Blue Wildebeest - Cow or Bull?

**TStone** · 14-02-2021, 15:56

It can be very difficult telling bulls from cows (if you don't get to spend a lot of time looking at them) when dealing with blue wildebeest. The only real way to do this is to look at the shape and thickness of the horns. While trophy bulls are not difficult to identify, telling young bulls from cows can be a challenge. I will post a few photos trying to show the difference.

The first two are a young bull and an adult cow, both broadside on.

**knipmes** · 14-02-2021, 16:31

I agree. Difficult if they are standing in the shade in the bush. Sometimes you do not have time to determine if it is a bull or a cow. I am not ashamed to say that I shot a few "bulls" which changed into cows when I got to them after the shot.
With B/W/ beest my viewpoint is to shoot the one that presents the best shot. That is if you are not looking for a trophy

**TStone** · 14-02-2021, 16:47

Originally Posted by knipmes

I agree. Difficult if they are standing in the shade in the bush. Sometimes you do not have time to determine if it is a bull or a cow. I am not ashamed to say that I shot a few "bulls" which changed into cows when I got to them after the shot.
With B/W/ beest my viewpoint is to shoot the one that presents the best shot. That is if you are not looking for a trophy

If you only hunt during the traditional hunting season, this is a good solution. Cows taste better than bulls anyway. The problem is that when you hunt while cows still have dependent calves, you want to make very sure that you shoot a bull. I have made my share of mistakes too.

**treeman** · 14-02-2021, 18:36

I am so good at this W/Bees sex ID that I surprise myself.

Sometimes I am surprised at the correct answer, and sometimes I am surprised at how wrong my answer was.

Last week end I was on a game farm (Olive Woods) and just for fun when we spotted a herd of W/Beeste Cody and I tried counting the bulls. We did not battle much at all, and counted 1 big bull and two young bulls out of 13 animals.
When we were back at the lodge, I let it slip that I had counted 3 bulls in the mt top herd, ( Ya know, just so that the farmer knew I knew what I was doing, you know like impress him with my skills).

The old man laughed in friendly manner and told me that there was only one bull in the herd and that was because the big bull killed any other male rather quickly.Kind of let me know everyone gets it wrong - not to feel bad. So I was wrong 2 out of 3.

The following day we went to see if there were any W/Hog on the mt top flat ground and found a dead W/Beeste calf, a young male. I radio'd it in and got the reply that there was only one bull, it must be a female calf. I said I would bring the balls back.

My boy (13 in 26 days time) must be getting older, I told him cut the balls off, lets go, we still want to find a hog and he replied "will you daddy? I don't like doing that"

. "Just doen't feel right"

The testicles caused SOME discussion, I said 3, he/they said 1 - we had a dead male ?
Latest discussion had the words "there is definitely only one now" in it.

I see the bag, I am glad.

**driepootx** · 14-02-2021, 21:49

Took out a youngster to shoot his first blesbuck. The farmer drives us to within 80m and says - shoot the white ram on the left. The 303 does its job and the buck goes straight down.

The farmer was very surprised to find no gonads. He was a seasoned hunter and even he made the mistake up close.

**DaavG** · 15-02-2021, 08:32

TStone no penis sheath visible - is that an age thing? That's my usual go to

**TStone** · 15-02-2021, 14:00

Originally Posted by DaavG

TStone no penis sheath visible - is that an age thing? That's my usual go to

With gemsbok and eland that is the way to go, with blue wildebeest not so much. I'll look for some more pictures to demonstrate this but a blue wildebeest bull's penis sheath can be very hard to spot.

Interestingly, all black wildebeest, both bulls and cows, sport a tuft of hair, exactly where you would expect the tip of the penis sheath to be.

**TStone** · 15-02-2021, 14:03

Originally Posted by DaavG

TStone no penis sheath visible - is that an age thing? That's my usual go to

No doubt about this one being a bull, still you need to look really carefully for the penis sheath and even then I would not really trust it to make the call.