maxy
09-03-07, 04:52 PM
Well, decided to shout myself to a few days off last weekend and flew up to Townsville for a chital hunt with my brother Paul (Southy).
Made it to Townsville at about 1pm friday arvo, and after stopping for some groceries headed straight out to the property. Paul hadnt hunted at this property for about 4 weeks, when he shot a nice 24 inch stag in Velvet.
Pauls 24 inch chital stag taken on an earlier hunt
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/24Jan07026_small.jpg
Due to the recent rains the grass was about 5 foot high along the river, which made seeing the deer quite a challenge and had pushed most of the deer to parts unknown. After setting up camp we headed off down the river, and after only seeing two deer (a doe and spiker) decided to head out onto the floodplain, over to the "cow paddock" where the farmhand had mentioned he had seen a couple of deer over the last few days.
We did find a mob, and it turned out to have about 20 odd deer in it, with one small stag of about 23 inches feeding in the grass. A quick stalk saw me close the gap to about 50 yards and as it was getting dark and a few of the does were getting toey, i decided to take a shot, which sailed harmlessly in front of the stag.
We were up early the next morning, and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts to cross the river (read near drowning of digital camera equiptment) we thought it best not to drown on the first morning and hunt the sand hills on the same side of the river to where we were camped. We had a frustrating morning and only saw three deer, in an area where Paul had previously seen numerous good stags. Not sure whether all the grass had changed their location or what, but after lunch (and a few practice shots) we decided to cross the river (in the saftety of daylight this time) and hunt a creek that we thought should hold a few water holes and a few pigs.
We had a good arvo, with a near miss on a decent boar which winded us and trotted out of his wallow up the other side of the creek. I got a rushed 45 yard shot at him but dropped just low under his armpit. Further up the creek we came round a bend onto a good solid little boar bedded in the shade of an overhanging tree. Paul ripped a goldtip through his heart and we had our first kill of the weekend.
Small boar taken from 15 yards.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/PaulBoar_small.jpg
We saw another good mob of chital in the long grass, but didnt disturb them as there was no worthy stags in the mob and headed back to camp for the night.
The next morning saw us back over the river and scirting out wide of the creek for several kilometres to get the wind right to hunt back down the creek in the afternoon. We had a rather uneventful morning, apart from seeing a massive python sunning himself on a log that would have been 10 feet long and thicker than my arm.
About 10:30 we decided to cut into the creek and rest up for a few hours in the shade. As we were sitting there talking with bows/clothes and crap strewn everywhere we heard a stick break down the creek and both pricked our ears up. A minute later a set of antlers appeared at about 20 yards, in behind some flood debris. Obviously, the stag had worked his way up the creek. The closest bow was Pauls so he handed it to me, and i redied for a shot as he got the vid camera rolling.
After about two minutes i noticed a shooting lane through the debris and after taking about three step to get to it, the stag was 15 yards and quartering away. I drew and put the arrow a touch high through his chest and he only made it about 80 odd yards and went down. To say we were happy was an understatement, guess it was just lucky that i had had a couple of shots of Pauls bow the day before and knew i could shoot it accurately at that distance.
My stag taken from 15 yards
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Markchital_3_small.jpg
The cape and hind quarters cooling off in the shade
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/hangout_small.jpg
We caped the stag and boned out the back legs before heading off back down the creek to try for a boar. About 500 metres down the creek we split up, Paul was to check a flat on the other side of the creek and i was to move further down and come back onto the creek where we had seen a good boar the previous day. As i re-entered the creek, i noticed a good boar poking along and flop down in a water hole. Stalking in to 12 yards i shot the pig from down on top spinning him. A quick follow up shot secured the healthy young pig, unfortunatly he only had small tusks.
My boar shot from 12 yards
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Max_boar_small.jpg
Radioing to Paul to let him know, he informed me that he had just got a shot at a 25 inch stag, that was bedded at 35 metres. He took the only shot available through a small gap between two trees, but unfortunatly got a deflection off the tree and hit the stag with a non fatal hit above the spine. After watching the stag for several hundred metres and finding very little blood, he gave up the search and came back to take some pictures of my pig.
Further down the creek, Paul was unlucky not to get a shot at a 26inch stag that we came onto in the creek, again the wind let us down. Hiking back to the truck we got the meat and cape in the fridge, had a yarn to the landowners, packed up camp and headed back to Pauls place in Saunders Beach, just up the coast from Townsville.
