Minimum bow for Water Buffalo

[Arrow46]

I have been offered a chance to go to Australia to hunt Water Buffalo.  What is the minimum long bow set up for a hunt of this nature.  Thanks in advance.
Kevin

[8th Dwarf]

G'day, Kevin!

I have hunted them there three times and taken two bulls.  Both were one shot kills.  I was shooting a Morrison Shawnee recurve.  It is 74 pounds at my draw of 26".  I think you could shoot less poundage...I don't think I would go much under 70 pounds.

The key is in the arrow and broadhead.  I had Bob Burton, of Whispering Wind Arrows, make me up some Diamond Wood shafts.  I tripple dipped them and mounted 125 grain Magnus heads.  Total arrow weight is 960 grains.  

My first bull went about 100 meters and fell over dead.  The arrow went between two ribs and broke a rib on the off side.  The second bull went 36 yards, spun in a circle six times and went down.  I went through a rib going in and stuck in a rib on the far side.

I had the same results with Cape Bufflao in Africa.  That bull went 50 yards.  He was down in 8 seconds.  I SEVERED a rib going in and SEVERED a rib on the far side!

Go for heavy arrows and make sure they fly perfectly.

Too Short

[Jay Campbell, JD]

Kevin, its not poundage, its energy, and also delivering the energy so it is not lost (perfect arrow flight, a few other things below).

Dr. Ashby says, according to OL Adcock, that an 800 grain arrow at 140 FPS is the minimum for water buff. To me that assumes perfect flight, sharp two blade broadheads. You can get that with 70 pounds, but it depends on the bow.  I'm sure Paul's set up delivers these numbers, probably lots better.

My wife's 70# Adcock shoots a 1020 grain arrow at 152 FPS. Bareshaft flight is perfect (no loss of energy), and she's using STOS very sharp broadheads. THe FOC on the arrow is 24% (less loss of energy). Also, the arrow shaft (Gold Tip carbon) is much narrower than the broadhead ferrule (less energy lost to friction).

We'll be going in about three weeks. My set up is similar, out of a 80# BW PLX. Good Luck. - Jay Campbell, JD

[tradtusker]

hi kevin.
im of on a water buff hunt in july. what sep up did you have in mind for the hunt?
cheers andy

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Kevin

Where are you in Indiana?  I'm out west of Indy near Cloverdale and have my buffalo bow, arrows etc. if you want to try them out.  I used a 75 @ 29 Black Widow recurve with duplex aluminums (1718 inside of 2020) that weighed just over 1000 gr with a 160 STOS and 125 gr steel adaptor.  I get 162-165 FPS with this setup.  STOS are a good choice, but I would HIGHLY recommend knocking the sharp tip off.  I rounded mine off a bit (per Cory Mattson's advice) and had great performance.  With the sharp tip I had several curl during testing.  Rick Mc has observed tip curling with non-modified STOS as well.  

Ryan

[Rik]

Kevin,

I killed two bulls last August with a 75-pound Howard Hill longbow and 860-grain arrows. The heads were Grizzlies, sharpened and honed 'til the edge was smooth as silk.

Both were heart shots, and had to go through heavy bone to get there. Neither bull made it 20 yards.

As stated above, 70 pounds would be bare minimum, and it would actually make me a bit nervous, but would probably work, in most cases.

Priority number one is arrow energy.

Priority number two is absolute perfection in shot placement. The area that will kill a bull is much smaller than the kill area on a small whitetail.

Too much angle and you glance off the ribs. If you try to get an arrow to go behind the ribs and up into the heart and lungs, the arrow will never get there (way too much body mass).

If you shoot a perfectly broadside bull one inch behind the crease, you will hit nothing but guts.

Practice shooting right in the center of the shoulder muscle. That's the sweet spot, but you still have to go through a half a foot or more of thick fibrous skin and ultra-tough muscle, and then most likely through a rib, but in that area the ribs are not 1.75 inches thick.

Keep your eye on the magazine stand, I have an adventure-filled Australian buffalo story coming out soon in Bowhunter Magazine that should get your juices flowing.

P.S. Man, are you going to LOVE buffalo hunting!

[Rick McGowan]

Everyone worries about the bow, but that is the easy part, coming up with arrows that have the spine, weight, small diameter, foc and perfect flight is the HARD part. I've been saying for quite a few years that I thought about 70#'s is the bare minimum, but buffalo have been killed with less. However not all buffalo are equal. An immature bull or cow is far easier to shoot through than a herd bull at his peak. I've seen buffalo shot that certainly weren't more than 1000#'s and some that were considerably more than double that. I have to disagree with some of the above, since the heart on a mature bull is about the size of a soccer ball on its own, but shooting straight up the leg on a broadside buff 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up from the bottom is the sweet spot. I highly recommend the Grizzly heads, 160 or 190 grain, if you use the STOS stick to the 160 and shorten the tip. I also recommend spending as much time as possible watching BIG cattle to get your brain adjusted to distance, they tend to look closer than they are.

[tradtusker]

some good advise there guys, have been keeping an eye on this coz i am goin on a buff hunt in a few weeks, can't wait.

[8th Dwarf]

My first Water Buff was taken with a Windauer Wolverine long bow...74 pounds at 26".  My second Buff and my Cape Buff were taken with a Morrison Shawnee recurve.  Both bows shot the 960 grain shafts at 154 fps.  

It is interesting to note that my first year of hunting Oz, I was shooting 85 pounds with the same arrows.  They shot 157 fps!!!!!  I found I could shoot the 74 pound bows much better than the 85 pound bows.  All I sacrificed was 3 fps, but I shot much better.  Hmmm?

Yes, Rick is right!  ROUND off the tip of the broadhead!  You'll get much better penetration and not have to worry about the tip curling (which can cost you a Buffalo).

Here is what I do on Buff...  Go to the ELBOW.  Go up from there a good, solid 8 to 10 inches.  NOW GO FORWARD AT LEAST 4 INCHES!!!!!!!  That is the V formed by the leg bone when it goes up and FORWARD from the elbow and then up and back to the scapula (shoulder blade).  This puts your arrow in the CENTER of the lungs where all the arteries bunch up.

DO NOT GO TO THE ELBOW AND BACK...YOU WILL BE SCREWING UP ROYALLY!

There is a neat wee paper back book on African animal shot placement.  Get it and check out the Cape Buffalo.  It is exactly the same animal with different horns.

If you need to, email me at [email protected] for any other questions you might have.

Too Short

[12ringman]

"It is interesting to note that my first year of hunting Oz, I was shooting 85 pounds with the same arrows. They shot 157 fps!!!!! I found I could shoot the 74 pound bows much better than the 85 pound bows. All I sacrificed was 3 fps, but I shot much better. Hmmm?"

9# loss and only 3fps?
Hmmm indeed?