Antarcher
04-02-08, 10:28 AM
The first winner for the Gecko Bowhunting Stories competition is Boars Billies and Barra for his fantastic recount of great day out titled "Wrapped with Voodoo Wraps". Please send Antony (Friar Tuck) a message with your personal details to collect your prize. Congrats.
Over the Christmas holidays my dad and I have been trialling the new Australian made voodoo wraps. We went out for a hunt about two weeks ago, excited and ready to bag a few animals. My dad and I were both really keen to get some footage of the bright white wraps flying straight at then disappearing into a big Billy, boar or bunny for that matter.
We got there at around 5:00 in the arvo being daylight savings we still had a few hours of light left. We were driving out to a spot that was not far but had been producing good numbers of game lately, as we were driving about half way there we seen a mob of billies on a nanny half way up a ridge not that far away. There was one standout Billy so we thought we would have a crack at him. We parked the car got our gear on and set off, we made it to the goats but the way the wind was and the lay of the land it was best for me to circle the goats and come in from behind where they were. I made it to about 20 yards with dad on the other side of them, the wind changed and they got a slight whiff of dad and came back towards me, the big Billy stopped quartering on through a hole in the fence so I let him have it. I got up looked at dad the looked down the hill to see a white and red wrap waving in the air. We took some photos and he ended up measuring 104 6/8ths. We then went back to the car and headed on out to the originally intended spot but with no luck, we got back to the car on dark took off our boots and had a nice cold can of Pepsi max out of the car fridge.
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The next morning we woke up at 4:44 am and headed out to a very popular part of the property to us, it is pasture improved and has been for a while so there is usually a few game animals around. We drove up to the highest point of that section and glassed it very well only seeing a lot of goats and a few pigs down the bottom so back down we went after the pigs. We got there to find out that it was two fat sows. So back to the car it was to head back up an old track and try finding some more.
My dad has been teaching me to drive for a few years now and on this occasion I was driving up a fairly easy track when dry but when it gets wet there is one bit that you have to hit with a bit of speed, a bit more speed than what I hit it with anyway, so here we are half way up a hill with dad running the winch out as the wheels were just spinning. From tree to tree I got further and further then dad said “stop” so I turned the car off, dad came down to me and said there’s a half decent Billy just feeding about 80 yards away so he got his bow went over the hill just out of sight, then I hear a ‘thwack’ and a ‘bleat’ then quiet and dad walked back down and said got him and continued winching up the hill. I just shook my head and laughed to my self. After reaching the top with nothing in sight we headed to a different part of the property were the manager had asked us to kill off some goats for him so we kindly accepted. We got there and went for a walk up to the head of the gully to try and find a huge Billy which we had seen the trip before, as luck would have it we seen nothing. A little further on we spotted a mob of smaller billies and nannies with a couple of bigger billies on a nanny, dad and I made our way in on them before the bigger billies pulled a runner after the nanny leaving us with the small stuff, they came into about 20 yards as I drew back on a smaller white Billy and released I smacked him tight behind the shoulder and out the other, he barely made it two steps before piling up, I walked over to him and looked for my arrow and spotted it immediately covered in blood but the Voodoo Wraps made it still stand out very well in the grass. We took some photos and walked another few hundred yards to see what was down in the valley.
We only walked around 200 yards and spotted two loan small Billies feeding in the long grass. I stalked in to around 15 yards and waited for a shot, the Billy turned quartering away and lifted his head as if smelling the air so I drew and put an arrow through his back rib and out through his front shoulder, he only ran around 20 yards and collapsed. A few more photos and we were back on our way.
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We walked around the tops of the huge ridge line that we were on to find a few smaller goats and a mob of sows and slips, dad managed to smash a sow in some fairly thick bush.
As we headed down and got back to the main track which ran along the creek we thought we might see if we could smash a few bunnies and try and get a hare as dad had never shot one before and never really thought about it until now so we thought we would try and get one, and funnily enough as we got to the main track I spotted a hare sitting less than 30 yards so out dad got with his bow very quietly, and I stayed in the car but set the camera up, he shot and hit the hare good, as he went up to it another hare came out so he shot it too. Some photos were taken then kept driving spotting a few rabbits I got our and shot one from about eight yards, it travelled around 5 yards.
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Before the sun got too low we decided to go to a newly supered part of the property to see if any pigs or goats had been lured in to the area. We got there with quickly fading light and spotted around 7 lone pigs along with two boars and a sow feeding on something dead in the grass. Assuming all these lone pigs were boars we headed to the nearest bigish one I got into around 30 yards of him and I looked at dad he looked back with the thumbs up so I went another 5 yards and drew back on the boar with my sight just showing up through my peep as the light was almost gone, I released and watched the white Voodoo Wrap smack him in the high lungs with the boar dropping on the spot all I could see was a white Voodoo Wrap on the end of the arrow standing out the top of the grass waving around and on the video it looks great. Dad went back to grab the car as I set the boar up, by this stage it was pitch black and by the time dad got there a few other pigs had come into me but it was too dark to do anything. The boar was nice and solid but still young; dad took some footage and photos in the headlights of the car. We then headed back to camp for a well deserved good nights sleep to finish off another successful trip.
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I have made a small Movie of the shots mentioned above, I will post it shortly.
