Once you go black you never go back..

[lemmiwinks]

The suns first rays crept over the misty flood plain and onto the front of my tent. Gathering my thoughts after a late night I flung the tent open and peered out through the fog, across the tree line scattered out were 24 buffalo with some nice bulls and with them some 12 pigs of all colors. One large brindle boar chasing away some of the smaller ones in his quest for the best eating spots. I looked over at Bennos tent and noticed a strange noise like a slapping sound combined with some weird breathing coming from the tent. I yelled out “ I hope youre not thinking of me when you are doing that.” He replies “ I am just blowing up my airbed..”
Yeah right..
Sorry I tried to write a normal story but just cant do it.
Seriously we just spent the best part of a week in southern Arnhem land as the guests of some of the traditional people there and the numbers of buff and good quality ones was insane. They were everywhere. I reckon we saw about 400 at a guess but who would know. We also saw about 20 pigs that wernt supposed to be there but you couldn’t drive anywhere without seeing buff.
The trip had some unforgettable moments that will live with me for a long time but one thing I will say is that Benno has some real ticker when it comes to hunting. He only really flinched a couple of times and that was as close as you would want to get. We will post some pics and elaborate on the stories as we go but watching him stalk out across open plains chasing feeding buff and sleeping buff was awesome. We got some great footage of him getting real close and personal and some of the stalks were unreal. He learnt some useful lessons as to how tough these animals are and we will have another crack soon with some different gear but he took a couple of real trophies.
There were times when I laughed till I coughed up blood one time when he stalked out onto a huge buff that was asleep out on the plain and the trees ( 4 ) were the size of rose bushes I was behind one with the camera and he stalked out to within 10 meteres I couldn’t function while he was out there I was laughing so much and had to put the camera in a tree while it was all happening, the footage is really cool and Benno can really run fast when he wants to.
We will add to this story as we go but some of the stuff was unbelievable..
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff50/exvic/IMGA0286.jpg
Stay tuned..

[rory]

Awesome!

[DavidJHardy]

great story mate can't to see some more pics

[hunt or be hunted]

Unreal! keep it coming.





Dan.

[killthatpig12]

nice pic, keep up the good work

[howie]

Look forward to it, from our phone conversation it was a titsuptrip.

[mitchrulz]

LMAO (laughing my ass off) Love the beginning of ya story mate, Cant wait to read more lol
mitch ;)

[Luke bazook]

haha! good stuff

[lemmiwinks]

The first afternoon we arrived and set up then the owner and a couple of kids came for a drive with us and showed us around and we probably saw 150 buff with benno having no luck stalking onto 4 big bulls, at one stage bennos d loop wore out to the point where the release would go off at about 10 lbs pull. This big bull was about 15m in front of us broadside and benno pulls back and the arrow lands at its feet at about 20 fps like a little kids bow. We ( except benno ) are cracking up so he gets another arrow out and same result the buff walks over and sniffs the arrow, benno trys again and same thing. We now are in tears and I tell benno to go and get his arrow back as the buff is now standing on them. He goes over and the bull shakes its head and walks towards him so he bolts. The bull gets bored and walks off.
Next morning ( with new d loop ) we go for a drive and after looking at about a dozen bulls we see this one on the plain but with a little cover around him. Benno gets out and after a fun stalk in knee high grass finally nails one at about 20 m I filmed the whole thing. Looks wicked. The horns measure the following, Spread 33 Girth at base 15 OS length 29 . If someone can score them that would be cool. I haven’t doubled any measurements.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff50/exvic/IMGA0283.jpg
After that we went fishing but no luck so we went for a drive and saw about 250 buff and again an unsuccessful stalk on another huge bull finally went back to camp and a story session with the locals who were wrapped for us.
The next day same stuff again but we had a coaching session with the kids to try to get them converted. We had a great time and I think they were pretty keen to come for a hunt with us..
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff50/exvic/IMGA0303.jpg

[Luke]

Well done Benno! :D

Thanks for the write up Lemmi :)

[howie]

The footage will be priceless. I am trying to imagine the look on the buff's face when the arrows are falling at his feet. Nice work lemmi and lets hear more, more, more.

