top ten sable

stinkystomper · Aug 8, 2011

Thought I would post this pic again. I shot a sable this year that will be the new #16 in the world. When compared to a bull elk the #16 elk sci is 429! that means that sable was huge. Whats worse is that it was the last sable on quota for the year and the day after I shot the sable of a life time this guy ran across our paths literally. The PH and myself both knew this sable was bigger than the one I killed but as quota was filled he was taken off the table and I wasn't allowed to shoot him. Im thinking of going back to zambia next year and hunting this guy but I still love looking at his pictures. BTW the sable I shot was 48! were thinking this one may be pushing the 50" mark. That's like a 440" typical bull elk!

Here's the one I shot

littlejoe · Aug 8, 2011

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. Did you see a lot of Sable bulls? Good area for Sable where you were hunting?

llamapacker · Aug 8, 2011

Excellent sable. Congratulations!

Comparing SCI or Rowland Ward scores to B+C tends to be a bit misleading, but no doubt you shot a great sable. Thanks for posting.

Bill

stinkystomper · Aug 8, 2011

yeah i hear ya about misleading but how else can you compare an african animal in a way that north americans can understand what you are lookin at ya know? anyways I didn't see lots of sable. Lots of tracks but the grass was 10ft high. at one point the tracker was standing on top of the truck and said stop theres a sable. We replied "where?" He replied back to me staring at you from about 8 yards away. I pulled up my binos and peered into the grass at a glossy spot and realized it was an eyeball I was looking at. Took me for ever to see the friggin thing. The hunt was a blast though.

eldorado · Aug 9, 2011

Gorgeous sable. Congrats on a tremendous trophy.

Eldorado

CAelknuts · Aug 10, 2011

Stinky, that's a fantastic sable you shot. 99%+ of hunter who target sable on safari will never see, let along shoot, a bull as nice as yours.

I know how you feel about not being able to take that big bull. I shot a 45" sable in Zimbabwe, and several years later was hunting in Botswana. I did not purchase a sable license, on the logic that I already had a monster and I wouldn't shoot one smaller just to shoot another one. Well guess what? We were hunting near the Selinda spillway, and we came across and old solitary bull like the one you have in that picture. We figured him at 48-50", and I knew I'd blown an opportunity for the sable of many lifetimes. Opportunity seldom knocks like that, and for want of purchasing a license in advance, I lost out on that opportunity.

littlejoe · Aug 10, 2011

Have a buddy that has been six times and never killed one. Went to Zim last year and the quota was full and he could not shoot one and he saw several over 42" according to what his PH said.

Had another friend go last year to Zim and his number one thing was a Sable. He saw one good bull on almost the last day and was fortunate to get it. 42" or so if I remember correctly. He did not even know how big it was until they got up to it. In the really thick stuff and he listened to his PH on it and got rewarded.

stinkystomper · Aug 11, 2011

well all i can say is that sable hunting is an experience in and of itself. when u can only see 30 yards most of the time and u keep hearing your quarry run off it makes the hunt kinda fun. we had a bull about 42" that my ph said stayed in the exact same spot all the time. i'll be derned if he wasnt right. that sable gave me the confidence to pass on a few smaller bulls and on the se ond to last day when my bull came running out of the grass i nearly. rapped myself. i didnt know what i was shooting. all i knew is that he looked bigger than the so called tame bull we were saving for the last dAy. i was really hoping to take a 43" bull. my ph told me he thought my bull might go 44" when we walked up to him but was in total disbelief when the tape stretched to 48". noone in camp could believe what we got much less ourselves. it was a really exciting hunt to say the least.