I would like to thank Voodoo Wraps for suppling me with the wraps to test on this trip, most shots where complete pass throughs and arrows only needed cleaning and a touch up before using them again.
Thanks for viewing.
B.B.B
Antarcher
01-03-08, 11:36 AM
The winner for the Gecko Archery Bowhunting Stories competition for February 08 is Ben Kleinig for absolutely awesome recount "A WA Goat Hunt", which was posted in the Traditional Hunting stories section.
Ben has won a pair of Pole Mountain bow legs from Gecko. Get writing for a crack at next months prize, which will be announced soon.
Well, here's the story from our trip in early January this year.
I wrote it with our American friends in mind, so you might notice a few explanations for their benefit.
Since sharing this with the fellows at Tradgang, I've learned the sad news that the gentleman from whom I bought one of my bows has passed away, so this story's for him - he was a fine and highly-experienced bowhunter, and a heck of a nice bloke.
And Cooke - every now and then I can hit something! (I'll conveniently use the rain as an excuse!).
I hope you enjoy the yarn,
Ben
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After three days of travelling, three keen bowhunters from Katherine, Northern Territory, had arrived at a vast sheep station in the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia. With the temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius each day, it was our hope to shoot some of the feral goats that make their way down from the ranges to the scattered water holes along the river during the summer months. We knew January was a miserable and even dangerous time of the year to venture into this part of the country; but the shot opportunities would be abundant, as opposed to none during the cooler months. After meeting the station manager at the homestead, we made our way along the tracks to the river, a wide and sandy expanse.
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We set up our camp in the shade of some immense river-gums growing on the edge. Stringing our bows, and filling our water bottles, we set off to examine the nearby puddles for sign, and to see if there were any goats around. I soon lost my motivation, feeling weak and nauseous. I sat down in some shade for awhile, before trudging back to camp.
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The heat really got me, and although I tried my best to stay hydrated throughout the afternoon, drinking cordial mixed with water, it was all I could do to keep in the shifting shade as I lay on my swag nursing a fragile stomach and a thumping headache. Finally, with the onset of evening, the day lost its bite, and it became pleasantly warm instead of intolerably hot. Taking a few more sips of a lukewarm drink, I suddenly had to make a run for it, collapsing on all-fours onto the sand of the riverbed just as most of the fluid I’d taken-in that afternoon abandoned me. “Déjà -bloody-vu,” I thought to myself. The first day of a summer-time Western Australian hunt had affected me in this manner twice before. It’s a bad habit the body seems to get into after being whacked by the sun – one bout of minor heatstroke does not make one stronger, but keeps coming back to haunt one. Despite the horrible aftertaste, I instantly felt much better.
I think it’s worthwhile to discuss our various weapons of choice at this point. I had brought two bows with me – a 66” Howard Hill Redman longbow, 70lbs at 29”, launching 850 grain laminated birch arrows tipped with the big Ribtek broadheads; and a 62” Black Widow SAIII recurve, 68lbs at 28”, launching 620 grain carbon arrows tipped with Snuffer broadheads. Ever since reading Howard Hill’s books and watching his films, I’ve felt an immense desire to experience, even in a small way, his type of archery equipment. I’d bought the Redman a year-and-a-half before, and though I’d done much practice, my hunting experience with this bow amounted to many miles walked but just one missed boar (not counting cane toads). This bow needed to be christened. Also, I wanted to take some game with wooden arrows, something I’d not done before. The SAIII was a much newer addition to my collection, as I’d purchased it second-hand a few months before from a gentleman in Juneau, Alaska, named Don Collinsworth. After using this bow for nearly ten years (much longer than I’ve been into bowhunting), he needed to reduce his draw-weight slightly. The bow was advertised in the classifieds sections of several traditional bowhunting websites for months, and when I inquired about it, and discovered that it has an amazing story to tell of hunting across Africa and North America, I thought I’d be honoured to give it a good home. When I look at this bow, and imagine the zebra, wildebeest, kudu, gemsbok, warthog, impala, black bear, moose, caribou and various other game animals that Don took with it, I am inspired. I want to add some Australian feral game animals to this list. Matt Wright, an apprentice carpenter, had borrowed one of my Black Widow longbows after our camel hunt the previous January. After only two weeks of practice with it, while his compound bow gathered dust, he waded across the river behind his house in Katherine and shot a monster of a boar, as well as a sow, on one wet Sunday morning. The traditional bug had begun to bite him, and later that year he sold his compound to finance his own Black Widow longbow, which had arrived just in time for this goat hunt. It was a 66” PLX “Zebrawood”, 70lbs at 29”. He was launching 820 grain carbon arrows tipped with Ribtek broadheads. So this, his first longbow, needed christening too! Tony Jensen, a lecturer at the Rural College, is an avid compound bowhunter. Naturally, he was going to bring his compound bow on this goat hunting trip. But something strange and unpredicted happened a few months prior to our leaving: he purchased a new high-tech Hoyt hunting recurve. He practiced diligently, but for confidence and accuracy he continued to use a single fibre-optic sight and a release-aid. Although he took both bows with him, he only once took the compound bow out for a walk, shot one good billy goat with it, and packed it away again. For most of the hunt, he used his recurve, taking his first animals with a traditional bow. Although he used the sight and release-aid, as well as the mechanical arrow rest, for the first half of the hunt, another strange thing happened one evening during our practice session into the riverbank. He took his sight off, stole a finger tab from me, and rigged-up a shelf rest made of soft rubber and felt! And, after intensive practice and patient hunting, he nailed a really good billy goat shooting his recurve barebow! He was launching 550 grain carbon arrows tipped with Muzzy Phantom broadheads.
