Common Springbok hunting
300 hunting trips from 86 outfitters starting from $700
Where to hunt Common Springbok
The common springbok is the most widespread subspecies of springbok, the antelope that is one of the symbols of South Africa. It has a unique color, with yellowish back, wide horizontal stripes running along the body, and white underbelly with snow-white hairs reaching high on the sides and the haunch. Color phase variants, including copper, white, and black, are common, and SCI trophy books distinguish also between South African and Cape springbok. Common Springbok hunting is offered by outfitters in Namibia and South Africa.
Countries
Price distribution
The price of a Common Springbok hunt varies according to color phase. The regular color phase is typically priced between $350 and $500. A black springbok costs from $500 in South Africa to $1000 in Namibia. The white springbok is priced in the $800-$900 range in South Africa and $1,000-$1,200 in Namibia, and a copper springbok trophy fee is about the same. A combination hunt that includes all color phase variants, known as “springbok slam”, is usually priced in the $5,000-$7,000 range.
Learn more from our blog story
“I beheld the boundless plains, and even the hill sides which stretched away on every side of me, thickly covered, not with" herds," but with " one vast herd" of springboks; far as the eye could strain the landscape was alive with them, until they softened down into a dim red mass of living creatures.” wrote Rouaelyn Gordon-Cumming of the springbok “trek-bokken”, or migration, he witnessed in 1843. How did they hunt springbok back then, and how have things changed since?
24 Mar 2019 Good Times, Bad Times: Springbok hunting in Gordon-Cumming’s “Five Years in South Africa” and todayWhen to hunt Common Springbok?
It’s not easy to pinpoint the best times for springbok hunting. In many areas of South Africa hunting opportunities exist year round, and in Namibia from February to November. Springbok is one of the animals that don’t have a specific time for the rut, so this is not a factor either. If you have to pick a few months, that would probably be the end of the dry season.
Hunting methods All hunting methods (16)
Spot-and-stalk is the method of choice for springbok hunting. The hunter and PH cruising the concession, in vehicles or on foot, trying to spot a herd with an animal that will make a suitable trophy, and stalk it when one is found. Both sexes of springbok carry horns, and the females are actually larger than males, so finding the right trophy may not be easy. Fortunately, hunters are accompanied by a PH, who doesn't only notice such details with his trained eye, but also makes sure the hunter takes only clean, careful shots. Connecting with tiny vitals at long ranges typical for springbok hunting can be quite a challenge, so be sure to pack an accurate rifle for a cartridge with a flat trajectory.
Why hunt Common Springbok?
“As I rode along in the intense and maddening excitement of the chase, I felt a glad feeling of unrestrained freedom” - wrote about springbok hunting Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming, one of the first British hunters in South Africa. It might sound like madness for a modern city dweller now to make a journey to the other side of the world, only to harvest a 50-pound creature with little, lyre-shaped, horns. But most of the hunters who followed the tracks of Gordon-Cumming, although by airplane and 4wd truck rather than sailboat and ox-drawn wagon, will subscribe to his other statement: “I shall ever refer to those times as by far the brightest and happiest of my life”
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