After a rest day and a barby with an old school mate that i hadnt seen in years, i was onto the red eye special flight (5.55am) out of townsville and several hours later was back at my desk here at uni and back to work (bummer)
It was a great weekend with a bit of success, heaps of sweat due to the hot and humid conditions, and heaps of fun - what bowhunting is all about
Maxy
Made it to Townsville at about 1pm friday arvo, and after stopping for some groceries headed straight out to the property. Paul hadnt hunted at this property for about 4 weeks, when he shot a nice 24 inch stag in Velvet.
Pauls 24 inch chital stag taken on an earlier hunt
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/24Jan07026_small.jpg
Due to the recent rains the grass was about 5 foot high along the river, which made seeing the deer quite a challenge and had pushed most of the deer to parts unknown. After setting up camp we headed off down the river, and after only seeing two deer (a doe and spiker) decided to head out onto the floodplain, over to the "cow paddock" where the farmhand had mentioned he had seen a couple of deer over the last few days.
We did find a mob, and it turned out to have about 20 odd deer in it, with one small stag of about 23 inches feeding in the grass. A quick stalk saw me close the gap to about 50 yards and as it was getting dark and a few of the does were getting toey, i decided to take a shot, which sailed harmlessly in front of the stag.
We were up early the next morning, and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts to cross the river (read near drowning of digital camera equiptment) we thought it best not to drown on the first morning and hunt the sand hills on the same side of the river to where we were camped. We had a frustrating morning and only saw three deer, in an area where Paul had previously seen numerous good stags. Not sure whether all the grass had changed their location or what, but after lunch (and a few practice shots) we decided to cross the river (in the saftety of daylight this time) and hunt a creek that we thought should hold a few water holes and a few pigs.
We had a good arvo, with a near miss on a decent boar which winded us and trotted out of his wallow up the other side of the creek. I got a rushed 45 yard shot at him but dropped just low under his armpit. Further up the creek we came round a bend onto a good solid little boar bedded in the shade of an overhanging tree. Paul ripped a goldtip through his heart and we had our first kill of the weekend.
Small boar taken from 15 yards.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/PaulBoar_small.jpg
We saw another good mob of chital in the long grass, but didnt disturb them as there was no worthy stags in the mob and headed back to camp for the night.
The next morning saw us back over the river and scirting out wide of the creek for several kilometres to get the wind right to hunt back down the creek in the afternoon. We had a rather uneventful morning, apart from seeing a massive python sunning himself on a log that would have been 10 feet long and thicker than my arm.
About 10:30 we decided to cut into the creek and rest up for a few hours in the shade. As we were sitting there talking with bows/clothes and crap strewn everywhere we heard a stick break down the creek and both pricked our ears up. A minute later a set of antlers appeared at about 20 yards, in behind some flood debris. Obviously, the stag had worked his way up the creek. The closest bow was Pauls so he handed it to me, and i redied for a shot as he got the vid camera rolling.
After about two minutes i noticed a shooting lane through the debris and after taking about three step to get to it, the stag was 15 yards and quartering away. I drew and put the arrow a touch high through his chest and he only made it about 80 odd yards and went down. To say we were happy was an understatement, guess it was just lucky that i had had a couple of shots of Pauls bow the day before and knew i could shoot it accurately at that distance.
My stag taken from 15 yards
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Markchital_3_small.jpg
The cape and hind quarters cooling off in the shade
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/hangout_small.jpg
We caped the stag and boned out the back legs before heading off back down the creek to try for a boar. About 500 metres down the creek we split up, Paul was to check a flat on the other side of the creek and i was to move further down and come back onto the creek where we had seen a good boar the previous day. As i re-entered the creek, i noticed a good boar poking along and flop down in a water hole. Stalking in to 12 yards i shot the pig from down on top spinning him. A quick follow up shot secured the healthy young pig, unfortunatly he only had small tusks.
My boar shot from 12 yards
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/maxy79/Max_boar_small.jpg
Radioing to Paul to let him know, he informed me that he had just got a shot at a 25 inch stag, that was bedded at 35 metres. He took the only shot available through a small gap between two trees, but unfortunatly got a deflection off the tree and hit the stag with a non fatal hit above the spine. After watching the stag for several hundred metres and finding very little blood, he gave up the search and came back to take some pictures of my pig.
Further down the creek, Paul was unlucky not to get a shot at a 26inch stag that we came onto in the creek, again the wind let us down. Hiking back to the truck we got the meat and cape in the fridge, had a yarn to the landowners, packed up camp and headed back to Pauls place in Saunders Beach, just up the coast from Townsville.
After a rest day and a barby with an old school mate that i hadnt seen in years, i was onto the red eye special flight (5.55am) out of townsville and several hours later was back at my desk here at uni and back to work (bummer)
It was a great weekend with a bit of success, heaps of sweat due to the hot and humid conditions, and heaps of fun - what bowhunting is all about
Maxy