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In Australia, we pride ourselves on our easy-going attitude toward the equipment choices that fellow bowhunters make; although I personally like my longbows and recurves, I’m more than happy to spend time with friends who like using the high-tech gear. So these changes in equipment for Matt and Tony weren’t brought about by preaching, ranting or raving; just watching these simple, fun and deadly bows in action can be enough to make somebody want to try it out. Yes Sir, longbows and recurves seem to be contagious!
Despite worrying that I’d be too crook to hunt, with pessimistic visions of my requiring the services of the Royal Flying Doctor, the next morning I was pleased to awaken as fit as a fiddle! After breakfast we went to wait in various ambush positions along the riverbank near the puddles. It is only as the day heats-up that the animals start to arrive. From my vantage point, I was able to watch a pair of red kangaroos carefully approach the water; however, they didn’t drink from the water, as it was perhaps too spoilt by the goats. Instead, they began to dig a few yards away from the puddle, until all that was visible were rear-ends and long tails! Soon after this, Matt walked back to camp to get some insect repellent to put on his feet, as the ants were bothering him. This spooked these two ‘roos, one of which hopped right up to me, stopping just a yard away. He studied the funny-looking something that remained motionless in the shade of the eucalypt, and then turned around to bounce casually away. I was also able to watch a foot-long lizard try to climb one of the smooth-barked gum trees in a hurry, as he was being harassed by a butcher bird – all four of his legs were revolving at 100 miles-per-hour as he desperately sought to gain purchase; happily for him, he made it to safety. Soon a small mob of the station’s sheep arrived, and the big merino rams passed quite close to me without paying much attention. A little more time elapsed, and suddenly my heart-rate quickened as I heard the faint bleating of a kid goat off in the distance, and I knew the festivities would soon begin! The first to arrive was that same noisy kid. He just stood atop the cliff, bleating noisily for no good reason. He couldn’t see me, but I could see him by peeking around the tree trunk as I waited for the larger members of his family to come down the steep bank. But nothing came down, and he just kept making his awful racket! I stopped watching him for some time, content to look in another direction. Then, when I finally took another peek at this noisy blighter, I saw that some goats had snuck down, and were on the bank at my level. One nice young billy was asleep. I took my boots and socks off, as well as my back quiver – for what I had in mind, the back quiver would get in the way, so I had to make my one arrow count. I pushed the longbow and arrow down the bank ahead of me, and slid over like a crocodile, concealed from the goats by some small green reeds. When I arrived at the water’s edge, still on my belly, I looked up to see some kids and nannies already drinking. They took no notice of me as I inched toward them and the tree that I’d marked to pop-up next to in order to shoot the young billy that was still snoozing there. It was only about fifteen yards to my shooting position, and as I eased-up, the kids in whose view I was plainly visible started panicking and scrambling away. The shot was going to be difficult, as I was looking into the bright sunlight, and the billy was still concealed by the reeds. Finally he sensed that something was happening and stood, allowing me to send an arrow through him! He only made thirty yards before going down, and I put another arrow in just to make sure he stayed that way (having run back to get my boots and quiver); and that was how I killed my first game animal with a Howard Hill longbow and a wooden arrow!
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I continued sneaking up the river to try to find Tony to share my success and to take photos. But just after finding him and waving to him, I noticed an even nicer billy on top of the cliff as I peeked over. Ducking down, I closed the distance between us, and again eased up until I could see his body, and loosed an arrow which hit a whisker high, dropping him on the spot.
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I hurried over to finish him, and then caught-up with Tony to see how he’d done. Unfortunately, he’d been crouching hidden in a ravine when a nanny goat peered over the edge, eyed him, and sneezed out her warning, showering him with snot before scooting away! After taking photos, it was time to head for camp. On our way back, we spied Matt way ahead, concealed in the shade of a spindly tree out in the harsh terrain near a natural funnel. There was a mob between him and us, and as we appeared, they took flight, passing alongside Matt, who sent an arrow through the largest billy. Unsure of the hit, he opted to give it some time before doing a follow-up, and was greatly relieved to find his first goat, his first kill with his own longbow, good-and-dead later on.
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Early one morning, Matt and I drove and then hiked into some newly-discovered puddles, which had an amazing amount of goat sign. This time, I had my newly-acquired recurve. We each took an end of the chain of puddles, and waited patiently. As the day warmed-up, the goats arrived. After photographing the scenery and a few nannies, a goat which I thought would do nicely as an introduction appeared nice-and-close. I let-fly, and the Snuffer blew through this large nanny and buried into the sand. She made only a short distance before expiring.
