The stalk was complete, and as I knelt behind a small bush in the semi-open terrain of South Africa’s East Cape, the doubts started to creep in. Down the slope and feeding slowly in my direction was a lone Cape buffalo bull, a huge old “Douga boy,” with massive horns and a very bad attitude. It was not my first buffalo hunt, but the first with a bow, and I knew that any misstep could result in a very, very bad day.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. I noticed my palms had become a little sweaty, my heart rate a bit accelerated. Still, I knew the wind was right and the buff had no clue we were there. I’d shot hundreds of practice arrows preparing for this moment, and knew my good friend and outfitter, Marius Potgieter – a former South African Special Forces stud – was highly experienced, fearless, and a crack shot who would back me up if things started circling the drain. It should have been similar to moving in for a shot at a deer back home. And yet, deep down inside, I knew it was very different.
At 19 yards, the bull was feeding broadside, and when he turned his head away for a moment, I rose on my knees and let the arrow fly. It penetrated to the fletches right behind the shoulder, the bull took maybe three big steps ahead, turned and looked right at us with that “You owe me money!” stare … and fell over, stone dead. The broadhead had cut off the top of his heart, and he was dead on his feet. Still, it took many minutes for my knees to stop quivering.
I Wet My Pants
Some 20 years earlier, I was much younger, much cockier, and much, much dumber. In my early 40s, I’d just moved to Alaska, I’d shot a lot of game with my bow – and thought I was ready to bowhunt brown bears. So a buddy and I were on a fall salmon stream in the Bristol Bay region, where we spotted a huge bear swimming across a big river. By the time we’d gotten the boat beached, he was into the thick alders, so I jumped out and raced in to try and find him before he disappeared. Lo and behold, he hadn’t gone far, but was rolling on his back in some thick grass, trying to dry himself off. I got to 40 yards, knelt down, chambered a round in my backup rifle, placed it next to my right knee, nocked an arrow, and waited for him to stand on all fours, when I was sure I’d run a broadhead right through his ribs. Just like that.
He did indeed stand. But instead of turning broadside, he somehow saw me — and immediately hit the accelerator and charged. Somehow, I was able to drop the bow, grab the rifle, shoulder it, and fire a snapshot. By the grace of God, the bullet managed to slip just under his chin and hit the bear at the base of his throat, where it penetrated and broke his neck at the atlas joint, killing him instantly. He piled up 5 yards in front of me. When the shaking stopped, I am not embarrassed to tell you I noticed I had wet my pants.
My inexperience and naivety nearly got me killed. Over the course of the next 2 decades, I spent a lot of time hunting both brown bears and mountain grizzlies in Alaska and western Canada with both my bow and a rifle, and spent a fair amount of time as an assistant guide on many big bear hunts. I’ve personally killed 12 of them – three with my bow – and seen a bunch more taken. Those experiences, and others around the globe, taught me a lot about bowhunting dangerous game, and while I do not claim to be the most accomplished dangerous game bowhunter around, the advice given here is based on a lot of field time as both hunter and guide to help you decide if it’s something you might want to try yourself.
The Mental Game
Never, ever forget when hunting dangerous game that if things go south, someone could be badly injured, or killed. I’ve had friends involved in some very, very bad situations where, for example, a wounded leopard being tracked in the bush badly mauled a tracker, and in the ensuing chaos and gunfight, the tracker was killed by an errant bullet fired by the panicked client. My friend Bob Fontana, an excellent Canadian outfitter, was stomped to death by a Cape buffalo somebody else had wounded. Three of my very experienced Alaska guide friends were mauled by brown bears. All these examples occurred during rifle hunts, where, generally speaking, the distance shots are taken preclude the potential problems of creeping into bow range.
When you get within bow range, things accelerate and slow down at the same time. While things tend to move in quasi slow motion as you prepare for the shot, at the same time your heart rate and breathing will almost certainly increase as the adrenaline rush rolls through your veins. You can help manage this stress by preparing before the hunt as if your life depends on making the first arrow count. Here’s how.
First, you can never shoot too many practice arrows. Practice sessions will also let you find any problems, big or small, with your bow-and-arrow setup. Something I like to do to try and simulate a shot with an accelerated heart rate is to do some jumping jacks to get my heart revved up, then grab my bow and make a perfect shot while my heart is still racing. Also, if you’re a treestand bowhunter with little experience spot-and-stalk hunting and shooting from the ground, if at all possible get some. Wild hogs are great for this. If nothing else, shoot a lot of arrows from your knees, as well as standing. Get into a rhythm: Nock an arrow, use your rangefinder, hook up the release, draw and shoot. It will soon be second nature — but not if you don’t practice.
