Barrel and Bow Safaris???

[Hawken1911]

http://www.barrelandbow.com/bowhunting.html  
Has anyone been there or known someone who has?  I may have an opportunity to tag a long with a buddy at a great price (auction) but I've never heard of them.  Any first or second hand accounts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

[Joseph]

I have not heard about them either but I was looking at the website and the daily rates/trophy fees.  They are higher than Visser's in all catagories.  I guess it would depend on how good the deal was.  My only African experience is with Dries Visser and it was phenominal to say the least.  If there references check out I would highly recomend the trip as nothing else is like either.  Joseph

[9 Mile Archer]

I know NOTHING about Africa, but I've been on a lot of fishing guide trips around the word, here is what bothers me about their web page.  In the trophy room everyone has a gun except for one fellow who shows up in multiple photos. He is also the guy from their bow page climbing the tree stand, (my guess one of the guides or owners).  I would make sure you talk to clients that have "traditional bow hunted with them before making any decisions. They also say the best time for stand or blind hunting is winter, what kind of hunting do you want to do and when is the trip?? Lastly usually and this is only my personal experience coming from the fishing industry but usually raffle and donated trips are on the shoulders of the “prime” season. Outfitters can book prime season easily for full boat clients so when they give away trips they don’t want to give away the crappiest time but they also usually don’t donate the “best” time.  This does not mean that the time they donate can’t turn out to be phenomenal, but it often has a smaller chance of giving the best hunting/fishing opps.  Again remember I have “NO” experience with hunting in Africa but I would want lots of opinions of the time selected from knowledgeable hunters and I would have to have some references of Bow hunters that have hunted with this outfit based just on their lack of bow hunters represented in the website. They could be great but I would do some heavy research.  I would rather pay full ticket and get what I knew was a great outfit than go cheap and get a bummer of a trip.  Again this is just from personal experiences from traveling for fly fishing and working as a guide in the fly fishing industry for 5 years. JMHO

[Hawken1911]

I appreciate the input guys.  The deal was just too good to pass up, so I am booked with them for July '08.  I was really impressed with the communication I had with the PH, Marco du Plessis.  Barrel and Bow is a new business, but he has guided for other outfitters for 8 years and seems to be well known in trad circles.  He said he guided Denny Sturgis Jr. when he took a sable, and I guess he even appears in the new Three Rivers video.

I asked him a ton of questions and he answered them all satisfactorily, so I'm confident I made a good decision, and it gets me to Africa sooner than I was planning.  I'm sure I will be picking your brains a lot over the next year.  I'm very excited about the hunt.

Take care,

Paul

[paleFace]

Hawken,  i have to agree with Joseph their prices are way higher than any other safari i have seen. as an example they have the blue wildebeest for $1790. vs. the Visser's for only $850. almost $1000. more. doesn't look like it just the big animals either. VIsser's impala is $280. vs. barrel & bow @ $590. looks like every animal cost double what the Visser's charge and i thought that the Visser's were about the highest.  not to mention the daily rate. i sure hope you are getting a good deal to the tune of at least half of their normal cost on everything.  one thing to keep in mind, these are just your initial cost. you will still have airline cost, all of the import and export fees and the the taxidermist.  i took 5 animals on my safari and it cost me close to $1600. to get them all back here.  through in some gifts and sight seeing and you can see what i'm getting at.  
regardless have a super hunt and take in a much as you can. you will never forget the trip.

[Snakeeater]

Hawken,

Denny is on here. I would find his profile and send him a PM about the guy.

[Shifty]

You can trust Marco, I hunted with him last summer while he was still at Melorani.  I am glad to see he is going into buisiness on his own.  He is a great young man and an excellant PH.  He took my 11 year old son out on an Impala hunt (with a rifle) while I was bowhunting and guided my wife (with rifle) for a Zebra.  Both of them had the time of there life and talk about it almost daily.  Marco is a man of integrity and I will see him again, on this side or the next.  

Steve Shifflett

[TradAlaska]

I have hunted twice with Marco and have nothing but the highest regards for this young man.

Cheers from Alaska