Best month to hunt South Africa?

[lawdog]

I am planning an African safari for Plains Game with a bow. We will be hunting water holes from a blind. Can anyone recommend the best time to go. I am already assuming sometime May through September but is there anytime better than others within that time? Here are some more direct questions:

1) Is there a rainy season and is that May-June (if there is standing water in a rainy season it looks like it would wake hunting water holes more difficult)?

2) I assume July & August would be good because it is dry, is that a good assumption?

3) I have heard wind can be an issue in August, true?

4) At what point in the year does the animals hair start to go down hill?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as I am a true novice.

 

[jjhack]

Have you already booked the hunt? If so the outfitter should help you with the questions because he will know his game and weather conditions better then a generic answer here. South Africa has a diverse geography. Depending upon where you are planning to hunt you could have 90 deg weather or be hunting in snow at 8000 -10,000 ft elevation! Where are you hunting that will be a very important factor in the answers you get.

 

[lawdog]

Have not booked anything but where I'm looking is about a three hour drive from Johanesburg. The outfitter says anytime May-Sept. is good. I hear May-June can be a lot of rain. Just wondering if one month was better than another.

 

[jjhack]

You can travel 3 hours in any direction From Joburg and the habitat is much different in every one of them. Without knowing where you are going it would be an impossible comment to make on the rain fall.

It's a simple matter to go to the weather underground on the net and type in the name of the nearst city in RSA. That site will give you the historical data on monthly rainfall and other weather. Any outfitter worth a crap would be able to give you exact details on his lodge and conditions.

In May and June in the central Northern Province Rain is almost unknown. Last year it rained June first and second which was extremely odd, and then not again until a drizzle in mid August. Prior to the rain in June is was overcast and minor drizzle a couple days in early May. The rest of the time was bone dry and sunny.

Best you contact the outfitter or booking agent and get the right info from them. I can't imagine why they would not offer this. Only thing I can think of is that they don't own property but will hunt many places by driving to them for particular species. The weather and elevation will change at every one of those properties. That is typical of game farm hunting done there. We were doing that for years ourselves. The hunters complained so much about the lost hunting time with all the driving. We changed the operation in 1996 to hunt on one huge property with a new lodge with plenty of species and high populations of game.

You can't make much money with a single property operation as you will hunt all the game out if you take to many people. Our consession only takes about 20-24 people per year and we typically only harvest 150-200 animals a year. That is nothing compared to the huge Eastern Cape put and take farms who stock constantly like a pay fishing lake. They hunt 5 months a year and shoot 1000's of animals which are stocked just for hunting.

Just as an example, I spend all of May, June and much of July at my lodge with the hunters that come. I could operate the hunts anytime I wish and set them all up during any dates all year. I specifically choose May and June for the hunts because it's the Rut (for natural game) and the best weather of the year. If those were the rainy months why would I run my hunting operation then?