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As it was still relatively quiet, I went over to see how Matt was going, and to get him to take a photograph. As we talked, a really impressive billy goat arrived, and Matt commenced stalking to get into position above the drinking goats below the cliff. A few nannies behind caught sight of Matt and blew the alarm, causing the drinking billy to start moving away from the puddle and up towards the bank. By this time, Matt was in position and ready for him, and one of his heavy arrows dropped this tremendous goat on the spot. We were proverbially over the moon to have such a goat on the ground before us!
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I then changed my position while Matt began removing the horns from the rip-snorter of a goat he’d shot. Soon, a large-horned billy arrived and began to drink at the same spot that Matt’s goat had. I crept up onto the cliff above, remaining out of sight. However, before I could move over to the edge, I was interrupted by a nanny running toward me with a lewd, crude, and rude billy hot in pursuit, his tongue hanging out, with slobber flying, and making all sorts of disgusting noises! I crouched down, still in plain view, and yet they took no notice of me. As he ran past, maybe a dozen yards away, I shot. This arrow was poorly sent, and hit the meat on his back, causing a superficial wound which he took no notice of. Then, nocking a second arrow, I took another far more appropriate shot, which took effect immediately, the amorous billy goat losing his vitality and going out like a light within seconds.
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As he hit the deck, I switched my focus back to my original target, and jogged over to the edge just as the billy was moving away from the water. Then, I made what is probably my most spectacular shot to date – it was steeply downhill, at a range of twenty-five yards, on a walking billy; and the arrow hit tight behind the shoulder, blew straight through and buried in the sand. Immediately an enormous red blossom appeared, and I knew he was done like a dinner!
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Then I looked around to see Matt staring intently at a nice white billy, with his longbow in hand. However, the billy was only presenting his rear-end to Matt, whereas he was broadside at twenty-five to me. Matt graciously signalled that I should have a go, which I did, and soon this goat was on the ground too. All this had taken no more than a couple of minutes.
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After shooting and photographing these goats, I felt guilty that Tony had missed the action, being back at the other set of puddles near camp. I opted to hike back to the Toyota to go and pick him up, as well as fetch some cool drinks from the esky, and to swap the recurve for the longbow – I still wanted to grass a mature billy with it before we left. So, I left Matt to continue his task. Back at the camp puddles, I soon found Tony. Although we hadn’t seen too many large goats in this location, Tony, with his livestock husbandry background, was confident that goats need only water every three days, especially the big ones. And sure enough, there was a mature billy dead on top of the cliff when I arrived. This was Tony’s first kill since starting to shoot a recurve barebow the day before, and it’s an accomplishment that he can be very proud of.
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We finally got back to a very thirsty Matt who’d nearly finished fleshing the skull of his immense billy, and he happily guzzled down a refreshingly-cold raspberry lemonade while I set out to find one more respectable billy goat for my Hill longbow. In the open terrain, I was in plain sight of a multitude of goats, which began to move away. I knew I hadn’t a chance with these, but it was the goats I knew to be already resting in the river-gum shade at the base of the cliff that I was interested in. Stalking well back from the edge, I peeked over just enough to examine the horns, and soon picked out a pair worth an attempt. Although not totally spooked, these goats still had a bit of an idea that something was going on, as they could see many of the goats that could see me. So they had started drifting away by the time I was ready to take a shot. In my clumsiness, I hit a log instead, and the arrow buried in with a dull thud just inches off the ground, only to be snapped by a goat that was walking past – which served me right! Ducking out of sight again, I hurried ahead a few more paces, and moved once more into a position to have a crack at this billy. This time, the arrow hit him, and zipped right through.
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Although hit too-far back, he’d been quartering away, and the arrow did two things – it sliced a major pipe and clipped the back of the left lung. The goat went down within twenty yards. “You little beauty!” I thought. I’d finally taken a really nice billy goat with a beautiful Howard Hill longbow and wooden arrows.
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One of the many pleasant aspects of hunting is reflecting on the adventure just enjoyed (or endured). Wonderful memories are made, which can be a boost to the soul when a fellow gets caught-up in the drama of earning a living. During times of stress (or during long-winded staff meetings) I like to remember.
Well, that's the end of the story. Tony and Matt are top blokes to hunt with, and unfortunately they both shoot better than I! Matt took the first photo of the nice white billy staring over the cliff at us, an absolutely top photograph! And Tony took the photo of the silly longbowman having just dropped the string on his last billy; just visible is the fletching of the arrow having just exited the off-side of the half-hidden goat. It was a great hunt, and we'll head back for another crack at them when I recover from the heat!
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Antarcher
02-04-08, 10:37 PM
The winner of the March Gecko Bowhunting stories competition is Clemo for his fine recount of his father and son trip titled "Our weekend hunt". Well done Clemo and you have been close before for some fine efforts. Keep it up and get yourself in contact with Friar Tuck (Antony) of Gecko Archery to claim your Primos bowsling. Well done mate.
Incase you missed the memo its "Monday” morning and im setting back at my desk with a serious case of the Monday morning blues after a great weekend away hunting the hills and valleys of the NSW ranges with my 6yr old son and partner in crime Tim. I’m trying to get it all down while it’s still clear in my head, before all the hassles and dramas of everyday life start to beat the sights, sounds and smells into some distant part of my brain for future reminiscing.
After it was decided that we would be spending the weekend hunting, the week was filled with constant badgering and questions about the upcoming trip, and Tim was exited about it as well!
