Bowhunting the poor man’s buffalo
It was a rare experience, something not easily forgotten.
It is widely known that the blue wildebeest is one of our toughest antelope species. As with all species, shot placement is key, but I think in the case of a wildebeest you have to be extra care- ful. I’ve heard a story of a wildebeest bull running 400m after being shot through the heart with a .375 H&H! I have also witnessed the toughness of a wildebeest on a recent hunt in Namibia...
It was late afternoon and my friend Pally and I were walking and stalking on their farm Dahonga Hunting Safaris in southern Namibia. A herd of gemsbuck had just outsmarted us for the umpteenth time that after- noon, so we decided to call it a day. On our way back to the lodge we stumbled onto a lone wildebeest bull. The shot was a long one (56 metres according to my rangefinder) but I was quite comfortable with the distance, having trained at distances of well over 80 metres previous to this hunt. I swiftly nocked an arrow and took a few breaths to calm my nerves. My Carbon Spyder’s string came to my face in one movement and I immediately went into the very familiar routine of anchoring and aiming. The bull was standing still, quartering away from me, but I only realised afterwards, while watching the video of the shot, just how steep of an angle he was standing at.
Although my heart was pounding in my chest I felt quite relaxed. When my aim was steady, low on the bull’s shoulder, I released the 522 grain Easton Axis arrow. The green Nockturnal Lighted nock of my arrow indicated the arrow’s flight perfectly. The bull stumbled when the arrow hit him but he recovered quickly and I immediately knew that we had trouble because my arrow struck 4 to 5 inches too far forward. It was evident that the Muzzy Trocar Hybrid had broken the left shoulder as the bull disappeared over a dune. Although there was a good blood spoor I knew that a tough follow up lay ahead.
Pally returned to the lodge to fetch his rifle while I kept an eye on the bull, which was standing about 300 metres from where he had received my arrow. Unfortunately it was late afternoon so the light was fading fast. By the time Pally pulled up next to me with the Cruiser I could only see the bull through my binoculars. We plugged in the spotlight and to our dismay the light did not work! We were running out of time — it was almost completely dark. We zig- zagged to the spot where I last saw the bull, with the hopes of catching a glimpse of him in the vehicle’s lights. As we closed in on the spot, Pally banged on the Cruiser’s roof. The bull was standing about 100 metres in front of us. Just as Pally started to squeeze the trigger, the bull trotted away and then managed to elude us until about 9:30pm when we finally gave up.
A group of Bushmen trackers tried to find it the next morning, but they also failed. We searched again, using the Cruiser but eventually I had to accept that we had lost the bull.
A SECOND CHANCE
A couple of days later on the last afternoon of my hunt, we set out to try one last time to get a wildebeest and springbuck. Both Pally and I were wearing rugby shorts and flip-flops – we were actually not very serious about shooting any more animals. It was a scorching afternoon and the animals were not moving at all. Our first stalk on a herd of wildebeest almost worked out, but a cow on the side of the herd spotted us just as we crested the dune above them. A second stalk on another herd failed as well, but then our luck changed.
Pally and I simultaneously spotted a lone bull. He was lying under a big camel thorn tree against a dune. Our plan was to drive around and stalk him from behind. This way we could use the wind, as well as the »
» dune as cover to get within shooting distance. It took us about 30 minutes to get into position. As we started our final stalk over the dune I regretted the decision to wear flip-flops, because the sand was extremely hot! After another 30 minutes of trying unsuccessfully to locate the bull from the top of the dune, we gave up, we simply could not find him. I was só certain that our plan would work.
Back in the Cruiser, we decided to drive along the same route to see if we could locate the bull again. Low and behold, the bull still lay in his original spot! This time I made a mental note of his exact position.
TRY AGAIN
We drove on for almost a kilometre before stopping under a tree. Again we approached the bull’s position from behind the dune. After a couple of minutes we were near the spot where I thought the bull was resting. Pally and I carefully stalked to the top of the dune. I knew that the bull would be less than 15 metres away if we were to crest the dune directly above him. As we reached the top of the dune I peaked over a bush and there he was! I whispered to Pally that we should move to a bush to our left. My heart was beating faster with each step. I quickly nocked an arrow as we got to the bush.
I tried ranging the distance, but it was too close. The bull seemed to be fast asleep and was lying almost on his side. From my position and the way in which the bull lay, there was only a small target area visible between his spine and shoulder.
We quickly discussed the shot placement and Pally was happy that I could take the shot. I knew my setup had enough kinetic energy and momentum to do the job. I slowly drew my bow with the minimum movement while Pally was videoing. I anchored the string and took a deep breath. My sighting pin settled on the spot where I needed the arrow to hit and then I squeezed the trigger. (My bow launches an arrow at 280fps, delivering 92ft/lbs of kinetic energy.) The arrow struck about 2 inches higher than what I would’ve liked, but I immediately knew that the penetration was sufficient. The bull sprang to his feet and ran about 40 metres before going down. He regained his feet though and disappeared over a dune.
We decided to fetch the Cruiser and drive to the spot where he had disappeared – we were both confident that we would find the bull dead in the next street. We spotted the bull in the street between the dunes but as we drove close he struggled to his feet and disappeared over another dune. We spotted the wildebeest on the other side and I asked Pally to put the bull down with his rifle. There is no point in waiting five more minutes for an animal to die when you have the opportunity to end its suffering.
A SURPRISE
Nothing could prepare us for what we discovered when we reached the bull. At first we did not see it, but I suddenly noticed another wound on the opposite shoulder. I thought it was the exit wound of my arrow, but then saw that the blood was old. I could not believe it, we had found the bull that I had wounded earlier that week! That shot would have been perfect if the animal had been standing fully broadside. Unfortunately the quartering-away angle was just too steep – a silly mistake from my side.
As hunters we strive to take down our prey as quickly and humanely as possible. Unfortunately it does not always work out that way, especially with bowhunting. The margin of error is that much smaller. I was grateful that we could end the bull’s suffering. To hunt the same animal on two different occasions is not something that happens every day.
I can’t wait to return to the sand dunes, there is still a big springbuck with my name on it...