Author Topic: Archery in Africa (Read 883 times)

JJHACK · « **on:** July 06, 2004, 05:56:00 AM »

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.

DesertRam · « **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2004, 06:03:53 AM »

JJ, I would love to hunt Africa with a bow. Now that I've done it witha rifle, I would feel a bit more comfortable with archery gear. However, I would book longer than 8-10 days. My dad and I rifle hunted for 14 and that seemed a bit short. I realize some guys have to go for short hunts, but to me it's more worthwhile if you can hunt a bit longer. This too removes some of the pressure, giving you longer for each species.

I think your rates are competetive. One thing that might sweeten the deal a little is to have a loaner rifle available (if the property, or other nearby property, allows it) for those morning hunts you talk about. This would reduce the red tape headaches for those wishing to have the rifle as a back up but not wanting to carry one of their own. I know many riflemen won't use a rifle that's not their own, but many bowhunters may not be as particular. If you had a trusty .06 or similar and a pocketful of ammo "just in case", I think that would be a nice bonus to the guy that wants to mostly bowhunt but have the option of going with a rifle if conditions warrant.

JJHACK · « **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2004, 07:55:45 AM »

My rifles are always there and both my 30/06 and 375HH have taken far more game for others then they have for me!. I'll bet my 30/06 and 375HH have each killed several hundred big game in RSA over that last 12 seasons.

5Redman8 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 06, 2004, 05:39:39 PM »

JJ,

I hunted with my bow. You saw the pics of my animals with the nice warthog in this forum. The kudu was taken from a natural ground blind over oranges at 33 yards, the impala was taken from a natural ground bling hunting over alfalfa, the warthog was taken stalking, and the black wildebeest was taken with a rifle by stalking. If I ever get a chance to go back, I will definitely bowhunt again. I would be looking to take bushbuck, zebra, blue wildebeest, and a small animal duiker etc.....But with bowhunting, you have to be open to any animal that gives you an oppurtunity.

Being there in June, the animals were not at all dependent on water, so water holes were not utilized but I would like to try it that way.

Kyle

JJHACK · « **Reply #4 on:** July 06, 2004, 05:58:45 PM »

Remember though you did not hunt in the indiginous areas of the game. The northern Province where all these species live natural is a completely different habit then the cape.

Captured and released game, or game that is farm raised and released into areas it does not naturally live is a completely different situation then it would be if it were naturally ocuring. Further north in the Limpopo province the conditions are 100% different!

If you want to hunt Zebra, eland and blue wildebeast, impala, etc etc along with most other species you should strongly consider hunting outside the cape, there are almost no indiginous species there. In the northern Province, and Limpopo province you will have a heavy bush habitat which makes the archery hunting much better and for natural occuring animals too!

5Redman8 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 06, 2004, 07:07:24 PM »

No doubt about that JJ!!! I would love to hunt them in their natural habitat!!! That would make it much more interesting. Your rate is much more reasonable than what I paid...$300 daily rate. We are planning on going again sometime and we will definitely keep you in mind. Would you consider taking on 3-4 hunters at a time per you as the PH? What animals are native to the areas you can hunt? Do you have blinds set up?

Kyle

GunnyII · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2004, 09:26:01 PM »

JJ,

I'm an avid bowhunter and would do so in RSA if doing so with a handgun or rifle became unreasonable.

As many others, I have always dreamed of hunting Africa, but I always imagined doing it with a firearm. A handgun being my first choice. Everyone has a passion!

I worry about the increased regs for firearms. I am reaching that point in my life where Africa is close at hand (money!), even as soon as next season. From this post it sounds serious, and I would like to know more details. I read the part about the serial #, is there more?

The prices seem more than reasonable.

You sharing your knowledge of African hunting is greatly appreciated, and when the funds are right, you can expect a call.

Thanks

JJHACK · « **Reply #7 on:** July 18, 2004, 05:03:48 AM »

Redman, we have all the indiginous species up here. It's easier to list those we do not have. We don't have black wildebeast, springbok, bontebok.

We have limited hunting for: Klipsspringer, buffalo, roan, sable, rhino, reedbuck, bushpig, lion, elephant, crocadile, hippo.

I think most of the others we can hunt every day in large quantities.

This is a bad time of year to hunt so I never arrange hunts for this time of year. In the next couple months or so the babies will born and I never hunt then either. It's best to hunt Late April through Early July. The Peak of hunting is May15 to June 15th. With the folks going to RSA now out of season they can be our guinnea pigs on the new regs. By end of the year I will know just exactly what is needed to move through RSA with our guns easily.

AS far as archery goes we usually arrange pit blinds or elevated blinds around water and like to book hunts for Archey mid to later in June to be sure the water has been reduced to it's smallest amount. These blinds are within 20-25 yards of the game. I have seen everything from Giraffe to Rhino in Bow range. including huge Kudu, impala, warthogs zebra, hartebeast, wildebeast, eland, buffalo , waterbuck, nyala, ......... Heck we see everything this way!

5Redman8 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 18, 2004, 06:47:11 AM »

JJ,

Where is your trophy list with prices? I have looked over your website but I cannot find it.

Kyle

JJHACK · « **Reply #9 on:** July 18, 2004, 07:20:51 AM »

This is the time of year we do population studies on the game we have. In a few weeks we will know the huntable numbers of each species and determine what amounts of game we can shoot. In past years we have reduced prices by a large amount for those who hunt first in the year to get the nombers in check. Likewise we have reduced the numbers of game we will harvest when they are in short supply by increasing the trophy fees. Or just limiting the amount taken.

I will be posting a trophy fee list shortly when we have the details worked out. It will be very competitive or better then most areas you can hunt natural game. I will never be able to compete with the "put and take" or stocked game farms which have non-indiginous speices released for hunting. Those are really cheap areas to hunt for obvious reasons.