Into Africa: Rifle or bow?

If you've been keeping up with me for a while, you may know that I'm going to hunt Africa in 2017. Even though I've been talking and thinking about it often, I don't think the reality of that sunk in until I met Mike and Karen Helbing at the NWTF Convention in Nashville. They weren't at the World Deer Expo last year where I won the safari they donated, and prior to meeting in Nashville we had only corresponded by email. When I sat down at their booth at NWTF and Karen started going over all the logistical details, it finally hit me....I'm going to Africa!

Wild Wildebeest Safaris is based in South Africa, with hunting concessions throughout South Africa and neighboring countries. They offer hunts for almost every huntable African species, limited only by your pocketbook. Looking at pictures and video of the accommodations, the lodge appears to maintain a good balance between the African experience and still being comfortable enough for Westerners to relax and rest easy during their stay.

Between research on my own and conversations with Mike and Karen, I know a lot more about what to expect than I did back in July when I won the safari. The main question in my mind was whether I would plan to hunt with a bow or rifle. Bowhunting is by far my favorite method, but I'm not going to hunt Africa every year, and I don't want to come home from this kind of trip with nothing to show but some landscape photos. After asking questions about the opportunities for bowhunting and looking at the extensive catalog of succession bowhunts they've had the last few years, I've decided to hunt with a bow. As a last resort, rifles are available to rent if the stick and string work doesn't go as planned. 

Bowhunting Africa is more seasonally dependent than rifle hunting, due to the fact that much of the hunting involves sitting in blinds over water holes, and for that tactic to work you need dry weather. The season begins in May and gets drier as it goes on to September. So my tentative plan is to hunt in late July/early August. 

The next update on this hunt will be my "wish list" of animals, which may or may not change over the next year and a half. There's plenty of time to add and remove animals from the list, but I want to have a general idea. More on that soon!