Hunting The Situatunga

The hunting of the spiral horned antelopes is a noble pursuit of magnificent creatures regardless of the species, country or the environment. They're all incredible in their own way.

- Steve Ahrenberg

The hunting of the spiral horned antelopes is a noble pursuit of magnificent creatures regardless of the species, country or the environment. They're all incredible in their own way. Whether their specific uniqueness comes from colouration, horn configuration or perhaps their endemic environment, they're all special to me. Given the choice to go back and hunt any of one them a second time, the decision might prove difficult.

By starting with the simple process of elimination, I will remove all the kudu, bushbuck and nyala. They are all fantastic hunts and spectacular trophies in their own right but are normally considered secondary animals on most safaris I've done. I’m sure that there are collectors who may travel to remote and difficult places to take one, but for the most part they are an opportunistic pickup on a larger safari bag.

The Elands. As is the case for the kudu and the bushbuck, eland hunting for Cape, Livingstone's and Patterson's (East African) are typically opportunistic hunts. However, that wouldn't hold true for the Lord Derby's eland. It’s most always the primary animal or, at worst, the second of a major split bag trophy hunt. For this reason I will leave the LDE in the running.