How do you judge a trophy Black Buck?

I've never really hunted or shot a Black Buck but I've seen a lot of them on a HF ranch I cull hunt on. They sure are one of the most beautiful exotics running around! I was on a doe hunt when this one hung around the feeder for about an hour. How would you judge him? If you count curls, how many is on this one?



What do they taste like?

A trophy is in the eyes of the beholder. What one person considers a trophy others may not. What do you consider a trophy? Myself I consider any animal I take a trophy.

This is same for me. The one I shot tasted wonderful

Looks pretty darn good to me!!

Opinion:

When hunting a blackbuck, people look for color and straight tape length.

This guy has a solid black front and sides that go from black to brown to tan. That is a great indicator of a trophy animal.

Regarding curls, he has four curls. His curls are pretty long as well. He would probably measure 21 inches plus straight tape, most likely putting him gold medal SCI. He also has desirable width, probably 19 inches or more.

Almost everyone, except a few naysayers on this forum, would call this guy a true trophy!


With that being said, a trophy is animal that makes your heart jump when you release that arrow or pull that trigger!

SoberHunter hit the nail on the head here.

a 20" blackbuck is like saying a 30" aoudad or a 150"+ LF whitetail. They're all trophies.

If you do thump one take good care of the meat, to date it's in the top 3 game meats I've ever eaten.

When I guided black bucks, anything above 18" straight tape was a trophy.

That’s the standard we went off of.

The one in the above pic is a shooter but he’s not really black.

We always tried to find a mature male. The one in the pic either isn’t around does or he is immature still

If you are high fence ranch hunting, or the animal has been moved a lot, or they don't have does, how black the animal is will differ. For exhibit A, see this 22" straight tape, 22" wide beast of a blackbuck that has almost no black!

Look on " Wildlife Buyer". There is a 23" one for sale.

For me, personally, I want a jet black buck with 20” straight tape horns. I like the colors as much as the horns.

High fence has nothin to do with it nor how they are handled or how often.

Black is dependent on testosterone and they need does to get it revved up.

He is up to $3500. Auction ends at 1 pm today.

I disagree 100%. Some of the darkest blackbuck
I have ever had was a group of 5 males. I didn’t have a doe within 10 miles of them.
Age , season , genetics and testosterone all go into making them dark.

I realize I don't know squat but want I have seen is that time of year and age are the two things that make a dark BB. And another thing I have noticed is that some will never get real dark. But if you want a good dark coat the same with Mouflon do your hunting in the Winter.

X2.....I have 5 Males that I moved across the Road to another Pasture, the only thing with them are Mouflon Rams and Axis Deer, those 5 turned blacker than my Breeder running with Females....

In my opinion....it’s all about color and tight curls. The OP’s photo looks like a nice dark buck and has nice tight curls, probably 17-18”. However, he has 3 curls, not 4. He is a very nice, respectable buck!

Most people judge them by straight tape measurement....which is ironic because the straight tape measurement means absolutely nothing when scoring one for the record book (if you’re into that sort of thing). Official scores are based on the measurement around the curls....which means tighter curls and heavy mass result in a better score. I shot a buck a few years ago that had 4 curls and heavy mass....he was only 18” straight, but measured 27” around the curl. He would score higher than a lot of 20”+ bucks with loose curls and thin horns.

Personally, I don’t like the way loose curled Blackbuck look at all. I believe it’s a result of poor genetics that took hold in Texas decades ago. When you look at photos of Blackbuck in their native range (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka)....they always have very tight curls.

I see lots of people paying a lot of money to shoot “trophy” Blackbuck that have only 2 or 2.5 curls with very loose and thin horns....which in my opinion are ugly culls. But to each his own.