Black & Blue Wildebeest

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littlejoe

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Kind of slow in the forum right now so I thought I would post some pics of my Black & Blue Wildebeest.

I have to admit that the Black was not high on my list until a couple of months before going when I came to realize that they are not everywhere like the Blue's.

They are the clown of Africa for sure. They remind me of a bucking bronc in a lot of ways. Always running and bucking and on the go.

There was not a tremendous amount in the area I was but we were able to find this bull and take him at just over 200 yards. I was surprised when I walked up on him how light his body is in color. I thought they were black honestly. Tail like a horse. But the head is way cool; white eye lashes and whiskers and the hair on their nose and neck is always standing. Very glad I was able to take when while I was there.

We did hunt the Blue's and track them and track them and track them some more. This bull is not big in horn size. He has great bosses, the best we saw on the safari but overall is not a monster by any means but still I am thankful to take him. His demise was the dark color of his hide. He was significantly darker than any other Blue we saw. The PH told me that he was an old bull with really good bosses and the decision was mine.

We tracked this group of a long ways and it just never seemed to work. Finally we snuck in and caught they moving along the edge of a small hill. It was quite thick and the bull was weaving in and out of the many cows when he finally stopped behind a tree. The only thing visible was the left shoulder and his neck. My PH told me to hold as tight to the tree as possible without hitting it and let him have it if I was confident in the shot. I pulled the trigger and then all heck broke lose. There was over 100 Blue's running in all directions. On the impact he jumped straight in the air and took off. By the time we got to the tree where he was standing the herd had run through there and there was zero blood there or anywhere else for that matter. After circling and attempting to track for quite a ways we split up and I was lucky enough to find him piled up under a bush. What a relief!

All of my horns and hides are in North Dakota and should be in route home by the end of next week. I am excited to get hold of them again.
 
Beautiful specimens. I'm more partial to the blue wildebeest with their dark blue coats and white beards.

Eldorado
 
Congrats on a couple dandies. I love to hunt blue WB, but just can't get over how ugly black WB are and have no desire to shoot one. Just personal preference, I guess. Preddy wants one tho, so guess I have to at least tag along on the hunt in May. Bought all our plane tickets and am raring to go!
 
I like the Blues as well, I love the brindle coats. Just can't bring myself to shoot a black but you got a nice specimen of each.
 
I was not going to shoot a Black either. Sure glad I did. If you get a chance do it. You won't regret it. They truly only have a face a mother could love.
 
The hunt for the black wildebeest, as mentioned earlier, is usually not particularly difficult, but interesting all the same. These animals remind me a lot of caribou. One minute they may be grazing contentedly, and the next they take off running for seemingly no reason. 20 minutes later they may up and run nearly back to where they started. No rhyme or reason, at least so it seems. If you have seen a resident caribou herd being bothered by flies, it is much the same. Nobody ever said caribou are particularly tough to hunt either, but it still is fun. If you are in the area take the time to shoot one, but having done this several years ago I probably won't shoot many more.
The Blue, however, is a lot more fun. Commonly called the "poor man's buffalo", they can be a lot of fun to stalk in the thick brush. While not as dangerous as buffalo, the herd dynamic gives you some feel of what buffalo hunting is like without the high price tag. I would happily spend more time chasing blue wildebeest if I was in their area.
Bill
 

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