Kimall
26-03-07, 01:09 PM
On The Eight Day
It had all started almost a year before when I decided that shooting a compound was messing up the way I shot my traditional bows so against everyone’s advice I had sold my beloved Switchback. I love my trad bows and did not really miss the tech bows much even though it was costing me some game from time to time, after all that was the challenge of shooting this type of equipment but with an invite to hunt Chital deer in North QLD I felt a bit of extra insurance might not go astray. I had been shooting my recurve the best ever leading up to some trad events coming up later in the year and did not want the original problem to surface again so came up with the idea that if I shot the compound left handed it couldn’t possibly affect my right hand shooting(could it ?).
I had while tuning others bows shot a couple left handed and although it felt weird I was fairly accurate so when a mate told me he was going to sell his LH Switchback I took the plunge and we worked out a deal good for both of us (Better for me). I was leaving on the plane on Saturday but had the day off Friday so picked up the bow on Thursday night and tried it Friday morning and with only a few sight adjustments was able to hit a playing card most times at 25 yards or so. It was a bit of a surprise to say the least as it was set on 70 pound but drawing it was not a problem. Saturday morning 9.30 and I was at my mates place in NQ and we had the bows out for a bit of a play in his back yard and after about 10 shots I found the peep was a bit far up the string so my head was at a funny angle. I moved the peep and reset the sights and on the third shot I smashed one of his arrows. We decided that we needed some more distance to prevent more carnage and we went to a place we could shoot out to 60 yards. This showed up the need for a bit more of a fiddle but after about half and hour I could hit a small plastic bottle at 40-50 and 60 yards. I was rapt as I was shooting it as good as I had ever shot a right handed bow.
Tuesday morning and after 2 hours drive we started out first look around at about 6.30am and after only about 15 minutes the first Chital deer was spotted and it was a stag. We followed it for a bit and it led us to another stag rubbing a tree at about 100 yards from our position. This stag looked about 30 inches so this became out new target. This is about when my Chital lesson started as when we approached the brigalow scrub he had entered my mate pointed out the mob of does camped just in behind the tree line. There is heaps of cover after the rains at Xmas so I was still confident when I started my first real stalk. I have hunted Fallow and Reds as well as most of the other ferals we have here in Oz but these guys just made me look silly time after time starting from the first stalk. There is always just too many sets of eyes and I think these eyes must be 10 power as I was getting busted at 100-150 yards in full camo as soon as I took the first step in there direction. After about 4 blown stalks I realized I needed to go up a level in my stalking and as we spotted a mob bedded down in some nice cover I slipped onto my belly and crawled like a snake for the next 30 mins through burrs and prickles, sticks and stones as the temp rose into the thirties. I have been known to get very wound up if chasing game that means a bit to me so with each yard gained my heart rate rose and I started to get the shakes. I got to within 40 yards and was out of cover so did a final check of range and to make sure I had not picked up any sticks or grass in the bow as it was dragged through the bushes and to wipe the sweat that was stinging my eyes.
To be Cont........
It had all started almost a year before when I decided that shooting a compound was messing up the way I shot my traditional bows so against everyone’s advice I had sold my beloved Switchback. I love my trad bows and did not really miss the tech bows much even though it was costing me some game from time to time, after all that was the challenge of shooting this type of equipment but with an invite to hunt Chital deer in North QLD I felt a bit of extra insurance might not go astray. I had been shooting my recurve the best ever leading up to some trad events coming up later in the year and did not want the original problem to surface again so came up with the idea that if I shot the compound left handed it couldn’t possibly affect my right hand shooting(could it ?).
I had while tuning others bows shot a couple left handed and although it felt weird I was fairly accurate so when a mate told me he was going to sell his LH Switchback I took the plunge and we worked out a deal good for both of us (Better for me). I was leaving on the plane on Saturday but had the day off Friday so picked up the bow on Thursday night and tried it Friday morning and with only a few sight adjustments was able to hit a playing card most times at 25 yards or so. It was a bit of a surprise to say the least as it was set on 70 pound but drawing it was not a problem. Saturday morning 9.30 and I was at my mates place in NQ and we had the bows out for a bit of a play in his back yard and after about 10 shots I found the peep was a bit far up the string so my head was at a funny angle. I moved the peep and reset the sights and on the third shot I smashed one of his arrows. We decided that we needed some more distance to prevent more carnage and we went to a place we could shoot out to 60 yards. This showed up the need for a bit more of a fiddle but after about half and hour I could hit a small plastic bottle at 40-50 and 60 yards. I was rapt as I was shooting it as good as I had ever shot a right handed bow.
Tuesday morning and after 2 hours drive we started out first look around at about 6.30am and after only about 15 minutes the first Chital deer was spotted and it was a stag. We followed it for a bit and it led us to another stag rubbing a tree at about 100 yards from our position. This stag looked about 30 inches so this became out new target. This is about when my Chital lesson started as when we approached the brigalow scrub he had entered my mate pointed out the mob of does camped just in behind the tree line. There is heaps of cover after the rains at Xmas so I was still confident when I started my first real stalk. I have hunted Fallow and Reds as well as most of the other ferals we have here in Oz but these guys just made me look silly time after time starting from the first stalk. There is always just too many sets of eyes and I think these eyes must be 10 power as I was getting busted at 100-150 yards in full camo as soon as I took the first step in there direction. After about 4 blown stalks I realized I needed to go up a level in my stalking and as we spotted a mob bedded down in some nice cover I slipped onto my belly and crawled like a snake for the next 30 mins through burrs and prickles, sticks and stones as the temp rose into the thirties. I have been known to get very wound up if chasing game that means a bit to me so with each yard gained my heart rate rose and I started to get the shakes. I got to within 40 yards and was out of cover so did a final check of range and to make sure I had not picked up any sticks or grass in the bow as it was dragged through the bushes and to wipe the sweat that was stinging my eyes.
To be Cont........