What animal is this?
Contributors to this thread:Hogs
From: Buffalo1
18-Jan-20
Can someone name the species that these horns belong to? They are about 18” tall.
I do not believe they are black antelope as the horns do not have spread style of that species nor the spiral formation. The are twisted like that of a bushbuck but are narrower and shorter than that animal.
Also, they are not some type of taxidermist trickery or humor lick a jackalope.
From: Ned mobile
18-Jan-20
Markhor I think
From: Ned mobile
18-Jan-20
From: bghunter
18-Jan-20
I would agree with Ned. Markhor
From: Bou'bound
18-Jan-20
Very large dik dik I think
From: milnrick
18-Jan-20
Could be a bushbuck.
From: tembow
18-Jan-20
nontypical unicorn
From: No Mercy
18-Jan-20
Markhor
From: PECO
18-Jan-20
I don't know, but I did an image search for Markhor, and your picture doesn't look like a Markhor to me. I do know I now want to go hunt a Markhor though!
From: LKH
18-Jan-20
blackbuck? bushbuck?
From: JohnMC
18-Jan-20
Not a unicorn a dosicorn
From: Boreal
18-Jan-20
Kudu - nontypical.
From: milnrick
18-Jan-20
Definitely not a black buck.
From: Bake
18-Jan-20
Small lesser kudu?
From: t-roy
18-Jan-20
I’d say a Bukharan Markhor.
From: Woods Walker
18-Jan-20
Maleficent!!!!
From: PeteO
18-Jan-20
Hahaha woodswalker I thought the same. Definitely one character in that movie with very similar headgear. I think it looks more like a lesser kudu than Markor.
From: Overland
18-Jan-20
Absolutely not a Bushbuck or Blackbuck. Also not a Kudu. Very cool horns!
From: t-roy
18-Jan-20
Is this it?
From: The last savage
19-Jan-20
A cool one...
From: Sitting Bull
19-Jan-20
Lesser Kudu
From: Halibutman
19-Jan-20
There is about a 0% chance it’s a Markhor of any variety. Those things are tough to come by. Tough to fathom anyone leaving just the horns laying around.
Where was it? Who had it? Context might help solve the mystery.
Looks like the horns are ringed like a black buck and have a ridge to them like a bushbuck.
Could be an old head of a species that’s no longer hunted?
From: AZ~Rich
21-Jan-20
Odd variation, but my bet is that it’s an unusual lesser kudu. Certainly not a Markhor though.
From: sticksender
21-Jan-20
Possible the horns are not installed on the cores in the same position/orientation as they were in life?
From: loesshillsarcher
21-Jan-20
yeah it does look more kudu like now that i looked again. but tight spiral
From: bowhuntress
22-Jan-20
Very large lesser kudu or very large sititunga.
From: bowhuntress
22-Jan-20
No, I dont think it's a sitatunga because the curls are too tight (although I have seen some with impressive curls). I think it's an unusual lesser kudu with a very pronounced ridge.
From: LKH
22-Jan-20
Read his post. Horns are only 18" tall.
From: No Mercy
22-Jan-20
Markhor are all over Texas on ranches. They aren't hard to come by at all. That being said I don't believe this, at 18", is a Markhor though. I am also thinking Lesser Kudu.
From: TXCO
22-Jan-20
TXCO's Link
Its a big and narrow lesser kudu.
From: Buffalo1
22-Jan-20
The horns are in an old antebellum house in the French Quarter on New Orleans. I’m sure this house some very interesting history and those horns have a story. Just wish I knew what animal. I recognized all other species in the house. Every animal was antler/horn (deer & sheep). on a partial skull mount like the photo in question.
If interested, the house is for sale- $1.9M. Please contact me if you might be interested in buying. I can hook you up with realtor and be your NBF for life!
From: Zbone
22-Jan-20
"French Quarter on New Orleans"
Hmmm, maybe it was a Bighorn before a Voo-Doo curse...8^)))
From: smarba
22-Jan-20
If it's an old house that would likely rule out any Texas exotics. Can you characterize the other horns/antlers you saw that weren't from USA? Like a bunch of things from Africa, so it is likely African, etc.?
From: TXCO
23-Jan-20
18" straightline lines up with lesser kudu which are in the 20s around the curl.
From: Buffalo1
23-Jan-20
smarba- The other horns/antlers were WT deer and corsican rams. The photo I posted is the animal that stumped me.
From: RK
23-Jan-20
I don't think it's a lesser kudu
Search some pictures of them
From: KsRancher
23-Jan-20
I dont anything about Kudu. I googled them. Most of the images shown were way wider and not near as tight of a curl. But this one seemed to look pretty close to the OP's. There is a wide variety of horn types on them from the way it looks
From: Zbone
24-Jan-20
Those lesser Kudu sure are striking animals...
From: Buffalo1
24-Jan-20
KsRancher you may be on to something ! Those horns look real similar to the ones I saw in NOLA.
From: Overland
25-Jan-20
I posted the original pic on another site with Buffalo1's permission. It seems that they are Racka sheep horns. The orientation of the horns on the bases has likely been altered to make them taller rather than wider. Here are a few pics of Racka sheep.
From: KsRancher
25-Jan-20
Thanks for raining on my parade :) I thought I was on to something. I should have known I didn't really know.
From: Zbone
26-Jan-20
Hmmm... Am probably wrong too but the original doesn't look like the Racka sheep to me, the half round (don't know what they are called, but likely have a name) ridges are not distinct enough...
But devil horns, voo-doo, old mansions and New Orleans,,,, hmmm, maybe...
From: No Mercy
03-Feb-20
Here’s a Markhor Mount I just unpacked.
From: Halibutman
03-Feb-20
Markhor most certainly ARE hard to come by. Not sure who you’re talking to or hunting with? They’re SUPER expensive, even in Texas.
From: Shug
02-Jul-21
Not sure other than it’s a spike
From: SteveB
02-Jul-21
Young eland bull?
From: Gil
02-Jul-21
Markhor are expensive, but that does NOT mean hard to come by. Maybe hard for you.
From: Buffalo1
02-Jul-21
This is interesting. Thanks for the feedback.
