Everybody is always talking about low poundage bows taking animals. My hunting buddy is partially paralyzed but he still hunts with his recurve when possible. Yesterday he took a huge Buffalo with a 45 pound Bear Grizzly using some 750 grain gold tip trads that I put weight tubes in and added super sharp 200 grain Grizzly single bevel broadheads up front. He shot from around 25 yards and made a perfect heart shot twice. The first shot went in to the fletch and the second passed completely through. Yes, it was a preserve bull but for people with limitations what ever they may be it offers them the opportunity get out into the outdoors and hunt. So yes, with the right set up you CAN kill large animals with light poundage traditional bows

Never doubted it...

I'm good with it all...

Please convey to your friend my heartiest congratulations!!

There will be plenty of detractors but this is pretty convincing to me Huge Congratulations to your buddy!!

A lot of Bear fans will be smiling after reading this post. Well can’t argue about that set up. Looks like a lot of Hard work and dedication paid off. Congrats to you and your friend. Well done.

Yes sir..native Americans were doin it way back yonder

I have always believe that.

Awesome. I just had a stroke and lost my left hand.At the moment I can't see it coming back so this story gives me some hope. .

Congratulations to you friend , and thanks for sharing.

thats pretty cool

congraduations to your friend

he out doing it

Congrats to your buddy and good shooting.

No problems here. Tell your friend congratulations!

Thank godd he has friends to help him along too. Awesome stuff!! I to shoot 45 pounds and wouldn’t be afraid to hunt anything with it other than maybe some Africa game.

Thats great. I wonder if old Fred knew how many animals the "working mans bow" was going to kill when they designed it? Your buddy will be able to feed the whole township with that monster! Tedd

Very nice !

That's great congrats to both of you!!

Why isnt your buddy in the pic with his bow? If I killed that I would be

Impressive.

Congratulations to your friend! Two good things stand out, heart shot and 750 grains. I'm curious about his draw length.

"Why isnt your buddy in the pic with his bow? If I killed that I would be "

Funny you should say that. I rarely take pictures, and when I do , is just the bow and the prey.

I give you that being such a nice trophy , I may opt to appear in the frame.

At least there's no feeders or fences in THIS picture! Not sure I'd try it with 45# myself.

Like TGbow said, it's been done for eons. Len Cardinale killed his grizzly with a 45lb. bow.

Congrats to your buddy.

Fantastic animal. Bear Grizzly, the 30/30 of archery.

For a critter of that size, it had to be the string puffs that made the difference.

Proof is in the pudding.

Awesome...my latest love affair is with my 45# Griz and heavy Arrows so this is great to hear. Thank you. :)

My hat is off to your buddy. Light bow, heavy bow- whatever. Congratulations. Getting out there and doing it - that’s where the measure lies.

Yep. My hat is off to you too. I am not back with the Bear family too

Thats great. I love to see people with some limiting physical problem overcome it and continue doing what they love. My hats off to your friend and thanks for sharing his story.

Congrats to your friend!!! He/they are going to be eating good for a while!!

That hide would make a very nice rug if tanned properly. $$$$ though. Congrats!

Hats off to you buddy!

Big congrats to your friend. I should book mark this for the next is 40# enough thread:)

Good job and congrats to you and your friend. I’m not exactly clear on that arrow weight though. 750 total or before the heads and tubes?? Anyway, good job!

Congratulations to your friend, that’s quite a feather to put in his hat

Gold tip traditional 400's with weight tubes from 3 rivers arrows around 31" 200 grain Grizzly single bevel broadheads 5" feathers

Congratulations to ur buddy, beautiful buffalo!

I am glad your his friend,,,,, nice picture,,,,,

Good job him.

I would not say 45 pounds is light, it isn't really heavy. Just randomly I would say 30-50 is light, 50-70 is heavy, and it goes up from there. So 45 is kinda between two areas. The first adult bow I had was a 45 pound Browning 52 inch bow. I aimed it at an abandoned building, and shot over the top "he missed the barn". Next shot I put right in the window that was boarded up with 1/2" plywood and it punched right through it. Anything that punched 1/2" DFir is good by me. (it was a really abandoned building, and I didn't think the arrow would hurt it...)

If your friend can shoot 45 pounds, imagine what the rest of us can do...

Congrats!

Congratulations to your buddy!

Congrats.

Good for your friend, congrats!

No surprises here. Most hunters who are older than their equipment know this already. I salute the folks who helped him accomplish his quest...that's some damn good eating there.

No surprises here. Most hunters who are older than their equipment know this already. I salute the folks who helped him accomplish his quest...that's some damn good eating there.

Congrats to your friend.

Congratulations.

The story "tells it like it is".Congrats to your friend and to you also for the helping him.

Impressive to say the least.

Man, that is the best! Congrats to your friend, and to you for your loyal assistance! AWESOME!!!

I just noticed the broad head sticking out of the beast.

Nice bison. Should fill up a freezer or two.

Yes also congrats too your Friend. Great of you to assist etc .Great eats for sure,rug, Etc

That’s awesome!!!

Sounds like a blast! Bison is delicious!

Awesome Bison !!!

Nice! You eating it there or have ya got a front-end loader? Again, nice.

Wonderful news, just wonderful, thank you for telling this. Two arrows shot true and deadly and now all those bison burgers. Compliments to your friend who had the nerve to go up against something as big as that.

High Five to your buddy.

Congratulations for your friend and you.

Congratulations to your friend. Beautiful animal that will provide some superior protein. Just goes to show 45 and thereabouts coupled with the correct arrow and head combination will do just about anything.

Outstanding!!!

