Sal, I haven't conducted any testing with self bows. The testing is directed towards arrows, rather than the bow that launched them. The arrow doesn't know what type of bow launched it. I just use different bows to test at different levels of arrow force. Regardless of bow type, if the arrow comes off with equal force (and is equally well tuned) the terminal performance will be the same. There are plenty of self bows out there that are fully capable of taking buffalo size game .... with the right arrow.
That, however, is not to say I don't have an interest in the so called "primitive" bows. I have Part 1 of a two part article on the bows and arrows of Papua New Guinea in the current issue of Primitive Archer. The arrows will be in Part 2, and there some real thought provoking things in the arrow section of the article.
By the way, those PNG natives, using their "primitive bows" and "primitive arrows" hunt with far better success than 99%+ of us 'moderns" ... but, as the article will show, perhaps their arrows are, in many ways, a lot less "primitive" than what most "moderns" are using today!
Ed
TGMM Family of the Bow