Bow Hunter Kills an Elephant

Chinpo

Chinpo

Joined
Aug 25, 2007
Messages
1,137
I just read this story on Yahoo and it's a pretty impressive feat.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090507/twl-american-kills-elephant-with-bow-for-3fd0ae9.html

However, I have some problems with this part:

The 39-year-old huntress said she crept into a herd of 37 elephants, knelt down, and shot the grand creature from just 12 yards.

It staggered 500 yards before it collapsed, then she left it to die overnight
Click to expand...

I always thought that one of the most important parts of hunting was to cause as little suffering to the animal as possible. Letting an animal slowly die overnight pretty much disgusted me.

Being from the UK, where we basically have no hunting, I wanted to get some opinions from you guys. Especially from the bow hunters.
 
Definitely on the grim side from my point of view.

On another note, I'd love to see what the bow looks like. 90lb draw! Ouch!
 
If it's true it's really disgusting...Leving it to suffer for so long.
IMO shooting elephants for fun is horrible :(
 
I've bowhunted. Some different bows can handle that draw weight. Part of the hunting ethics is to ensure the animal expires as quickly and painlessly as possible. I think this may violate that ethic if what it say is true. On the other hand, she might not have realistically had much choice after crawling into a herd of elephants.

All that said, based upon the wording, word choices, etc. this appears to be a very slanted. I don't think one could credibly take what it says about how long it took to die. In all actuality, it probably died very quickly and they probably had to leave it overnight before the rest of the herd would leave.
 
Last edited:
If I remember correctly Fred Bear (the founder of Bear Archery) dropped an elephant with a single shot from a ground position. I doubt he let it expire in the night.

(on another amazing note, he also dropped a charging grizzly while he was on the ground!!! :eek: The man must have had nerves of steel!)
 
I does seem to be a bit anti-hunting.She certainly achieved her goal though personally I think bow hunting elephant is more a stunt than hunt.
BTW Chinpo game in Africa is never wasted, a point that the anti-hunting groups never seem to mention . That elephant would have been completely cut up and given to the natives the next day.In addition the money put into the African economy by hunters is 10 to 20 times what the eco-tourists put into it !!!Countries that permit hunting have much more wildlife than countries that don't if you are interested in conserving wildlife.
 
That hunt goes against everything I have ever learned about hunting in my 17 years.
 
Left it to die over night! this is grim. As a hunter myself this is not good practice. I cannot believe it was allowed (by probably a private company or game farm because conservation areas are extremely strict about hunting in their areas). Further I find it difficult to believe she snuck in between 37 elephants, theyre smell sences are extremely well developed and they do not stand still for very long.
 
Sounds like a good hunt.

The arrow kills by blood loss, so the brain pan shots often used with large bore rifles aren't possible. She probably had a lung hit which is a good hit but takes a little time to cause death.

Elephants are amazingly vital beasts and wii often travel a mile or more after being hit with what will be a fatal blow.

Bushmen have hunted elephants and after shooting them have followed the wounded animal for several days for it to die

It probably did not take the animal all night to die. Wounded game is often left alone unpressured to settle and expire. It is highly unusuall to attempt to process such an animal at night. But I think it would be entertaining to watch the author of the article do so.
 
I'm not against hunting at all, as long as the meat isn't just left to rot. The article does mention that the local villagers were waiting for the meat, so it probably didn't go to waste. It also doesn't mention how long the elephant took to expire, but it doesn't appear to have been a quick, painless one.
The article is slanted towards anti-hunting, but it didn't go as far as it could have. It definitely highlighted the reasons for the kill and that it was for a bet, but there were no comments from anti-hunt groups or zoologists, only praise for the shot from other hunters.
If local bushmen, using their local (More primitive) weapons kill an elephant in the same way, then that's part of life on the plains. For someone with access to modern hunting weapons to leave a beast to die slowly in pain for a bet is heartless.
 
Last edited:
I wish I was better at names. I did read about a guy (#1) years ago that hunted an elephant with a 130lb draw recurve bow made by Bear. There was another guy that did it at around the same time but the picture was very posed and after guy #1 talked to a guide who had been on the second archers hunt, he found out they first shot the elephant in the knee so it couldn’t move then the guy sat there and punched arrows in the elephants’ side in a nice pretty group. Now that’s weak.
 
