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Abstract
The African buffalo is considered the classic African trophy. It is the choice of many hunters who will never go on to hunt any of the other dangerous game animals on the continent. A good trophy is perceived as that of a mature bull with a hardened boss and horn tips that lengthen into sharply pointed hooks. However, indications are that these are the bulls in their breeding prime and there is concern that the continued targeting of these individuals will negatively impact on the population dynamics of the herds, ultimately affecting the sustainability of buffalo hunting. As they age and become postreproductive, the horns broom down, reducing the trophy score under the current measurement systems. A new measuring system is needed that encourages hunters to target the older post-reproductive bulls, instead of those that are still breeding. A random sample of trophies was divided into broomed and non-broomed sub-samples. All key parameters that can be measured in the trophy were measured with a view to identifying the parameters that would allow broomed-down individuals to compete favourably with the non-broomed “classic trophy” in the primary measurement systems, those of Safari Club International and Rowland Ward. An index, created through dividing tip space by the mean of the two individual horn lengths proved to serve the purpose. This factor was then applied to the mean of the SCI and Rowland Ward measurements in the samples. These methods allowed broomed horns to score more points in the record books than non-broomed horns. Boss width and boss space are other possible measurement inclusions that could be considered.
Highlights
The African buffalo has always attracted attention, because of its value as a member of the ‘big five’, and because of its spectacular qualities from the sportsman’s point of view
The additional parameters measured were used to explore indices that would change the profile of “trophies” in favour of older broomed-down individuals. The importance of this exercise is to demonstrate that trophy measurement parameters can be employed to score sport-hunted trophies that encourage hunters to select for older post-reproductive animals
Working with the tip space measurement, it was decided to create a factor with this measurement and the mean of the two individual horn lengths
Summary
The African buffalo has always attracted attention, because of its value as a member of the ‘big five’, and because of its spectacular qualities from the sportsman’s point of view. Buffalo are unpredictable and difficult and dangerous to get close to, so the true spirit of hunting—fear, fascination, and a test of the hunter’s skills—is the main reason why every dedicated hunter desires to devote a period of his or her hunting career in pursuit of the finest trophy (Grobler 1996). Buffalo bulls reach sexual maturity at 4–5 years (Estes 1997), but the trophy is still ‘green’ at this stage and not of much value as a trophy. The trophy reaches its full potential when the boss hardens to form the so-called armour plates, and the horns are fully grown out to form the characteristic hooks. At this stage the points are still sharp and well formed. Authors estimate age at 7 to 12 years in contrast to Sinclair's (1977) visual estimate of 5 to 10 years of age
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