Kudu versus Elk

[jonsimoneau]

You will be fine.  I've had the good fortune of hunting in Africa on three separate trips.  The heaviest bow I ever used was 55 pounds.  Most of the time I shot 53.  I killed a gigantic Eland bull.  He died in sight.  I've killed 3 kudu and all were complete passthroughs.  Multiple warhogs, red heartebeast, impala, gemsbok etc. All with no problems.  I generally used a 630 grain arrow but I also killed a lot of critters with a 550 grain arrow.

[jonsimoneau]

Eland like a pet cow? Not at all in my experience.  The Eland in Namibia were extremely warry.  As far as string jumping, kudu won't do too much of that.  Nor will any of the big stuff.  This is a true story.  I was hunting with a P.H. one time.  My first trip there.  I was using my recurve and he was convinced that it was so slow that when I went to shoot at an impala, I needed to aim well below it. I was hesitant but since I was new there I trusted his judgement. One day a monster of an impala ram came in and offered me a shot at 20 yards.  He told me to aim at it's front leg at the joint.  His theory was that the ram would drop at the shot.  Well I aimed at the joint and guess where I hit him?  He did not drop at all! Lesson learned. After that I just shot at stuff the way I normally do.  Impala and warthogs will jump the string though.  Also mountain reedbuck are super jumpy.  I was worried about that so I waited till my mountain reedbuck gave me a 7 yard shot before I let him have it.

[Horne Shooter]

That's me in the Abowyer picture above with the Kudu.  He was killed a 54# A&H longbow with 625 grain arrows.  I got a complete pass through and watched him go down from a full gallop.  Your set up is fine, just put the arrow in the right place and make sure it's scary sharp. Not much more to it than that.  Have a great time!!

[Bobaru]

jonsimoneau - nice story.  Impalas sound like whitetails.  I heard Impalas die hard.  But, anyone who has hunted whitetails for a while has their own stories.

Horne Shooter - thanks for the advise.  I've settled on my 54# bow.  I think it's about 56 # at my draw.  And, the 554 grain arrows seem to fly well.  So, all I need to do is just keep practicing.  

By the way, my wife will be shooting 45#.  That's the most she can comfortably draw.  She's more accurate than I am, but she'll be using a bow I can't talk about here.  Still, it will be fun just to have her bowhunting - it will be her first time of any hunting with a weapon more powerful than a camera.

I've been conditioning our thinking to wait for our shots, keep them close.  And, I think I will stop shaving while there, so there's no excuse for the broadheads to be dull....

[johandre]

hey Bobaru your bow poundage will work. I live in South Africa and have seen many kudu fall in front of bows of lower poundage. The key is just to put the arrow in the heart lung area and you will get your buck. Enjoy Africa my friend

Johandre

[groyce]

Find Ed Ashby's arrow penetration reports on here. He has done extensive studies on arrow weight/velocity/penetration, and has proven beyond a doubt I would say, that a heavy arrow is the only way to go. I'm currently shooting a 70/75 spine douglas fir shaft with a 190 grain Tuffhead up front. They weigh 659 grains. I shoot a 55@28 A&H and I draw about 27". These fly great out to about 30yds without substantial drop and I'm confident they will put down anything out there, provided you put it in the right place. I cant get a carbon heavy enough for my liking to fly right for some reason.

[groyce]

Find Ed Ashby's arrow penetration reports on here. He has done extensive studies on arrow weight/velocity/penetration, and has proven beyond a doubt I would say, that a heavy arrow is the only way to go. I'm currently shooting a 70/75 spine douglas fir shaft with a 190 grain Tuffhead up front. They weigh 659 grains. I shoot a 55@28 A&H and I draw about 27". These fly great out to about 30yds without substantial drop and I'm confident they will put down anything out there, provided you put it in the right place. I cant get a carbon heavy enough for my liking to fly right for some reason.

[groyce]

Sorry for the double post. Oh, have a great time and take plenty of pictures. It is a beautiful country. I'm planning on Namibia in '16 and cant wait to get back to that part of the world.

[Hunt]

Hi everyone! New to TG here. I live in SA and have hunted quite a few larger animals with longbow and recurve. I use a 49lb longbow, 550gr poc shafts and settled eventually on a zwickey eskimo two blade. I honestly have never had anything but very adequate penetration on animals up to gemsbuck size with this setup.I obviously keep the larger game shots closer and broadside or slightly q-away.Will post some pics as soon as I figure out how to do it lol

[Hunt]

Btw, we occasionally have injured or sick cattle that have to be put down. I will test my "light" setup on the next fresh bull carcass (plus or minus 200lb animal) and maybe report back here on TG just for interest sakes.

[Hunt]

Ok, got the pic posting sorted. Here is a Red Hartebeest bull shot with the above setup.
 

