What bow should I bring to Africa?

[nuval.J2711]

Hey everyone, My father Pheroze is going to Africa in a few years and we were talking about going back with me this time if its okay a couple years after. I am currently 13 and he will be leaving the year of my 16th. I am very interested in bow hunting and he owns a excalibur crossbow. If i was to go to Africa with a bow, there is a couple of animals i was looking into hunting, Common Eland, sable, and kudu. does anybody have any recommendations for bow company and draw weight, I currently shoot a 25 pound recurve please respond if you have any suggestions.

 

[Sable123]

Hi Nuval.

Iam a big fan of bow hunting and own a Mathews Z7, shooting at 75 pounds. I have used it extensively from small animals such as duiker up to kudu and on hardier animals such as bushpig and wildebeest. There is no one exact correct bow for africa as there are so many variations. Thankfully there is alot of info on the net with regards to bows, broadheads, arrows etc...that will give you a good indication as what is suitable. So I won't delve into all the finer details of bow hunting (i'll leave that up to the real "fundies" as we say here) but I will give you some advice that I use when bow hunting. A little research before hand can go a long way, such as will you be hunting out a tree hide or ground hide, walk and stalk, what range are you comfortable with at taking a shot at an animal? These types of info you can find out from the Outfitter you will be hunting with and will help to determine what bow will suite your situation.
Be considerate of the animal, you want it to be a clean good hit that does enough damage to put the animal down. You don't want to go too light a bow that doesn't provide enough penetration, so as a PH i would be "slightly" hesitant to put you onto an Eland with a 25 pound recurve bow.
Practice, practice, practice as much as you can and thats not just for Bows but any form of hunting.
Im sure there is enough guys on this forum with invaluable info on bow hunting in Africa but to sum up my 2 cents would be the right bow for Africa is one that provides sufficient penetration (double lung shot) on your desired animals at a distance that YOU are comfortable shooting from.

Hope that helps and when you do head out on that hunt, all the very best and good luck.

Cheers
Jono

 

[nuval.J2711]

thanks Jono. I wasn't planing on hunting with my recurve haha i meant to say that I am just using it to practice my technique. Thanks this will help a lot

 

[Limcroma Safaris]

Nuval,
Sable 123 has given you some good advice to consider.... As a general rule, I would not recommend a 25lb. recurve as adequate for the majority of plainsgame. That rig might be okay for small game & varmints, but not really enough to provide you with enough energy for good penetration on most plainsgame animals.

Some of our bowhunting clients have very good results shooting as low as 45-50lbs. of draw weight given that they have a properly tuned set-up with the right weight arrows and strong, high quality, fixed broadheads. Anything less than that would not be very practical or ethical for most plaingame. If you cannot draw that much weight, a crossbow is a great alternative.

Our goal is to allow for our clients to have a high percentage, ethical shot opportunity. Even though Africa has the best trackers in the business, it's no fun for anybody to have a wounded, unrecovered animal.

 

[Sable123]

thanks Jono. I wasn't planing on hunting with my recurve haha i meant to say that I am just using it to practice my technique. Thanks this will help a lot

Phew! Thats good to hear Sure you'll be fine. Just consider the animal, be confident in yourself and keep reading up on reviews of bow hunts or even what people have posted on the site.