Shipping bows & arrows ahead of time

[John Havard]

The wife and I will be spending a bit over two weeks on various photo safaris and tours prior to my short hunting stint in late April.  Rather than haul my bows and arrows around with me, how easy would it be to ship them from Cape Town to the outfitter so I don't have to haul them around with me prior to the hunt?  Has anyone ever done this?

[Mitch H]

Contact your hunting outfitter……he should be ready, willing, and able to help you out with that.  

[David lozzano]

I've been thinking to do the same thing, Let us know John.

[Terry Green]

John....I ship my stuff every year to Solana a week and a half before I go....and have sent my stuff elsewhere ahead of me on other hunts.

I have two coolers that I use.  Cheap and durable for a shipping case...120 quart Polar ....I'd like to find a 150 quart on sale.

[stik&string]

I have shipped stuff to outfitters as well. Contact them and inform them on what you are sending and how it should be stored, if they are willing then you should be fine. A word of caution though, a hunting buddies hunt was almost ruined when the guide left his shipped bow in his car and it delaminated, but I brought a spare that he was able to use.

[John Havard]

Terry - I'm with you brother!  I ship three or four boxes of gear every year about a month ahead of time to Alaska for my moose hunt.  Either pay the excess baggage fees at the airport or pay shipping fees - it's a push either way.  Since I have a bunch of other gear permanently stored in Anchorage at a friend's house I just ship the annual gear load to him.  Makes it much easier, although I've never used coolers as shipping containers.  That's an excellent idea.

Am waiting to hear back from the place I'll be hunting, but Neil at Bowhunting Safaris has assured me that shipping from Cape Town to Chattaronga with a two-week window should present zero problems.  There's simply no need to schlep everything along with us during the photo safari portion of our trip.

[John Havard]

After exchanging e-mails with Philip at Chattaronga his recommendation is simple and straightforward - use DHL, pack gear carefully, ship it the fastest way (a few bucks more but what the heck), and have everything marked fragile.  There should be zero problems with shipping my hunting gear ahead of time from Cape Town to the hunting camp given my two-week window.  Problem solved.