Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Elephant with an arrow

Spoken like a true moron. A moron that has never once even pulled back a bow.

How many buffalo have you shot with a bow? What's that, how many??? Moron, I have to laugh, this from an inbred, bigoted skinhead...

This. The heart/lung shot on an ele with a rifle is still acceptable is it not? Anyway, it used to be. I've seen videos of it. While I would never do it I can't see where a half to three-quarter inch hole (a good soft point) through the chest would be all that much better than a very sharp, cutting broadhead similarly placed.

No dog involved here as bowhunting dangerous game is lost on me but facts are facts. But on the other hand because an arrow kills by shock induced by significant blood loss there is no stopping power ability where the game is big and tough enough to preclude an arrow from penetrating to the brain or spinal cord which would be tough/impossible anyway. I can see where a PH would be inclined to "let fly" after the arrow is let loose. After losing count on some 40 whitetails taken with a bow, I've been amazed occassionally by a buck that inexplicably takes an arrow but is not recovered that day.

I can only imagine the possibilities with a skewered ele.

Long as you are ok with someone wanting to do a stunt, then I'm good with that statement too..

Completely on board. In fact my hat's off to them to pull that off. I've been close to elephants and a bow is not even in the same universe of tools I would consider.

The guys who make grizzly sticks (arrows) have a dead elephant on their website. The guy shot it at 20 yards. It went 150 yards. He shot it again. It died in 5 minutes. My favorite expression is "It's not the arrow." "It's the Indian."

As long as his PH backs him up with a bow (not a rifle) he got an elephant with a bow ... Same goes from brown bears / grizzlies in my book. If your guide is backing you up with a rifle, you didn't hunt dangerous game with just a bow ...

Just my own bigoted opinion ...

Wow. Some good and some really dumb comments on this thread. So, following your analogy above...

If your PH is shooting a .577 and you are a .416 and you shoot the buff/ele/lion with your .416. But it doesn't count as a .416 kill because your PH has a .577 with him.

Jeesh.

How fortuitous, just happened to watch a TV hunt show (1530 EST on the Outdoor Channel) where a gent was Cape Buffalo hunting with a PSE bow (show Sponsor). He placed not one but two perfectly placed arrows right behind the left foreleg within a 4" area. Perfect, bull was bleeding like a stuck pig and between the first and second arrow release, he turned to charge but never did. Naturally the PH stepped up to take the charge with a double.

The bull eventually turned and ran into the jess as they are prone to do. I'll let our buffalo expert, Turdinthemachine explain this to us...
According to the show host, it took the buffalo between 35 and 40 minutes to die....

I hear Fred Bear was death on wheels with a bow. I have no doubt he would've hunted cape buffalo and brown bear without a guide backing him up with a rifle (he may have for all I know). I'm just saying bow hunting for DG with a PH backing you up with a rifle is prudent, but when you say "I killed a brown bear with a bow", it's just more convincing if you did it without firearms backing you up. It's also way more dangerous if you have to track him and finish him in the thick stuff. I went in after my brown bear with a guide and a 375 and it was still tense. But that's why we hunt dangerous game isn't it?

35-40 minutes for the buffalo to die. Five minutes for the elephant to die.

Not exactly the quick humane kill everyone likes to talk about. There is a big difference between a 200lb whitetail, a 1500lb cape buffalo, and several tons of elephant. Body mass tells me there is going to be a difference in the amount of time it takes to bleed out enough to cause loss of consciousness.

I will stick by my contention that when a Professional Hunter who spends May through December in the bush every year, primarily hunting dangerous game, tells me elephant with a bow is ugly, I believe him.

Social Darwinism can't take place with a back up gun. OK, it's been interesting talk and thanks to all for chiming in.

Some thoughts and comments.

I believe the elephant Howard Hill killed in Tembo was staged and the bull was wounded (shot through the knee with a rifle and chained to the tree). Just what I had heard from a couple of old timers about 20 years ago.

The hunt that was shown with Tom Miranda was a clean kill with a bow. (at least to my knowledge). You have to careful with ANY TV show now. They is a lot of directing, producing, and editing that goes into the final product. But I had not heard anything to the contrary on this particular segment.

Now for some sarcasm, I would much rather watch some ego driven, overweight, out of shape guy dressed to the T in safari clothing botch a shot with his "classic" double and have the PH clean up the mess. IMO those guys did not really kill the elephant, they may have drawn first blood, but I have seen too many shows where they should be embarrased about their performance.

The "old timers" who told you the BS did just that. The movie was made clear back in the 30s, I think, and the story is in his book Hunting the Hard Way. If you look, most guys today, couldn't even START to draw his bow, (the one he shot the elephant with) it was a 130 lb draw. Lots of know it alls out there, who, because THEY couldn't even begin to do the feat, think no one else can either. Kinda like a guy I know who told me the winners of the Congressional Medal of honor were all phonies, because he didn't have the stuff to believe anyone could, or would do the things done. I've also "heard" that Capstick "hung around in bars, and heard the tales he then wrote up and claimed to be his own". Of course, anyone who's read much of his stuff, konws the things written about, that others did, were properly attributed to them. Anyway, read Hunting the Hard Way, and learn something. BTW, Hills longest kill shot was a 185 yds on an Elk, witnessed by several people.

