I'm asking because I'm planning to do some buffalo hunting next summer, and if it's not to foolish I'd like to take my homemade bows.
if not selfbow, how about bamboo backed ???
mahalo
M
I've never heard of anyone. They are BIG animals, 2000#'s+ and have very thick and tough, skin and bones.
When You say Buffalo, are you talking about a bison or African ?.
I have taken both, 2 weeks ago I got to shoot one in Florida that broke loose into the Florida turnpike, weighted about 1200 lbs, he ran into a neighborhood and refused to be hearded off, the police did not want to use high caliber Rifles as he wondered from house to house.
The Police captain called me and I came with my #70 Bamboo/hickory self bow, I used Bamboo arrows with real turkey vanes, left helical, and 145 gr. grizzley broadheads, Most cops thought I was nuts, but the captain assured them that I had shot several large animals in africa with longbows, I snuck behind a wooden fence and got to 12 to 15 yards and placed the shot right behind the front left leg ,angling forward towards the chest,The arrow went in all the way to the vanes a good 20 to 23 inches, the Bison made a V line for all the cop cars and people soon scattered into the houses including the cops.
But the animal started to bleed heavely through the mouth and nose and walked 15-20 yaards and fell from the back legs first and then sideways and was dead in 2 to 3 minutes.
It took a flatbed and a crane to carry it to the butchers', 800 lbs of meat was donated to the homeless shelters, the other 2 buffalos killed on the highway were also donated.
I will be doing a shoulder mount of this one, which is almost twice as big as the first one I got in 1985 in Pier South Dakota.
I always use bamboo arrows for large game, first they fly very very fast almost like carbon arrows and they are much stronger than the usual cedar wood arrows, your problem is finding bamboo that is even and you do have to spend a lot of time sraightening them.
Good luck !
Buffalo in OZ are Asiatic water buffalo. I know that many are taken with recurves, but I don't recall ever hearing about any taken with a longbow. Maybe it is something to aim for?
I would think that as long as you have a heavy bow and it shoots a heavy arrow well, should be no problem. A bow is a bow. Lots of buff been killed with bows,put a heavy arrow in the right place and it is dead. Selfbow included.
Danny
Hunting partners Rosey Roseland and Mark Viehwig both killed buff with longbows while hunting with me this season. Don
well I surely hope that by next summer I'll be able to turn out a hard shooting Guava selfbow, that's my plan, hopefully I'll make it happen, or get mauled in the process.
my hunting bow rigth now is a 70# bamboo backed red oak,
it hits hard, but I haven't being able to test it yet on a big boar !!
It's shoots a 650gr head really well, but I'd like to make a bow that gives me this kind of performance with an esavier arrow, 750- 850gr????
that should do the buisiness rigth ??
M
Where are you going to find the guava wood ?
Guava is all over the place around here !!!!
M
I agree with what Danny has said - a heavy bow with a heavy arrow is the go.
With a good wood bow I would suggest around 85# and an arrow weight of at least 850 grain and even more would be better.
Buff are big and very tough. They can vary is size depending on which area you are hunting them in. Some strains are bigger bodied than others. The ribs are very tough!!!
A couple of months ago I tested my 70# @ 26 1/2" draw longbow and 850 grain arrows (160 fps) on a freshly killed bull Buff. While I believe my set-up is sufficient for buff I wouldn't want any less performance from my bow and arrow combination.
I never got the opportunity for a shot at a bull buff but I shot a young one (360kgs) for meat for the property manager. They are a real challenge to hunt and I hope to go back next year (hopefully the wind won't be swirling all the time) and take a bull.
There has been quite a few Buff taken with laminated longbows in Oz over the years.
Jeff
thanks Stickbow,
yea I'm definetly aiming to build a selfbow that excedes in performance my 70 pounder Howard Hill,
if I can't do that, I know I can make a bamboo backed that will !!!
I hope that I'll have my equipment ready by next summer, I'd really like to make it happen, I have 3 month so I hope to get a chance to find buffaloes.
thanks again to everyone
M
Hunting buffalo with a bow is not easy. Think of a really big boar hog, 220#, now imagine him TEN times bigger. Thats what you are dealing with. I now recommend a minimum arrow weight of 900 grains and it should be a small diameter shaft that flies perfectly. Almost everyone that we have had bowhunt for buff wants to come back and bring heavier bow and arrows.
ho yea Rick, if I can't make one I belive in, I'll take my hill bows ( got an 80# on the way) !!!
