The Quest for the Africa 15 Plus 2 Tony Roettger

When I first went to Africa in 2009, bow in hand, I had only recently joined SCI and had little plan for what lie ahead. My first animal in Africa did not even count towards any slam or inner circle but the Texas heart shot from my bow while he drank at a water hole on a big baboon will always be a memory and one could say the beginning of the quest.

When you watch outdoor television you hear Tom Miranda, Jim Shockey, Pat and Nicole Reeve, and Melissa Bachman all talk about goals, perseverance, direction, overcoming obstacles, pursuing a passion and the list goes on you get inspired! But first, let’s level set: I am not them. I am just a normal guy with a normal job. What these personalities have done for me is inspire and helped me find that direction. They have shown me what is possible, and you quickly realize it took all of them some time to accomplish and overcome. It took Tom Miranda 18 years to do all 6 dangerous game animals in Africa and I just read he is on his 54th trip to Africa. That does earn him a lot of my respect for the dedication of time to complete that kind of goal. When you are on a similar (but far behind) journey the perspective is a whole lot different. It is not easy nor quick, especially with a bow and arrow and add on that hunting in certain areas is getting harder and harder legally with archery equipment.

I have had a lot of looks and comments over the years while running around with my bow and arrows. I have had outfitters cringe, asked why I choose to make it so hard to hunt, etc. I do not have much for an answer to that, to be honest. I just like it, I always have. My dad gave me a bow to shoot before I can even remember. We shot in our back yard at paper bags every night in the summer. I had tears in my eyes a hundred times with a bow in hand from my lack of ability to hit that paper bag as a little kid to an adult harvesting an animal of a lifetime and every other misfortune and fortune attained over the last 40 years of using a bow and arrow. Simply put, it is a choice, my choice. The choice comes with consequences: time, effort, lack of places to bow hunt, increased failure due to the complexities and the list goes on. But that isn’t stopping me just yet.

In 2009 I was exposed to the wonderful hospitality that is Africa. The food, wonderful lodging, the people, the endless amounts of animals, the air, the stories from the PH’s and just the absolute amazingness of the experience. A trip that began and ended far too fast so, I booked the second before I left camp. A big thank you goes out to Limcroma Safaris for so many things. Patience and kindness as my trip evolved because at a time when life had a few curve balls for me. My wife did not make it on the trip. She passed away due to a sudden sickness but one thing she told me to do, “Go shoot a cape buffalo with your bow.” On that 2009 trip the adventure began. However, I did not know where it was going but I did learn of the Spiral Horns of Africa (Kudu, Nyala, Eland and Bushbuck). I did not take a cape buffalo on that first trip either. I was fortunate enough to harvest a kudu along with a gemsbok, wildebeest, jackal, zebra and three baboons. I was able to share that trip with my mom and dad who joined me.

Two years later I was back at Limcroma, still sorting some things out in life, but I at least knew I was going to chase a Nyala as part of the Spiral Horns I was now after. By the time I finished my second trip with Limcroma I was halfway through the spiral horns of Africa and had not made any further trip plans. I came home to meet a lady named Kate. We were later married and have a daughter named Evie and a son named Zane. Apparently, they too were meant to be. Zane was not quite born yet as we attended an SCI Bowhunters event and met Pieter Viviers of MarupaSafaris. Apparently, they all were meant to be part of my life and give me direction because here we all are today.

That SCI bowhunters event led me to purchasing an auction item with Marupa Safaris where I was introduced to the small camp. Just us and who we came with which was appealing along with the close relationship we developed with Pieter and his family over the years. It was this adventure; my third trip to Africa where I realized there was more, it was time to do more. I decided to get my animals scored and put into the SCI record book and investigate what this all meant. I had no idea the quality of animals I had been harvesting and there are a lot of other awards you can chase and the money from the record book goes right back to conservation. The picture was becoming clearer, and I could actually do this! I could chase bigger dreams and I needed a reason to go back to Africa again.

My third trip found me chasing the third animal of the Spiral Horns of Africa, the eland. The weather was harsh; very cold, windy and rainy, which was abnormal for that time of year. We struggled to see the animals and they struggled in the cold and wet. I came home with a nice eland, two zebra and a warthog. The zebra does not count towards the African 15 or 29 but once you shoot one, you want a couple more.

The fourth trip (two years later) to Africa was the worst of them all. It was when I hit rock bottom of my bowhunting. I couldn’t hit anything; I developed a severe case of target panic, and it was more than out of control. I missed so many impala it would make you laugh and cry, I wounded a zebra which was not that wounded and showed up other times to which I missed it. I was an absolute wreck and had to somehow figure out how to recover. I was embarrassed and humiliated and there was no one to blame but myself. I came home with two animals, a nice sable bull that we walked and stalked and harvested at 42 yards, a warthog and a handful of tears.

I spent a solid year just trying to recover any sort of ability to shoot a bow again. I spent another couple years still fighting it and I was better but not 100%. I yet again found myself back in Africa where I made a turn around. Guess what? I did miss yet another impala on that trip but recovered and shot three after that along with a cape buffalo and a duiker with my bow. I had turned the corner. As Pat and Nicole say, “Being driven to persevere” was what I needed to do. On that fifth trip to Africa, I was able to get to, #14 of the Africa 15. One short, which was disappointing to be one short, but I could not give up.

I had a goal, and the Africa 15 was one milestone. The next is to finish the Africa 29 with a bow and arrow and Pieter is helping me navigate this quest. These goals are not just something you can do without help, you need a guy like Pieter to guide you where to go. There is a lot of planning in the background so when Pieter said, “I think we must do the lion on the next trip.” I listened and we did the lion on the next trip in July of 2022. My sixth trip would be to the Northern Cape of South Africa, the beginning of the Kalahari Desert.

We arrive in camp in the Northern Cape of South Africa and began the planning process. Pieter does a lot to accommodate me and other bowhunters but in this area, he has not had many bowhunters in the Northern Cape, so the blinds were very new. I was fortunate to harvest the first animal from the blind I was in, a nice common springbok. I was new to springbok, so I had to really look at pictures to make sure the one I was looking at was a good one. Turned out to be a good decision. They are fast and do not just go to water holes often. I also harvested a huge Southern Roan Antelope. Currently ranks #12 with a bow and arrow. Very fun spot and stalk hunt.

The final animal was saved for the latter part of the trip. Kate, Pieter, Patat, Tian, Mikala and I left for a camp where the lions run free in prides. Very, very cool place. This story is a stand-alone story and literally a life changing adventure as nothing has scared me more than this hunt. But I got it done with a bow after three days following a lion that could have been waiting for us in any of the thousand bushes I walked by. My PH’s may have missed the lion with their rifles at one point but thank goodness I shot it with my bow….I do not want to give too much away.

Get out there, make a plan, stick to it and enjoy this beautiful world created for us!