bow weight/arrow weight for cape buff

[Ray Hammond]

I have a friend who may get the opportunity to hunt a cape buff, but at this point he is gearing up and isn't sure which country his chance will come from- so what he doesn't want to do is get geared up for South Africa at 80 lbs and then his chance comes in Tanzania and they might require 85 lbs.

So I am asking does anyone know of a clearinghouse type location that offers this information or should I investigate through all countries individually?

[Benny Nganabbarru]

G'day Ray,

The Bowhunting Safari Consultants people / Dennis Kamstra might know. Dennis has his e-mail address in each edition of TBM.

Good luck to your mate!

Ben

[robertson]

hello

i work as a ph in Tanzania for more than 20 years

never heard about a minimun poundage in that country

[tradtusker]

most of the minimum requirements you hear about in magazines and forums over here don't exist on the ground in most of the Southern African countries.

more will depend on what your PH is happy with you shooting.  

i would say look at having a minimum of 800gr arrow preferably closer to 1000grs

Rick Mcgowen has a lot of experience shooting buff and could give you some good advise on what set-up to use.

[amar911]

I think my equipment was a good choice, and all the PHs in camp thought so too. You can see more in my posts on the Dark Continent forum. I tend to agree with the others here, particularly Andy.

Allan

[Mchunt]

Yes those of us who have been blessed to have hunted Africa know that on the ground a "real" PH sets the only rules such as minimums.
I guess I already knew that poundage beyond my ability to handle is required. But hell without dreams we might as well be 6'under! My grandson is 5. What is the minimum age he can shoot a 80 pound stickbow?? I'll watch him do it!

[calgarychef]

I've heard that a feller could mislabel a bow with a higher poundage and almost nobody would check.  I'm not advocating it....but if it was only five pounds or so out the animal wouldn't know the difference.

   I think I'm going to get trashed for this post!!

the chef

[Diamondback59]

RAY  I WOULDNT WORRY TO MUCH  IT S GONNA BE MORE WHAT UR PH  SEES U DO  WEATHER IT BE 50  OR 100 #  HE SINTREASTED  TO KNOW YA CANT PUT IT WHERE IT COUNTS  I PERSONALLY USED A 76# BRACKENBERRY 1100 GR SHAFT AND A 160 GR SNUFFER    SO  USE THE HEAVE STUFF JUST MAKE SURE YA CAN PUT IT WHERE IT BELONGS   I NEVER HAD ANY OF EM TELLIN ME OF A REQ MINUM OVER THERE  YET  BROCK

[Horne Shooter]

On my trip for Water Buffs in Australia, I used a 77 lb Horne Recurve with 925 grain CE with a Stos on the front...a very SHARP Stos.  The first arrow in the ribs buried to the fletch.  The second arrow in the hind quarter (as he was leaving) disappeared completely into the cavity. The animals estimated weight was about 2000 lbs. This combination was very effective.

[amar911]

That is definitely a good combination Paul. Your setup was shooting an arrow of about 12 grains per inch. I put together about the same weight arrow but drawing 68 pounds for a 13.5 grains per inch ratio. I would rather have had the higher poundage like you did, but I simply can't draw that heavy anymore. I definitely want to go to OZ and hunt those Asian buffs.

Allan

[Ray Hammond]

My thanks to everyone for your advice and assistance.

We've actually made a decision- Bob Morrison built a Cheyenne- 80#@28" and are following Rick McGowan's recommendations and building duplex shafts- 2219 aluminums with a carbon shaft inside, full length on the 2219 and cut to fit between the insert and nock taper tightly on the interior carbon.

Cap wrap, four 4 inch feathers at 90 degrees. 190 grizzlies with steel insert. Total arrow 950 grains

Shoots like a dart out of this recurve out to about 20..which is all we wanted. The foam target literally rocks on it's rebar when hit by this "lincoln log" of an arrow.

I'm training the operator on touching up his grizzers so he should be good to go.

Thanks to Bob for a great job on the recurve. He's the man!

[amar911]

Both bow and arrow sound perfect. Happy hunting Ray!

Allan

[BUFF]

sounds good to me. Good Luck