M
Monty Browning killed his with an 81# straight limbed longbow and got full penetration with his 1500 grain arrows! Yeah thats right 1500!
**1500gr** that's some weigth !!
what kind of rainbow trajectory did he get out of that combo??????
pass throu ???
M
....ho , yea Rick got your package !!
thanks
M
Yeah, Monty does get a "rainbow" tradjectory, but he always uses heavy arrows so hes adapted to it.
He didn't get a passthrough, but the head did break through the skin on the far side. This was a big old bull so thats very good. A younger bull or cow is a lot easier to shoot through.
can't imagine 1500 grains ,even a spear is not that heavy. could it be 150 gR.?
Northshorelongbow.
I wish I could get a guava stave, or a gore tree stave, your lucky there in Hawaii
1500, way to go.
I know a few blokes that use 900gr arrows out of recurves on deer, so 1500 on a buff doesn't sound too heavy. Must be a hell of a bow to throw them though
Captain Ray, do you know something about guava that I don't know ???
1500gr gotta be one mean punch !!!!!
M
Monty uses solid fiberglass fish arrows for most animals and they weigh out around 1200 grains, for buffalo, he uses a carbon shaft filled with a lead rod.
Having been involved with quite a few arrow-meets-buffalo scenarios over the last wo years, I think people are worrying about the wrong thing. The key, as always, is shot placement, and the sweet spot on a buff is a lot smaller than it looks. An arrow from any reasonably heavy tackle (700# bow, 800 gr. arrow) put in the perfect spot with the animal at the perfect angle will get the job done. If you can shoot heavier gear without sacrificing accuracy, fine. But a good arrow in the right place is a whole lot better than a log from a monster bow in the wrong place. I'm sure Rick will agree. Don
thanks Don,
gotta train hard to get to shoot a 700# bow by next summer !!! LOL
kiddyng aside, I really hope to be able to turn out a guava selfbow that gives me the confidence to get the job done.
...if not, my big Hill bows will do !!!
maybe I can make heavy guava arrows than !!!
M
....ho yeah,
why the sweet spot is smaller than it looks ???
always like to learn the anathomy of critters I'd like to hunt!
espetially when they are big, mean buggers !!!!!!!!
M
Yeah, getting back up to #700 after my neck surgery was a challenge... The vitals on buff are located quite far forward. Although you're looking at a whole lot of ribs broadside, the back two-thirds of those ribs don't do you much good. It's very important to be tight against the shoulder crease. Furthermore, buff have a huge rumen that is always full of grass, which essentially means they have a hay bale in the middle of the body. On a quartering away shot at the back of the ribs that would be perfect on an elk, it's possible to bury an entire arrow in the stomach and never have it reach the lungs. Hence, the animal must be broadside, no more than 15 degrees quartering away, with the near leg forward, and the arrow must strike within a hand's width of the shoulder crease, half way up the body. Put one there and you'll likely watch him drop. Anywhere else and you will be hunting some very dangerous game. I'll be interested to see if Rick agrees with this analysis. Don
much mahalo Don,
how about neck shots ???
M
Don, yep I agree. Although I think 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the brisket is the ideal spot. If on a broadside buff you go 1/3 of the way directly up the center of the leg it will put you dead center in the sweet spot, right at the top of the heart and through both lungs. I try to make it as simple as possible and avoid all the "couple inchs this way or that" in my experience, most of that goes out the window when you are close enough to hear the buffalo breath. Once you get aft of the shoulder the ribs get three times thicker and you have the other problems Don described.
The neck is about the size of a 55 gallon drum and most of it has nothing that will cause a buff to die. The spine does go through it of course, but even if you could figure out where it was and hit it, you wouldn't penetrate it with anything short of a .416MAG. We did have a bowhunter shoot one there this year and it had to be shot with a rifle a couple seconds later..........
I agree completely with Rick on the subject of neck shots... fuggetaboutit! I also agree that a bit low of midline vertically is perfect. But after doing autopsies on a number of buff, decided that midway actually allows a bit more margin of error. If I could pick a spot and gurantee that my arrow would go through it, I would aim lower. But I have also seen some shots above the brisket that you would swear would kill an elk or moose require folow up. Those are just two slightly different legit opinions... the important thing is still to have the animal at the perfect angle and get tight to the shoulder crease. Don