Hunting Grey Duiker in Africa
If you plan to hunt grey duiker in Africa, you need to know a bit about the animal. The grey duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia), also known as the common duiker or the bush duiker, is one of the smallest duikers in the duiker family. Its habitat stretches to almost all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa excepting some areas of Ethiopia and rainforests in the center and western part of the African continent. They are mostly found where there is sufficient vegetation to offer them shelter from predators who prey on grey duiker in Africa. They prefer woodlands and savannas where grasses, shrubs and other vegetation provide food. The grey duiker is one of the Tiny Ten Antelopes of Africa and a hunter must hunt grey duiker in Africa to complete the collection of pigmy antelopes.
Coloration of the grey duiker varies depending on the animal’s range. It is thought that there are as many as nineteen different subspecies differing in color from chestnut brown to grey. Average weight for a male grey duiker is 26 to 55 pounds, and it stands 20 inches at the shoulder. Females are heavier than the males. Only the males have horns that average 2 inches to 4.5 inches in length and are straight.
Grey duikers are solitary, only interacting with another duiker during mating, which can be at any time of the year. The female will give birth to a single lamb after a gestation period that can run from three to seven and one half months. The grey duiker has a varied diet. Most of its food comes from browsing grasslands, but it will eat leaves, tubers, fallen fruit, flowers, and consume frogs, small birds, insects, mammals and pretty much anything that is smaller and slower. They get most of their liquid from the vegetation they consume, and can go for long periods of time without drinking water.
Male grey duikers are territorial and will defend their area from other duikers. Males prefer elevated ground for a sleeping nest because they can watch their territory and spot other duikers or predators. Females prefer to rest in deeper cover where they are hard to locate. Both sexes feed in the early hours of the morning and just before sundown. When there are human settlements nearby the grey duiker becomes nocturnal.
There are only a few methods of hunting grey duiker in Africa. Probably the most common is through opportunity. Hunting grey duiker in Africa is normally done in the early morning, or late afternoon when the antelope is most active. If permitted by law, duikers can be hunted at night with spotlights. Trophy evaluation can be hard as most of the time the duiker will not be in sight for very long. It becomes a see-shoot sort of hunt with little time to eyeball horn length or animal size. Horns that are as tall as the ears are about four inches in length.
It can be quite difficult to hunt grey duiker in Africa. This small antelope has excellent eyesight, sense of smell and reaction times. Its coloration makes it hard to see when the duiker is in the bush. Choice of rifle will be limited to whatever you have in your hands when the grey duiker is spotted. If you are hunting giant eland, the duiker is libel to get a .375 inch hole through and through. A shotgun would be an excellent choice to hunt grey duiker in Africa. The shot will be close; the duiker will be moving in jumps and leaps, and there will be little or no time to aim.