[hunt or be hunted]

again great stuff shane and ben. had a good laugh over the d loop problem with the buff, please tell me its on film!





Dan.

[lemmiwinks]

The d loop excercise is nothing. Another time we were behind some pandanus and I started calling up a bull that was with 3 cows, As I am calling the bull starts coming in pretty quick so I try to get away from benno so he can get a broadside shot. The bull sees me and comes in even quicker so i go the other way and so does he. Im laughing like a girl and he,s coming in real quick then he turns and almost runs over benno in the pandanus probably 2 metres between them. The footage is not real good but it was a real crack up. Noone got hurt though so that was good. We had a cow chase the car as well. She had just given birth and was real protective, I asked the owner if that was a pet as she is running along behind the car and he says no she is trying to kill us..

[Clemo]

Awssom stuff boys, top write up Lemmi, well don on the buff Benno.:D

[Benno]

A few more piccies from this trip. I'll probably do a full writeup for BHDU soon.

One of the more productive billabongs - there were even a few pigs hanging round tho we never bothered trying to get a shot with all the buff to try for instead.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/IMG_0128.jpg

One of the better bulls
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/bigbuff-cropped.jpg

Move very very slowly and pretend your a tree if he looks at you.... (kinda hard when your knees are shaking tho...). http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/IMG_0124.jpg
Actually I found this was the best time to stalk these fellas - when they are feeding, even if there is very little cover. The rest of the time their acute eyesight made it almost impossible to get anywhere near them on foot.


Another pic of the bull.http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/IMG_0085.jpg

Finally recovered the 2nd bull, I double lunged him from about 10yards after a long stalk. He had no idea what happened. It then took 3 more arrows with the last 2 in really heavy cover to finish him.

Putting the final arrow into him was the only time when i genuinely thought we were going to be in trouble - he backed away into the thick stuff looking straight at me shaking his head and pawing the ground before he turned and smashed off about 30m before dropping. Scary stuff - and he wasnt even a really big bull.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd288/bennos_bucket/IMG_0102.jpg

you can see one of the arrows in the last pic - its not even made it past the ribs..

I was shooting 13.7g/inch weight forward arrows with a 280g broadhead and they were only just doing the job (till i ran out :mad:). For the next trip id be looking at upping the arrow weights another 200 or 300g. Also the 70lb bow wasnt quite cutting the mustard. 75 or 80lbs would have been much better.

The heavy arrows are great for silencing the bow - which is really handy when you shoot almost every shot inside 20m and their first response is to whirl around and see what has had a go at them..

Id like to thank shane for another great trip - it was a real pity he couldnt shoot (due to internal injuries - no not to the head!) and i cant wait to get him back there to smash a few of his own.

id also like to thank the fellas from Australian Mineral and Waterwell Drilling for giving us some fuel on the way home. The local store was closed and these top blokes filled up our tanks when we had no other options for 350kms. gotta love that bush friendlyness!

cheers
benno

[NormGunston]

Great yarn, mate. Maybe you blokes should do something safer for fun, like handling tiger snakes! BTW, are those things good tucker?

[Clemo]

Hey Benno, dont you ever get sick of hunting small game!

Have you ever shot anything under 500kg?:P

[Ben Kleinig]

Well done, Benno!

[Paul R]

Good on ya Benno and Lemmi, top stuff fellas. You blokes took some great photos and I'd love to see the video footage sometime.
What was the total weight your arrows came in at Benno, were they about 650+?

[TOMMO]

Hey Benno nice pics. What broadheads were you using?

