Has the "old Africa" better trophies?

[VINOYASADO]

Looking at the old photos here in the forum, I get the feeling that before there was more quality in the trophies, especially ele...

Is it like that or am I wrong?

 

[Hunt anything]

Elephant most definitely! I’ve looked at a lot of the old stuff and with the advent of game farming and the shrinking of quotas for most plains game I would say the quality of the trophies today have a slight edge. That being said many of the old photos may have been meat hunts. There would normally be a lot of so-so heads with one or two giants mixed in. Just my non scientific observation.

 

[375Fox]

Interesting to think about. For elephant definitely. The average ivory weight decreases each year. However for buffalo I’d say there are significantly better trophies taken today than previously. You look at a lot of older photos even up to 20 or 25 years ago, taking younger higher scoring bulls was common. The definition of a trophy buffalo has shifted to older bulls with a priority on age. For PG, I think the quality is consistent. The best areas may shift and populations change, but the trophy quality is consistent. I’d actually suspect are many more big kudu taken today than in past just because the numbers are much higher than the recent past in many areas in places like Namibia and South Africa.

 

[steve white]

Farmed PG, well the sky is the limit, what with breeding and we haven't really maximized mineral supplements. There could be freaks in the future, as with whitetails.
Elephant, sadly yes.