saberhunter
01-08-07, 05:24 PM
My First Ever Billy by Tim DeGrey
Well after awaiting the weekend that had been planned multiple times because of many personal reasons, Friday lunchtime soon arrived!! The 4wd was loaded full of gear and we hit the road in search of hogs, bunnies, dogs, cats and the odd good billy!
After the hour and 15 minute drive to our destination the car was unloaded, all of my new blackstump broadheads were sharpened to perfection, the bowstring was waxed and the water bottles were filled. We drove to a spot that had been well known for all critters great and small...so we got our webbing on and set off down into a gully and over the next ridge which is infested with pig wallows and diggings.
As soon as we topped the next ridge we spotted three mobs of pigs, one of which had a few corker boars in it and the others were just sows, slips and a few young boars. We planned our attack and were off in the direction that we finally chose!
Once we got the wind right we stumbled on two younger boars feeding towards us but they soon had their snouts in the air when they got on the wrong side of us and were on their merry way down into the gully behind us.
Ben and I stumbled across a sow on heat and three corker boars with her!!! Other than that we didn't manage to get on the right side of anything else for the rest of the night but when we radioed Bens dad on the two way he soon told us that he slipped an arrow into a nice fox that was bedded down just up from a gully next to a log!
We arrived at the car again at about 9.00pm and we then drove back to the homestead for a good nights rest.
The 1500 head of cattle next to the homestead woke us up at 7:30am as we didn't set the alarm the previous night. We had a good feed of pancakes and hot Milo before getting back into the car for the full day Saturday hunt that we had all been waiting for.
We came across a mob of three decent billies so I decided to have a stalk. They decided that they didn't want to let us get any closer when they moved under one tree in the open which gave us about 30cm of tussock to use as cover, so we stood up, gave ém the finger and walked back to the car!
We parked the 4wd next to an old hut and started a bit of a walk around hoping to find that big boar that we were after! When we had walked about 1 km from the 4wd Ben came across a billy's head and horns that he had shot with the 22. a while back
After hunting lots of gullies and ridgelines and not seeing anything more than about 500 plus goats and an old goat head, we agreed to go in search of a bunny or two so we drove the car over to a spot behind a big ridge in the bottom of a gully. Ben got the camera out whilst I got my bow and the radio.
We then set off around the ridge to view the first rabbit warren and also a lone billy sitting just behind a big old apple tree. A closer look at the billy proved that he had nice horns for a first billy.
I put a stalk in and got to within about 8 yards of the bedded billy with just the big old apple tree between me and him, while Ben had the camera rolling just behind me!!! I saw that the billy was bedded down with his bum closest to me so I let a carbon excel tipped with a razor sharp blackstump slip just above and to the right of his tail and into his opposite shoulder taking out both lungs and main arteries. The billy travelled about 15 M downhill and he was all over. The cool thing was that this was my first billy and second goat and it was all caught on film.
The billy scored a nice 91 6/8 DP!
We put a stalk in on a few pigs and we nailed three but all of them were in a too harder situation to find. They were good shots too.
The next day arrived after plenty of rest but nothing came into out interest except a mob of goats and a hare that scared the s#@t out of Ben and I by jumping out from a bunch of tussock about a metre from us!
We arrived back at the homestead for the last time, packed the gear up and made our way home for our memories to be shared for years to come.
Cheers, Tim DeGrey ;)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/Myfirsteverbillygoing91and68DP.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/100_2885.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/100_2879.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/100_2883.jpg
Well after awaiting the weekend that had been planned multiple times because of many personal reasons, Friday lunchtime soon arrived!! The 4wd was loaded full of gear and we hit the road in search of hogs, bunnies, dogs, cats and the odd good billy!
After the hour and 15 minute drive to our destination the car was unloaded, all of my new blackstump broadheads were sharpened to perfection, the bowstring was waxed and the water bottles were filled. We drove to a spot that had been well known for all critters great and small...so we got our webbing on and set off down into a gully and over the next ridge which is infested with pig wallows and diggings.
As soon as we topped the next ridge we spotted three mobs of pigs, one of which had a few corker boars in it and the others were just sows, slips and a few young boars. We planned our attack and were off in the direction that we finally chose!
Once we got the wind right we stumbled on two younger boars feeding towards us but they soon had their snouts in the air when they got on the wrong side of us and were on their merry way down into the gully behind us.
Ben and I stumbled across a sow on heat and three corker boars with her!!! Other than that we didn't manage to get on the right side of anything else for the rest of the night but when we radioed Bens dad on the two way he soon told us that he slipped an arrow into a nice fox that was bedded down just up from a gully next to a log!
We arrived at the car again at about 9.00pm and we then drove back to the homestead for a good nights rest.
The 1500 head of cattle next to the homestead woke us up at 7:30am as we didn't set the alarm the previous night. We had a good feed of pancakes and hot Milo before getting back into the car for the full day Saturday hunt that we had all been waiting for.
We came across a mob of three decent billies so I decided to have a stalk. They decided that they didn't want to let us get any closer when they moved under one tree in the open which gave us about 30cm of tussock to use as cover, so we stood up, gave ém the finger and walked back to the car!
We parked the 4wd next to an old hut and started a bit of a walk around hoping to find that big boar that we were after! When we had walked about 1 km from the 4wd Ben came across a billy's head and horns that he had shot with the 22. a while back
After hunting lots of gullies and ridgelines and not seeing anything more than about 500 plus goats and an old goat head, we agreed to go in search of a bunny or two so we drove the car over to a spot behind a big ridge in the bottom of a gully. Ben got the camera out whilst I got my bow and the radio.
We then set off around the ridge to view the first rabbit warren and also a lone billy sitting just behind a big old apple tree. A closer look at the billy proved that he had nice horns for a first billy.
I put a stalk in and got to within about 8 yards of the bedded billy with just the big old apple tree between me and him, while Ben had the camera rolling just behind me!!! I saw that the billy was bedded down with his bum closest to me so I let a carbon excel tipped with a razor sharp blackstump slip just above and to the right of his tail and into his opposite shoulder taking out both lungs and main arteries. The billy travelled about 15 M downhill and he was all over. The cool thing was that this was my first billy and second goat and it was all caught on film.
The billy scored a nice 91 6/8 DP!
We put a stalk in on a few pigs and we nailed three but all of them were in a too harder situation to find. They were good shots too.
The next day arrived after plenty of rest but nothing came into out interest except a mob of goats and a hare that scared the s#@t out of Ben and I by jumping out from a bunch of tussock about a metre from us!
We arrived back at the homestead for the last time, packed the gear up and made our way home for our memories to be shared for years to come.
Cheers, Tim DeGrey ;)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/Myfirsteverbillygoing91and68DP.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/100_2885.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/100_2879.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/100_2883.jpg