Hunting Elephant with a recurve?

$10,000 Said: 'it Can't Be Done' - 05.06.57 - SI Vault

Article is Bill Negley's account of his elephant hunt with a recurve in 1957.

I had bookmarked this thread a while ago and am glad I kept it!

Bowhunting ELEPHANT Best Setup

here is an excerpt from the thread posted by none other than the founder of this wonderful website:

"Minimum Equipment Requirements for Bowhunting in Zimbabwe
Class A Game
Bow Kinetic Energy 80 ft/lbs
Arrow Weight 700 grain
(Elephant, Hippo, Buffalo)
Class B Game
Bow Kinetic Energy 77 ft/lbs
Arrow Weight 695 grain
Broadheads with only two cutting edges
(Lion, Giraffe, Eland)
Class C Game
Bow Kinetic Energy 70 ft/lbs
Arrow Weight 618 grain
(Leopard, Crocodile, Kudu, Oryx / Gemsbok, Hartebeest, Wildebeest, Zebra, Nyala, Sable Antelope, Waterbuck, Tsessebe, etc.)
Class D Game
Bow Kinetic Energy 56 ft/lbs
Arrow Weight 463 grain
(Warthog, Impala, Reedbuck, Sitatunga, Duiker, Steenbok, Jackal, Game Birds, etc.)"


So it looks like a minimum of 80 ft/lbs of ke is required for elephant.




Charlie

According to Fred Bear's "Bowhunting Diary" he hunted elephant in the 60s with a 75 pound draw Bear made recurve bow and a "twist" string. His arrow was a large diameter aluminum shaft with a fiberglass arrow blank fitted inside for additional weight. He used the Bear classic two blade broadhead. Not sure of the accuracy of all that but it is in his published bowhunting diary.

Originally Posted by Diamondhitch

I hear you. KE is a simple calculation which IMO is why it is so widely used, those in the know certainly trust a heavier arrow with a high KE over a light one, hence the 750gr minumum in the standard above. Still KE is a good and simple benchmark to at least let you know if you are in the ballpark and exceeding the minimums is always wise.

I did find it starange that the SA minumum requirements stopped at Giraffe and made no mention of Ele though.

as i understand it,the bowhunting of dangerous game has been outlawed here in SA since 08.
Fritz will know more though.

Originally Posted by harm

as i understand it,the bowhunting of dangerous game has been outlawed here in SA since 08.
Fritz will know more though.

Only Buffalo can be hunted in SA with a bow without prior approval by Nature Confusion. All other animals of the Big-5 and Hippo needs a special permit where the hunter must prove that he is competent as well as the PH that conducts the hunt must be able to prove that he is competent in DG bow hunting.

Originally Posted by Macs B

According to Fred Bear's "Bowhunting Diary" he hunted elephant in the 60s with a 75 pound draw Bear made recurve bow and a "twist" string. His arrow was a large diameter aluminum shaft with a fiberglass arrow blank fitted inside for additional weight. He used the Bear classic two blade broadhead. Not sure of the accuracy of all that but it is in his published bowhunting diary.

Fred Bear also needed 4 arrows to kill the Elephant and it died several days later. Robert Eastman that holds the No1 in SCI also used 2 arrows in 1975 and his elephant died two days after he shot it.

That will not work today. The moment that the arrow is fired and the elephant does not die within an hour, the PH will be forced to shoot it down.

Nature Confusion

Chuck Adams also failed...with his compound.