An African hunt

2/7/2008

In August 2007, Barry Don (1956-58) realised a long-held desire to hunt with bow and arrow in Africa.

Barry Don and his trophy impala

An avid bowhunter since his teens in Dunedin, and currently with three United States hunts for elk and whitetail deer under his belt, this latest 'adventure of a lifetime' had Barry being hosted and guided by hugely accomplished outfitters 'Greater Kuduland Safaris' in South Africa's Northern Transvaal.

Enjoying fantastic weather, Barry and partner Adele spent two magical weeks absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of the Dark Continent.

Most of the hunting was done from blinds at waterholes, where an ability to be super quiet, ever alert and extremely patient for hours on end is essential.

Barry admits that these attributes were possibly not always too evident during his time at Otago Boys’ High School.

Barry and his warthog, complete with a highly impressive set of tusks

As well as his bow, Barry's digital video camera was always close at hand, the resultant six hours of memorable footage nicely complementing and recording the tangible experience.

Two trophy size impala antelope and an impressively tusked warthog fell to Barry's 63lb pull longbow with the mounted specimens shortly due to be shipped to Barry’s home in Nelson from the South African taxidermist.

Interestingly, Barry views any hunting success pretty much as a bonus.

"It's just being 'out there', attempting to meet all of the challenges associated with the physical and mental aspects of bow hunting that's the thing.

“With this particular trip, simply experiencing Africa and its incredible game animals up close and personal was exciting and rewarding enough in itself."

So where to next? "Alaska is beckoning", says Barry.