Cape Buffalo with a longbow. Let the adventure begin!

[caughtandhobble]

Proud, a little scared and wow are just some of my thoughts when I saw your original post about shooting the Buffalo. I am glad that it all came together for you in such a fine fashion!!!

Way to go

[Selfbowman]

Wow. That's all I can say. Arvin

[Weimman]

Congrats!

[SwampGhost]

Man you are living the dream! Congrats Shiloh!

[dbpredator]

Man that must have been one exciting hunt. Congrats on a heck of a trophy!

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[Dry Bones]

Terrific write-up Shiloh. Thanks for the re-cap and pictures.
Hope you had time for a few adult beverages after the excitement.

[BTLowry]

Awesome

Congrats

[MEsquivel]

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Honestly, this pic says it all. Four days of cat and mouse, and I finally achieved making a dream come true after months of preparation from training in the gym to looking over countless Buffalo pictures to tuning and retuning bows. I’ve dreamed of this hunt for many years and for it all to work out like it did just made it even better. I was 110% speechless at the moment this picture was taken and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit watery eyed sitting there looking at the animal in front of me I really never thought would be there except in my dreams. I heard someone say “smile” and another said “you sure are being quiet”, but every time I tried to talk or even smile, my body felt frozen in that moment in time. I truly felt like I was living in my dream, and deep down, I think my body felt that way too and didn’t want to wake up out of the dream it had dreamt so many times before. But, this time it was different and when I finally did wake up out of my fog, it was a reality an I sat there as the happiest person in the whole world knowing the buffalo laying in front of me was mine....

Enough rambling though, here’s a run down recap of events.
We were hunting out of a raised blind at a water hole/feed spot about 7 foot or so off the ground. Mornings were spent hanging out at camp relaxing, shooting bows, telling lies, and catching up since our last gathering. The buffalo herd we were hunting basically laid up all day moving very little, then would work their way into the area where the blind was anywhere between noon and 3 or so, then slowly come in to eat bananas. The first day when we drove through and spotted them, I thought this isn’t going to be a big deal at all as they held back in the brush a hundred yards or so watching as we passed on. That was my first wrong thought as it was just beginning of a 4 day ride they were fixing to drag us through.

First two days, they toyed with my heart and sole. They would come in, leave, come back and so on. One old cow in the herd basically ran the show and knew something was off and really hosed is on multiple occasions. The second day though was the worst. Between her bad attitude and so, so many close calls at getting a shot at our target bull, my mind and heart took about all it could handle. Third day, they broke all our hearts when the wind blew their way and they stampeded away (truly a stampede).
The 4th day (last scheduled day) of the buffalo hunt it all came together. We had one bull in the herd that was our main target, and another that was an old hard boss bull that was also a possibility if everything worked out that way.
Last evening of the hunt, both bulls came into range right off the bat, but like all other nights they did so facing us. I stood on one side of the blind and Lammie stood on the other. I was watching one ball and he was watching the other and we waited for the first one to screw up and turn broadside and that would decide which bull we would shoot at. About 10 minutes in, the bull on his side turned broadside and time felt like it stood still. Lammie gave me the thumbs up and from there I went into autopilot. All the shots I’d taken, and all the time I’d spent looking over Buffalo pictures studying anatomy came down to this one moment I’d hoped, dreamed and prayed for. I did like I had forced myself to start doing when I began shooting my heavy bow and checked to make sure I was at full draw, then pulled down onto the Buffalo and focused on my spot right above the top of the crease behind the shoulder. I remember thinking “Lord let this arrow be true” and without another thought the arrow was in the air heading on its way 18 yards to its final destination right spot on to where I was looking. When the arrow hit the buff, it literally sounded like a 2 x 4 getting cracked in half over a brick wall, and instantly I knew I’d hit my mark. The buff whirled around and the herd stampeded away. I knew my shot was good, but was a bit worried about my penetration. We reviewed the video footage and decided I’d gotten enough to get into the top of the first lung for sure.


















