Some NT bunnies and a bit of a mixed hunt

[Benno]

Well Macka and Simmo came up for a bit of a hunt in the end, i'll let him tell most of the story as more happened on the trip for those fellas than just our weekend out in the desert.
anyways we headed out and saw afew of the famous NT Bunnies like the ones below, they come in 2 sorts - a standard field rabbit and also a snow bunny model! They are tough to drop despite having thin skin and being pretty dumb at times. http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/NTbunniesopenplain.jpg
and the snow bunny model
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/NTsnowbunny.jpg
we camped up at about the best spot i know of up here for hunting, its a little dam out in the back country with almost permanant water. its the only spot like that for a long way around so the feral population out there is incredible. The local populations of donkeys, brumbies and scrub cattle water there and the camels stop for a drink as well on their treks round the countryside. Plus the local dingos like it as we found out with a bit of a "close encounter" in the camp but ill let macka tell that story! as well as the one about his evening camel!
I got a baby camel on the way in to the camp, perfect size for meat. dropped it nicely with a 40m shot and it only went 50m or so before rolling over
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/Ntbabycamel.jpg
We spent the next day either staking out the dam or hunting around it. there was a fair bit of action, camels in the early morning
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/camelsdawn.jpg
and brumbies pretty much all day. We would have seen at least 100 drink at that dam over the day. These animal do a LOT of damage in this light country with their hard hooves and big numbers. The stations cull a lot of them regularly but if anyone is upset by this then now is probably a good time to stop reading..
A bit of a funny incident happened early in the day, i had been out for a bit of a walk, macka and simmo were staking out the dam. Id got in to about 15m on a good stallion in the scrub but couldnt get a clear shooting lane on him so i passed it up.
Then walking back in towards that dam i saw another stallion coming walking thru in a line that was gonna pass by me at less than 30m. Perfect! so im standing dead still behind some good cover and the stallion came on in to about 40m at which point i did notice that it looked kinda droopy with its head down and not paying much attention, but I draw the bow waiting for the shot then it sits down, well actually collapses and rolls on its side! Id come so close to nailing Simmos horse that he had hit 200m or so back for a second time!
Then I had a bit of a sit in a little hide by some gum trees and saw plenty of horses.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/horsesatwater.jpg
this big stallion at the back doesnt know he is only a half turn off getting smashed. http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/badday.jpg
I hit him nicely thru both lungs and got a partial pass thru but I slipped in and gave him a finishing shot. My first ever brumby, I was pretty stoked with that. They are very switched on animals and its hard to get the drop on them without a dam or watering point to stake out.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/stallion.jpg
We were just coming back from the stallion to the water when we saw one of the famous NT bunnies coming in. I hadnt got one this trip so I had to have a crack. He saw me at about 30m, their eyesight and hearing is supprisingly good but i double lunged him as he turned. He only went 50m or so. I gave him a second shot as well even tho it was obvious he was going to drop, just because no-one like to see an animal suffering more than necessary.
here he is, not a bad male donkey
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/NTbunniesbitesthedust.jpg
At about this point my girlfriend and I decided that we had had enough so we packed up and headed for home. Macka and Simmo stayed the night then headed back south. Apparently that night was a bit crazy as well tho once again im waiting to here them tell the whole story.
Hope you all like my little read of the weekend,
cheers
benno

[howie]

Shot a donkey years ago, I know what you mean about their stiff legged stance. Brumbies, like them or not, they need culling as well. Big game hunting all round...........

[rudy]

A great little read there Benno, great photos too. I would love to give it a go some day hunting some of the aussie big game. Well done mate

Dowse

[fiend]

Excellent stuff!

[bowhunting4eva]

nice stuff mate. all different species that dont often get downed so it is good to see

[ozzyshane]

Great stuff benno some biger then average animals on the ground there what is your set up and are u happy with how it works on the big critters Thanks shane

[Bowmancam]

Awesome man!
Some great game, top little waterhole ;)

Gonna get me one of them donkeys ... one day!

Cheers, Cam

[Ben Kleinig]

Awesome! Well done to everyone! There's nothing better than bowhunting desert country!

[jindydiver]

Great to see someone getting amongst those donkeys :D

[Paul R]

Definately some big bodied game animals there, great stuff.

[Antarcher]

nice shooting there and great to see some different animals taken with the bow. Can't wait to hear and see macka's spool and I hope it is as good as yours

[spiderbait24]

awsome work!

[Mullac]

Awesome shooting!

What does donkey taste like?

[clint]

Top stuff. As said good to see different game taken well done!

[Benno]

Thanks fellas, I have been shooting a 60lb Pearson stealth with 125g broadheads and whitetail hunter arrows. Nothing special or heavy - all these animals are soft skinned and its a rare shot that doesnt go in to the fletching. Ive taken a fair few camels with this setup - perhaps 20 odd and the one in the story is easy the smallest ive shot.
it works fine but ive been having the carbon tech arrows break on every shot that hits an animal so ill be changing them to something else very soon - im not very impressed with them as a result, i dunno if anyone else has this problem?
ive had a suggestion that i should up the poundage to try and get pass thrus to avoid the arrow breakage.. not easy on an animal that size but i have some 70lb limbs here that im putting on during the week. will be interesting to see if it works.

Antacher - Macka's vid and images way outdo mine - just like his shooting, the man is awesome with a bow. I was really impressed. Will be cool to see if any of that footage makes his next vid.
Mullac - ive never eaten donkey - they are so tough i wouldnt want to try unless i was starving. Camel is good tho.

Here is a pic of a mob i saw a couple of months back.. that bull on the edge would be solid record class but good luck getting close!!
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/IMG_0461.jpg

This is one of the larger bulls i took also about 2 months back. no aus record but im still hoping.. actually Macka probably outdid me already in this trip! Im hanging out to hear what his biggest one measured out at!

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/antarcher/IMG_0447.jpg

cheers ben

[Ben Kleinig]

That's just awesome! I'm really missing that desert now!

[Arra Slinger]

Gotta love hunting them desert dwellers ey, well done boys
cant wait to hear from Casey

Catchas later

[hunt or be hunted]

great read and pictures so far. i'd love to give camel hunting a go, never crossed my mind until i saw those pics.

thanks for sharing.

dan.