deerstalker
03-02-08, 05:16 PM
This was my first trip to darwin last year when i went up to visit a old friend I hadn't seen for a long time he had been at me to come up for a holiday for years .
I finaly organised a trip up there for late sept and was eager to check out the place and catch up with my mate but was real keen to take up my bow that i got in may earlier last year. I also took up a rod to try and catch my first barra too . The plane got in at midnight so brent had to come and pick me up then bit of a catch up he had to work the next morning so we didnt stay up for long . He arrived home at 3 the next afternoon and was straight on the phone to one of the station managers of one of the places he hunts to let him know we were going to come out for a hunt but he his missus said they were all out fighting fires that had broke out so was a no go today :(
He called another bloke who he had recently just got permission to hunt from but hadnt had a chance to go out and get to know his way around the place . We got out there and started to check out a few spots trying to find some water but was proving very scarce it was so dry every where .We finally found a small billabing that hadnt quit dried up and seen a few pigs just leaving the scene after all the cattle took off after seeing us .
We went off again in the ute to try and find a big billabong the cocky had told us about but took some finding (these places are huge compared to what ive ever seen ) we finaly found it and i was getting all excited thinking we'd have to see some here . Brent was bit sceptical about this whole bow and arrow thing as he is a rifle hunter through and through and said right o robin lets go shoot a pig with this thing . We started to sneak around the edge and there was crocs taking off in front of us into the water every 30 or 40 meters definatley not the sort of thing i'm used of seeing .
We had been walking for about a k and were probably half way around and i was starting to think we might not see any when all of a sudden brent raised his hand signaling to stop then pointed down from us about 10 metres away and there was a small boar sleeping but we had just woken him he stood up and was trying to locate where the noise that woke him was comming from .
I raised my bow and took a shot at my first pig with a bow the arrow was a little far back just behind the last rib and it took off i went to follow it up then it dissapeared in to the thick scrub and i was unable to find it but cause it was nearly dark we had to head back to the ute and leave it .
The next few days was spent checking darwin and surounds while brent was at work then the weekend finaly arrived and we were able to get out to his main station he hunts on we arrived out there and just drove around to the dams and stalked in to check for pigs .
We were unlucky with a few stalks only to see pigs then have the wind swirl around and watch them dissapear then on one dam we seen a dingo and put in a stalk and got to what i thought was about 25m and had no more cover so i took the shot as he was broadside only to watch the arrow go just under the chest missing it by millimetres before it took off into the bush.
The last couple of dams we checked were blown by nearly standing on un seen pigs while stalking the ones we could see so no pigs for the day.
The next day saw us out fishing at corrobouree (sp) billabong where we hired a boat for the day and trolled around looking for a barra .
We had been trolling around for a couple of hours and brent and scott had caught a few cat fish and scott got a little barra and i had caught a small tarpon and dropped a little barra when brent asked me to take over the driving while he changed lures and i had just sat my rod down for a second while i stepped over to grab the tiller when all of a sudden something grabbed my lure and ripped my rod out of the boat in a split second never to be seen again i was spewing as it was my near new set up i had brought for chasing the snapper on plastics here at home and had only taken it out twice :(
So now here we were 2 rods and 3 blokes but brent was kind enough to let me use his rod while he drove as he gets out here all the time and wasnt fussed so we trolled for a few more hours only getting a few cat fish and scott got a big toga and a 65cm barra when i was doubting i'd end up getting one after the way my luck was going .
Then all of a sudden something smacked my lure and took off the braid started peeling off the reel when a nice barra leapt out of the water and put on a awsome show.
After a short but wild fight brent netted my first barra and it was 80 cm so i was over the moon and made up for the dissapointment of losing my rod :D
so we packed up and headed for home for a delicious feed of fresh barra for tea washed down with a few coldies .
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/deerslayar/IMGP0031.jpg
The next morning was to be my last chance at going out to nail a pig before i had to leave for home we went out and done the rounds again checking all the dams the first few we checked had no pigs then we went to one where we seen a few last time so i snuck over the dam wall to where i seen them last time and there was a lone pig lying in the water cooling off i got into about 15m and drew back it was facing directly away from me so i lined up the pin just in behind its last rib and squeezed off the shot it ended up a little high and went through the spine and down through the chest and into its scull it didnt even twitch after the shot .http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/deerslayar/Picture018.jpg
I actually thought it was a lone boar but when i pulled it out of the water i realised it was a sow but hey i was over the moon just to get a pig at this stage . After the pics we moved on to the last dam we would check before calling it a day i was hoping so much i would see a boar there so i headed across there as quiet as possible and noticed a black shape up under the bank on the far side in the shade .
I couldnt see the whole pig to make out its size but it looked pretty big what i could see of it so i slowly made my way accross always checking for un seen pigs not wanting to blow my last chance at a boar . Finaly after what seemed to take forever i got in to about 7m from where the pig was and had to take just one srep side ways to get into view of it , as i did he sensed something was up and raied his hackels and stood up but it was too late for this fella i sent a tusker straight into his shoulder and he took off flat out only to pile up about 50m in the scrub .http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/deerslayar/IMGP0036.jpg He only had small tusks but was a big bodied young boar and to say i was stoked was a understatment and topped off a awesome trip that had just a few hiccups along the way but was well worth it and can't wait till my darwin 08 trip which should be even better with the things i learnt along the way this trip .
