African Hunter Published Books Hunter's Guide to Bowhunting the African Way | Page 10

for or against the practice by challenging traditions. The basis here is
that bow hunting from blinds and stands is universally accepted in
other parts of the world with some research showing that 30% of all
hunters are bow hunters. There is no set of standard guidelines or
ethics for Africa, and in the case of South Africa, several exist
according to which province you might be in, or what association
you belong to. Most discussion on ethics revolves around other
management issues such as put-and-take of animals (especially
trophies), fenced areas (size) etc, particularly so following the
debacle of “canned hunting” - a debate which still rages today. In
any event, the use of bows on African game has been legalised in
most parts of Africa either outright or via a special permit system
(even on dangerous game).
Laws and ethics accepted, bow hunting in Africa is undoubtedly an
ideal form of consumptive use well suited to farms in co-operation
with the non-consumptive tourist activities outlined earlier. The
cropping of animals with bow and arrow simply does not stress
wildlife as much as rifle hunting in the smaller game areas, and while
bow hunting clients do not generate the income of rifle hunters, they
do offer a good middle-of-the-road option which bridges the two
forms of safari, while requiring relatively little infrastructure, with
even less disturbance to the environment. It is also generally
acknowledged that bow hunters are happy to collect “good
representative” specimens of their chosen species, and will be
satisfied with simply partaking in the hunt, rather than seeking the
record book animals pursued by many others. In fact, given the right
conditions and suitable infrastructure (blinds, facilities etc.) and the
availability of varied game species, the bow hunter will take as many
trophies as the typical rifle hunter while on safari.
As with all the African Hunter magazine “Guide to” books in the
series, this is compiled from over 20 years of material, selected,
edited and augmented with additional information in order to
provide not only a useful, factual resource, but also to entertain the
reader with the addition of hunt stories and experiences from
published magazines.

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