Africa! Anything but "The Dark Continent"
Africa was referred too in Europe as "The Dark continent" in the 1800's, because they did not know much about Africa's interior until the 1900's. It was known as "The Dark Continent" because of the mysteries and the savagery they expected to find in the interior.
What I experienced in my recent hunting trip to South Africa with my fellow Pro Staffer Rick Tonkin and several other archery hunting friends was, that Africa is not mysterious at all, but instead very alive and full of the exotic and of beauty. The only savagery I experienced was the bush itself, with all it thorns and thistles. I will step out on a limp and risk using the word magical, to describe my 10 days of archery hunting for plains game. Magical, because it was a place like nothing I had ever experienced before. After watching years of hunting shows on Africa, and even after the descriptions and stories shared with me by friends that had hunted South Africa several times before, it was much more than I had imagined and had hoped for. You know how friends will described an experience to you? And then you have the chance to have the same experience, but it turns out that they overstated that place or experience? Well, in my case, and in the case of my South African hunt, it exceeded all my expectations, and was so much better than anyone’s experience that was shared with me.
I literally had easily written over a thousand words in this article describing my trip to you, the reader. Then I proofed it before sending it off to be put on our website, and thought to myself, nobody is going to want to read all this, there was just to much to read. So let me just say this, archery hunting in Africa is not easy. Yes, I know the TV shows show guys hunting out of blinds and scoring on some incredible animals. Even on my hunt, a few of my buddy’s cleaned up and harvested 4 and 5 awesome animals, but the fact is, that out of a 10 day hunt with two sits a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, with an average of 5 hours at each sit, the average number of animals taken is 3, yep! 3. Archery hunting accounts for only 1% of hunting in Africa. Everything else is rifle hunting, why? Because it’s a challenge, that’s why. I can confirm personally it’s not that easy. I’ve been shooting a bow for 20 years now, and I’ve deer hunted, elk hunted, hog hunted and even Pheasant hunted with a bow. The success rate is just not as good as it is with a rifle. Then you go to Africa, and throw in animals that are also being hunted by leopards, hyenas and cheetahs, and you think whitetail or blacktail deer are skittish?
I shot three arrows in Africa, one was at a warthog at 33 yards. Hit him well, lots of blood, but I never recovered him. The second at an impala ram, missed him, because my arrow deflected on a branch that was a part of the exterior of my blind. The third was at an Eland that I shot at 17 yards. I had my 20 yard pin right on the crease of the inside of his shoulder right at the heart. I released the arrow, and in a span of 17 yards with a bow shooting over 300 feet per second, we found that Eland hours later with a hole at the base of his neck. That’s how quick these animals reaction time is, and that was a thousand pound plus Eland for crying out loud. I learned so much about hunting African plains game on those 10 days. I learned that no matter how much confidence you have or how good of an archer you think you are, harvesting one of these animals is not easy. Am I going back to try to come home with more than one animal next time? You bet your shinny sharp broad head I am. And when I get there and get in that blind, I’m going to know exactly what I’m up against, and I’m going to be a lot more aggressive. Until then, practice practice practice and dream dream dream.
God was so good to allow me not only to afford the time away from my business and the expense to go on this trip, but he kept my family safe while I was gone, he blessed me with a good nights sleep each and every night as well as the patience to stick it out for 21 hours on a plane. I not only experienced the beauty of Gods creation and majesty on this trip, I experienced His Grace. I left a lot of Hunters for Christ T-Shirts and Hats with the PH and his staff over there as well as got several opportunities to witness and share the good news of My Savior Jesus Christ. God is SO GOOD! All the time.
God bless and good hunting!!
Written By, ProStaff Member Gian Rossini