https://tradbow.com/the-big-five-the-elephant-in-the-room/
There has been a controversy in
bowhunting history circles since 1989 when Bill Negley published “Archer in
Africa”. Two questions were central to
Negley’s claims in the book, and there was a chapter dedicated to each: “What
about Howard Hill”, and “What about Bob Swinehart” respectively. Who was the first to successfully Bowhunt the
African Elephant under fair chase, and who was the first to successfully
collect all of Africa’s Big Five? Negley
contends he was the first to do both, though convention until that time time
was that Bob Swinehart was the first to take the Big Five, and Hill the first
at the elephant. The stories and
historical record are muddied, vague, and complicated by rumor, jealousy, elapsed
time, and the perspectives of the day. Howard
Hill was missing the rhinoceros in the chase for the Big Five, but nonetheless
Howard is embroiled and central in this controversy because of the enormous African
elephant.
Hill’s mission in Africa is quite
clear. He was financed to, first and
foremost, film a profitable and entertaining major Hollywood motion picture
called “Tembo”. Secondarily, he wanted to kill some of
Africa’s big game with his longbow to prove the effectiveness of the bow and
arrow, as well as prove to himself he was capable of those accomplishments. The problem was that movie making technology
of the early 1950s made it very difficult to capture with any clarity these
bowhunting action sequences on film. The
lighting was critical, the equipment heavy and cumbersome, and a film crew of
several people were necessary to accompany him on a stalk and shot sequence. This was a very difficult, if not impossible,
task when trying to get all the action on film with dangerous game at
bowhunting distances. Imagine stalking
up on a lion or cantankerous rhino with three camera guys outfitted with tall
whirling camera gear, a professional hunter with backup rifle, and a couple
trackers.
Hill therefore may have done what
he needed to do to get animals on film, and this is where later critics like
Bill Negley take exception. It was
suggested to Negley by Bob Carpenter, that Hill had his professional hunter
knee cap the elephant to get the close-in bow shooting and action shots on
film. This was supposedly proclaimed to
Mr. Carpenter by some of Hill’s camera crew and assistant hunter when he was
camped a few miles away from Hill’s camp during the filming. The story was that the group traveled daily
to Carpenter’s camp after sundown for some cocktails because Hill was a
teetotaler (not a drinker) and had a dry camp.
Hill’s own written words and collaborating stories since prove that this
basic premise was not the case. Mr. Hill
enjoyed his drink as much as anyone, and even overindulged at times in his life.
In any event, it was clear that the
Tembo elephant was in question as a fair chase kill, and other animals such as
the lion and leopard in the film Tembo can clearly be seen to be “restrained”
or snared to get the requisite action shots for the feature film. Leopards are nocturnal and this was likely
the only way to get a leopard shot on film in daylight in those days. Unfortunately, these methods to get action
shots on film for show business are extrapolated to all of Hill’s game in
Africa. What is left out of his
detractor’s accounts though, is the fact that Mr. Hill spent many months in
Africa, and shot several other animals off camera. He shot two other elephants with the bow, not
on film, and which he would have had no reason to take liberties with rifle or
snare. There has never been any film footage
of the other 2 elephants, and it should be assumed they were not “handicapped”
before being arrowed. Remember, Hill was
also interested to prove the effectiveness of the bow. In Wild Adventure Hill recounts his
unsuccessful shot at a bull elephant. A
small branch deflected the arrow and it ended up striking the jaw, embedding in
a tooth. The pachyderm ran a few hundred
yards, shook off the initial shock of surprise and removed the arrow. Then it ran back to search vengefully for the
source of his discomfort. “For a full two minutes, the maddened
elephant ran first in one direction, then in the other, trying to locate
us. We could have killed him half a
dozen times with the heavy rifles, but knowing that he had received a very
slight wound from the arrow, we did not want to shoot him with the rifles
unless forced to do so in order to save our own hides.” This elephant was clearly not kneecapped
before being shot with the arrow.
Shown here is a rare photo of one of Howard's "other" elephants.
Hill was never able to get a
Rhinoceros with his bow. When it came
time to hunt the rhino, he had broken his bow hand and was not able to pull his
heavy bow. He did not want to risk a
shot with a lower weight bow on such a giant animal. Therefore, Hill was not in contention, nor
ever claimed to have achieved completion of the Big-Five.
Negley traveled to Africa in 1957
and did kill an elephant with his bow, but it was not until after Hill’s death
that he contended that he was the first to successfully do so under fair chase.
It seems he carefully avoided speaking
to Mr. Hill, or challenging the validity of being the first, until after Hill’s
death.
Nine years later in 1966, Bill Negley
heard that Bob Swinehart had announced that he was on a mission to kill the
Big-Five with his longbow and was getting a lot of good press. Bill was envious no one was talking about his
accomplishments, and he decided to come out of dormancy with the bow and arrow
and try to beat Swinehart to the punch.
After all, he had already collected the elephant in 1957. The race was on!
Unknown to Negley, Swinehart
managed to complete the Big-Five by killing a lion prior to Negley even leaving
for his safari in 1966. When Negley
returned from the bush after completing what he thought was the winning kill, he learned of Swinehart’s success
and conceded publicly that Bob was first.
After Bob’s death in 1989, Negley
was meeting with a group while planning another African safari, when one of the
men at the meeting who was an assistant professional hunter in camp on
Swinehart’s Elephant hunt, but not
actually witness to the events, told Bill that the gossip around the camp. The word was that Swinehart also first
anchored the elephant in the knee with a rifle before shooting it with the
bow. Negley contended that is how Bob
was able to get so close, get three arrows in the bull, and get some of the
pictures of the event published in “Sagittarius” and ‘in Africa”. Negley
then published his book “Archer in Africa”
claiming that he was the first to kill the big-Five under fair chase, and that
he accomplished it largely without rifle backup. All of this was based on second hand hearsay,
in contrast to what Bob wrote in his publications, and without Swinehart being
able to defend himself from the claims. In addition, Bill fails to recognize
that Swinehart also bow killed a second elephant in Angola. Swinehart recounted that he wanted to prove
that one arrow alone could be responsible for the demise of such an enormous
beast. This he accomplished on this
second bull.
Bob went out of his way to explain
that his first rhinoceros was not a valid bow kill because it charged after his
arrow struck a fatal shot, and had to be put down by rifle fire. He was published as stating, “Any bullet
striking the animal would have destroyed my chance for a bow kill.” He had to travel back to Africa on subsequent
safari to get his rhino. This does not
sound like someone who would take liberties with kneecapping an elephant to me.
Knee Capped? I don't see it?
Despite all these tales and
controversies, each man; Hill, Negley, and Swinehart have their place in the
Bow hunting Hall of Fame. Hill’s legacy
is well documented with a list of accomplishments that will never be
rivaled. Negley went on to bowhunt many species
and examples of Africa’s dangerous big game largely without rifle backup. Swinehart, whose life was tragically cut
short, still managed to follow in his mentor’s footsteps by igniting bowhunting
dreams through shooting exhibitions, presenting talks and slideshows at events,
and publishing two cherished bowhunting books that are still regarded as
must-read classics for those that can acquire them. Each has earned their place in history,
interconnected by the mighty African elephant.
