African Hunting Adventure

Neilson  Saturday, July 3, 2010

Adventure Review

I really wanted to go moose hunting in Alaska but the old Superintendent of my school system wouldn’t let me off for the 2 weeks I needed.  Fine, I’ll just make other arrangements.  Those other arrangements included contacting several outfitters and people who had been there, done that.  I finally got a call from Paul Brunner who was an archery shop owner who was booking hunts to South Africa.  Paul is a traditional hunter and he talked me in to hunting Africa with my longbow.  I was very new to traditional archery and had actually never taken any animals with the longbow.

I finally met up with Paul in Johannesburg and after an overnight stay, we flew to Pietersburg and met up with our outfitter Howard Knott of Greater Kuduland Safaris.  We headed up to the Limpopo province for a 2 week safaris.  The properties we hunted were measured in square kilometers rather than acres. 

The basic day started out with a small breakfast and a ride out to the  hides (blinds).  The game plan was to sit all day unless game was taken or a specific species was spotted, or if the hunter just got tired and wanted to come in for a lunch.  I opted to stay out as much as possible and didn’t come in unless I shot an animal.  On the first ride out, we almost ran into a herd of cape buffalo.  I was really impressed with their size and then realized the Toyota Land cruiser had no doors on it and the buff could have easily hooked my leg!  What an adventure.

During this hunt, I was able to take an impala, a warthog, a wildebeest and a vervet monkey, all with my longbow.  There were so many memories and adventures that one must really go and experience Africa to appreciate the whole trip.  How can I explain being eye level in a tree with 3 big giraffes, or watching my arrow sail over the back of a beautiful springbok. 

My first animal was a nice impala ram.  I was sitting in a blind with my native tracker Sam.  When the ram came in, Sam, who spoke very little English, gave me the thumbs up that this was a good ram and one we should take.  As the ram went broadside, I drew and released the cedar shaft tipped with a Magnus II broadhead.  The shot took the ram in the heart and it bolted into the thick bush.  Sam walked out and motioned for me to stay put.  I love to bloodtrail but this was Sam’s job.  Soon, Sam was back and he motioned me to follow him.  He showed me the bloodtrail and we walked out into the brush.  I couldn’t believe that the heart-shot impala would travel almost 200 yards before expiring.  A true testiment to the toughness and speed of these rams.

The rest of the hunt was a series of highs and lows as game was spotted, some missed, some never presented a shot.  One day, I had a waterhog bump into the blind as it walked along a trail.  I watched impalas and kudu fighting and chasing each other.  What an adventure.  My greatest regret is not spending more time in Africa but I’ll be back to spend some time being a tourist, but mostly I’ll spend my time being a hunter. 

The full story can be read in either of my books, Class Dismissed; I’m  Going Hunting, or, We’re Gonna Need More Arrows!

My next trip will be within 2 years to hunt cape buffalo with my bow as well as other plains game like zebra, kudu, gemsbok and hartebeest.  Cheers and good luck.