[Hunt]

Warthog, same setup

 

[Hunt]

Gemsbuck, same setup @ 16 yards.Got pass through shot. Please excuse the blood! should have cleaned it up.

 

[groyce]

Hell of a pig bro!

[Bobaru]

Looks like the only thing sharper than your broadhead are the Gemsbok horns.  Nice pics.

[Al Kidner]

From my limited experience all African critters die hard and the key is not bow poundage ( shoot what you can comfortably ) ... But more so one needs pin point accuracy. If your off a little it can mean heartache.

I lost a real nice warthog when I shot clean through him with a 740g arrow, TuffHead out of my 63# recurve....lots of blood but no recovered animal after 500m of tracking.

Nice animals Hunt. I'm heading back to Namibia next year and have me a hankering for any gemsbok who offers up a shot.


ak.

[hybridbow hunter]

Sorry for the contoversy but If accuracy is always the key , the perfect 15 yards or less broadside shot is not always occurring. I hunted many places in Africa and Zimbabwe and for our last 4 trips we tried to hunt only natural water holes with no feeder, mostly in natural made light blinds or straw shields. The truth is that way is much more interesting for me but realistic shot opportunities are less and sometimes i have to take shot a little longer that I wish or shot angles not that good on game quartering toward a bit. The key for me is max poundage I can shoot honestly and extra wide multiblade for maximal lesion effect. This way I just lost 3 animal over the last 7 trips, one being a "good" shot,  probably bagged by poachers
As every body I train my shooting as much as I can and often ( not as often as I wish though !) in my backyard i do really excellent shooting. But things don t always go as perfectly when hunting...i shoot 61# at 31+" 720 gr arrow, big Jim 300 gr & 50 gr insert BH border hex6 recurve. Not that much poundage, but A LOT of bow regarding to effective arrow speed and momentum...

I made a little footage of those less than "perfect" shot, every game recovered and truly bow killed , none shot less than 19 yards.
eland was quarering toward  19 yards, I aimed for a shot between neck and shoulder blade but ....arrow broke his shoulder joint and took right lung. Made 100 yrd and beded on sight, unable to walk further. I could sneak and shot him at 25 yards then it stood and made a few paces and i could put a third arrow. It is still #8 sci livingstone eland taken with a bow.
Wildebeest is shot through the shoulder bone on a quartering towards angle, down in 80 yards
Warthogs were all over 20 yrds shots. The one shot a litlle back was track for half a mile and thanks to the huge holes the animal was moving slowly and I could back up arrow him at 30 yards. Then made 200 yards and died. The spine shot one is done through the scapular joint and cut the vertebra. All the broadhead in the spine.

How many of these could have been put down if shot the same with low poundage bows/ light arrows /skinny blade ??


To see the footage, click on pic and Password ( if needed) is: caranx

             

[TURKEYFOOTGIRL]

Very cool video!

[Bobaru]

Linda and I arrived South Africa on 8/25 and her suitcase never left Atlanta.  My 64" Brackenbury 54# bow was in that suitcase.  My suitcase contained my backup bow:  a 64" Samick Journey 50#.  It was shooting about 55# at my draw length and is very similar to the Brack.

Before a trip, I get very particular on details.  I do know that, once in the field, all that detail planning can go to the devil.  But, still, I like to be prepared ahead of time.

I found that the two bows shot slightly different, probably due to how my hand fit.  And, I shot the Samick Journey better (??).  On my "cold shot" with the Journey, my arrows were slightly low.  With the Brack, they were slightly high. So, I practiced exclusively with the brack.

Arrows were another thing.  I have not been a big fan of heavy arrows, which will get some eye brows raised here.  But, with lots of testing, and lots of excel files, I settled on a Gold Tip Traditional 7595, 300 spine, 31" with 40 grains attached to the insert and a 150 grain two blade Magnus Stinger.  Total weight is 564 grains.

I was wanting to bring a 463 grain arrow, but listened in the end to those who like them heavier.  And, there was almost no difference in the point of impact between the two at 20 yards.  Plus the Gold Tips flew very nicely and were well tuned.

[Bobaru]

We were put up in a nice B&B in Pretoria for the evening.  As we were sipping coffee the next morning, our PH stopped in for our lift to Matlabas Game Hunters, a 4 hr. drive.

First thing at camp, Linda and I settled, got some lunch and were invited for an afternoon hunt.  I still had jeans and sneakers, but no matter.  

First stop was at the range.  Elgim marked a line in the sand, and said "20 yards."  Elgim stood back with the owner, Willem, to watch us shoot.  I have got to admit, I'm a little intimidated.  But I block that out. First arrow with the Samick Journey was dead center in the 1" black circle. So, I act as if that is normal, not anything like luck.  Next 4 or 5 arrows were all in a grate fruit size area.  Linda's were about the same.  More normal for us.  So, off we went:  me with Elgim and Linda with Willem.