We hit the road at 5am Saturday morning and landed at our destination at around 7.00am. The property manager had called me the previous Friday to tell me he was doing away for the weekend and that he had left the gate key and could I feed the dogs while I was there, “no probs” I said, “has there been many pigs around”? I asked. “Yeh, you might want to have a look on the river behind the yards, there’s been a bit of sign down there”. So on our arrival we headed for the yards and down to the river. We pulled up about 300m from the river crossing near where we were told the sign had been and I spotted this big black thing on the edge of a dam about 300m away. Now big black things aren’t that unusual on this property as they run Black Angus cattle, I assumed that this big black thing was a yearling or something until it started to move. It was then I realised it was a Massive Boar, we were a good 300m away and it looked big from there, I would estimate it conservative at 150kg. Well he had seen us as well and in typical Boar fashion he began to slink of up into the scrub, stopping every now and then to check our position. We had no chance at him so just watched him disappear into the scrub. After that we went down to have a look around the creek near where he was and this is what we found.
If you look realy closely you may be able to see the pig sign, its realy sibtle.
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/5506/sign1mk1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7619/sign2yf7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Apparently that is “A bit of sign”.
After that we are really charged up, so we head of to a remote back block that usually holds a lot of pigs. Driving in we see sign everywhere so we park the truck and start walking up a ridge that overlooks the creek flats. The ridge is a great spot to glass from as you can see right up the valley and all the ridges that run down to the creek. These ridges are great spots to find hog feeding on thistles in the early mornings. We reached a couple of hundred metres or so of the valley floor and start glassing the valley. It only took us about 10 seconds to see the mob that was literally light above the point were we started our climb up, DOH.
So down we go again, watching the mob the whole time until we drop into the creek and out of sight. Now the serious stalking begins, we are 100m from them now and only have open paddock between us and them so Tim stays in the creek out of sight while I begin to close the gap. They all have their faces stuck in the grass so I move into 30m fairly quickly. I’m standing there stock still with the wind in my face looking at the biggest hog in the mob, an old sow of about 50-60kg I figure. I’m getting set to take a shot, I range her at 27m, she is quartering away, perfect I think to myself so I clip on my release and draw. It’s at this very moment that I feel the wind pick up and blow across my shoulder. Now 20 odd pigs are looking in my direction. They don’t seem to know what’s there but they are nervous as hell and the big girl I’m trying for spins around, she is looking down the valley quartering towards me now trying to spot the sauce of the scent she just got. Now I don’t know exactly what happened next, I can’t remember thinking about it but my arrow was on its way and as it nailed her behind the left shoulder she let out squeal rolled over got up and ran. I watched as she disappeared over a rise and into the scrub.
Well, you don’t have to tell me that maybe that wasn’t the right shot to take, but in any case we now had a serious tracking job on our hands. It took us 3 hours and we followed the blood for over 250m before we found her pilled up in a creek bed. I was very pleased to have found her and without Tim’s young eye’s I doubt I would have. I don’t know how many times we lost the trail and I was ready to give up and Tim would yell “Blood Dad”, and off we would start again. It was great to show Tim how to follow a blood trail and he picked it fast.
Here She is.
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7043/bigsowhd7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
1 thing I learnt from this pig is that a single lung quartering away shot is not a good option unless you have plenty of time for finding game.
While we where looking for our sow this little fella came trotting along, we grabbed him for photo op and sent him on his way. How cool will this photo be for Monday’s show and tell?
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1653/timsfreindez1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
By now the day was drawing on so we headed back to the homestead to have some lunch and took the opportunity to have a bit of a nana nap under a shady tree.
That arvo we decided to check out a part of the property that we hadn’t hunted before, I was keen to have a look as the manager had told me that there is some Red Deer in there. So we head up in the truck, parked up and legged it into the steep timbered country. We found heaps more pig sign it was everywhere.
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3711/sign3ux2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9388/sign4sw7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
But no Deer where to be found and it was getting late so we head for the truck. As we are driving back out I catch some movement out of the corner of my eye, I gaze up into grassy bench with steep timbered slopes on bath sides and what do I see, you guessed it, 8 or 9 Red Deer watching us with great interest. I didn’t know what to grab the camera or the bow. I opted for the bow, that wasn’t a good choice as they already had the drop on us, I only got to 100m before the bolted and I didn’t get any picks. You now where I’m guna be when the Roar is on, don’t you!
So it was back the sheering shed for some tea and a good nights rest.
Day 2 and its decided to have a look for a Billy Goat. After the long trek in the truck up the step mountain track to were the goats hang out it was mid morning and despite glassing some 80 or so goats we didn’t see many billies at all, at least not any that where worth the effort so we headed back down into the valley floor for some lunch, That afternoon we spent walking the creek in the valley looking for pigs. We Stalked in on another 8 mobs taking pigs from 5 of them. All the pigs in the afternoon where on the small side but we ended up with another Sow and 4 young boars taking our Pig tally to 6 pigs.
Here is one of the young Boars from the afternoon walk. I spine shot this one from 30m.
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/1889/smallboargi5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
All in all it was a great trip we both had a ball, I think we both learnt something from this trip and we now have a very exciting Red Deer option to explore. And you never Know, we might bump into that monster Boar some other time
Gear specs
Bow-Mathews 70# Dren LD (Long Draw) set at 65#.