We called in the troops and hung out for a while talking, shaking hands and waiting it out. I always thought waiting on going after a Whitetail seems like an eternity, but waiting to look after shooting a buffalo was absolutely longest feeling on waiting on time to pass that I can remember. We finally drove around to the area wed last seen the herd, and low an behold there stood my buffalo by himself. Visibly, we could tell he was hurt by his body language, but how bad he was hurt was uncertain. We slowly drove on and parked a ways out and waited a bit longer for the buffalo to expire. About 30 minutes later, we drove back into where the bull was last standing, but he’d moved on. We drove up a dry wash about 60 yards or so from where we had last seen him and spotted him laying down but still alive. We sat back and watched for a bit and knew that he was in bad shape, but with light fading fast, we had to make a decision on what to do. We decided it was best to try and finish him off versus leaving him overnight so we geared up and headed. This is where I all of the stories of dead buffalo coming to life started playing in my head, but thankfully, my mind stayed clear enough to not dwell on that and to stalk into range. We were fortunate to able to get into position and get another arrow into him and seal the deal. My buffalo was down for good.


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How much did that arrow go in?
Did it break trough the ribs?

[JEFFRO]

Yes...

[MEsquivel]

Sorry everyone. I didnt realize I quoted the whole thing. My bad.

[MedicineMan7]

Thanks all. Truly an amazing experience I will not soon forget and have to pinch myself every now and again to remember that it’s real and not a dream.


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[DRT]

That full body mount in the family room will keep it real for you.[emoji16]

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[MedicineMan7]

Were you able to get any necropsy type photos? Awesome story and bull!!

How much did that arrow go in?

Did it break trough the ribs?

The broadheads performance was as good as I could expect. The green head was the first shot and had a steel adapter ferrule. The silver head was the second arrow in him and has a titanium ferrule. The first shot busted dead center of rib and got about 12” of penetration and went into the upper lung with ease. Second hit the edge of a rib busting thru it and got about 16” or so penetration while the bull was bedded. The blade portion of both heads were 100% with no nicks or bends of any sort I could see and BOTH shaved hair off my forearm just like they did before they entered. The green head didn’t completely survive though as the steel ferrule broke off right at the top of the threads at some point while the buff was on the run and hit the brush. I didn’t spin the arrow since the very tip end was busted (last 1/4” or so), but visibly seems to be straight and was very pleased with that.




Here’s the damage done. First shot entered rib square on in the center (just my luck) and passed through the other side of the rib off center. My best guess would be the arrow taking the path of least resistance which led it to the side instead of straight through the center like it entered. One thing that surprised me with the ribs on the interior was they were not flat, but pyramid shaped from the top to about 3/4 the way down and they were most definitely all there. The second picture was just an interior shot of the rib cage and how close they run together. Literally a walking, armored tank of an animal!






The skin alone was thicker than my finger.




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[MedicineMan7]

Few more pics of the bull down.


Lammie heading in.








All those dang deadlifts at the gym finally came in handy. Thought I was going to pull something loose just holding his head up!



My buff taped out 38 1/2” wide with 14 1/2” bosses.


And the fella that helped make this dream come true. We met 3 years ago when my wife and I first hunted with him on our honeymoon. Had you told me before then that I’d gain a lifelong friend from halfway around the world that I’d talk with every few days, I’d have said you are crazy. Amazing how traditional bows can bring folks together and create countless memories, and even better than that, friendships that will last a lifetime. I asked him as we were riding back to the lodge with the buffalo loaded up on the tractor in front of us what he would have said if I had told him on our first trip that we’d be sitting next to each other again going after buffalo with a longbow and he just smiled and finally said “I probably wouldn’t have ever answered that first email of yours about coming the first time!” and started laughing. I can’t begin to say how grateful I am to have crossed paths with him along this journey in life and how much I feel like I owe him for putting up with me the last few years. I truthfully feel like I entered into this whole thing 3 years ago as just another hunter coming into camp, but now feel like I have another big brother to share the woods of the world with.





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[Mexico]

Wow! What a beast!

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