Thanks for reading as it probably dragged on as i'm new to this story writing caper.
cheers shane
I finaly organised a trip up there for late sept and was eager to check out the place and catch up with my mate but was real keen to take up my bow that i got in may earlier last year. I also took up a rod to try and catch my first barra too . The plane got in at midnight so brent had to come and pick me up then bit of a catch up he had to work the next morning so we didnt stay up for long . He arrived home at 3 the next afternoon and was straight on the phone to one of the station managers of one of the places he hunts to let him know we were going to come out for a hunt but he his missus said they were all out fighting fires that had broke out so was a no go today :(
He called another bloke who he had recently just got permission to hunt from but hadnt had a chance to go out and get to know his way around the place . We got out there and started to check out a few spots trying to find some water but was proving very scarce it was so dry every where .We finally found a small billabing that hadnt quit dried up and seen a few pigs just leaving the scene after all the cattle took off after seeing us .
We went off again in the ute to try and find a big billabong the cocky had told us about but took some finding (these places are huge compared to what ive ever seen ) we finaly found it and i was getting all excited thinking we'd have to see some here . Brent was bit sceptical about this whole bow and arrow thing as he is a rifle hunter through and through and said right o robin lets go shoot a pig with this thing . We started to sneak around the edge and there was crocs taking off in front of us into the water every 30 or 40 meters definatley not the sort of thing i'm used of seeing .
We had been walking for about a k and were probably half way around and i was starting to think we might not see any when all of a sudden brent raised his hand signaling to stop then pointed down from us about 10 metres away and there was a small boar sleeping but we had just woken him he stood up and was trying to locate where the noise that woke him was comming from .
I raised my bow and took a shot at my first pig with a bow the arrow was a little far back just behind the last rib and it took off i went to follow it up then it dissapeared in to the thick scrub and i was unable to find it but cause it was nearly dark we had to head back to the ute and leave it .
The next few days was spent checking darwin and surounds while brent was at work then the weekend finaly arrived and we were able to get out to his main station he hunts on we arrived out there and just drove around to the dams and stalked in to check for pigs .
We were unlucky with a few stalks only to see pigs then have the wind swirl around and watch them dissapear then on one dam we seen a dingo and put in a stalk and got to what i thought was about 25m and had no more cover so i took the shot as he was broadside only to watch the arrow go just under the chest missing it by millimetres before it took off into the bush.
The last couple of dams we checked were blown by nearly standing on un seen pigs while stalking the ones we could see so no pigs for the day.
The next day saw us out fishing at corrobouree (sp) billabong where we hired a boat for the day and trolled around looking for a barra .
We had been trolling around for a couple of hours and brent and scott had caught a few cat fish and scott got a little barra and i had caught a small tarpon and dropped a little barra when brent asked me to take over the driving while he changed lures and i had just sat my rod down for a second while i stepped over to grab the tiller when all of a sudden something grabbed my lure and ripped my rod out of the boat in a split second never to be seen again i was spewing as it was my near new set up i had brought for chasing the snapper on plastics here at home and had only taken it out twice :(
So now here we were 2 rods and 3 blokes but brent was kind enough to let me use his rod while he drove as he gets out here all the time and wasnt fussed so we trolled for a few more hours only getting a few cat fish and scott got a big toga and a 65cm barra when i was doubting i'd end up getting one after the way my luck was going .
Then all of a sudden something smacked my lure and took off the braid started peeling off the reel when a nice barra leapt out of the water and put on a awsome show.
After a short but wild fight brent netted my first barra and it was 80 cm so i was over the moon and made up for the dissapointment of losing my rod :D
so we packed up and headed for home for a delicious feed of fresh barra for tea washed down with a few coldies .
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/deerslayar/IMGP0031.jpg
The next morning was to be my last chance at going out to nail a pig before i had to leave for home we went out and done the rounds again checking all the dams the first few we checked had no pigs then we went to one where we seen a few last time so i snuck over the dam wall to where i seen them last time and there was a lone pig lying in the water cooling off i got into about 15m and drew back it was facing directly away from me so i lined up the pin just in behind its last rib and squeezed off the shot it ended up a little high and went through the spine and down through the chest and into its scull it didnt even twitch after the shot .http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/deerslayar/Picture018.jpg
I actually thought it was a lone boar but when i pulled it out of the water i realised it was a sow but hey i was over the moon just to get a pig at this stage . After the pics we moved on to the last dam we would check before calling it a day i was hoping so much i would see a boar there so i headed across there as quiet as possible and noticed a black shape up under the bank on the far side in the shade .
I couldnt see the whole pig to make out its size but it looked pretty big what i could see of it so i slowly made my way accross always checking for un seen pigs not wanting to blow my last chance at a boar . Finaly after what seemed to take forever i got in to about 7m from where the pig was and had to take just one srep side ways to get into view of it , as i did he sensed something was up and raied his hackels and stood up but it was too late for this fella i sent a tusker straight into his shoulder and he took off flat out only to pile up about 50m in the scrub .http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/deerslayar/IMGP0036.jpg He only had small tusks but was a big bodied young boar and to say i was stoked was a understatment and topped off a awesome trip that had just a few hiccups along the way but was well worth it and can't wait till my darwin 08 trip which should be even better with the things i learnt along the way this trip .
Thanks for reading as it probably dragged on as i'm new to this story writing caper.
cheers shane