Crocodile Hunt in Limpopo

[cmc]

it would be good if it worked .
wouldn't be so good if your croc or gaitor hits the bolt , with an arrow sticking out of its noggin .
not to be seen for a few weeks ,and ends up on the local news . with everyone saying how hunting these guys with a bow is in humane .
id stick with a lung shot with archery equipement .
the one I seen in an African video ,was done at night (if l was fortunate to hunt a croc with a bow ,I would only do it during the day) they light him up with an over head torch ,much like the leopards are done .
zooooink, and he was back in the water in a flash and a splash .trailing a string behind him .stayed on the bottom of the river until he bleed out or drowned .

Honestly that can be said for any bow shot on any game. One slip a few inches one way or the other and you got an arrow in an animal. The problem is the evidence is sticking in the critter unlike a rifle shot where you could blame the wound on any of a number of things. I don't know that the shot would work I was just wondering but if I cared what the media thought about bow hunting I wouldn't be doing it.

 

[bluey]

yeah I don't care much what the media say about bowhunting either .
if it wasn't for bowhunting , how many of our ancestors would of survived ?
but would you shoot a deer or a kudu in the head with your bow as your preferred shot ?

 

[rooihond]

i know very little about bow hunting but i would have thought the only shot using one on a croc would be a lung shot. i have shot quite a few and even with a couple in the brain its amazing how much they can still be pretty active.......

The physiology of reptiles and birds seems to allow for some pretty amazing movement after a fatal injury. I bet it is a sight with a croc!

 

[rooihond]

I would probably opt for a vertebral neck shot if I was close enough to consider stoning him with a brain hit. I prefer vitals unless very particular circumstances dictate otherwise.

This is starting to weigh towards a rifle hunt. It would be convenient to hire a rifle and not worry about getting my bow back home as I plan on continuing travel after the hunt. It just seems like such an inviting challenge.

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

Unless you are hunting a relatively small body of water, I think it could be difficult if not impossible, to recover once it dips into the H2O, no matter which shot, u use, in Mozambique I had a client who shot heart lung on a 14' croc but his arrow had a float attached to it, in fact the group took 4 and recovered 3...

Invariably the croc goes into water and to be honest I doubt if we would have been able to recover any without this particular set up.

It is because they are so aware of their surroundings as well as the reason mentioned above that crocodile are such a challenge to hunt and then get a shot on with rifle and then of course with a bow... another challenge in itself.

With a rifle I have moved away from brain shots and mostly only call end of smile roughly 4 " behind it......spine shots followed up with heart lung hits.., I have just found that it gives the shooter a larger margin for error..

With a bow heart lung as spike said!

They are incredible creatures, it definitely adds a new dimension to bow hunting, it's possible though, just talk to your guide and come up with a good plan

It is going to be interesting for sure, good luck and keep me updated, I am excited on your behalf!

My very best always.

 

[rooihond]

Jaco,
Thank you very much for the insight. I will think this through carefully.

Thank you all for the info. It will help in the decision making process.

 

[cmc]

yeah I don't care much what the media say about bowhunting either .
if it wasn't for bowhunting , how many of our ancestors would of survived ?
but would you shoot a deer or a kudu in the head with your bow as your preferred shot ?

No but I wouldn't shoot one in the head with a rifle as a preferred shot either. If I was to do it at all with a bow I would have a string and float the way they do alligators here but I know nothing about it.

 

[rooihond]

Unless you are hunting a relatively small body of water, I think it could be difficult if not impossible, to recover once it dips into the H2O, no matter which shot, u use, in Mozambique I had a client who shot heart lung on a 14' croc but his arrow had a float attached to it, in fact the group took 4 and recovered 3...

Invariably the croc goes into water and to be honest I doubt if we would have been able to recover any without this particular set up.

It is because they are so aware of their surroundings as well as the reason mentioned above that crocodile are such a challenge to hunt and then get a shot on with rifle and then of course with a bow... another challenge in itself.

With a rifle I have moved away from brain shots and mostly only call end of smile roughly 4 " behind it......spine shots followed up with heart lung hits.., I have just found that it gives the shooter a larger margin for error..

With a bow heart lung as spike said!

They are incredible creatures, it definitely adds a new dimension to bow hunting, it's possible though, just talk to your guide and come up with a good plan

It is going to be interesting for sure, good luck and keep me updated, I am excited on your behalf!

My very best always.

Jaco,
Thank you again for the advice and encouragement. I will certainly share the story and with some luck, some photos. Now that I have an idea of what I'm in for I can start bugging my outfitter with a more focused field of questions.

 

[rooihond]

I've decided to make it a bowhunt only for croc. Additionally, it will only be spot and stalk or ambush with no blind. If I am unsuccessful with those methods, I will have to make a return trip to get my croc. I just have to decide on how many days to commit to this particular endeavor. I want to have a few days for plains game.

Thanks to everybody for the info. Please feel free to add to this thread as it looks like I will need every bit of info that I can scrape up, along with some good fortune.

 

[bluey]

will you ambush set up be over a bait ?

 

[rooihond]

will you ambush set up be over a bait ?

No bait. I might look to shorten the stalk, if possible, by getting in place before a previously scouted croc goes for his session in the sun. Any tips for this during May conditions?

 

[bluey]

No bait. I might look to shorten the stalk, if possible, by getting in place before a previously scouted croc goes for his session in the sun. Any tips for this during May conditions?

im asking about this type of hunt also rooihond .
thanks for another head ache ,ha ha
we are talking over bait .
daylight and again at dusk .
and hunting plains game in between .
do you have a minium size?

 

[rooihond]

im asking about this type of hunt also rooihond .
thanks for another head ache ,ha ha
we are talking over bait .
daylight and again at dusk .
and hunting plains game in between .
do you have a minium size?

Haha, we live for this kind of headache, right? I'm tempted to ready myself for complete dedication to the croc hunt. All or nothing. If I get my lizard then I can work on my plains game wish list. I will see. Conditions may narrow the field of decision making. I would be very happy with a 10 footer using these methods. A monster would tempt me to go for the rifle but I will go the hard way or nothing.

 

[bluey]

Haha, we live for this kind of headache, right? I'm tempted to ready myself for complete dedication to the croc hunt. All or nothing. If I get my lizard then I can work on my plains game wish list. I will see. Conditions may narrow the field of decision making. I would be very happy with a 10 footer using these methods. A monster would tempt me to go for the rifle but I will go the hard way or nothing.

we do indeed ,
12 foot would be good .

 

[rooihond]

we do indeed ,
12 foot would be good .

12 foot was what I was thinking while considering rifle.

 

[bluey]

12 foot was what I was thinking while considering rifle.

hence ,blind and bait .
licence is another big question mark , real big :alligator:raying::biggrin2:

 

[rooihond]

hence ,blind and bait .
licence is another big question mark , real big :alligator:raying::biggrin2:

I'm planning and training(and hoping) for difficulty with the best of outcomes!

 

[rooihond]

hence ,blind and bait .
licence is another big question mark , real big :alligator:raying::biggrin2:

Just got great news. License approved!

 

[rooihond]

It's settled. Stalk and go for the lungs. I will post the results. Thanks for the input!

 

[rooihond]

Does anybody know what the SA license fees and CITES import fees are for crocodile? All of the numbers uncovered so far are trophy fees with everything included. I'm curious about what the dissected numbers would look like.