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Absolutely yes Cape buffalo can be hunted and killed with archery equipment. With that said, I have never killed or hunted buffs with a bow. I tried to get an archery hunt put together on short notice a few years ago but it never fell into place. This (2021) will be the third time my dad and I have tried to get a Cape buffalo hunt under our belts. Once, health issues scrubbed our hunt. Last year it was COVID. Hopefully this year we get it done. We will be hunting free range with rifles but I fully plan on taking one with my bow in the next few years. People who have never hunted and killed game with a razor sharp broadhead can’t appreciate their lethality. Yes, a buff requires careful selection of one’s equipment, but it is absolutely possible and ethical.

Not being a bow hunter, my take on your question may not be relevant, but let me give you a couple observations based on two longish buff hunts in Zimbabwe in the past 5 years.

Wild buff, as opposed to pasture-fed high fence buffalo in RSA, are not easy to get close to. Hunting Cape buffalo, even with a rifle, involves a lot of tracking and getting close to your quarry. This is especially true if hunting herds, which involves creeping around in dense bush very close to hundreds of buff, taking a look-see in case any of them are shootable bulls. Getting within 10 yards of bulls is mandatory in these situations. And most of the time, the buff you get close to aren't shooters, so you have to sneak away as carefully as you sneaked in. When you DO get your eyes on a good bull, it may be at very short range, but it may not be. Most PH's won't let a rifle hunter shoot a bull at much past 50 yards with a rifle, and you can be damn sure they won't let you shoot one with a bow much past 20. So your opportunities for shots will necessarily be few.

I hunted hard for 4 days for my first buffalo, and hunted even harder for 10 days for my second. I looked at bulls at bad-breath distance that turned out to be non-shooters. I finally killed my first buff at 50 yards and my second at a little over 120, with a 375 H&H. If I had needed to be within archery range, I wouldn't have 2 bulls on my wall. YMMV.

Finally, don't dismiss the comments above about the risks involved in finishing a wounded leopard or buff. DG is DG, and the kill in these cases invariably involves a lot of adrenalin and a lot of large caliber lead, and often involves the shedding of tracker and/or PH blood. Why would you put these fine people in that position if you could avoid it by using a suitable rifle? Doesn't make sense to me.

Spot on James.

All cape buffalo are wild animals. I have been in fenced areas which held buffalo that were born there. They behave the same way as all buffalo that are hunted: they are wary, skittish, and will hurt you under the right circumstances.

RinB, I will defer to your experience in that regard. No insult to hunters in RSA intended by my earlier comments.

Guys that bowhunt for DG usually do it for two reasons.

The first is simply a dicking dragging, ego stroking, glory seeking quest.

The second is a bowhunter that simply wants the ultimate bowhunting challenge.

It took nine days for me to get a buffalo with my 404 J. I can not imagine how unbelievable the experience would be trying to accomplish the feat with my longbow.

Anyone who hunts dangerous game with a bow has a screw loose. And if said hunter has someone looking over their shoulder with a rifle is just a wannabe. Playing games with your life is one thing, but to put others at risk is BS.

...absolutely possible, yes. Ethical, not so much

DocR
Nothing in your post offended me in the least.
My only observation is that all living things exist in areas that have boundaries albeit natural or man made. The important considerations are the size of the areas and, from the point of view of the animals, is their behavior constrained or altered because of the size of the area.

Was the game born in the area in which it is being hunted and is the area of sufficient size that its behavior isn’t altered? If the answers are YES then I have no qualms.