Explain To Me Cape Buffalo Horns

[peras]

 

[johnnyblues]

Here’s an example of hard bosses. Took this buffalo with @KMG Hunting Safaris this past August.

 

[postoak]

Wow, that is a beautiful one and shows clearly how even an old bull can have clearly separated horns.

 

[BenKK]

Where are the best places to find the gene with the below-boss tips? That’s the aesthetic I like.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Good question postoak and some excellent pictures that got my heart excited to take another buffalo! Thanks guys! This may cost me! Maybe I’ll calm back down!

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

Rob, it is evident just from the appearance, and quick distinguishing between a hard, semi hard and soft bull comes with experience, so imperative to trust your experienced PH. Unless I misunderstood, I don't agree with what LvW said regarding the height of the tips. Sure, the tips of a Buff will drop with age, but it is not the sole distinguishing factor to age a Buff. The height of the tips has more to do with genes. Some Buffalo will never drop to bellow their bosses, no matter how old they are. I speak under correction, but I believe the Addo bloodline is known for that.
A Buffalo will also harden from the outside, back, towards the inside front. So, it is possible for a Buffalo bull to look hard from the back, but still soft in the front.
It always makes me more comfortable to see a Buff from the front, to be entirely sure, before taking the shot. If one does not have that luxury, and the Buff looks hard, at least from the side, the next thing you should be looking for is the Roman nose, which is only evident in older bulls, as well as the small dewlap that develops on these aged bulls.

Must say
I also disagree on the previous answer about the height of the tips
This is purely genetic

 

[Hutch01]

I shot a bull in Mozambique in 2014 that had 'tree bark' effect to the horns. Is this an age indicator?

 

[Dakota76]

Cape Buffalo Hunting

• Dakota76
• Feb 20, 2018

Hard boss bull.

 

[Soutie18]

Massive Solid head ,not a deep curl huge spread

 

[postoak]

That thing is a freak!

 

[C.W. Richter]

We in the U.S. have many metric tonnes of Soft Bosses in '22.

 

[fourfive8]

Usually easy to tell hard boss from soft boss bulls in the field. The oldest bull I’ve ever seen was not a scrum cap although some scrum cap bulls can be very old. This one was with two other dagga boys. Had the general appearance of a cow. Not very heavy, flat horn config. and not very wide. Moderate tip wear. Very wide space between the bosses. And crusty ox pecker poop dripping down everywhere with very little hair left on the face. And honestly not very attractive even with his obvious age. Many of the bulls posted in this thread are old hard boss bulls and excellent trophies at average spreads of 36-39 inches. Just a recommendation and my opinion- forget about the 40” stuff defining trophy buff. I’ve seen too many 40” plus bulls that simply are not trophies.

IMO, another thing to look for in a trophy buff besides heavy, hard bosses is a flattening profile of the horn’s cross section where it makes the curve at the bottom of the sweep.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

The late Phil Smythe was fussy about the buffalo he chose for his client's to shoot, the width was just what came, the first criterion had to be an attractive boss and horns. A good bull just looks right.

 

[BourbonTrail]

The bull in the middle needs a few more seasons to be an “old warrior,” but his conformation is almost right on the money for what I look for in a bull (bosses could use some mass)

 

[fourfive8]

I'll take liberty of using @peras' bull pic he posted (hope he doesn't mind ) which has all the things I would look for in a good trophy if I had such luxury of choice. Hard, solid bosses, tips slightly laid out and not poking up above bosses, bosses with good rough character, obvious "fattening' of horn cross section at bottom of sweep and a wide, flat top appearance to the bosses when viewed head on. It is one outstanding bull!, IMO.

Subtract maybe 4-5 inches of from each horn due to wear/brooming and add a couple of face scars and this bull is identical to one I saw with a small group of dagga boys at 50 yards on BVC 4 years ago. Hah! I wasn't hunting buff and all I could do is point my finger at him and say bang!

 

[C.W. Richter]

The late Phil Smythe was fussy about the buffalo he chose for his client's to shoot, the width was just what came, the first criterion had to be an attractive boss and horns. A good bull just looks right.

Hunting the Save a few years back, shots presented themselves after hunting hard for several days, and I had to make a quick decision between a 42" smooth, smaller bossed younger bull or a 37.9999" nice, gnarly-bossed and horned, deeper-curl daggaboy covered in mud (We'd seen him running away from us in the shadows a couple times earlier). He was clearly older and had more character (also the right one to take out.) That said, a couple days later (on the last eve,) my son got the 42"er. All's well that ends well...He kept his as a Euro mount due to his rather excellent (frontal) shot...