As anyone taken OZ buff with selfbow ??

[NorthShoreLB]

I'm asking because I'm planning to do some buffalo hunting next summer, and if it's not to foolish I'd like to take my homemade bows.

if not selfbow, how about bamboo backed ???

mahalo

      M

[Rick McGowan]

I've never heard of anyone. They are BIG animals, 2000#'s+ and have very thick and tough, skin and bones.

[Captain Ray]

When You say Buffalo, are you talking about a bison or African ?.

I have taken both, 2 weeks ago I got to shoot one in Florida that broke loose into the Florida turnpike, weighted about 1200 lbs, he ran into a neighborhood and refused to be hearded off, the police did not want to use high caliber Rifles as he wondered from house to house.

The Police captain called me and I came with my #70 Bamboo/hickory self bow, I used Bamboo arrows with real turkey vanes, left helical, and 145 gr. grizzley broadheads, Most cops thought I was nuts, but the captain assured them that I had shot several large animals in africa with longbows, I snuck behind a wooden fence and got to 12 to 15 yards and placed the shot right behind the front left leg ,angling forward towards the chest,The arrow went in all the way to the vanes a good 20 to 23 inches, the Bison made a V line for all the cop cars and people soon scattered into the houses including the cops.

But the animal started to bleed heavely through the mouth and nose and walked 15-20 yaards and fell from the back legs first and then sideways and was dead in 2 to 3 minutes.

It took a flatbed and a crane to carry it to the butchers', 800 lbs of meat was donated to the homeless shelters, the other 2 buffalos killed on the highway were also donated.

I will be doing a shoulder mount of this one, which is almost twice as big as the first one I got in 1985 in Pier South Dakota.

I always use bamboo arrows for large game, first they fly very very fast almost like carbon arrows and they are much stronger than the usual cedar wood arrows, your problem is finding bamboo that is even and you do have to spend a lot of time sraightening them.
Good luck !

[jindydiver]

Buffalo in OZ are Asiatic water buffalo. I know that many are taken with recurves, but I don’t recall ever hearing about any taken with a longbow. Maybe it is something to aim for?

[Danny Rowan]

I would think that as long as you have a heavy bow and it shoots a heavy arrow well, should be no problem. A bow is a bow. Lots of buff been killed with bows,put a heavy arrow in the right place and it is dead. Selfbow included.

Danny

[Don Thomas]

Hunting partners Rosey Roseland and Mark Viehwig both killed buff with longbows while hunting with me this season. Don

[NorthShoreLB]

well I surely hope that by next summer I'll be able to turn out a hard shooting Guava selfbow, that's my plan, hopefully I'll make it happen, or get mauled in the process.

my hunting bow rigth now is a 70# bamboo backed red oak,
it hits hard, but I haven't being able to test it yet on a big boar !!

It's shoots a 650gr head really well, but I'd like to make a bow that gives me this kind of performance with an esavier arrow,  750- 850gr????

that should do the buisiness rigth ??


    M

[Captain Ray]

Where are you going to find the guava wood ?

[NorthShoreLB]

Guava is all over the place around here  !!!!

      M

[Aussie Stickbow Hunter]

I agree with what Danny has said - a heavy bow with a heavy arrow is the go.

With a good wood bow I would suggest around 85# and an arrow weight of at least 850 grain and even more would be better.

Buff are big and very tough. They can vary is size depending on which area you are hunting them in. Some strains are bigger bodied than others. The ribs are very tough!!!

A couple of months ago I tested my 70# @ 26 1/2" draw longbow and 850 grain arrows (160 fps) on a freshly killed bull Buff. While I believe my set-up is sufficient for buff I wouldn't want any less performance from my bow and arrow combination.

I never got the opportunity for a shot at a bull buff but I shot a young one (360kgs) for meat for the property manager. They are a real challenge to hunt and I hope to go back next year (hopefully the wind won't be swirling all the time) and take a bull.

There has been quite a few Buff taken with laminated longbows in Oz over the years.

Jeff

[NorthShoreLB]

thanks Stickbow,

yea I'm definetly aiming to build a selfbow that excedes in performance my 70 pounder Howard Hill,

if I can't do that, I know I can make a bamboo backed that will !!!

I hope that I'll have my equipment ready by next summer, I'd really like to make it happen, I have 3 month so I hope to get a chance to find buffaloes.


thanks again to everyone

       M

[Rick McGowan]

Hunting buffalo with a bow is not easy. Think of a really big boar hog, 220#, now imagine him TEN times bigger. Thats what you are dealing with. I now recommend a minimum arrow weight of 900 grains and it should be a small diameter shaft that flies perfectly. Almost everyone that we have had bowhunt for buff wants to come back and bring heavier bow and arrows.

[NorthShoreLB]

ho yea Rick, if I can't make one I belive in, I'll take my hill bows ( got an 80# on the way) !!!

      M

[Rick McGowan]

Monty Browning killed his with an 81# straight limbed longbow and got full penetration with his 1500 grain arrows! Yeah thats right 1500!

[NorthShoreLB]

**1500gr** that's some weigth !!

what kind of rainbow trajectory did he get out of that combo??????

           pass throu ???

   M

[NorthShoreLB]

....ho , yea Rick got your package !!

thanks

     M

[Rick McGowan]

Yeah, Monty does get a "rainbow" tradjectory, but he always uses heavy arrows so hes adapted to it.
He didn't get a passthrough, but the head did break through the skin on the far side. This was a big old bull so thats very good. A younger bull or cow is a lot easier to shoot through.

[Captain Ray]

can't imagine 1500 grains ,even a spear is not that heavy. could it be 150 gR.?
Northshorelongbow.
I wish I could get a guava stave, or a gore tree stave, your lucky there in Hawaii

[jindydiver]

1500, way to go.
I know a few blokes that use 900gr arrows out of recurves on deer, so 1500 on a buff doesn't sound too heavy. Must be a hell of a bow to throw them though

[NorthShoreLB]

Captain Ray, do you know something about guava that I don't know ???

1500gr gotta be one mean punch !!!!!

     M