Crossbow Hunting in Africa

If taking a crossbow to hunt in Africa make sure it is legal to hunt with one in that country. I recently saw a nice article of a guy who hunted in Namibia with a crossbow and they are not legal in Namibia.

Terry, In which magazine was this article featured in?

It was in the SCI Safari magazine in either October or November 2009. The story was written by a Florida Fish & Wildlife officer by the name of Lane Kinney. Good story and nice pictures but illegal in Namibia. He even went as far as naming the Namibian outfitter.

Thanks Terry for the info, the story "Africa Crossbow Hunt" was actually published in SCI magazine of the November/December 2009 issue.

You are a 100% correct, the use of a crossbow for hunting purposes in Namibia is prohibited. This hunt was illegal, unless the Namibian outfitter was granted a special permit by the Namibian Ministry and Environment (MET) for this hunt to be done with a crossbow.

This story by crossbow hunter Lane Kinney also mentions him taking a Leopard in Namibia, whether taken with his crossbow is a mystery. He tries to be quite vague about it throughout his story, not focusing too much on it and going so far as not including a picture of him and his Leopard while the four remaining plains game species are proudly shown with him and his crossbow.

Leopard in Namibia falls under the category of dangerous game species, and by Namibian law it is illegal to hunt Leopard or any dangerous game species (Elephant, Hippopotamus, Crocodile, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard) with a bow. I have heard of a couple Leopard hunts done by bow in Namibia which were legal as permits were granted by the Namibian Ministry and Environment (MET) as an experiment to see the possibility of allowing Leopard hunting by bow but it is the rare exception.

The crossbow hunter Lane Kinney ends his story with the following; "My namibian safari had been a great success. I had finally taken my long awaited Leopard, as well as four SCI Top Five Animals."

I have been in contact with NAPHA to learn more about this possibly illegal crossbow hunt that took place in Namibia. NAPHA got back to me very quickly with the following response: "... Yes, we also read the article and the mentioned hunt is under investigation as crossbow is not legal in Namibia." I asked as well if a special permit could be granted for crossbow hunting in Namibia, and the reply was as follow: "... Sorry to tell you but no permit will be granted for crossbow hunting in Namibia."

As far as I know hunting with a crossbow is legal in South Africa.

They are not very popular here...

If a client want to hunt with a crossbow I can not see any reason why not. His setup must just be more than capable to kill the animals he intend to hunt and he needs to be able to shoot it very accurately...

Crossbows are allowed for hunting purposes in some provinces of South Africa, you should check with your hunting outfitter.

Originally Posted by AfricaHunting.com

Crossbows are allowed for hunting purposes in some provinces of South Africa, you should check with your hunting outfitter.

Crossbows are not very popular in SA and are even looked down upon by some. In which provinces are they legal and do you know why and why not in others? Thanks

Werner, The Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism is the governing authority for the hunting industry in South Africa, however sport hunting in South Africa is also regulated by the different Provincial Nature Conservation Authorities that have their own rules and regulations. I guess some of those Provincial Authorities have chosen, for unknown reasons to me, not to allow crossbow hunting in their Province. I do not know in which Provinces of South Africa crossbow hunting is allowed, perhaps we could get some input on that from some of the members.

Wow. Sounds like someone is in a bit of hot water.

On the same point, i wonder why crossbows aren't legal in Namibia. I do not have a crossbow and have never shot one, but from what i've seen and read they seem to have sufficient power for plains game, and possibly bigger stuff. I wonder if it's just a matter of the law catching up with technology??

Tom, I think that the main reason why crossbows are not allowed in Namibia and other parts of Africa is that they are considered as poaching weapons. They certainly have the power to take down big game, Elephants have bee hunted with it as you can see from the video below, a crossbow often draw more poundage than a bow, and can be very precise at long distances... Shooting a crossbow is as easy as pulling the trigger of a firearm, it's basically a silent weapon that anyone can shoot, classifying it for some people as the perfect weapon for poachers...

I see. I never thought of them being classified as poachers weapons. I'm used to seeing the snares and battle scarred muzzleloaders as poachers fare. You learn something everyday.

Tom, Poachers will use just about anything and everything to get the job done, from machine guns to battle scarred muzzleloaders as you said, dogs, bows, spears, bomas, nets, snares, wires, machete, countless types of mechanical traps, pit traps, sling shots, poison, fire, driving game into exhaustion and fences or hitting them with their cars...

That's exactly why crossbows are not popular or frowned upon in South Africa. There were a couple of crime incidents where crossbows were involved for the reasons Jerome has explained, namely anybody can shoot them (unlike a bow) and they are silent (unlike a rifle).

Hunting with a crossbow is legal in South Africa and most outfitters here welcome them providing the client is proficient with it as with any bow for that matter.

The few outfitters that do not allow them have had bad experiences with them or who are a little uninformed about their capability. It is all about shot placement and equipment suited to the application. If you practice often enough and use a crossbow with the necessary poundage/power stroke and heavy arrows i cannot see any reason for any South African outfitter frowning on you using a crossbow.

All the best,

Engee Potgieter

I also saw this article and the same thing came to mind why is there no Leopard picture. I had a look at the Namibia Prof Hunter website that states "Crossbows are illegal" why did Wamback do the hunt and what about Kinney did he not do his research?

Jerome,

Good video.

Thanks,

Monish

Crossbow hunting is still very new in South Africa and people don’t realize that there is no law against hunting with a recurve crossbow. However, a compound crossbow is illegal to hunt with according to National Environmental Management : Biodiversity Act (10/2004) : Draft Norms and Standards for the Regulation of the Hunting Industry in South Africa.