holy wapiti

[rone]

Would that i were so brave at 69 to take down a half-ton elk with a bow and arrow...

Comments

[mrbalihai.livejournal.com]

Elves in Lord of the Ring movies nonwithstanding, stringing and shooting arrows repeatedly at a large animal that's charging you at 25-30mph is a lot more difficult than you might think.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

When I made my own longbow a few years back (draw weight: about 25 pounds, I could maybe take down a squirrel if I managed to hit it), there were a couple of guys making 60-pounders. They were planning to head up north and hunt caribou with them.

That's some balls, y0.

(One of them was the former Washington State archery champion, so he had some reason to believe he'd be successful.)

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

Not to imply that this was easy, but I do have to call attention to this:

After watching the bull stop at 75 yards with the arrow buried up to its fletching, the giant wapiti slowly disappeared into the dark timber.

It was scarcely charging, and he had something like this:

on the end of his arrow.

I don't deny that what he did is in some way impressive, but I do reserve the right to be unimpressed.

[mrbalihai.livejournal.com]

It's very difficult to bring down an animal that large with a bow, regardless of whether or not it was charging him; a lot depends on getting an exact hit in a vital area like the heart, which involves skill, or an inordinate amount of luck. Also, a wounded bull elk with a full rack of horns is extremely dangerous even when it's down.

As for the broadhead tip, yes it's designed to do a lot of damage, but it's not as destructive or powerful as a bullet which is traveling a hell of a lot faster than 175mph which much more force behind it.

I do reserve the right to be unimpressed.

Fair enough, and since I used to bowhunt for deer, I think I've earned the right to be impressed...;-)

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

I heart civilized discussion. :D

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Sissies.

[mrbalihai.livejournal.com]

Oh, go 69 a half-ton elk, asshat.

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

Doesn't work: the herbivore refuses to apply the tongue to the meat. Or so ronebofh tells me.

[tongodeon.livejournal.com]

That's definitely a scary-looking pointy end. But the problem is that elk don't really care how scary-looking a pointy end is. You can put flames on the blades and write "ELKSLAYER" on it and attach a tiny MP3 player blaring a tinny version of "Ride the Lightning" and it's still just a pointy stick, and it takes very impressive placement of those inside an elk to get one to lay down so that you can dismember it.

I had a friend who bowhunted moose in Canada. He ended up treed by one, who waited under the tree for over 24 hours for him to come down so that it could kick his ass.