Crossbow Hunting in Africa

Good day fellow hunters!

I'm currently doing some research on Crossbow hunting in Africa.... As I am a Namibian, I know crossbow hunting there is ilegal, but what about the other countries like: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Zamibia...

Is crossbow hunting legal in those countries?

And if anyone can give me sources of information I can use, please let me know.

Kind Regards
Jacques Strauss

I think crossbow hunting is on the verge of taking off. It already is here in the states somewhat and with your gun control laws in most southern African countries I bet you will see a massive increase in crossbow use over the next 20 years. As to legality in Zim, RSA and Bots....I can't be sure. I see a lot of hunting TV shows from RSA ranches with guys shooting crossbows.

I know it is fine in RSA, but since most of RSA is private property, most things are OK. The photos I've posted over the past couple years have several crossbow kills by my kids in RSA. Crossbows are very effective!

Thanks guys! To what distances are crossbows effective for hunting would you say?

Originally Posted by Jacques.strauss

Thanks guys! To what distances are crossbows effective for hunting would you say?

I have seen one that was accurate and effective (on deer) out to 90 yards.

Originally Posted by Jacques.strauss

Thanks guys! To what distances are crossbows effective for hunting would you say?

The ones my boys use have scopes and the reticles have 4 horizontal lines. With the top line sighted in at 20 yards, the next is the 30 yard line, then 40, then 50 yards. The bolt starts dropping quick beyond 50 yards, at least with ours (175 lb pull). My youngest son shot a zebra at 54 yards. Of all days to not have a range finder .... We estimated the range to be 40 yards and he aimed accordingly. The bolt hit the front leg square, broke the leg bone, and penetrated approximately 12" into the bottom of the chest cavity. The zebra was recovered, but it took a fair amount of tracking. The bolt had dropped a considerable distance between 40 yards and 54 yards (walked off after the fact). The horizontal lines on the reticle reflect this as well, getting further apart as distance increases. What's impressive is that it broke the leg bone and continued on into the chest cavity. A Zebra leg bone is fairly substantial!

With the exception of a wildebeest taken at 30 yards, the rest of the shots were in the 15 - 20 yard range. I consider crossbows to have the same effective range as a good compound - they just require a whole lot less practice.

Thanks for all the replies....

It sounds like crossbow hunting can be effective indeed. However, I have heard concerns about the "bolts" sizes compared to normal compound bow arrows. Is that a concern or not really? For example: A bolt from a crossbow is much much shorter than a normal arrow.

Originally Posted by Jacques.strauss

Thanks for all the replies....

It sounds like crossbow hunting can be effective indeed. However, I have heard concerns about the "bolts" sizes compared to normal compound bow arrows. Is that a concern or not really? For example: A bolt from a crossbow is much much shorter than a normal arrow.

There are much more passionate and experienced bow hunters on here than I am that probably have some firm opinions, but see no real reason for concern. The bolts we shoot are carbon (Parker Red Hots) with a weight-forward design, hevi-hit oversized inserts, and 20" length. The broadheads are G5 Montecs - fixed bladed - 100 grains. I think the overall weight is 425 grams with this setup. There are heavier bolts on the market I believe, but we've had too much luck with this combination to experiment with other options. We've had several cases where we've killed more than one animal with the same bolt - complete pass-through, find the bolt, clean-it, reuse it. It zipped thru a Kudu at 15 yards, and we found the bolt at 60 yards on the exact line it was fired on.

Crossbow hunting is illegal in Zim. I had a fancy one for a while and actually found that hunting with it especially from a stalk perspective a pain in the butt!
It's long and wide and has to be carried pretty much level to keep the bolt on the slide. I also had an issue with basically having to keep it 'cocked' - ie string drawn for long periods of time. Even usage in a tree stand requires a lot of movement to 'cock' it and then bring it to bear.
Once I got onto a compound bow, I never looked back!
The poms did have something right over the french back in the day!