Second, closely study the animal you’ll be hunting. Talk to others with experience and watch online videos of others hunting them. Study their anatomy and decide on acceptable shot angles for that specific animal, and make a vow to never deviate from it for any reason. Videos will help you see how the animal postures when it is alert, and when it is calm. Only cut the shot when everything is just right. If not, you can always come back.
Third, decide on a minimum and maximum shot distance that you are both comfortable with, and that takes into consideration both the anatomy of the animal, as well as their speed and temperament. You will have a discussion about this with your outfitter, and once these parameters have been decided upon, do not vary from them! This can be done months before the hunt, which will help you during your practice sessions. When I hunted the Cape buffalo, for example, I decided that both the relatively slow 214 fps speed of my 816-grain arrow shot from the 80-pound compound bow — the minimum draw weight permitted under South African law — would both allow precise shot placement and adequate penetration to no more than 40 yards. My guide and I also did not want to sneak to less than 20 yards, believing that anything closer would not allow him enough time to stop a charging buffalo if something went amiss. We hoped to get inside a window of between 20 and 30 yards — and we did. Oh . . . and only a broadside or slightly quartering-away angle was acceptable.
Lastly, never forget that you are the hunter, not the hunted! At some point you’re going to have some doubt creep into your head as you move to seal the deal. This is normal — and if you didn’t get that adrenaline overload, why would you be doing this? Remember, you have the wind in your favor, you’re concealed by the brush, and the animal has no clue you’re there. Turn that fear into focus! You’ve done your homework, shot hundreds of practice arrows, and chosen an experienced guide you can trust with your life who carries the hammer of Thor in the form of a very large caliber rifle he knows how to use. You’re a team, and you can trust his judgment. The odds are stacked heavily in your favor. So … let’s do this thing!
Finally …
You can find numerous videos online of dangerous game bowhunts. It’s kind of become the rage these days, an in-crowd thing that some think will elevate their status, make them more of a man (or woman) in the eyes of their peers. I remember well the times when guiding brown bear hunters in Alaska when we had clients who wanted to shoot their bear with a bow, coming with no clue about the inherent dangers involved, and little to no experience in spot-and-stalk hunting. They got cold feet once we crept within spitting distance of a big bear. More than one, when we got tight with a big bear on a salmon stream, suddenly decided that my offer of using my rifle, a .375 H&H Magnum, instead of their bow was not such a bad idea.
Dangerous game bowhunting. It’s not for everybody. But once you experience it, you’ll find it gets in your blood. I guarantee you’ll never forget it.
Sidebar: Gearing Up
Each species of dangerous game has its own special bow-and-arrow setup requirements. For big bears, your elk rig shooting arrows on the medium-heavy side is plenty as long as your broadhead blades are razor-sharp. I have never hunted grizzlies with mechanical broadheads; of the three I have killed with an arrow, two were with a NAP Thunderhead 125, the other the now-defunct Barrie Archery Titanium 125.
Cape buffalo requirements are stiffer. In South Africa, when I bowhunted them the law required an 80-pound minimum draw weight compound bow, arrow weight of at least 750 grains, and the use of a two-blade, cut-on-contact broadhead.
Of course, you can also take dangerous game with traditional archery tackle and many bowhunters have done so. Regardless, learn the law and also discuss equipment choices with your outfitter.
Sidebar: Financial Considerations
Understand this: If you want to hunt dangerous game, whether it be in Alaska or abroad, you will more than likely have to hire an outfitter. These outfitted hunts are in high demand, and they are becoming ridiculously expensive. Brown bear and grizzly hunts in both Alaska and western Canada are running well over $15,000 these days — with some costing two and three times that much — and often have multi-year waiting lists. Polar bears? Think $50K-plus.
Interestingly, you can hunt Cape buffalo in South Africa for less than North American big bear hunts, but you’re still looking at five-figure money, plus travel, plus the high cost of shipping the trophy back to the states. These hunts are often combined with plains game hunting.
These hunts will never get any cheaper, so if you are thinking about it, start planning and saving now, choose an outfitter, get on his schedule, and begin preparing.
