Age of Animal - Meat Hunting.

[treeman]

Cow or young bull for unbroken meat - biggest animal I can find for biltong Droe wors. That said I battle shooting cows - I suffer from a heavy dose of responsibility for consequences of my actions and this whole thing of leaving a calf to starve to death bothers me much and many a day after shooting a cow.Shooting a cow would usually be after hunting a area for a bull and seeing a cow for long time or same place for ages without calf, I can usually convince self that my actions are then "ok".
BUT -------------------that feeling is always there , " hope I get a big one".
I am almost certain its a human survival ancient instinct because you ask any child first hunt hunter and you will get same answer " I hope I get a big one".
Would be nice to educate peoples otherwise, put less pressure on the trophy animals.
I can almost imagine someone like Driepoot just getting pleasure watching and passing a real big one by, some thing I did a lot of last year after getting a big one early and seeking a young bull only after it. Much watching with out hunting it, and of course they walk right up to you when you not hunting it - much muttering about that.

[Messor]

@T-stone

If you don't understand why people are reluctant to take small animals begin with the fact that shooting for fine dining is NOT normal, it's not one of our evolutionary traits.

Hunting brings risk of injury and time better spent elsewhere, all our ancestors gathered as much meat as possible in the smallest amount of time possible. All parts of the animals was used and preserved for further use. Take the Indians of north America, they did NOT only take what they needed, contrary to belief, when the herds crossed their paths they took as many bison as possible. All materials used of course, but they did not only shoot some small animals for tonight's meal. The notion of selecting a sub adult animal because it's got more tender meat for tonight's steak braai is not a normal concept. Humans work on the principle of resources, we see a bigger animal of having more worth, when in fact a bigger animal IS worth more in money terms.

But one must not confuse the two issues, in modern times each animal have value, we pay as such. In olden days the focus would have been on acquiring a bigger source of food, aka resources. Looking for a bigger animal when hunting, if one ignores trophy hunting, is not as stupid as it seems. There are many things people do but cannot explain, but this one is not a hard topic, only a hard to understand topic for city folk that's got no leg to stand on when trying to justify hunting. Say the words out loud, to yourself, "I like to shoot young animals because they are so tender". Now please think of how that would sound to the anti folk, or normal city dwellers in general. Many people do not even take big animals, because that leaves them with more animals to hunt on a trip, totally against normal evolutionary behaviour.

Just saying, this topic, like most hunting topics, have answers, sometimes we just don't like the answers to our own questions.

[TStone]

Just saying, this topic, like most hunting topics, have answers, sometimes we just don't like the answers to our own questions.

Maybe you are right.

[Digby]

T, I think the reason why people go for the biggest animals on most game farms is because you pay for the animal. If I had to pay per kg I would also shoot the younger animals.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yip. 2 of the farms I am hunting on this year have kudu up to 35 inch at R3k and R3.5k, 35 to 44 inches R4.5k and over 44inch R5.5k. It then becomes a "game" to try and shoot just shy of the next price bracket to minimize R/kg. I have never analysed the average body size difference between a 34inch bull and a 43 inch bull so I am guessing the R per kg maths makes sense. If comparing a 25 inch bull at R3.5k vs a 43 inch bull at only a R1000 more, it seems to make sense to spend the extra 1000 for the extra meat, especially if largely wors and biltong.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[pre 64]

Digby...Generally speaking,it is impossible to correlate the weight of a Kudu bull by the horn lengh. A 34" bull could very easily outweigh a 43" bull.
A few chaps i know can look at a Bull through binos and be pretty close on weight estimation,but these are chaps that spend every day of their lives in the veld.
A good indication is ....the thicker the neck...the heavier the carcass.

[Digby]

Digby...Generally speaking,it is impossible to correlate the weight of a Kudu bull by the horn lengh. A 34" bull could very easily outweigh a 43" bull.
A few chaps i know can look at a Bull through binos and be pretty close on weight estimation,but these are chaps that spend every day of their lives in the veld.
A good indication is ....the thicker the neck...the heavier the carcass.

Good to know...contrary to this I would have just based which bull to go for based on my original post I.e. bigger horns, likely more mature and therefore bigger...something to ponder. I suppose akin to a 24 year old man potentially having more muscle mass than a 44 year old, without the grey hair/horns...body size growth plateaus but hair/horns keep going?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Againstthegrains]

I am one of these people that work my own meat and am quite particular about what I do with each animal. Normally after the first few cuts, I can tell what I am going to do with it. If you take a sliver of each muscle cut across the grain , and simply eat it raw, if it melts over your tongue like a soft steak, then I often land up using the sirloins, fillets, and most of the big muscles on the leg for steaks. If the animal is tougher, then I use those hind leg cuts for biltong, or other processed products.

My experience over the years, has been that a young male animal is the best eating. Just after it has bulked up a bit, but not too over the top. A 1 turn kudu is great. i find the meat from the females a bit bland. Also in a bad year, the older animals often fare worse, as their teeth are not as sharp as the young animals and they struggle to get enough nutrition from the bad veld.

There are still two issues which plague me, and that is the unpredictability of the above rules. A mate of mine shot a massive kudu bull the other day, and maintains that it was the most tender animal he has eaten in years. By the same token, I have shot a young Eland bull, and have been quite disappointed at how tough the meat was for an Eland. I also never seem to be able to predict which of the animals will have that strong game (wee wee) flavour, that can be a bit off-putting. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the sex of the animal or whether it was badly shot. It seems to be a bit of a mystery.

[wynand.dewinnaar]

Digby...Generally speaking,it is impossible to correlate the weight of a Kudu bull by the horn lengh. A 34" bull could very easily outweigh a 43" bull.
A few chaps i know can look at a Bull through binos and be pretty close on weight estimation,but these are chaps that spend every day of their lives in the veld.
A good indication is ....the thicker the neck...the heavier the carcass.

Good advice. Hoping to see a thick neck younger bull in August when I hunt.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Antlion]

Had an opportunity to shoot a blue wildebeest earlier this year. Price was per kilo so ended up shooting a young specimen. Excellent meat for the pot, every one thoroughly enjoyed it. After this I will be more specific as to the age of the animal.