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I did it. As long as I can remember I have dreamed of hunting a Cape Buffalo. 2 years ago Chunky convinced me to get it done. I booked a hunt with Dries Visser and began working on my equipment. I was blessed with a strong back and a weak mind so a heavy weight bow did scare me but I had fits getting an arrow that was stiff enough. I had Black Widow build me a 83# iron wood recurve and planned to use 200 grain GK heads. I have been shooting that bow for 2 years getting ready and the last couple of months I shot my sons 95# longbow, just to make my 83# bow seem lighter. I have been lucky that 95% of the time when I shoot at a animal my arrow hits right where I want but this Cape Buffalo had me spooked. I layed awake at night thinking about how terrible it would be if I made a bad shot. I knew they would not let me follow it up. I would be told to set in the truck while a couple of PH;s and 3 or 4 trackers risked their life cleaning up my mess. How would you deal with the shame if someone got killed because you made a poor hit? Once we arrived at camp it got even worst. the week before we arrived 2 fellows with Longbow had shot 13 animals and only recovered 1 .... just 1. To make matters even worst the last Buffalo shot by a bowhunter, a compound had taken 4 days to track down and kill with a rifle. My friends in camp were trying to make me feel better but the more they talked about it the more I worried. The night before we climbed into the tree stands I stared at the ceiling all night, trying to convince my self I was ready. I had shot 10,000 arrows.... I was ready. When he whispered down to me that the buffaloes were coming I couldn't breath I was so nervous. All the hours getting ready. All the time standing out in the Texas heat shooting my bow. It was all coming to a head. Once the buffalo were in sight, I zoned out, no longer nervous, I was BUFF, I could do this. Their was a dozen or so buffalo moving down the hill but I was only interested in the one lone bull. He was a massive beast but still spooky. He finally hit the spot where I had dumped out a bucket of some kind of sweet powder to stop him. Auto pilot kicked in. I was no longer shooting at a buffalo. I was shooting at a rubbed spot about the size of your thumb, 2" in front of the crease of his shoulder. The PH is whispering "Wait ...Wait". I had 2 problems. Once you are at full draw with a 83# bow, you can't wait very long. The other was I knew it was time. I KNEW I was going to make a perfect shot, knew it in my soul. I never lost sight of the arrow as it leaped across the 15 yards and into the Buffalo.
It was by far the greatest moment of my bowing career. Not because he was a great animal, he was but because I didn't choke. If I had made a bad shot I really believe it would have haunted me the rest of my life, I had put that much pressure on my self.
http://www.buffsblackwidow.com/videos/capebuffalocompressed.wmv 
Topic: Cape Buffalo (Read 7457 times)
