We have put together everything you need for Kudu Hunting in South Africa. Bowhunting, Rifle hunting and general info included.
You will get specific details about bowhunting and rifle hunting methods.
At Clearwater Safaris, we have 27 species roaming free. Springbuck, Buffalo, Giraffe, Gemsbok (Oryx), Nyala and many more..
Kudu Characteristics
Latin Name: Tragelaphus Strepsiceros
Weight (Female): 200 kg
Weight (Male): 250 kg
Gestation Period: 8 months
No of Young: 1 Calf
Birth Weight: 16 kg
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Horns: 125 cm
Breeding: A single young is born anytime during the year with a peak in late summer
Kudu Hunting - Bowhunting
Equipment information
A minimum arrow velocity: 245 fps
A minimum arrow weight: Minimum arrow weight of 380 grains (gr).
Draw weight: 50ft/lb
Broad heads: Suggested broad heads for bow hunting roan in South Africa would be a minimum of 75 grains (gr) to 125 grains (gr).
A cut on contact fixed 3-blade broad head.
Rage II mechanical broad head.
A fixed blade 2-blade broad head with bleeders.
Shot placement
When hunting Kudu, shot placement is paramount. The high heart/lung shot is best. Bring your sights directly up the foreleg about one third into the body. This shot effectively takes out the plumbing from the heart and your kudu will not go far. A little higher will take lungs, the Kudu will go down eventually, but you might have to do some tracking at first. If you intend to use the Kudu for biltong, placing your shot just behind the shoulder should be effective hitting the lungs.
Rifle Hunting a Kudu
Equipment information
Hunting kudu with less than 7mm or .270 caliber rifles would not be recommended. Not especially tough, the larger calibers are not considered necessary, however, with tongue in cheek, we remind you that “you can often be under-gunned, but for all intents and purposes, there is no such thing as having too much gun”.
Roan Antelope Information
For most hunters hunting kudu remains on the top of the list. He is probably second only to the impala as Africa’s most sought-after plains game trophy. The Kudu is strikingly beautiful, with long spiral horns that set him apart from all other of the antelope species. The ‘grey ghost’, as he has been nicknamed, sports a coat of pale-grey to brownish-grey with white vertical stripes down the flank. He has a distinctive white chevron marking between his eyes, which set off the very long spiral horns carried only by the bulls.
Apart from lacking horns, the Kudu cows look very similar to the males. Their ears are quite prominent and beautiful. Both sexes display white beneath the tail and have a conspicuous hump on the shoulder. Hunting kudu is best accomplished in the bushveld, where leaves, fresh sprouts, seedpods, and fresh grass are abundant.
The kudu tends to roam in family groups of 6 to 12 individuals comprising mostly out of cows and calves. The bulls only start joining the herd during mating season.
Kudu show strong sexual dimorphism in that bulls bear massive, long, spiral horns which reach record lengths of up to 1.8 m. Horns grow to their full length at the age of six years. Bulls also attain much larger sizes than cows.
Bulls can weigh as much as 300 Kg with a shoulder height of 1.4m and cows weigh 210 Kg with a shoulder height of 1.25m. Tawny-brown to grey-brown coat, marked with white stripes on flanks which vary greatly in shape, size and pattern. V-shaped band on forehead and white spots on cheeks.
Image credits: Wikipedia