Chinpo said:
I'm not against hunting at all, as long as the meat isn't just left to rot. The article does mention that the local villagers were waiting for the meat, so it probably didn't go to waste. It also doesn't mention how long the elephant took to expire, but it doesn't appear to have been a quick, painless one.
The article is slanted towards anti-hunting, but it didn't go as far as it could have. It definitely highlighted the reasons for the kill and that it was for a bet, but there were no comments from anti-hunt groups or zoologists, only praise for the shot from other hunters.
If local bushmen, using their local (More primitive) weapons kill an elephant in the same way, then that's part of life on the plains. For someone with access to modern hunting weapons to leave a beast to die slowly in pain for a bet is heartless.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that about sums up my feelings too. Well said.
 
Horned Toad said:
I wish I was better at names. I did read about a guy (#1) years ago that hunted an elephant with a 130lb draw recurve bow made by Bear. There was another guy that did it at around the same time but the picture was very posed and after guy #1 talked to a guide who had been on the second archers hunt, he found out they first shot the elephant in the knee so it couldn’t move then the guy sat there and punched arrows in the elephants’ side in a nice pretty group. Now that’s weak.
Click to expand...

...and that's the sort of pathetic disrespect for life that makes me feel like shooting them in the knee and seeing how they like it...
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
If I remember correctly Fred Bear (the founder of Bear Archery) dropped an elephant with a single shot from a ground position. I doubt he let it expire in the night.

(on another amazing note, he also dropped a charging grizzly while he was on the ground!!! :eek: The man must have had nerves of steel!)
Click to expand...

If not nerves of steel the big brass balls.
Although the meat does not go to waste in Africa most of the time I think a clean kill is very important especially in sport hunting.
 
JOSH111 said:
That hunt goes against everything I have ever learned about hunting in my 17 years.
Click to expand...

I second that!

Letting an animal suffer just to win a bet? Is this a sport? I despise that:grumpy:! In hunting, one is to drop the game dead the soonest the possible. Aside from this, killing an animal for the pure fun of it, this is not my cup of tea:thumbdn:.

Chinpo said:
I'm not against hunting at all, as long as the meat isn't just left to rot. The article does mention that the local villagers were waiting for the meat, so it probably didn't go to waste. It also doesn't mention how long the elephant took to expire, but it doesn't appear to have been a quick, painless one.
The article is slanted towards anti-hunting, but it didn't go as far as it could have. It definitely highlighted the reasons for the kill and that it was for a bet, but there were no comments from anti-hunt groups or zoologists, only praise for the shot from other hunters.
If local bushmen, using their local (More primitive) weapons kill an elephant in the same way, then that's part of life on the plains. For someone with access to modern hunting weapons to leave a beast to die slowly in pain for a bet is heartless.
Click to expand...

Well said:thumbup:!

foxyrick said:
...and that's the sort of pathetic disrespect for life that makes me feel like shooting them in the knee and seeing how they like it...
Click to expand...

Pathetic individuals like this one make me sick. They try to play tough by torturing animals. Then, they boast around with their buddies as if they were William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody.
 
Im cool with hunting, but I never saw the point in killing such a magnificent creature. I hate seeing them dead in gun magazines...

Deer, ducks, geese...kill as law allows and I'll help ya clean up :)
 
Shootin an elephant at 12 yards is not much of a feat... It would be harder to miss it!!

Dropping it that close with one shot is impressive. Leavin it to die overnight might have been the smartest choice. Elephants are dangerous creatures. However, im not much for killin anything for the sake of killin it.
 
as a traditional archer/bowhunter, i think that this is absolutely rediculous....:thumbdn: why the hell does this chick even want to kill a damn elephant to begin with... just to say she did....:mad: dumb...
 
I don't know what I feel about killing an elephant, but that is besides the point.

I'm sorry, but I doubt it was left over night to "die". It probably expired very quickly, but it is a normal practice, even with whitetail hunters, to not retrieve the animal for several hours, if not overnight. If you did not kill it imediatley, your attempt to aproach it would only cause it to flee, and possibly you will never find it and it will still die a slow death and be a waste.

Waiting several hourse, or overnight, ensures that it is dead before you approach, thus reducing the risk of losing and wasting the animal, as well as reducing the risk of getting injured yourself.

Come on guys, I hardly expect to come here and read so many knee-jerk reactions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top