I stayed out to this point, and haven't read the whole thread, but based on what I've heard elsewhere, including the opinions of a couple of PH's in Africa, I'm not real sure that archery gear is the best option for elephants. Then again it may not be the best option for MANY animals, however, MOST animals can be sufficiently mortally wounded resulting in quick, humane kills with archery gear as long as it is specifically designed/tailored to the animal being hunted. Elephants however becomes a bit more difficult than say giraffe or even water buffalo merely because of their size.

Howard Hill DID IT, but he also was shooting a SPEAR more or less at the elephants he killed. His BH alone I believe weighed over 2# (1700grains is actually about 2.4 POUNDS!!!!) and I'd have to believe the "arrow" was very likely travelling at a very LOW velocity, I'd bet under 100fps if I were a betting man, but certainly MOMENTUM would've been pretty significant with such and arrow. But Howard Hill was a true, genuine, "One of a kind!!!" Pete Shepley did it, twice, both times the animals travelled significant distances, one, the first, reported to have gone between 5 and 6 miles before it finally died. Sorry, but if I put a "good" shot on an animal and it travels that far before finally dying, I'm questioning the lethality and how HUMANE my equipment choice is. While certainly the population of elephants NEEDS to be hunted to keep it in check, and the African villages benefit greatly from these "hunts (also heard both PH's elsewhere say there really isn't much "hunt" to and elephant "hunt.")," I'm not 100% sure I like the idea of hunting elephants with archery equipment.

Now this isn't a PETA stance by any means, for those who want to try and jump on that bandwagon, it's a stance developed from the standpoint that if we aren't humanely killing the animals we hunt, we're going to be MORE likely to be getting more PETA attacks. Pete Shepley should've been smart enough to edit out some video and not mention that the elephant he killed went 5-6miles, and he shouldn't have thrown a fit like a little kid when the PH wanted to put a finisher bullet in "his" elephant either, but he did. Pete is known to push the limit, and he IS a great archer, but the elephant fiasco and his "86yd shot on a walking Mule Deer," are the type of things that do not do us, as hunters, any favors in the eyes of ARA, and may even sway a few fence-riding opinions against us.

Whatever we do or say as hunters is, sometimes unfortunately, representative of ALL hunters in the eyes of the non-hunters.