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12.05.24 Thursday
Hunt Strong founder enjoys his time at Bushmen Safaris
By: Bushmen Safaris
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Davie “Crockett” Ferraro founded Hunt Strong - www.ihuntstrong.com - to enhance the lives of outdoors men and women to become more successful in the field. Davie helps get people get in great physical shape to be able to take that one opportunity to make an ethical shot on what could be your trophy of a lifetime. He spent some time hunting at the Bushmen Safaris facility in South Africa and was kind enough to share his experiences.

Bow hunting in South Africa with Bushmen Safaris was no doubt a trip we would remember for the rest of our lives. Weeks prior to our arrival at Bushmen, I e-mailed the staff with the types of foods I consume on a regular basis to ensure I was properly prepared for success. Lydia, an awesome cook and friend, took great care of us and not once did I consume anything that was not on my nutritional regimen for our entire stay at Bushmen Safaris.

We were greeted with smiles at Johannesburg airport by Shannon, one of South Africa’s best professional hunters, then off we were on our car ride to Bushmen Safaris. During our ride we shared several stories of our successes and failures of hunting throughout our lives. I will say it was a little weird riding on the other side of the road and the other side of the car. What was even more different was driving on the other side of the road. Yes, Shannon let me drive the last 5 miles into camp. I can now check that off the list. Once we arrived at Bushmen, I was kindly greeted by Nick, a professional hunter and Shannon’s father, Lydia, Nick’s wife and Shannon’s mother, and the rest of the staff at Bushmen Safaris.

I sighted in my bow to make sure it did not get knocked during travel and studied some shot placement videos to make sure my shots would be ethical. The vitals of the animals in Africa are different than our big game in the United States. Their hearts for the most part are right in the shoulders at the far front of the animals. We also discussed our hit list. Hit list, meaning the plains game I wanted to harvest. On the top of our list was a Zebra, Gemsbok, Impala, Blesbok, Warthog, and if a huge Kudu would present itself, I would harvest it. You may be thinking “Why a Zebra?” Here’s why. Not only are they gorgeous, but a Zebra can live up to 30 years and they are very smart and tough to get a shot on. I love challenges and was up for it. I was only going to harvest mature animals, no different than if we were hunting in the United States. I am a hunter, not a killer. After all, it would just help out Bushmen’s management program. We were extremely tired from all the traveling, but I still could not sleep with such excitement rumbling through my body.

After a week at the beautiful Bushmen Safaris facilities, we successfully ended our hunt at Bushmen Safaris with a monster wide Kudu bull, an impressive Waterbuck, two Impalas, and memories engrained in our heads for the rest of our lives. We have some incredible pictures and videos to share along with some mounts that will remind us of our hunts with Bushmen. Hunting South Africa was by far an unbelievable experience. Getting within, at times, 5 to 25 yards to watch these plains game animals is just breathtaking. And the sunsets and sunrises, wow, it’s like you can just reach up and shake God’s hand. We will be back, especially since we did not get our shot at a Zebra or Gemsbok. A huge thank you to SCI and Bushmen Safaris for making this trip, a trip of a lifetime. I truly feel blessed to have experienced hunting the bush at such a young age and can’t wait to get back.

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