That is indeed a HUGE bull. I love how it dwarfs the bow. Congrats to your friend and to you for lending a hand.

Congrats to a hunter with grit.

I commend him for choosing a proper weight arrow and BH for good penetration.

Awesome, congrats all the way around!

I am impressed.You both did extremely well.I like it'

Congratulations! Well done!

I do remember Fred Bear saying that a 45 pound bow could effectively take anything in North America… He continues to be proven correct.

That's very cool! Where was that at? I saw a similar post on Facebook but didn't mention what bow was used. Wondering if it may have been the same one. Don't see too many bison/buffalo posts. lol

Shot placement and arrow weight mean allot!!!

Can you tell us what year Grizzly that is? Looks like maybe a 64- 65 Zebrawood? My personal favorite.

Congratulations to the Hunter and to all of you who helped make this happen!

Congratulations to your friend! I love these kind of hunting stories! Good for him for not giving up!

Too cool ! Well done .

Well done and congratulations on a lifelong dream.

Nicely done!!

I thought this was going to be a video of a tiny bear attacking a Bison.

Congrats well done.

Hugh

Congrats! Amazing, I have been shooting with 50#'s but recently had Jack Kempf build me a 41# wild cat, and I sure dont feel under bowed with it.

No point passing through twice! Lol

Love it!

Just to note note, the arrow set up would be optimized even more by switching from weight tubes to comparable weight brass inserts. 3 Rivers has brass inserts to 100 gr., but one can get a wider selection and even much heavier brass inserts on eBay.

Ashby, in his extensive work on maximizing arrow penetration strongly agreed with putting as much weight up front as possible while minimizing weight behind insert to arrow nock. This gives a higher FOC percentage.

Video proof of the concept has proven w/o a doubt this greatly reduces arrow wobble upon impact and therefore gives a higher transfer of inline momentum. It is also true a sort of magic happens at approx. 650-700 grain arrow weight so the impact wobble is also reduced.

Now admittedly when one is already getting great penetration all of this may seem to be a moot point.

Runner, it was.

Congrats to your buddy on some great shot placement!

Just to stir the pot a little, I'd guess these advantages over a bow hunter not optimizing (as expressed in bow draw weight lbs):

1) +5 lbs carbon arrow vs. wood or alumnium shafts 2) +5 lbs optimized arrow flight vs. typical arrow flight 3.) +5 lbs heavy arrow mass 4) +5 lbs cut on impact broadhead. 5) +5 lbs high FOC arrow.

Now admittedly, I'm guessing and certainly simplifying, but it's certainly within the realm of probability that an optimized 40 lb recurve could be expected to give penentration as good as many less fussy bowhunters might get with 65 lb. setups.

Again, these are guesses. And they are not all equal; which of the above do you think is of most importance?

Addendum...meant optimized 45 lb recurve could get what less fussy bowhunters get with 70 lb. setups. Keep in mind also bow efficiency tends to decrease somewhat past 50 or 55 lbs draw wt.

But if you take the time to tune right with let’s say #60…

Shazayum!!

High FOC makes sense to me for all the reasons that you have listed. It may not be the ONLY way to skin that cat, but it is certainly a good option.

Here we go with that efficiency crap again, lol.

I wouldn't fight with efficiency. Better to be best of buddies...

Congrats Back in 50's and 60's women and shoot placement- most of us where trying mimic those we read about who shoot 60#+ - I shoot a 55# recurve then to hunt - now hunt with a 40-45# recurve or longbow-used in Africa on largest of plains game with no problem.

Forrest-hunter, tell us about your arrows.

"Runner, it was.'

Well let's see it! lol

“I keep coming back to look at the pic. Lol I love the Grizzly sticking out! It’s amazing how much less we really need than what we think. Whether it’s broadhead blades/width, draw weight and yada yada yada,……. truth is, we can probably relate that to most things in life”

Well spoken tradmt

I use heavy arrows and broad heads total 600-700gr- inserts as necessary- keep shoots under 20 yds (have never been a great shoot) - shaving sharp broad heads

American bison are virtually tame.

forest-hunter, pretty much the same here for elk. I may go a little bit lighter for deer, but keep a high FOC.

Congratulations to your friend....good for him that he's still out doing his thing! That's an awesome picture and story.

Too bad some folks feel the need to look down their noses at anyone but haters are just going to hate...I've learned that its usually just jealousy anyway...they need to heed my granny's words of wisdom, "If you don't have something nice to say, keep your mouth shut."

david k , well said. It’s usually the same bunch over and over.

Good job.

My buddy knapped a stone point for a hunter that used it to take a buffalo. Not sure what bow he used.

“ American bison are virtually tame.”

Yeah… You know… Like the ones in Yellowstone that toss a couple of tourists every year when they run in to snap a Selfie….

I’m not saying that they are as mean and ornery as true Buffalo, but I suppose some are more acclimated to humans than others. On a “preserve”, you probably don’t know what you’ll get.

But think about it… Just because they don’t turn tail and get the hell out of Dodge at the first hint of a human may not been all that much. After all, what do they have to be afraid of? They have very few natural predators left. That’s not “tame“, that’s just knowing who is boss.

I would be worried about hitting a rib.

Corax, I believe your correct. I used to raise bison and they can lull people into thinking they are not intelligent and or tame. Neither are true. I believe they are just like a mature bull moose. Not much scares them. They are far more intelligent than domestic cattle.

The bull above looks to be about 2- 3 yrs old.

What pdk25 said. Congratulations on your harvest, great job!

I don't where the "American Bison is team" came from but if you ever hunted them where they are free range Alaska, Utah, Arizona and BC you might get a difference perspective of them.

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