I saw a hunting show in Africa this morning and they were using an umbrella as a portable blind. They used it to stalk up on buffalo and wildebeest and it seemed to work very well as long as the wind was in thier favor. I just wondering if anyone here had used an umbrella like that and what type of success you had?

david ,
i have used an umbrella before to stalk , it works well where game has not had much pressure , whjere there has been hunting pressure though , anything unusual will send everything over the horizon ...

i also tried a decoy in the shape and color of a zebra , for bowhunting plains game , and it worked very well , it was a lifesize piece of plastic board , we would squat behind it and get actually very close ...problem was in transport and logistics of getting it around ..

i have also used an umbrella when in photo safari areas , my tracker would carry it and it was white ...if an elephant charged us , he would just open the umbrella and the elephant would immediately back off ...notice he was carrying it and not me , i had my hands firmly on my .450...!!

I saw it done on a Giant Forest Hog once. He was in a with a smaller Boar and 6 or 7 sows and youngsters. Hogs don't see well. They were in an open area close to a huge plain. The umbrella was green like the surroundings but had Ethiopian Rift Valley Safaris on it in big white letters. Guess hogs can't read either.
Rich Elliott

George Hoffman used a portable blind, on many occasion, to get close to cape buffalo who were grazing out in the open! The first one he made was an A-frame, like two legs of shooting sticks, with a cross bar between the legs to keep them open. The front was covered with long grass, and had an opening about 10-12 inches below the apex at the top forming a "V" to rest a rifle on.

The stalk was done by stoping the hunting car, and the hunter, and George getting out behind the A-frame blind, and letting the car continue on out of sight. With george holding the blind, with the hunter behind him they would advance on the Buffalo, while George looked through the small viewing hole. He told me he had gotten as close as 10 feet from some game without spooking them.

It works, because I made one exactly like George's, and moved right up to deer, and pronghorn easily!

I have pictures of George's blind, and if I can find them, I'll e-mail them to someone who can post them on the forum!

This isn't african related but.....I've heard of people using a black umbrella for stalking bears. Apparently you look like another bear. I use decoys for deer with great results.

the chef

I have heard old timer turkey hunters speak of using an umbrella to sneak into range of a difficult "pasture bird". I've never tried it. Hadn't thought of it for black bears, but I may - it should absolutley work on them.

I used cut palms in Tan. Worked well we got to almost 100 yards. they all turned and faces us. Shot the biggest bull. They circled him and then spooked he stood for about 5 min fell over dead.

I was told by a Tanzanian PH and his hunter that they have used an umbrella for stalking cape buffalo.

I understand from them that it works all too well.

By moving slowly and keeping the wind right, they got well up close to a herd.

Of course, once in that spot, which was quite open, they had nothing for cover but a piece of black cloth!

As soon as the shooting started, at very close range - the hunter was using a .500-.465 double rifle - complete pandemonium broke out all around them.

The hunter did get his bull, though!

Well Mac...I was the first client that Geo. Hoffman ever tried that with. It was '92 in TZ and I was making a stalk on my buffalo. It was Geo., me and the tracker and we must have looked akin to Larry. Curly and Mo trying to stay behind the shield while stalking but it worked. We used the A frame as you described to get me up to a nice tree that I then used for a rest and then it was one shot with a Rem 700 re-chambered to a 416 Hoffman shooting my handloaded 350 Barnes X and adios buffalo. Geo. paced off 161 steps and picked up my empty brass. The Barnes X was just under the skin on the off side so now I have the buff, the Barnes X and the empty brass to remember it all. The photo and story of it all is in Georges's book on page 110 as I recall.
Now you can buy the Shadow Shield which is on my web site and it is a bit more sophisticated than the one that Geo. and I made.
We kept the shield but never used it again on that safari for some reason.

CAMOUFLAGE UMBRELLA:

http://www.frankonia.de/shop//_/search/tarnschirm/start...rtiment/search.html#

A couple of years back in EC my friends PH used an black umbrella to look like a ostrich.. A stick with a cap on top was used as neck and head.. And than he added some toilet paper on the sides of the umbrella for wings..
They actually got within shooting distance of some black wildebeest.. Funny situation!