Arrows- Eastern Axis shafts cut to 31” fletched with 4” dura vanes.
Heads- Good old 120gr vented Black Stumps.
My shafts with heads attached weigh in at 560gr and on this trip I couldn’t find anything that could pull them up except the ground.
Hear is one last pick I took on Sunday morning as we were heading out for our days hunting.
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3889/morningviewtg9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3889/morningviewtg9.2fa41b94a1.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=512&i=morningviewtg9.jpg)
Ask me again why I love Hunting!
Cheers:D
Antarcher
30-04-08, 10:18 PM
The winner for April, and I don't think too many would argue, for the Gecko hunting Stories competition goes to Maxy for his excellent recount of a very memorable hunting trip he had with his brother Pual and Jarrod Vyner. Congratulations Mark and thank you once again for an excellent post. Please contact Antony at Gecko Archery to receive your Slick Trick broadheads and thanks go once again to Gecko for supporting us.
Gday all,
Well certainly looks like there have been some successful hunts over this years rut - i thought i would throw up a few pics and a bit of a yarn about my experiences during the first couple of weeks of April.
Well the last weekend in March saw my brother Paul and myself almost travelling from opposite ends of the country to hunt for two weeks in Northern NSW on a couple of properties that we have hunted for the last 5 years or so. This year we would be accompanied by a good mate from Victoria, Jarrod Vyner.
Satdy saw us meet at the proprty and we decided to roll out the swags at the trucks and get some gear togeather for a three day hike hunt into the range. As ussually happens when mates havent seen each other in a while, we enjoyed a few quiet beers round the campfire in high spirits of what would lay ahead over the next two weeks.
Up the next morning, gear was packed, bows were checked and a few practice shots were had before we loaded up and started the hike up to 'camp 1'
Loaded and ready, From left to right, Paul (Townsville), Me (Canberra) and Jarrod (Wadonga)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Daboyz_small.jpg
On the way we ran into this guy, which was a really good sign. He went free after a bit of a photo session
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/4x4redlive_small.jpg
Making camp 1 we set up our tents and headed to the spring to get some water. On the way Paul managed to take a sow and small goat, which would provide us with some meat over the next couple of days. Jarrod also found a mob of billies, but held off in hope of something bigger
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/sightgoat_small.jpg
Over the next few days we chased a few reds around, and while they were roaring fairly well early and late, the fine days and warmer weather had them a bit on the quiet side. On the second day, Jarrod decided to hunt along the ridge and came onto this nice billy bedded down.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Jarrodsgoatlive_small.jpg
and took him out with one arrow from a little over 30 metres. He was stoked as this was his best goat to date, 36 1/2 inches wide and 118 DS
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Jarrodsgoat_118_small.jpg
The next morning the three of us headed out in different directions and it was only five minutes later that my phone rang and it was Jarrod saying that he was watching a billy that was probably bigger than the one he had shot the previous night not 200 metres from camp, and wanted to know if i wanted to have a crack at him.
The Billy
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/MaxGoat_109_live_small.jpg
With Jarrod close to the big fella in some steep cliffs with cameras and vid at the ready, it took me a good hour or more to stalk down and across the mountain poking my way through the 100 or so goats that were spread out along the mountain side. Once I worked out where Jarrod and the bigger billy were I closed the gap to under 10 metres and shot the billy in his bed. The billy took only two steps before rolling 30 or so metres downhill, stone dead. He was a little smaller than Jarrod had thought, but was still a great goat of 34 inch spread and 109 DS
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/MaxGoat_109_small.jpg
On day 4 we decided to pack up camp and head back to the truck to check out another property that held a few fallow deer. The next morning saw us at it again before dark with Paul and Jarrod hunting together and myself checking out a few haunts that had been kind to us in the past. I had a good morning watching two reasonable bucks fight through a fence, but the dodgey wind prevented me from closing the gap to shooting range - still got some pretty good video footage so that was a bonus. Paul and Jarrod had a good morning, with Jarrod sneaking in on a buck and taking him cleanly with one arrow. This was to be Jarrods second fallow with the bow and sported a nice antler on one side, but a deformed antler on the other.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/jarrodsfallow_cull_small.jpg
With cape and antlers removed the boys returned to camp where we salted the cape and left it under the shearing shed to drain.
A mid day discussion was had and it was decided that the fallow were only starting to rut on this property and we would be better to head back to the other property to hike into the range for a few days in search of rutting red stags, as they seemed to be nearing the end of their rut.
