I am a bow hunter who only gets to bow hunt certain holidays ( am a student at univeristy ), and i was wondering what I could do to hone my skills during the semester other than aimlessly hammering a bulls-eye over and over again. Was thinking of picking off stray cats but that could land me in a heap of trouble, or maby shooting doves with a judo point. Am situated in a remote town with hills all around. Any ideas guys?

Local burglars and thieves. Leave the cats alone.

I see you're from Durban. When I was in Durban I brought my bowfishing gear. We wandered down to the private boat club and I shot some fish! One walla walla and three nice mullet. It was great fun and really good practice. Especially the walla walla, they aren't even as big as a hammer handle and I got a clean hit at 20 yards. Not bad for a recurve!

The chef

There should be a couple of places right on your door step where you can hunt warthog or bushpig.

If you decide to shoot at doves make sure you are out of town as well. The arrow has a lot of energy and can easily insure someone if you shoot in town.

Have a look at this local forum
http://bowhuntingforum.co.za/

there might be guys that can assist you.

might i ask what a walla walla fish is?

being from walla walla, wa, i am intrigued!

724WD a walla walla is a long skinny flat sided predatory fish with a mean set of chompers. The ones I've seen caught off Durban, RSA have been about a yard long. They make good bait for other game fish as they are bright silver in colour. Can't tell you the latin name or any of that stuff but I'm sure that there are AR members who can! By the way, shooting one with a bow and arrow is no mean feat! Float a pick handle at 20 yards in your nearest pond and see what I mean!

quote:

Originally posted by F.C.Selous Stu:
I am a bow hunter who only gets to bow hunt certain holidays ( am a student at univeristy ), and i was wondering what I could do to hone my skills during the semester other than aimlessly hammering a bulls-eye over and over again. Was thinking of picking off stray cats but that could land me in a heap of trouble, or maby shooting doves with a judo point. Am situated in a remote town with hills all around. Any ideas guys?

Here in the states, year around hunting is rarely possible with the exception of varmints possibly. In my former home state of Wisconsin, we could hunt snowshoe rabbits and coyotes year round. So check with your game department to see what is available.

But I used to screw judo points on the arrows and simply "stump shoot." A friend and I would walk through the woods and fields, periodically stopping and pointing out a target that the other had to shoot. This was usually an unusual shaped clod of dirt, a leaf or a beer can dropped by some inconsiderate oaf. For every miss, you had to buy your partner a beer afterwards.

It made for some very fun afternoons and really improved my shooting. It got expensive if you missed too many times!

You can always just stump shoot with a Judo head.It's great practice for learning to shoot at unknown distances and learning your arrows trajectory.I cant see killing critters needlessly just for practice.

Wow I didn't know the walla walla were could get that big! the one I got was only about 12" long and awfully skinny. The other name for them is sea pike and they do look a lot like our fresh water pike.

thanks for the advice. I think i'm gonna try find a farmer who has a pig problem and render my services free of charge! What happens if you are bow fishing and you hit a submerged log or something? suppose you'l have to haul out your scuba gear and sort it out..

If you hit a log you pull and pull on that skinny little rope and hope the arrow comes up. So far so good.

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
If you hit a log you pull and pull on that skinny little rope and hope the arrow comes up. So far so good.

Why not shoot a few fers? there hundreds of them.

I think your on to something with the pig problem. In the country of Texas they can be hunted all year round and it doesnt seem to affect them the least. I heard a biologist say the feral hog was the only animal that will have a litter of 8 piglets and 10 will survive !
Eterry