As anyone taken OZ buff with selfbow ??

[Rick McGowan]

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.

[Don Thomas]

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

[NorthShoreLB]

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

[NorthShoreLB]

....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

[Don Thomas]

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

[NorthShoreLB]

much mahalo Don,

how about neck shots ???

    M

[Rick McGowan]

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..........

[Don Thomas]

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