Waterbuck opinion

[Moe324]

Eventually I will write more about a horrible experience I had with a outfit in Limpopo. But right now I would like opinions on weather you think this waterbuck is a trophy. Would you be happy with your PH having you hunt it and never describing it to you. So after the shot this is what you see.

 

[Moe324]

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Not a trophy caliber waterbuck. Looks young to me.

HH

 

[Pablo]

Kinda hard to tell from that angle, but it looks young.

 

[spike.t]

Out of interest why didn't you see it before the shot....

 

[AB2506]

Sometimes crap happens.

My waterbuck certainly looked good as he stared at us out of the brush at 200yds.

However, he suffered from ground shrinkage. The outfitter/PH was quite disappointed, maybe more than I was. Was the waterbuck as big as I would have liked, no. Who pulled the trigger? I did. It looked good to me also.

Have you never shot an animal that was smaller than you thought?

"Would you be happy with your PH having you hunt it and never describing it to you."

Your waterbuck looked thin and fairly short. To shoot it, you had to have seen it. You didn't question the PH before shooting? You alone can make the decision to shoot, or not.

 

[Rare Breed]

Eventually I will write more about a horrible experience I had with an outfit in Limpopo. But right now I would like opinions on weather you think this waterbuck is a trophy. Would you be happy with your PH having you hunt it and never describing it to you. So after the shot this is what you see. View attachment 624446

Clearly an immature Waterbok. Having said that I don’t want to be critical. How was the experience in all ways…Camp? Food? animal opportunities? Quality of PH and owner? Was this a last minute dream animal for you? I just want to be fair to you and your outfitter

 

[BnC 04]

Appears young to me from the picture provided.

 

[Fixfire]

Appears young. PH should have seen well enough to advise not taking the shot - or waited until he/you got a better view of quality. If he slips away while evaluating, oh well, that’s hunting.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Horns look short, thin and tips are quite close. Body also appears to be that of a juvenile. I would not be happy about shooting this animal.

 

[K-man]

Agree that that is a young animal. Hard to complain, I shot an eland we couldn't see the head and had never seen the head. My P.H. told me - He is old, but I can't even tell if he has both horns!! As it turned out, he was a good one. But if he was broken or whatever I wouldn't have known. My trophy room has whitetail mounted in it I wouldn't even look twice at today, but 20 years ago that was the biggest one I had ever seen. Perspective.

 

[Moe324]

Out of interest why didn't you see it before the shot....

Hunted it for 5 days. It was the only male on the property per the PH. I never got a good look at it. PH told me it was a big male. I took his word for it. I said I don't need a 30" one just a good one. One day at dusk we say it in bush and I didn't stare hard at is as we tried to sneak off the truck. Then it came out boardside of bush with just head and neck sticking out. I had it in the scope but could only see one side of horns and was focused on where the vitals would be if it stepped out. On the day I killed it it stepped into road at dusk and PH said shoot it. When I walked up to it I saw it was not symmetrical and closed together. PH got pissed when I asked why he didn't tell me. Said it wasn't his job to tell me. He then said fine you don't have to pay for it. Then when we got to camp he said I was paying for it. I called the head of Professional hunters association of South Africa and he said it was a trophy animal and to work something out with the PH. The PH then told me I had to pay the cull price of $1500 on it. This was after a incident of him shooting a giraffe I wounded without my consent and then shooting it 2 more times damaging the hide and skull. I will be writing the whole story up soon.

 

[Fixfire]

Geez!!! Will you be naming names????

 

[BryceM]

Well, a wounded giraffe can be a huge problem…… so there might be a legitimate reason that happened. As for the waterbuck, stuff happens, sometimes. If it’s the only one on the property, and he knew exactly what it was, and it was portrayed as a nice waterbuck, and that’s what you ended up with…… well, that’s a bit of a problem.

 

[318AE]

“It was the only male on the property per the PH” would cause me to reconsider whether I was pursuing the right game with the right outfit. I’m sure there may be exceptions etc, but it would be something I would carefully assess. I hope your trip had some highlights and you get things sorted out.

 

[WildWill]

As someone who recently hunted waterbuck in Limpopo and was completely reliant on my PH to tell me what was a quality animal I would've been pissed. Seems like if he knew it was the only one on the property he would've known the size as well. Might of been his way of trying to get full price for a cull type animal. The more I hear about horror stories like these the more grateful I am for having found a quality PH on my first trip.

 

[wesheltonj]

Not a trophy, it's a cull. Sorry, that the property only had one male. I would have been pissed.

 

[Puddle]

I'm thinking to myself - self, why am I hunting the only bull on the property? Is there no herd? Why?

Hmmm...

 

[Mekaniks]

Does not appear to be a fully mature trophy....

BUT.... we got to have some more info before just placing blame.....
Did the PH tell you to shoot that specific animal?
Did they charge you full trophy price?
If they did charge you full price, did you complain or ask to have the price reduced??? If so, what was the answer?

There is lots of stuff that can happen in field and there are ways of rectifying some things when mistakes are made. How those mistakes are handled by both parties is important.....

 

[BnC 04]

Does not appear to be a fully mature trophy....

BUT.... we got to have some more info before just placing blame.....
Did the PH tell you to shoot that specific animal?
Did they charge you full trophy price?
If they did charge you full price, did you complain or ask to have the price reduced??? If so, what was the answer?

There is lots of stuff that can happen in field and there are ways of rectifying some things when mistakes are made. How those mistakes are handled by both parties is important.....

See post #12