How many guys here have hunted Africa with Archery gear?

How did you primarily hunt? stands near food or water, or stalking?

I have a property that is suppose to be archery only but has been used at the end of each season to remove surplus game by gun hunters. Most of the archery hunting here would be from stands and they would be 20-25 yards from the far edge of the water.

Archery hunting due to the nature of the hunt is far more difficult then using a firearm. Because of this "package" hunts are not realistic. "package" hunts are based on a minimum amount of trophies and days. However you cannot really set a minimum amount of trophies with archery, it's just too time consuming per animal.

I usually set up archery hunts for 1X1 and have a daily fee and then use the trophy fee price list for the animals taken. This removes the pressure from the hunter to get all the animals in his package.

I enjoy archery hunting very much but realize it's limitations when travelling so far for a 8-10 day hunt. Some of the folks bring a rifle and a Bow. During the mornings and days we will use the rifle and in the evening we will set up with a bow in a stand somplace that has high game traffic.

It's been my experience that Bow hunters are very easy to work with because they have exceptional stalking and hunting skills. Much different on average then the guy who always hunted with a firarm. I suppose whe you must be within 30-40 yards for a good shot, you learn quickly how to play the game very good or you get nothing! After a year or more of Bow hunting the gun seems quite a bit easier.

I guess what I'm getting at here is finding out how many guys would be interested in Archery hunts. There is of course a minimum amount of money needed per hunter and Archers don't usually reach that in a packag deal. So to make that minimum there would have to be a higher daily fee to cover the costs.

I'm thinking along these lines. 225 per day 1X1 with a minimum of 3500 in trophy fees. If the 3500 minimum is not met there would be a 75 dollar per day adder. Worst case would be 300 bucks a day for 1x1 Hunting still not bad for one of the best hunting facilities in all of RSA.

I'm trying to stay ahead of the curve with all the firearm law changes in RSA. It will not be getting easier to deal with guns in RSA over the coming years. Archery........at least for now is really easy and effortless.

My cousin and I made two trips to RSA and one to Tanzania. He only bowhunts and I do whatever seems to make sense at the time. Most package hunt pricing doesn't make sense for a bowhunter as you will never get everything on it in a week. He got a beautiful Kudu from a ground blind near a waterhole and we both got warthogs. We shot a few varmint type animals as well to fill in the time. I think a week should be set aside for each animal you really want in order to have a realistic chance of success. I'm going to try a week trip for bushbuck, but I'm taking a rifle too as last time I stalked and waited and never got a shot. We combined a fair amount of bird shooting as well since we both enjoy that.

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I hunted RSA with a bow. But I made sure I could set stands (some at wayer some over food) morning and evening with the bow and stalked the afternoon with my pistol and sharps rifle. I ended up with a couple of nice bow trophies a few bow misses and with my firearm kills still came home with 8 animals. I also hunted off a day fee and trophy price list system. I like it better that way as most of the packages have about 1/2 animals I am not interested in.
I want to go back in a year or 2 with my son and will be looking for the same option again. I love to hunt with my traditional bow. But also enjoy my guns.
Dean

While I am not one of the guys, I always take a rifle and a bow to Africa. I like to mix it up as stalking on dry leaf litter is difficult at best with archery gear to get close enough for a shot.

Most of my archery success was at a water point pit blind. I have successfully stalked and arrowed warthog and giraffe.

For stand and blind hunting I prefer targets to be 15 to 20 yards and no further. There is no tracking needed on game when they are this close. Properly built hides will allow such close distances. This means hides where game cannot see you or smell you. Hides need to be blacked out on the inside and everyone should be dressed in black. Good tree stands on game trails will also work fine. However, I wonder if African game looks up more often than North American game due to a higher preditor presence in Africa.

One year I was only hunting warthogs with sharp sticks but in one day I had easy opportunities at blue wildebeest, kudu, impala, sable and red hartebeest as well as warthog. These were all seen within range from approximately 9 am to 3 pm and of trophy quality. I think much would depend on the quality of the property being hunted. This was a no firearms property with plenty of cover and very good browse and the game was very relaxed.

I bow hunted SA with three friends a couple of years ago. This was the third trip for two of the guys and the first for myself and the forth.
The first trip taken by the two guys was nothing short of a disaster. The PH the booked with had NO idea about the needs of a archer. Like Ann stated, its all about the hide, not only how its constructed, but where its placed as far as the wind, and how far away. The water should be brushed in to direct the animals into the proper position for the shot. This brush should be placed well ahead of the hunt so the animals get used to it.
Their trip was salvaged by another PH that wanted to learn and these two seasoned bowhunters helped him. They took a couple of animals. They returned two years later and hunted with the later PH that had taken their advise on hides. They both took 5 animals in ten days of hunting.
The third trip where I and another joined started off bad. The night of the forth day we had one impala to show for the four of us.
We expressed our concerns and after several phone calls, my friend and I spent the next three days hunting a ranch that was set up for bow hunting, Great Land Safari. We each took four animals in those three days.
Set up does make a difference! weather a pit blind or an elevated bind the set up is the key.
I am also a believer in scent control both stalking and stand hunting. I made my PH a believer by pointing out a wildebeest stopping in his tracks when he reached our path into the hide. It took a heard of impala doing the same thing to conveince him, but after that, he helped himself to the cover up spray before we left the vehicle.
One other thing. You must give a bow shot animal time before the recovery. The same PH learned the hard way when he hurried, to my dislike, the recovery of a warthog I shot the first day. After the shot, he flew out of the stand and hurried me. I asked,"should we not wait?" and he said no, it was the perfect shot. After 50 yards, we kicked him up and they found him a few days after I had left for home.
It does take some special preperation for a successful bow hunt.
John Henry Keyser, of Great Land Safari has it together.! He understands the needs of a bowhunter.
Any questions give me a shout.

JJ,
Your prices are in line with what is to me an acceptable day fee arrangement. Like everyone else has said, it's a whole different ballgame when bowhunting and there are those that don't understand that. Blinds and stands need to be carefully placed ......

I will be going back in a couple more years, (daughter just going into high school and you know what that means )
Please keep me in mind and let me know when you jave the details worked out.

Anyone interested in bowhunting Namibia drop me a line. We have a setup there with specific facilities for bowhunters, and the operator is first and foremost a bowhunter himself. All the usual species plus Waterbuck and in the near future, Sable and Roan as well (count is too small right now to take off).

I bow hunted on my last trip in RSA, mostly in the Kalahari. I took Kudu, Warthog, Springbok, and Mt. Reedbuck. I passed up Wildebeest, Gemsbok, White Blesbok, Impala, several other Warthogs. I also missed Duiker twice. My wife rifle hunted while I bow hunted. I think the most memorable part was when we had a herd of Kudu within a few yards of my wife and I in the hide. A female walked within two feet of us. She could smell my wife's soap or whatever but could not decide what she was, but she could not detect me even when looking directly into my eyes at 2 feet.

I will definitely use bow again next time.