Trust your PH

I cannot express enough how impressed I was with my PH. The guy was absolutely phenomenal in every way. Top notch in all regards. You absolutely have to trust him. He knows what he is looking at. I will give you an example.

I went with Blaauwkrantz and they are known for their Kudu. I was on a ten day safari. We saw a minimum of 15-25 Kudu bulls a day and I did not shoot one until Day 9. We passed 300+ bulls before I shot one. I saw dozens I thought were great and would look great on the wall and Barry kept telling me to just keep looking. I was beginning to wonder in the back of my mind but he was 100% right and in the end I shot two fantastic bulls. One on Day 9 and the other on Day 10.

I hunted a Cape Grysbok and a small one is 1 1/2" and a large one is 2" plus. I am thankful I did not have to make that call at 100 yards but we passed some and ended up taking one over 2". What a stud.

The PH will absolutely make your Safari and mine was top notch in every single way.

Trust him and you will never regret it.

The Kudo is what I'm really interested in . I have looked at pictures and have noticed titles that say " Greater Kudu " is there two different specis of Kudu ?

Do you haver any pics of your Kudu ?

I was hunting Eastern Cape Kudu in South Africa.

Greater Kudu are farther north.

Blaauwkrantz, where I went, is known for the largest concentration of Kudu in the world.

I have not posted pics on here yet and if you want to see them go to www.gettinstokedoutdoors.com FORUM AFRICA and you can see all my pics and stories.

I will try and get them on here sooner than later as well.

They are an amazing animal. I will have to try and shoot one on each Safari.

Great advice littlejoe.

Foundation:

There are actually 4 species of kudu with the greater kudu being the biggest. I hunted in the Limpopo region of South Africa. Due to genetics and high mineral content, it had the biggest greater kudu in the world.

I kept wanting to shoot one and like littlejoes ph, mine kept telling me to pass. I was told anything over 50" was a great trophy. Mine ended up at 54". I was very happy. We actually saw one that was 60". That would have been a once in a lifetime opportunity. Kind of like shooting a 400" bull elk! (at least that was what people told me)!!

A big Eastern Cape is 50". We saw one that was 54"+ but I did not have my gun and he was 414 yards and the PH and myself were not willing to take the chance.

My first bull was around 47" and my second one was just barely under 50". I was ecstatic with both but my PH was very very happy with the second. The first one was great and a worthy trophy but the second one was really really special.

Absolutely great trophys littlejoe!

Still smiling from ear to ear about it. In the process of making a photo book with stories before I forget stuff. Very thankful I kept a journal with yards, position, weather, food, etc. A few things I already forgot.

Keep in mind that some properties in the East Cape have imported Southern Greater kudu and tell their clients they are huge cape kudu. Also, the multiple varieties of kudu is really and SCI phenomenon. Rowland Ward lists two species of kudu, the Greater Kudu and Lesser Kudu. SCI lists more species, but that goes along with SCI's philosophy of recognizing as many sub-species as possible, to thereby create as many record book categories as possible. A good cape kudu is anything in the upper 40's, while that is not a good trophy in many areas where southern greater kudu are found.

The best southern greater kudu generally come from South Africa (especially Limpopo), Namibia and Zimbabwe. The biggest kudu I've ever seen im my life was in northern Botswana, easily a 58" bull with huge mass, but I'd already shot a much smaller kudu in the Kalahari desert a couple weeks earlier, at my PH's advice but against my wishes (we actually argued about it, and he was adament that I shoot it as he said it was very good for the kalahari). The 58" bull would have been a chip shot, as he was standing at about 75 yards, broadside. I'll never forget the vision of that giant bull.

Hell with freeze over before I'll take a safari targeting such novelties as copper springbok, black springbok or any of the other genetically manipulated species that were created to cater to the SCI market.

I personally want to take a Common, White, Black and Copper Springbuck. I think they are amazing animals, genetically manipulated or not.

Where I was at is the greatest concentration of Kudu in Africa. Blaauwkrantz is very well known for their Kudu.

I cannot wait to go back and add hopefully a greater Kudu to the list. They are an amazing animal no matter what species they are.

Most all licensed PH's are very professional and well trained. They are generally a credit to the industry.

Best piece of advice I can give is to pay attention when your PH gets excited. They are all human. They see lots of really nice animals, but when your PH gets visibly excited, you better be ready to shoot. It won't happen often, but I'll never forget a warthog I shot in RSA. I wasn't even interested in warthog at the time, and was hunting Nyala. The PH started blubbering about a warthog, so I pulled the trigger. At over 17" inch tusks, it is a warthog to remember.
Bill

Very much agreed. There were a few I took that I could definitely tell were top tier type stuff just by the reaction of the PH and tracker. My cameraman was ecstatic that we got the Vaal Rhebok on film and he was huge as well and that helped.