Trophy Hunting Blesbuck

The blesbuck lives on the open plains of the South African highveld. Primarily grazers, they form herds consisting of females (ewes) and juveniles, while the males (rams) tend to be solitary. The neck and top of the back is brown, darker on the flanks with a white belly. A small white blaze on the forehead and a larger blaze below is usually divided between the eyes. With both sexes carrying horns, care must be taken when hunting blesbuck to ensure that you take the animal of choice. The best time for hunting blesbuck is while they are grazing in the morning or late afternoon. Like many other species, they tend to lay-up during the hottest part of the afternoon.

Hunting blesbuck on the plains of the Free State can be challenging, as your shots may need to be quite long. The blesbuck shares a common behavioral characteristic with his cousin the bontebuck – that of standing together with heads facing toward the sun and faces low to the ground. He sometimes shakes his head violently, stamps and runs in a complete circle only to resume his original place. As available water is essential to this specie, hunting blesbuck near the approaches to water holes can prove productive.

This once near-extinct antelope has been reintroduced on the game farms of southern Africa and boasts a population somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. American hunters can rely on their favorite whitetail deer rifle when hunting blesbuck . Calibers like the .270 or .300 magnums with bullets of 130 to 150 grains give excellent results for longer shots out on the plains. While hunting blesbuck in the bush, you may want to select a heavy-for-caliber round nose bullet. As always, the aim point is critical; place your shot by following the rear line of the fore-leg about one third up into the body which will strike the top of the heart and the lungs. If he does not go down, he will not go far.