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.

 

[uplander01]

I have a Africa book colllection and read a lot, I think without question 100 years ago there were a lot more big elephant bulls with upper double digit ivory walking around, seems like the going rate for a trophy class bull now is 60lbs +/-, I admit I don’t travel in the crowd of guys that do a lot of elephant hunting. Plains game on the other hand all around I think is being managed better now than ever before. A 40” sable pretty readily available in the wild, 55” kudu pretty common, not so much in hemingways days. I’m only speaking of wild areas,…anything can be achieved in fenced enclosures just like whitetails

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Tanzania has some pretty huge elephant bulls. As a matter of fact, most Tanzanian game are quite impressive.

 

[uplander01]

Tanzania has some pretty huge elephant bulls. As a matter of fact, most Tanzanian game are quite impressive.

Quite possible sir. I have also heard that post covid some big jumbos were getting taken in Botswana….again I’m on the very outer fringes of that crowd so….there are probably some fellas on here to speak with much more authority