Might add, Hill the worlds best bowman for years. Tred Bartle ? (he's now confined to a wheel chair) has videos of himself shooting ballons with a long bow at a 100yds, and those not hit, were bumped by the arrows, so can be done. If you can hit a balloon at a 100 yds, can hit an Elephant at 50 yds.

As a Serious bow hunter and a an African PH, gun owner, reloader, and life long hunter, this thread seems to have a lot of Folks with the "final word" on a topic that from the text shows a lack of full understanding of the big picture.

How about this direction:

We are all hunters and sportsman that want to continue to hunt and enjoy the recreational pursuit that is sport hunting.

Poor countries like many in Africa have limited means to generate income and success for the people there. Wildlife is a renewable resource that is used to do this. Just like Lumber and Agriculture in more developed countries.

When I hunter kills an elephant or other DG animal and spends a lot of money it's supporting the whole process. I'm never gonna shoot an elephant with my archery gear. I could next week if I chose to, I could plan and do it right now. But It's not my interest. I would however never consider the condemnation of this challenge. regardless of another PH helping with a rifle at the ready or not. That is by the way,.... the law regardless of bow or gun hunting clients.

I have heard so many times how the elite wealthy rich people of Safari club are not sportsman but just eccentric killers who don't really hunt but hire people to take them so they can just collect the biggest selection of trophies to satisfy their egos. Is that actually true? Heck I've been a member of SCI for several decades now and I'm a long shot from rich!

But think about this, when there is a legal battle to stop horrible over regulation of a hunting season or limit game harvest, stop the hunting in poor African countries, SCI is there to lobby and work to stop that. They paid 100% of the cost for transplanted trophy big horns from Alberta to Montana, Idaho, and the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Wa. to improve genetics.

At one local chapter auction there will be a single man that pays more for an item and donate more to the cause then I will in my lifetime. Are the elite helping or hurting? Who's paying our way? Do you think your contribution will make a difference? Will your written word on these kinds of forums help or hurt with the future of hunting around the world?

If somebody with 30,000 bucks and a bow wants to kill an elephant and it's okay with him to have the PH poke it moments later with a bullet, who cares. That 30,000 bucks is a brilliant help to that local economy, the people, the business owner, etc. That guy peeling of the bucks for that hunt, very likely donated more to SCI then any of us will, certainly more then I can!

Poking a hole in escaping game or following up happens 100X more with plains game then DG by the way. I have likely shot well over 100 PG animals on follow up, many more then the DG. Mostly because there are more hunts for PG, but there is no shortage of tense moments with PG that has stopped running and decides to take a last stand. This ain't disney land we are hunting in.

So carry on with the debate, it has been amusing, but at least consider that there is a bigger picture then just bullet VS broad head.

I would much rather hunt a Elephant with a bow than try to chain a wounded one to a frigging tree

Hunting with a bow carries the same responsibilities as hunting with a rifle, know your limitations & use enough gun...or bow. A bad hit is always going to be a bad hit, regardless of equipment.
If a bowhunter wants to hunt any animal with a bow & plans to enter that animal is Pope & Young, it cannot be shot with anything but an arrow, a back up shot from a rifle is not allowed.
Many, many years ago Fred Bear shot a Polar bear in Alaska or Canada, can't remember. The shot was fatal but the guide got antsy & also shot it, only making a flesh wound, Fred did not attempt to enter that bear even though he had killed it cleanly. A few years later he did take one & it was legally entered into Pope & Young.
Howard Hill used a fiber glass arrow on his elephant, back in those days all of us used Mirco Flight fiberglass arrows, they were hollow but very heavy. Hill turned down a solid piece of fiber glass & inserted it into his hollow glass shaft, giving him a very heavy arrow with great penetration & the elephant was taken cleanly.
I could never handle the heavy weight bows Howard Hill used, my heaviest was a 78 lb. Black Widow, with daily shooting it was an amazing piece of equipment. But I had no disire to hunt elephants either, or the money.
Howard Hill, Fred Bear, Ben Pearson & several others were amazing shots, way beyond what many here could ever imagine. Ever watch Byron Ferguson shoot on TV with his long bow, its so amazing it doesn't seem possible but he makes it look easy.
Enough on archery....hunting dangerous game in Africa means there will always be a back up & that back up is not going to allow an animal to escape, while the client shoots first the PH will only wait a second or two before he decides what the animal will do, then he shoots, & both keep shooting until the wiggling stops, their lives depend on it.

Lynn Thompson's buffalo wasn't a calf, not a full blown mature bull either, also the gun was not a Freedom Arms, it was a Ruger Redhawk & he is very, very good with it, I've shot with him before & he would embarrass many riflemen offhand.

My stance is that ALL bowhunting isn't a stunt. If a man wants to hunt elephant with a bow so be it if he can do it effectively. Should there be a standard to meet? Of course. If they meet that who are any of you to disagree if you haven't done it yourself with archery gear to prove otherwise. I've shot WT deer and black bear quite efficiently with a bow. I've taken them more effectively than half the out of state idiots with there overbore, over priced rifles. Are the animals I have shot elephant? No but to make a sweeping statement that ALL bowhunting is a stunt is asinine and someone needs to bend over, grab their ankles and pull until they hear the "pop" of their head coming out of their azz.

JJHACK - good post.

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