[Jezza]

Mate cant wait for the write up in BHDU great work

[Bowfly]

Congratulations Benno..Very cool guys,Love the photos and nice little write up mate. I look forward to the full story also.
Thanks
Rod

[brucester]

Nice write up fellas, cool pics and some monsters on the ground!! Not for the faint hearted I'll bet.
cheers
bruce

[clint]

Top Stuff blokes!
I just got back from my first buff hunt. Its an experience.
Well done they look like top bulls!

[hunt or be hunted]

great stuff guys, thats unreal. they aren't small thats for sure!

thanks for the story and pics.


oh and can they run faster then a fit bowhunter?




Dan

[killthatpig12]

great read keep up the good work, cant wait for full write up in BHDU

[Jason1]

Great stuff guys really makes me won't to even more get one for myself, after i get a lot more experience.

[grimmobow]

holy crap, you guys must have balls, getting out in the open with those bulls. top stuff

[howie]

A follow on from grimmobow's comment,
Who would and who wouldn't stalk and shoot a bull out on the flood plain?
Now be honest, bearing in mind an angry bull could cause you alot of pain?

[bowhunting4eva]

if i could run faster than the other person i would think about it.

[Ozchuck]

I'd do it, but only because I am young and stupid, haha.
Although I'd be absolutely certain to have awesome groupings, assemble the best bone penetrating arrows as per Dr Ashby's report, and be sure that my sprinting speed is at my peak.

[clint]

A follow on from grimmobow's comment,
Who would and who wouldn't stalk and shoot a bull out on the flood plain?
Now be honest, bearing in mind an angry bull could cause you alot of pain?

We saw. on a flood plain a big bull didnt like a young bull and upped him for the rent the speed they ran in open country was unbelievable. There is no way any person could out run a buff in open country. The aboriginals are very scared of them they dont have a problem with scubbers as they say they can side step them but not buff. In saying that i dont think buff charge that much but i guess you have to play it safe. Good luck to anyone who wants to have a go in open country!

[howie]

have heard and seen footage of scrubbers charging, fast and nasty.

[lemmiwinks]

Benno only did it cause I was up him constantly and called him a girl probably 50 times on the video. I only egged him on cause I wanted to watch him get smashed, its one of the things I want to see so bad. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone they will kill you if they want. Looking back some of the things we did wernt all that smart and I would have had to kick my double pluggers off to sprint in the first place. THe footage of him stalking out on a sleeping bull in the complete open is the stuff you only dream about and i reitterate that Benno certainly has some balls. I have a lot of respect for that. our video should have a warning like "dont try this at home kids" or something..

[Benno]

yes its great fun hunting with Shane - laugh a minute - for him anyway!!

Na it was all good - we had no problems with buff charging. U just have to keep very very still after the shot... But like everything that is large I think u need to be very careful once they are mortally wounded. And from our experience even the mortally wounded ones dont go down very quickly.

as for outrunning them - forget it, both in the open or in heavy cover. They can plough thru cover that u cant crawl thru.

[lemmiwinks]

What do you mean keep still, you were a just a blur on the video sometimes..

[Clemo]

No balls no glory, hey boys!

Sounds like you guys had a top adventure.

[---Damo---]

Ive done quite a few scary/stupid/heart pounding things and i seriously doubt i could pass up the rush of stalking in on one of those monsters in the scrub or out in the open.Awsome stuff again boys...

[macka]

unreal guys you have me so bloody keen to try that for myself now. As for the bulls in the open i know i would give it a go because i only learn things the hard way.. just ask my mum haha.

Unreal I'll have to see that footage one day and can't wait for the full writeup!

well done fella's~!

Macka

[warra]

Only gotta out run the camera man hey ha ha top pics and story guys cant wait to try it someday soon.
are buff's more aggressive then scrub bulls?? I have never hunted neither with a bow only with lead for pig bait and some meat and that on its own was scary enough

[WesT]

Hahaaaaaaaaaaaa I can't just imagine it all. The best trips are full of laughs.