#1
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Bowhunting Musk Ox
Just saw a brief part of a show on musk ox hunting with a bow. Some lady was hunting the animal and I must say that it made me sick to my stomach. Not that she was a woman, but that it took quite a while for the ox to die. She put the first arrow in pretty good, but half of the arrow was sticking out of the animal. Then, she drew and wasn't able to get a shot because the ox turned to face her. So, she had to pull it down. There was a cut in the film and then I got to see her do it again. After she let it down a second time, there was another cut. Finally, she got a second arrow into the ox on the other side of it, but it still didn't drop. Another cut in the filming and then it fell over, but it was nowhere close to where it was after the last cut.
I was feeling pretty sorry for the animal and was hoping that it would charge the huntress and her guide and tear them to pieces. How big is too big of an animal to use a bow on? I have seen bows used on grizzlies, so I guess the animal can be pretty big. Is there any size where it becomes unethical. Has anybody ever heard of an elephant or cape buffalo being killed with a bow? How about a moose? I would assume that a bow could be used on almost any animal in North America, but what about Africa and other places?
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The pond, waterfowl, and yellow labs...it don't get any better. |
#2
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FWIW
I am, by no means, a bow-hunting expert. But, it seems to me that it isn't, necessarily, the size of the animal that matters but how tough it is. I mean tough in terms of skin and muscle as well as how much pain and damage it can endure. Moose are big and quite strong but, from what I understand, a musk ox has thicker hair, skin and denser muscle. It seems to me that an arrow would do more damage, quicker, to a moose than it would an ox. Once again, I'm no expert. This is nothing more than my 2 cents worth.
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USAF Retired Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things |
#3
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Fabs, the bow is quite effective on any game animal. Howard Hill took elephant with his recurve long before compounds became available.
I would suspect that the first shot was not a perfect shot, and as in all forms of hunting a follow up shot could not be made right away. I will say I know many people that have taken a moose with a bow, and they tend to hit the ground faster than an Elk, when hit right. We all feel sorry for an animal that we harvest that does not die in its feet, but that does not mean we did the wrong thing, or not ethical. Sometimes the shot is just not a perfect hit. I had an expereinced bowhunter friend of mine hit a deer last year that probably took 15mins or more to die. We tracked him for 6hrs total before we found him. The shot was good, however he only hit the one lung, and not the 2 he thought. Crap happens, its part of hunting, all we can do is try and improve ourselves based on what happens.
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It doesn't matter what you hunt, as long as you hunt <hr> Member - AOPA - Lloydminster & Area Archery Assoc. - Life Member NAHC - IBEP Instructor |
#4
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I'll agree that happens, and it looked like the shot was a little far back, but the arrow sticking halfway out I have never really seen. I have only used the bow to kill whitetails does, and none of them were very big, so the arrow has always gone through the deer. Just can't imagine so little penetration with the arrow, and if there is so little penetration with an arrow on musk ox, then how could a person ever get a double lung shot.
There is no doubt that an elephant could be killed with a bow, but is it ethical. I am sure that I could kill an elephant with 1,000+ rounds of .22, but is that ethical? As far as I could tell with the musk ox, these hunters could pretty much walk up to the animal and shoot it. The thing didn't even run away when they were next to it on the wide open tundra. These animals must be blind.
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The pond, waterfowl, and yellow labs...it don't get any better. |
#5
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I think Fred Bear killed an elephant with a bow.
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“May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.” Dwight D. Eisenhower "If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter" George Washington Jack@huntchat.com |
#6
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You're correct Jack,
Fred Bear killed elephant as well as Cape Buffalo and a host of other critters during his African safaris. These were all harvested using a Bear recurve. I did not see the show that Fabs had described but I have read many accounts of hunters not using a stiff enough arrow or proper broadhead to perform the task at hand to match the quarry they are hunting. The analogy of the .22 and the elephant is spot-on. As already mentioned, things happen when hunting- even with the right set-ups. It's easy to second guess a decision after the moment of truth. It certainly is not optimal for tracking or retrieving game but I have personally read and watched video depicting plenty of game that have subcummbed to an archers arrow that did not obtain a complete pass through but rather churned up a good deal of internal organs within the brisket, causing it to bleed internally. Again, certainly not optimal but I's still have that situation than have a broadhead pass cleanly through a non-vital area or bounce off a shoulder. JMHO. |
#7
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Yes, the right broadhead and arrow make a difference. I remember ted nugent shot a buck deer on film a year or two ago, and it showed a broadside lung shot. He looked for it for a few days and never found it. On a later show he shot a sick buck that he determined was the same one he shot weeks earlier. The first shot had taken out one lung and it had gangreen when he shot it a second time, but he said there was no way it could have lived an hour let alone weeks. Anyone else see that one?
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#8
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I didn't see that show, but how can he determine it is the same buck he shot a couple of weeks earlier, yet not think the deer could have lived for two weeks after the shot. A friend of mine shot a deer right in the nose. The deer looked up at him when he let the arrow fly and it hit her right in the nose. They tried to track it all day, but it was really tough because the blood wasn't in a straight line. They think it was because she was shaking her head trying to get the arrow out and the blood was going everywhere.
Yeah, making mistakes while hunting sucks. I am guilty of my share too and they bother me plenty. I have only gut shot a single deer, and thinking about it makes me sick. Closing the distance to put her out of her misery was all I could think of, and that shot was made at 250 yards. I dropped the other deer with her dead in its tracks, but I screwed up on her. Can't even begin to tell you about how many birds I have wounded, yet I am still one of the better shots out of the group.
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The pond, waterfowl, and yellow labs...it don't get any better. |
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