a cow at tallyho with horns that appear almost soft. They hang straight down and dont curl at all and the angle they hang at differs