I hope to chase cape buff in '24 with my bow.

I will be taking iron wills. They now make single bevels, which is what i will be using.

I currently shoot 642gr TAW with iron will 125 vented double bevels. the last bull elk i shot (a small bull); i found my arrow 50+ yards behind him. these penetrate.

I will bump up the broadhead weight to 175 or 200, we will see which tunes the best to get me closer to 700gr or just over.

I shoot a 31" draw 82# bowtech cpxl. I rock gold tip kinetic chaos .200 spine arrows with a 50gr HIT insert glued in behind a 50gr steel black eagle half-out, with a 1.75" aluminum footer covering the junction between the end of the carbon and the base of the half-out.

I have shot a concrete wall with this setup and though it broke my nock, the business end of the arrow is fine. they're tough arrows.

Arrow integrity is #1, if it breaks, it won't penetrate. The steel iron will uses is badass, and the edge retention is almost unbelievable.

See thread about Mexican hunter killed by a water buffalo.

Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by cooperjd:
I hope to chase cape buff in '24 with my bow.

I will be taking iron wills. They now make single bevels, which is what i will be using.

I currently shoot 642gr TAW with iron will 125 vented double bevels. the last bull elk i shot (a small bull); i found my arrow 50+ yards behind him. these penetrate.

I will bump up the broadhead weight to 175 or 200, we will see which tunes the best to get me closer to 700gr or just over.

I shoot a 31" draw 82# bowtech cpxl. I rock gold tip kinetic chaos .200 spine arrows with a 50gr HIT insert glued in behind a 50gr steel black eagle half-out, with a 1.75" aluminum footer covering the junction between the end of the carbon and the base of the half-out.

I have shot a concrete wall with this setup and though it broke my nock, the business end of the arrow is fine. they're tough arrows.

Arrow integrity is #1, if it breaks, it won't penetrate. The steel iron will uses is badass, and the edge retention is almost unbelievable.

You can do better. Much better. I prefer the VPA 2 blades over the cut throats, though both type of points will go through bone well.

I don't like IW at all:
1. 2 piece. VPAs are one piece, no ferrule or screws to fail. If you insist on 2 piece then the German Kinetics would be a better choice.
2. Bad profile- needs to have more taper- be longer/thinner. You want to penetrate bone.

You're also a bit light. Minimum most PHs like is 750 gr. Even my 500 gr PG arrow (started out at 460 gr somehow it got up to 500 gr) did a pass through on a zebra at 32 y. 640 through an elk is not a gold standard for Africa by any means. Look again at the buff skeleton.

Footers are unnecessary- you've got nearly 2" of insert behind the broad head protecting business end integrity, besides I've never had to shoot at an animal through concrete.

Good luck. After hunting buff with a bow I'll never go back to hunting with a rifle, except a double for ele.

PS No bleeders, no vents if possible, no lighted nocks for African game.........

.375 H&H 300grain Triple Shok.... moving at 2400 fps.

Yes, I agree....or bigger yet. I was in camp when a famous archery hunter shot an Elephant with a bow, then we were all involved in trying to track it down for several days, including using aircraft, to finally put it out of it's misery. Bows are not meant for large dangerous game, IMHO.

Ray, thanks for your comment. Looking at that museum skeleton's ribs, I was thinking, "Wait, aren't the ribs supposed to overlap like a Venetian blind firmly closed?"
It seems impossible to get a broadhead past them, but it has been done many times. I tip my hat ...

Oct 17, Humani, Zim

Shot one with a rifle, one with a double, neither of which compare, at all. Never gonna use a rifle on a buff again. Just can't any more.....

Well done FMC!

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Yes, I agree....or bigger yet. I was in camp when a famous archery hunter shot an Elephant with a bow, then we were all involved in trying to track it down for several days, including using aircraft, to finally put it out of it's misery. Bows are not meant for large dangerous game, IMHO.

Biebs -

Right you are. I am an avid bowhunter. I thought long ago about it and even talked with Alister Norton in Zambia about it.

His comment was; "Steve, I'll do whatever you want, but hear this - I've never recovered an archery shot Buffalo intact."

While it's impressive what FMC accomplished and my hat is off to him, I consider it a bit of a stunt.

Boy, things can get out of hand quickly! I wonder what Howard Hill or Fred Bear used.

quote:

Originally posted by bigluke:
Boy, things can get out of hand quickly! I wonder what Howard Hill or Fred Bear used.

Ahh, the usual forum drivel........it's everywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by FMC:
Oct 17, Humani, Zim

Shot one with a rifle, one with a double, neither of which compare, at all. Never gonna use a rifle on a buff again. Just can't any more.....

Did you get a passthru?

Interesting paragraph from an “Ashby” publication (Available at the AshbyBowhunting.org)
“A preponderance of actual complete-passthrough hunting shots on buffalo have occurred with compound bows having draw-weights from 65 to 70 pounds. Exactly why, when using directly comparable arrow-system setups, compound bows in the 65 to 70 pound draw-weight range are yielding a much higher rate (percentage) of passthrough shots on hunted buffalo than are the compound bows having higher draw weights remains, at this time, an unknown, though I do have a suspicion why. Nonetheless, this outcome data from hunted buffalo is clearly present, and at a significant level. This is an item that warrants further testing.”
https://static1.squarespace.co...rformance+Update.pdf

No. Broke near side rib, point broke and was embedded in the far side rib. He traveled 40 y, dropped in under a minute, bellowed 30 sec later, which was much better than my 3-7-5 (75 y shot, he travelled another
70 y, dropped and needed to be put down after we found him).

A couple of pearls: as long as you get one lung, he'll die. Also, a low heart (one ventricle) shot can take up to 30 min for him to die, so you may not want your PH to be trigger happy with the rifle to put him down.

Also, with regards to elephants: the ribs are so thick you won't go through one with an arrow and get good penetration so you need a little luck as well to hopefully get the arrow between ribs. Ele, also do not have a pleural space, so there is no potential space for the lungs to collapse or blood to accumulate IOW the heart/lung shot is simply a heart shot. You need to hit major blood vessels or heart with an arrow, just penetrating near side lung may not do the trick without nicking a major blood vessel. Same reason why even with a rifle, the heart shot can go pear shaped right quick and often leads to a gruesome death.

Any competent PH knows that.