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NitroX
.700 member

Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39263
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...

Judging Water Buffalo trophy size
#31746 - 23/05/05 02:00 AM

I'm looking for tips on how one judges or estimates a water buffalo's horn size in the field.

ie multiples of ear length, horn width or thickness etc.

Thanks.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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500Nitro
.450 member

Reged: 06/01/03
Posts: 7244
Loc: Victoria, Australia

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: NitroX]
#31788 - 23/05/05 07:45 PM

NitroX,

Alan made a good point in the other post - you must judge horn size in relation
to body size otherwise large horns on a huge bodied buffalo can look small.

One thing I look for is when looking at a Bull directly from it's ass end, look to see how far they
stick out either side - how much you can see.

Thickness of bases is important.

Will probably think of others but other people on this forum
are probably better at judging than me.

500 Nitro

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Marrakai
.416 member

Reged: 09/01/03
Posts: 3491
Loc: Darwin, Top End of Australia

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: 500Nitro]
#31794 - 23/05/05 10:18 PM

I'm not buyin' into this one, its bloody hard. But when you see a really big fellow, you know!! Its helpfull to compare the apparent horn length against the length of the ear, this at least allows you to discount a smaller animal that may have appeared larger.

We talked about the big bulls running through the paperbarks with their head held sideways on another thread.
When the horns of a grazing animal reach up over its shoulders, I'm already stalking!

--------------------
Marrakai
When the bull drops, the bullshit stops!
--------------------------------
www.marrakai-adventure.com.au

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ALAN_MCKENZIE
.400 member

Reged: 24/03/04
Posts: 1214
Loc: Western Australia

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: NitroX]
#32648 - 04/06/05 10:25 PM

OK John,here is an example of two heads,both reasonable trophys.
Can you pick the differences between them and which one is bigger (SCI Measuring )

--------------------
"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949

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NitroX
.700 member

Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39263
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: ALAN_MCKENZIE]
#32652 - 05/06/05 01:18 AM

My guess is the bottom one is a cow as the horns thin (??).

SCI score is by measuring the circumference at the base or thickest part of each horn and also the breadth on the outside curve of each - right? (I don't really bother with scores myself)

My guess is they are almost the same. The increased length of the bottom one is offset by heavier weight and thickness of the top one and it is also more curved. The top one is also broomed on the right side (the bull's RHS).

A guess would be the top one is around 95 to 97 points and the cow (?) is about the same, maybe 95 points.

Could be completely wrong, of course. Without the body and body size I have no basis for comparison.

Nevertheless I would shoot that post. Never seen a four horned post before.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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4seventy
Sponsor

Reged: 07/05/03
Posts: 2210
Loc: Queensland Australia

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: 500Nitro]
#32659 - 05/06/05 09:29 AM

In reply to:

Alan (McKenzie) made a good point in the other post - you must judge horn size in relation
to body size otherwise large horns on a huge bodied buffalo can look small.

True enough, and also true the other way around where small bodied or dwarf buffalo appear to have much bigger horns than they really do.
Looking at one of these small bulls in thick scrub through a good pair of 8 to 10 X binoculars can be very deceiving as far as judgeing horn size goes.
Yeah, been there done that!

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NitroX
.700 member

Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39263
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: 4seventy]
#32665 - 05/06/05 01:06 PM

Come on Alan (4seventy) you need to have a go at judging these horns too. Don't make me look like the only twit to get it wrong.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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ALAN_MCKENZIE
.400 member

Reged: 24/03/04
Posts: 1214
Loc: Western Australia

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: NitroX]
#32710 - 06/06/05 10:39 PM

John,the top set are 92 0/8 Bull,circumference at horn base 16 6/8 and 16 16 2/8
Length of horn 30 4/8 and 28 4/8 ,total 92.

The cow at the bottom had 13 inch circumference at horn base and ended up 92 4/8 ...
So the cow ended up bigger by 1/2 of one inch..
Very deceiving especially when in the bush stalking one.
By the way good guess on size and other details,well done.

--------------------
"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949

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NitroX
.700 member

Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39263
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: ALAN_MCKENZIE]
#32726 - 07/06/05 09:34 AM

Alan

"good guess" - well as I was close I can now claim it wasn't all a guess.

I pictured the animals I have seen, swept back crescent or not, width, cow vs bull etc and those which looked good but weren't good enough last year. I think we saw a cow similar to those horns too and they can make a nice trophy as well if cheap enough to shoot (free).

Then I used the agricultural method and estimated the width of the post and applied it to horn length and circumference.

Except that gave me totally different results so I ignore the post width method.

--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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ALAN_MCKENZIE
.400 member

Reged: 24/03/04
Posts: 1214
Loc: Western Australia

Re: Judging Water Buffalo trophy size [Re: NitroX]
#32741 - 07/06/05 06:04 PM

OK I will rephrase my last comment.

John ,after taking everything into consideration you came up with a very good estimate.

--------------------
"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949

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