Shot placement for aussie water buff...pics.

[Al Kidner]

Hi all,

Well with some time off today I found a few more saved pics of water buff on my laptop. So I thought I place "my" ideas with a red dot, on just where I'd send a 900-1000 grain arrow.

You'll see I've added a small red dot as the spot I'd like my arrow to land. Not that I've hunted buff before... just thought this would be fun to do as there are some lads on here that have more then one to their name.

This first bull is ever so silghtly 1/4 to us so hence the shot placement.


 


This 2nd bull -on steroids I think too- again the red dot marks the spot of where I'd land one.

 


And lastly, I have this drawing from somewhere. Note the lung heart areas.


 


A penny for your thoughts,


ak.

[Rick McGowan]

Those shots would be fine, although, I specifically tell my hunters not to take anything, but a broadside shot, in the excitment of the moment, its often hard for them to tell or wait for the perfect shot. The way the ribs are arranged, its better to not take a shot from a forward angle. The top photo, if I was to take that shot, I would shoot just forward of the red dot, say three inches, but right at that exact same level. The second one, nearly right on the dot, but a couple inches farther forward wouldn't hurt. That drawing at the bottom, I would say is the ugliest pic of a "water buffalo, I have ever seen, it looks like some sort of weird buff cattle hybrid! The vitals and bone structure aren't way far off, but the lungs on a buff aren't nearly that big and it dosn't really give you an idea what you are facing with the ribs.

[ozy clint]

this is a cape buff.
rick- do you think this is a more accurate 'artists impression'? could this be applied directly to water buff? this shows that the ribs just behind the point of the shoulder are narrower and that the lungs finish at where the crease would be. level with the point of the shoulder and 3" forward of a line straight up the leg when broadside seems the best shot. quartering away you would have the bigger ribs to contend with.


 

[calgarychef]

Does a waterbuffalo have small lungs like a Cape?  It always amazes me what a small kill zone African animals have compared to North American animals.

The chef

[calgarychef]

I forgot to mention that the first pic is a tough shot.  I've seen a shot exactly like that one that worked out very poorly. I doubt I'd take the first one.

[Rick McGowan]

Clint, yup, thats the same picture that I show my clients, before we go hunting, from the neck back, there isn't enough difference to consider, between the cape and the water buff. I have heard lots of hunters trying to pinpoint the perfect spot, BUT in my experience, that all goes out the window when you spend a lot of time and crawl up a few yards from a big bull. They say the maximum number of things the average human can remember under stress is THREE, so I make it as simple as possible, broadside, straight up the center of the front leg, 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. The lungs are reletively small for the size of the animal, but the heart is the size of a soccer ball. The shot I suggested will put your arrow right through those thinner ribs under the shoulder muscle and miss all the large bones of the upper leg. It will go through the upper part of the heart where all the major blood vessels are and and be centered in the lungs. Its the exact same place I would recommend putting a large caliber bullet in a broadside buff.