Copper springbok hunting in South Africa

Copper Springbuck is a colour variant created by selective managed breeding of a Common Springbuck by game ranchers in South Africa. This medium-sized gazelle is not a subspecies but a colour phase of the South African Springbuck. They have a dark copper colour with a dark face and stripe running down their flanks. Like all Springbuck, they have a fold of skin on their back that opens to reveal a length of fanned hair which is often displayed when pronking or when excited. Copper Springbuck is mostly hunted in the Free State, North West, Eastern, Western and Northern Cape provinces. Their favoured habitat is open dry to semi-arid grasslands and avoids mountainous terrain, woodlands and tall grass. Both sexes carry horns and the Copper Springbuck is the most recently SCI record book accepted colour variant. Collectors often hunt the four recognised SCI Springbuck that forms the Springbuck Grand Slam. Today numerous other colour variants are being selectively bred and marketed and time will tell how popular these new colour variants will be with hunters. Springbuck can but hunted year-round in South Africa. Copper Springbuck is classified as a Common Springbuck by the IUCN and a species of least concern. No special hunting permits are required.