Dear Measurers,
The 30
th
edition has been printed and will soon be on its way to California and South Africa; we expect to have copies in December. There will be three editions: a measurer’s edition, softcover, $100.00 retail; a hardcover edition with traditional Rowland Ward end papers and a Game Note book in a pocket in the back, $150.00 retail; and the limited leather-bound edition with a Game Note book in the back, $375.00 retail. There is a 10 percent discount for measurers if ordered directly from us here in California before 31 December 2019. Please respect the fact that this offer is for measurers only. If you have already ordered a copy, we can adjust your order. Contact Mai Sample:
[email protected]
.
A lot has happened since we sent our last newsletter. We have now posted all minimums for Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the South Pacific online in three separate PDF documents. These documents contain all minimum measurements for inclusion, as well as which methods to use and, for Africa only, the current (30
th
edition) largest head registered. All of this is in both U.S. standard and metric measurements.
We have updated the Africa Minimums and Records to reflect (a) the new world records in the 30
th
edition, and (b) changed minimums. Quite a few of the changes to the minimums are small, mostly to round off numbers. The major changes for the most actively hunted species are lowered minimums for common hippo, Robert’s gazelle, and Coke’s and western hartebeest because the old minimums were proving too difficult to achieve. We raised the southern impala minimum to 23 6/8 (60.5 cm) and the bush pig to 6 (15.0 cm). For both animals we have received hundreds of entries in the last few years, and the trophy quality keeps on improving for both.
Atypical categories
Some categories were becoming distorted because of malformed entries that cluster toward the top of the ranking tables; thus, the following policies were instituted:
For
hippos and all pigs
, there will be atypical categories for entries that feature a good number of lower incisor tusks that have grown uninhibited because of an injury. So far we have made an atypical category (and new minimums) for the common hippo and the bush pig. A quick look at the tables of the last record book reveals that a great many of the top entries were from animals with misaligned teeth. In fact, when we split the tables of the common hippos, almost 45 percent were malformed. This was also due to the extremely high minimum for the common hippo; unless the teeth were misaligned it was very difficult to get a record book entry at all. All such animals will be now listed as atypical. We require clear photos for all entries of both species.
For the
blue wildebeests
, which are ranked on spread, a number of animals toward the top rankings were malformed with the horns not making a normal, traditional curve back inward but the horn ends pointing outwards at varying degrees. There specimens easily outscored any normally configured head, no matter how big. We implemented a formula whereby we automatically rank specimens as atypical if the tip-to-tip spread is less than 5 percent of the greatest spread. The atypical blue wildebeests will have their own tables.
Measurers need not do anything different from before for wildebeests; the calculation is made upon data entry in our offices (and there is a spot for it on the entry form, too). Please do remember that tip-to-tip measurements are required for all wildebeests.
Finally, we are posting a revised Measurer’s Handbook online this month. It will contain all game animals except for round-antlered deer, caribou, and moose. We hope to have these up during the winter months. Please remember that all Method forms (online) have basic measuring instructions, so any animal can be measured following these.
We continue to get e-mailed questions each and every week, and we encourage you to visit our website from time to time to see what we have posted and updated. I know you hear this a lot, but we can honestly say we have updated and added to
RowlandWard.com
a significant amount of data in the last nine months; probably 60 percent of the site is new or revised from last spring.
Conventions
We will be at the following conventions:
Custodians
, 19-21 November, Champagne Sports Resort, Central Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa;
NAPHA
, 26 November, Hotel Thule, Windhoek, Namibia;
Dallas Safari Club
, 9-12 January 2020, K.B. Hutcheson Convention Center, Dallas;
Safari Club Int.
, 5-8 February 2020, Reno Convention Center, Reno.
Our head of Marketing, James Reed, will have an advance copy of the 30
th
edition with him in South Africa and Namibia (but no copies for sale). We will have copies for sale at both the Dallas and Reno events; come and meet our team! Look us up at the Sports Afield booth.
The following outlets in South Africa will have copies for sale:
As always, thank you kindly for your time and comments.
Ludo J. Wurfbain
Editor,
Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game
