I saw my new "celebrity" status on Ron's website. The Buffalo Bow is an incredible weapon, as all my Shrews are. After shooting it, Doug Burns immediately changed his order with Ron and Gregg to get a bow much like mine instead of the one he had on order. Also, Andy Ivy had me put his name on the order list (he had no way to do that while he is in the outback) so he could get his own Buffalo Bow when his time arrives. There have been a number of innovations that have been made on the Shrew bows over the last couple of years since I had my Buffalo Bow made, and I suggested to Doug and Andy that they ought to let me choose most of the specifications on their bows. Since Doug's bow will be built soon because of his position at the top of the order list, he is going to be the Guinea pig for the testing of the new materials combination that I came up with and Ron and Gregg approved as a likely winner. The problem I will have is that Doug is having the bow shipped to Colorado where he will be spending much of the summer, so I won't get to shoot it for awhile. When I do I will give a full report. The objective is to create a bow of around 70 pounds that will be as smooth and nice to shoot as my Buffalo Bow, will be just as durable in its construction, will look even better, and will launch an arrow as fast as a bow 3 pounds heavier constructed like my bow. In other words, we want to create a bow like my Buffalo Bow that performs just as well as if mine were 73 pounds without any compromises in the great characteristics of my bow. It will definitely cost more to create such a bow, but I am confident that the Shrew masters can make it happen using the materials that I have specified. So far, my Buffalo Bow is the best I know of for the uses I put it to, but I believe it can be better -- by just a little.
The reason for wanting to get a bow like the new Shrew that will be built for Doug is that for guys like Doug and me, a 70 pound bow is near the maximum we can accurately shoot. At 23 years old, Andy is less than half our age of 58, but Doug and I are bigger guys which helps a little at our "advanced" age. Andy's trad bow that he has for buffalo is 75 pounds, is not nearly as smooth as my Shrew, and does not fling an arrow any faster than my bow that is 7 pounds lighter, but with me having an additional inch of draw length over Andy (mine at 29.5" versus Andy's at 28.5"). I could draw and shoot Andy's bow, which was 78 pounds at my draw length, but my ability to hold it at full draw, stabilize, and shoot accurately with it was not adequate for my standards. Besides, my shoulder hurt after shooting it even a half dozen times. Andy would like to shoot a somewhat lighter bow too. My Shrew Buffalo Bow was about the same speed, was far smoother and easier to draw, was far more accurate in the hands of everyone who shot it, was built great, and looked great too. Doug's new Buffalo Bow is probably going to be as good or better in every way as mine, but I want to test it before I reveal the specs I gave Gregg and Ron for it. Expect a review sometime around September or hopefully sooner if I can get it from Doug for evaluation. By the way, Andy also has a gorgeous Shrew Classic Hunter that is 56" 65#@28.5", but is not quite as heavy as he wants to use on buffalo, which is why he is going to get a bow like Doug's if it turns out as expected.
I think my Buffalo Bow is great for hunting buffalo, and I doubt I will "upgrade" it to be like the one Doug ordered unless the performance is enhanced even more than what I think it will be. But if I were ordering my first Buffalo Bow today, I would get one like Doug's.
I want to thank everyone who has commented on my hunt and supported me in telling the story. There is still more to come, although I will tell you that by this point all my expectations for my hunting success had been met and exceeded, so it largely became a matter of seeing how Doug would fare with his hunt. I will be showing more pictures of this big buffalo bull, and will remind you that I still have more than half the hunting time to talk about.
To make sure you have something to look at now, here are a few additional pictures of the buff and my Shrew Buffalo Bow with the EFA quiver and AD Hammerhead arrows. If you want to know what the open, flat area looked like where we stalked and shot the buffalo, just look behind me on the other side of the creek in the pictures where I am sitting on top of the buffalo. We were on the other side of that large, burned-off field.
Allan
Topic: Somewhere over the rainbow -- back from the land of Oz (Chapter One) (Read 19404 times)