The next morning we again loaded up the packs and headed off to the other end of the property to 'camp 2'. On the way I spied two small boars poking about the tussocks, and after a short stalk I took one with a quartering shot from 8 metres.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/MaxBoar_small.jpg
Making it to camp, we sat down for a glass and picked up a few fallow feeding in the valley below. One of them looked like a cracker from a fair distance, so Jarrod and I decided to have a look. Paul was to go further along the range and look for a nice 6x6 red stag he had seen earlier in the trip. Working our way down one side of the gully, Jarrod and I soon picked up a real good Buck cruising along the valley close to the creek.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Livemenil_small.jpg
In a matter of minutes, this buck went down, crossed the creek and headed up near a mob of 20 odd animals on the other side, which included a nice black buck that was holding up in large patch of bracken fern. Making sure the wind was right, Jarrod and I moved down through the creek and came up level with the black buck but a 100 metres further up the valley. Sticking our heads over a small rise, we glassed the buck as he chased a smaller buck out of the patch of bracken and then turned around and bedded in the middle of the bracken patch. When bedded, we lost sight of the buck as the bracken would have been 1.5 metres high. After a quick discussion it was decided that i would circle around and come down on top of the patch of bracken, and then on my signal Jarrod would make a few Doe calls and grunts and lure the big buck out for me to shoot him. After circling around i was in to about 20 metres from where i thought the buck was bedded, and gave Jarrod the thumbs up to start doe calling. Half an hour later and no matter what Jarrod did, the buck just wouldnt stand up. Another 15 minutes and i was starting to wonder if the big bloke hadnt given us the slip, when a big set of antlers suddenly raised out of the bracken. Straining for a gap in the bracken i could only see the bucks antlers and head. pretty impressive sight though from 20 metres!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/FernBuck_1_small.jpg
Over the next hour or so the buck stood up then bedded back down several times, but never came out of the bracken enough to allow me a shot. And then the wind changed.......
Busted!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/FernBuck_2_small.jpg
Once he winded me he sprang out of the patch of bracken and I got a shot at 35 metres as he proped, but it was not to be and he soon bounded away, non the worse for wear. Later in the day I ended up stalking this buck again, but another brain fart saw the arrow fly low and under him. Not my lucky day, and a pretty dissapointed bowhunter walked back into camp that night.
While all this was happening, this young bloke was playing with the ladies - at least someone was shooting straight!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Shagger_small.jpg
The next day saw Paul and Jarrod working their way down a timbred ridge honing in on a grunting buck. The ever swirling wind took care of that plan and Jarrod decided to work his way back up the ridge in search of more game in the next valley. Only five or so minutes after the boys split up, Paul shot a fox from 10 metres
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/PaulFox_small.jpg
Further up the ridge Jarrod heard a single grunt from a fallow buck and looked back down the hill to see this moose of a buck walking around underneath him
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Jarrodsfallow_221_live_small-1.jpg
The buck and around 10 does were making their way around the ridge under Jarrod. Paul who was maybe 150 metres below Jarrod soon noticed them also and set the video up in anticipation of Jarrod getting a shot. As luck would have it, the buck made his way above the does and propped 35 metres downhill from Jarrod. Drawing his new Bowtech, Jarrod shot and hit the buck sweet in the chest. At the shot the buck did a mad death run down the hill and ended up dying about 20 metre from Paul, who had filmed the whole thing!
Closer inspection revealed that Jarrod had himself a monster buck, and while one antler lacked a little, was certainly the biggest buck we had ever seen on the property. This buck measured around 221 DS, and to say jarrod was a happy bowhunter was an understatement.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/JarrodFallow_221_1_small-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/JarrodFallow_221_2_small-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/JarrodFallow_221_3_small-1.jpg
After another couple of unsuccessful days at this property, we drove back to the fallow property, to find that the cattle had found the hessian bag with Jarrods buck cape in it and had destroyed the cape, seemingly content on licking the salt of it. A pretty stupid mistake in hindsight - but you live and you learn......
Cows love salted capes
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Cowbag_small.jpg
That afternoon we decided to go for a drive and check out a third property we had access to and try for a pig. This was soon stopped as 100 metres up the 4x4 track into the proerty the gearbox on Pauls crusier let go and we had no gears. A couple of phone calls to NRMA had us a toe back into town, and that ended the hunting for that day!
Over the next few days we hunted at the fallow property and ran into this fella one morning bedded on the ridge top next to a chicken wire fence. I stalked him to 25 metres, when a doe winded and the buck stood up and walked down the fenceline towards me, however due to the chicken wire I couldnt get a shot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Pauls213onfence_1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Pauls213onfence_2.jpg
The next morning Paul took a buck with a wild set of antlers, that he had stalked the night before but had been winded. A 30 metre downhill shot stopped and buck, and with a quick followup shot, paul had his first buck for the trip.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/paul20ruff.jpg
The next day saw us travel back to the first property to have a hunt for the day. We had a good day - I finally managed to shoot straight at a fallow buck and took this fella at 15 metres as he was coming in to my doe calls.
The buck before......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Max_196_live_small.jpg
and after.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/MaxFallow_196_1_small.jpg
meanwhile in the next valley, Paul took this billy from 25 metres.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/paul20goat.jpg
The next day, were were back at the fallow block, and daylight saw Paul and I high in the range chasing grunting bucks. After a foiled stalk on a good buck in the morning, I worked my way up to several open benches that had produced bucks in the past. Cresting the rise I could hear two bucks grunting on the benches and running the binos over the area, I could see a smaller menil buck giving a bigger black buck a hard time.
