jlw712
20-03-06, 08:44 PM
Couple of Good Goats
Scott and I went out for an afternoon hunt a few weeks ago and it was decided that we'd seperate to cover more ground. So he went left and I went right.
After travelling about 1 1/2 km across fairly rough grounds, I decided to take a different path and so travelled a further 500m or so. By this time, Scott and I had been separated for about an hour and a half.
Time to rest. Up till now I had seen only a few cattle way off in the distance, But wait...I smell goats. And sure enough, about 25m away just over the rise was about 15 nannys and kids. I thought it to be a good idea to watch them and maybe follow them for a bit just in case they lead me to some billys.....
Didn't I get the surprise of my life when 300m away they joined another group of about 80 or so. I was about 70m away from the mob so I checked out the potentials as best I could and picked a light tan coloured billy with reasonable sized horns.
Whilst closing the gap, I was spotted by a couple of young nannys who would not take thier eyes off me, but being patient and remaining still was the key to them losing interest. So off I sneak again and again I was spotted, or so I thought.
They weren't looking directly at me and that's when I noticed the most healthy and fluffy fox I had ever seen. They were watching the fox. So I made my way to some nearby shrubs, balanced myself on my knees, nocked an arrow and began to whistle. Sure enough the fox turned his head, but did not approach me. Looking away, I whistled and again he looked, but seeming very uninterested, he made his way to the mob of goats and disappeared from view.
With the fox as the new distraction for the nannys, I made my way around the left hand side of the mob only to find they were moving back down to the right. Bugger. So off I go following them over the hill and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw what was on the other side.
I had just come across the biggest mob of goats I'd ever seen in my whole life. There had to have been 300 to 400 goats. My heart started pumping and my adrenaline raced. There were some pretty good goats amongst them.
But, the wind was wrong and the mob spooked so off they ran. Around the rocks and down the steepest hills with me close on there tails. Thankfully they weren't going very fast. Eventually I managed to overtake a few nannys and kids and they just looked at me. Now I was getting closer and the choice became quite hard.
The goats were not paying too much attention to me, I'm unsure why. Maybe I smelt just as baad as them. :shock: So for another 40mins or so I made my way through the trees and around the rough tracks and managed to line myself up on a beautifully coloured billy. I nocked an arrow and waited for him to turn a bit more broadside and when he did, I pulled back my Martin Jaguar set at 50# and let my Goldtip Arrow with an 130g Outback Supreme Broadhead fly swiftly through.
Though I hit him slightly too high, he only trudged about 10m before dropping dead.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/jlw712/afternoonhunt013.jpg
Wow. That was an unreal shot (I thought to myself) and looking to my right I found I was in the perfect position to take his mate who was only 12m away. Nocking another arrow, I pulled back and placed the pin on the billy and released a very well placed arrow which dropped him on the spot. Dumbfounded, I just stood there for a few minutes and realised what I'd just done. I had just taken 2 nice billys within 15 of each other in a matter of 10mins. I was stoked.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/jlw712/afternoonhunt015.jpg
This is what I call a fantastic hunt. After taking quite a few snapshots ( of which most of them I chopped off my head) I stumbled the long distance treck back up the hill and met up with Scott. After 5 hours of stalking and 2 billys later, it was time to go home.
Hope you enjoy the story. First story I've ever written.
Cheers Jo
Scott and I went out for an afternoon hunt a few weeks ago and it was decided that we'd seperate to cover more ground. So he went left and I went right.
After travelling about 1 1/2 km across fairly rough grounds, I decided to take a different path and so travelled a further 500m or so. By this time, Scott and I had been separated for about an hour and a half.
Time to rest. Up till now I had seen only a few cattle way off in the distance, But wait...I smell goats. And sure enough, about 25m away just over the rise was about 15 nannys and kids. I thought it to be a good idea to watch them and maybe follow them for a bit just in case they lead me to some billys.....
Didn't I get the surprise of my life when 300m away they joined another group of about 80 or so. I was about 70m away from the mob so I checked out the potentials as best I could and picked a light tan coloured billy with reasonable sized horns.
Whilst closing the gap, I was spotted by a couple of young nannys who would not take thier eyes off me, but being patient and remaining still was the key to them losing interest. So off I sneak again and again I was spotted, or so I thought.
They weren't looking directly at me and that's when I noticed the most healthy and fluffy fox I had ever seen. They were watching the fox. So I made my way to some nearby shrubs, balanced myself on my knees, nocked an arrow and began to whistle. Sure enough the fox turned his head, but did not approach me. Looking away, I whistled and again he looked, but seeming very uninterested, he made his way to the mob of goats and disappeared from view.
With the fox as the new distraction for the nannys, I made my way around the left hand side of the mob only to find they were moving back down to the right. Bugger. So off I go following them over the hill and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw what was on the other side.
I had just come across the biggest mob of goats I'd ever seen in my whole life. There had to have been 300 to 400 goats. My heart started pumping and my adrenaline raced. There were some pretty good goats amongst them.
But, the wind was wrong and the mob spooked so off they ran. Around the rocks and down the steepest hills with me close on there tails. Thankfully they weren't going very fast. Eventually I managed to overtake a few nannys and kids and they just looked at me. Now I was getting closer and the choice became quite hard.
The goats were not paying too much attention to me, I'm unsure why. Maybe I smelt just as baad as them. :shock: So for another 40mins or so I made my way through the trees and around the rough tracks and managed to line myself up on a beautifully coloured billy. I nocked an arrow and waited for him to turn a bit more broadside and when he did, I pulled back my Martin Jaguar set at 50# and let my Goldtip Arrow with an 130g Outback Supreme Broadhead fly swiftly through.
Though I hit him slightly too high, he only trudged about 10m before dropping dead.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/jlw712/afternoonhunt013.jpg
Wow. That was an unreal shot (I thought to myself) and looking to my right I found I was in the perfect position to take his mate who was only 12m away. Nocking another arrow, I pulled back and placed the pin on the billy and released a very well placed arrow which dropped him on the spot. Dumbfounded, I just stood there for a few minutes and realised what I'd just done. I had just taken 2 nice billys within 15 of each other in a matter of 10mins. I was stoked.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/jlw712/afternoonhunt015.jpg
This is what I call a fantastic hunt. After taking quite a few snapshots ( of which most of them I chopped off my head) I stumbled the long distance treck back up the hill and met up with Scott. After 5 hours of stalking and 2 billys later, it was time to go home.
Hope you enjoy the story. First story I've ever written.
Cheers Jo