Has anyone got an approximate percentage of how many elephants are killed on safari with the brain shot? From the films I've seen, I'd guess one in three, but that could be quite incorrect.

I have heard about .22s killing elephant on a couple of occasions. Arrows are quite different to .22s. As I said before, Steve Kobrine got a pass-through on an elephant with his arrow. A chest shot is a chest shot with a rifle or a bow; comparison studies indicate that a well-placed arrow kills slightly quicker than a well-placed bullet.

Like Ripp said, most of my bow-shot game (camel, buffalo, pigs, goats, donkeys, brumbies) have perished in seconds. A common misconception is that arrows provide a lingering death from loss of blood. That is quite incorrect. Loss of blood is not how an arrow kills. There's a really big medical word for how an arrow kills, and it involves the brain being shut down due to massive and rapid haemorrage in the lungs and / or heart - seconds, not minutes, in most instances.

At a guess, I would say that hunting elephant with a nice big double rifle is the surest way of killing one with no need for the guide's back-up - near 100%. Hunting them with a bow might lower this to 60% (again, just guessing) - understandably unacceptable for some, but a calculated risk for those who choose to do so, remembering that they are not trying to be brave, but trying to have an adventure. A .22 might work in 10% of cases (being generous). I'm just quite uncomfortable with comparing heavy hunting bows to .22s.

Thanks again for the food for thought from all angles on this question!

Cheers,

Ben