[njirilodge]

Bowhunting is growing fast and being an avid bowhunter myself I get angry when I hear how things can go wrong with visitors to our country.Maybe this checklist would help anyone planning a trip to Africa
Even though the P.H./ Outfitter has been in the business for a long time check out what bowhunting experienc the P.H. who is going to guide you has.
Is there someone on the ranch who undersatands bows well so that if you are having problems he can fix it.
Do they have a bowpress and string serveving tool on hand at the ranch.You at all times will be very far away from any sort of pro shop.
Make sure that they have a bowrange where you can shoot with both broadhead and field piont butts.Is the range at least 50/60yds long or as long as you would like.
Check what basic spares they carry or bring them yourself ie. fletching tool ,string server, fastflite etc.
Ask to see pictures of the hides and what distances they are from the water.I arrived once at a place where the hide was 60yds from the water.A bit extreme for a first time shot at an Impala!
These points should make sure that you do not arrive on a farm where they are doing a bow hunt for the first itme. Good Luck :shock:

 

[Boss Kongoni]

I would tell a bowhunter heading to Africa for the 1st time to practice shooting from a pit blind. Since we hunt from tree stands or on the ground. Shooting upward through a hide window is a new asdventure for most Americans.
:lol:

 

[njirilodge]

What I like paticularly about pit blinds with new guys to the sport is that they dont have to make any allowances for distance over the ground as you would do when shooting from an elevated blind.The negative though is that you do not have the field of vision as one has when elevated.

 

[Boss Kongoni]

There is however, a tendency to shoot high.

I did find the pit blind to be cool on the few afternoons that got hot(I hunted in Late August).

The most productive pit blind I hunted, I shared with some type of field rat. He'd show up at dusk just as the old bulls did. He was my lucky rat :lol:

In the back of my mind of course was the fact that snakes eat rats. But, I never saw a snake or any sign of them.

 

[njirilodge]

Well a friend of mine was sitting in the pit blind the other day and as a Warthog arrived so did a snake.Luckily it was only a Spotted bush snake not piosenous and after he manged to chase it out with an arrow he shot his pig!

 

[L-Roy]

Elevated Stands

njirilodge,
One does not have to make any special allowances when shooting from an elevated stand. One only needs to know the distance from the base of the stand to the intended target, at normal bowhunting elevations.

An electronic rangefinder will be good to have with one when hunting with a bow. Shoot the shot for whatever is the distance from the stand's base to the target. This may be pre-determined to certain locations of possible shots before the animal arrives. Appropriate markers may be placed at pre-determined distances.

Stay calm and pick a spot!

 

[njirilodge]

:lol: I always carry a range finder with me "bushnell" and yes always check out the distances beforehand.I still find that the majority of guys still shoot too high.For a heart shot one I believe should aim for the middle of the bottem third of the body.Animals like Impala that so often jump the string crouch before they go and so by aiming on the low side definitely helps.I think having given this some thought that most guys practice on targets and so their eye automatically finds the middle and not where they should be on an animal.I find this to be the very same when going out on a 3d range.For a while the guys are shooting too high till they settle in after maybe 5/6 shots.Unfortunately one does not get this on a real hunting situation

 

[fz4vgq]

:shock: UGHHHHHH snakes no offense but the darn snakes in Africa and Australia are probably the one reason keeping me from hunting in those countries. Maybe someday I'll get over my fear of them. I need to stop watching all the Discovery Channel specials on snakes

 

[JJHACK]

Or just hunt May through August in the northern Province. The temps get down to the low 40's and it's darn cold some nights. The bugs and snakes are just about zero this time of year.

 

[Boss Kongoni]

L-Roy & Njirilodge - I believe you are both corect . Theoretically, distance is dastence, shooting up/down or straight so no compesation should be needed.

Unfortunately, many bowhunters forget to bend at the waste when shooting from the treestand and shoot high. For them holding a bit lower is the answer. They of course, would benifit more from better form.

One training aid that we use at our archery club is video tape. Nothing will help your shooting form as much as seeing yourself shoot.