Circling around to get the wind right, it took me a good hour and a half to close the gap on the black buck who was sporadically grunting and bedded with some does in a thicker patch of cover. With the breeze in my face I stalked closer when the buck chased a spiker down hill and into another patch of cover. Closing in I could make out the outline of the buck in the shadows and as a doe tested the swirling wind I drew and sent a Blackstump tipped goldtip through the bucks chest from 25 metres. He only went 60 metres downhill and piled up in a small gully. This for me was a satisfying way to end the hunt, as I had not had much luck for the first half of the hunt. Its alsways a great feeling when everything goes to plan and you get a good one on the ground. While he was missing trez tines, this buck was certainly the boss in these parts and I was stoked.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/mark20no20trez.jpg.
Radioing Paul, he was only on the next ridge so he came over to help me with the photo's, caping and meat collection. As we worked out way back down to camp, we could hear a buck grunting further down in the valley. As we made our way closer we soon got a visual at the buck and he was a goodun - the same buck I had stalked on the ridgetop against the chicken wire fence a few days earlier.
Pauls first stalk put him in to 40 metres of the buck, and this was as close as he could get as he ran out of cover. Over judging the distance he shot over the buck which ran down the creek with his harem of does. Coming back up to the bags, I could tell Paul wanted this buck bad, and he promplty decided that he would stay up here and sit off this bucks rut pad and see if he would come back, while I headed back to camp to finnish the caping job of my buck and salt the skin down.
Several hours later, Paul rang us on his mobile saying that he had shot the buck. After and hour or so after the first shot, the buck had started to grunt again down in the creek. Stalking in Paul could see the buck chasing a spiker around in the creek and he didnt seem to have any of his does with him - a perfect candidate to try a doe call on. Doe calling, the buck sprung out of the creek not 6 metres in front of Paul, and as he came to full draw the buck turned and he shot him sweet behind the shoulder. Being a bit smaller in the body, the stags antlers were not quite as big as we had judged him earlier, but was still a fine trophy and a great way to finnish the trip for Paul. he later scored around 213 DS.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/paul20213ish.jpg
So there ended another great trip for us. We parted company three very happy and satisfied hunters.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Results_small.jpg
Hope you enjoyed, thanks for looking!
Maxy
May's winner: Arra Slinger.
On the weekend I got back from two weeks over east hunting deer and the sorts. Had my first backpacking adventure and boy oh boy what a fantastic time I had.
I am playing catch up at work at the moment but thought I’d share the pics of the trip as it was a very exciting one at that.
We had five and a half days on the deer in S/E QLD
On the way in
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http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02440.jpg
Only half an hour into it I shot this doe for a skin (ole tin ass ey Ped)
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02419web.jpg
After skinning her and salting the skin we set up camp and had a coffee
Getting water for the coffees
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02453web.jpg
Camp for the week
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http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02456web.jpg
We hunted in different directions the whole week to get the most out of it and it proved to be a good decision.
We both got back late on the first day and sitting around the jetboil making a coffee we were reliving our day's hunt.
Pedro was telling me of this good sized buck he had seen but didn't get! He said he got a good pic of it and handed me the camera...... there is ole mate standing behind his first fallow buck! I jumped 10 foot in the air in excitement yet called him all the names under the sun for holding out on me, thats right you sneaky little.......... :)
Pedro and his first Fallow Buck, one very happy Peddy :)
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02470web.jpg
My good friend/hunting partner Doug Bourman said he didn't want to see a pic of me in my thermals with my chicken legs and little balls on the net so this one's for you ole mate :)
The second morning (bit cold:o)
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02483web.jpg
On Wednesday I heard a buck grunting so I snuck into the head of the gully and, after a few doe calls, he was 15m in front of me broadside. The 3 blade Thunderhead only allowed ole mate to make it 40m if that.
I ran the one km or so back to camp and asked Pedro if he could come and take a photo for me. He said, "did you shoot a buck?" I said, "nup, i got a good boar". We both ran back trying to beat the fading light with Pedro asking many a questions of how good the boar was. When we got there and his eyes popped out of his head with the sight of my 'boar', it was quite satisfying - payback's a b1tch hey Peddy.
Even though we didnt beat the fading light it was one very very happy moment :)
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02500web.jpg
The next day, very content with my achievement, I decided to focus on the other game available and shot myself a small goat, small pig, and a rabbit.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02509web.jpg
While Pedro, on the other hand, only got a few hundred metres from camp and spotted a very respectable buck with a few does and a satellite buck in tow. A couple of hours into it, the big boy chased the satellite buck Pedro's way and an arrow tight behind the shoulder, the smaller buck was down in seconds :)
Pedro and his satellite Buck
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/P1010869.jpg
With the dominant buck and does still unaware of Pedro's presence, he used the clumps of tussock grass to close the gap to 40. As he turned broadside the arrow left the string and hit it's mark perfectly.
Pedro and his cracker buck, bloody ripper
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/P1010843.jpg
Pedro preparing the cape
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02523web.jpg
A bit of a celebration on the last day just before we packed out
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/P1010875.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/P1010877.jpg
Pedro on the walk out
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/P1010882.jpg
For the next part of my hunt I spent 4 days with 5 old derelicts (yeh i know you're reading it!) and had an absolute blast
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02551web.jpg
A mountain sow for the recurve (POC shafts from Manuel Aguis)
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02527web.jpg
And a mountain billy to top it off (a wet one at that)
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/bowhuntingalbum/DSC02547web.jpg
Hope you all enjoy the pics and yarn
Catchas later
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