Should you shoot a black mamba with a bow.

No, most people use arrows as mambas aren't stiff enough to shoot straight......

That was freakin'ilarious!!!

ROTFLMAO!!!!

its to early in the morning for me to laugh this hard, Good one Steve.

James: Hilarity aside, I saw a bowhunting tape where a guy stuck a mamba from a blind on the far side of the water hole, maybe 30-35 yards away. It was a very good shot, and that mamba squirmed something awful until expiring.

Thanks for the good laugh Steve.

If the mamba is charging, understand that most bows are not "stoppers".
Peter.

Fortunately, I can only speak to shotguns and that was close enough. I would doubt you'd get a second shot if you got "charged"

quote:

No, most people use arrows as mambas aren't stiff enough to shoot straight......

OUTSTANDING!

"No, most people use arrows as mambas aren't stiff enough to shoot straight......"

That was damn witty! Poor guy, you've highjacked his thread with your antics, and he hasn't gotten his question answered.

OH well..... IT was funny though

Sorry James, I just couldn't resist it......

regarding your original question, from a personal point of view, I don't like to kill snakes at all unless I absolutely have to. If I come across them in the bush, I go my way and they go their's, if they come into camp, it's a different matter and I'll kill them if I can't get them out of camp any other way. My logic is that they were in the bush before I was and as I'm the intruder, why kill them.......

If I have no choice but to kill a snake (mamba or otherwise) I usually use a Zulu fighting asagaii or a Masai long knife known as a simeh.

Where are you in RSA?

James you will be shooting inside of 20 feet...If you miss him and he gets POed he will bite you before you turn to run...17 feet per second...the mamba can crawl...
I survived a mamba attack..

Mike

quote:

17 feet per second...the mamba can crawl...

Please reference this from a credible source?

Thanks

Here is a reference...

Read that somewhere...being a librarian I am always reading about africa..Forgot where I read the 17 feet per second...But I did read it...

http://www.blackmambasnake.com/blackmambasnakedidyouknow.html

Mike

Hi Retreever
They are quick, no doubt
But speed over short distances I belive is just that, very short distances.

I am not an expert on the Dendroaspis species but have been around a few in large cages and seen quite a few in the wild. As a species it suffers from huge amounts of 'wives tales' (re: 'berg mamba's', rolling into a wheel to roll after people, whistling before they bite you, faster than a galloping horse etc etc).

Faster than a running man, I have never heard that from anyone in the know or from credible text. 23km/h is fast but I would like to know for how long, couple seconds, over one body length? Their speed and acceleration would also be very dependent on the substrate they are on.

From what I know the fastest snake is the namib Sand snake Psammophis leightoni namibensis , you can read a bit here Namib Sand Snake.

If you look on www.nmmu.ac.za on the Saasveld campus page there is a link to guy doing micro chipping of black mamba's. I should email him and ask I guess!

As I said, they are quick for a snake, but I would feel, and have felt, quite safe 20' away away from one. I may be wrong, but type of speed doesn't seem plausible, especially if sustained for more thana second or two.

I don't know if the 17 FPS is accurate or not. Little doubt they are fast compared to most other snakes.

Do the math to figure out how fast that is. It isn't that fast. An average high school track meet will have lots of kids running the mile faster than that.

What if you trip and fall?

I'm scared of the damn things and will stay as far away from them as I can get. I'm damn sure not going to go out of my way to provoke one!

I have seen a picture of "Retreevers" mamba,, It was big! I am good with a bow but wouldn't take a chance of upsetting one if they aren't trying to take over my space. Holding the picture of Retreevers gave me goose bumps,, snakes, all of them give me the creeps!

just because i'm curious and think snakes in general are pretty cool....any chance of us seeing the pic of retreevers mamba?

I've never seen a snake in Africa. Maybe that's because I always go in June, July or August. I really haven't felt deprived on not seeing one though.

Well guys..we were riding going out to check lion baits...I sat in the back of the truck in the high seat my wife in the middle and Pierre on the right side next to the driver...The two trackers were sitting on the spare tires...Dominic was behind me and my left leg was perched in the opening where you climb in and out of the safari truck...This is all happening at the same time.. Dominic dives toward my wife behind me and you hear a tinny thud when the snake hit the side of the truck about 3 feet behind my leg and foot about 40 + inches off he ground...There is alot of jabberin going on and I turn around and scream mamba ...Which is crocodile in swahili... I am reaching for my 450#2 and never take my eye off that snake... After he is dead the big Masai tracker runs up to him to chop him in a hundren pieces and I stop him and tell him I want pics of the damn big snake...

Here is a pic and a link to the album to see the nine foot monster...



album http://picasaweb.google.com/retreever/TanzTest




album http://picasaweb.google.com/retreever/MamaChopChopSAdventure

Apart from a juvenile I shot in camp once (with a .410), I've never tried shooting a mamba with anything (Can't shoot straight when in mid-air or running like hell)

Guess one could speculate the difference between arrowing D.G. and screwing up, and arrowing a Black Mamba and screwing up. The screw-up on the D.G. could possibly get you killed instantly, whereas the Mamba screw-up could get you some time to wish the hell you weren't so cocky about hitting that aspirin sized target.....before your "ticket out" was punched.

Thank you SSR
S(teve)S(hakari)R(obinson)
A good way to learn clean double sense phrases, and to take care of them.

According to this web site Mike's 17 fps is about right. I just did a Yahoo search for "world's fastest snake" and this was the first one that came up.

Black Mamba

"Introducing the Black Mamba
The fastest land snake in the world is the aggressive black mamba found in the southern part of tropical Africa. You might have heard stories about this snake overtaking people on galloping horses but although these snakes are fast, they aren't that fast. They can reach top speeds of 10-12 mph (16-19 km/hr) in short bursts over level ground - good luck trying to outrun one of these snakes if you tick it off!"

thanks for the pictures. looks like you had a lot of fun when you weren't being attacked

"Black mambas don't make good pets". Remember you heard it first here, on AR!
Peter.