belegstrongbow
18-09-07, 09:16 PM
I know this is usually where blokes (and girls) write about their successful hunting trips but I thought I'd share about an unsuccessful but nonetheless enjoyable hunt I had last Saturday.
The anticipation was high leading up to Saturday afternoon. The week was busy and time to prepare for the hunt was scarce.
I was waiting for a new sight (well, used but new to me) which I bought from Warlocke in the classifieds section. When it came on the Thursday I ripped open the package, danced an excited jig and quickly attached it to my bow.
Here's a picture of the aforementioned sight.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff143/belegstrongbow/newsight.jpg
Saturday dawned and after the mandatory chores, my mate Andrew and I drove off to the hunting property to chase some pigs. Andrew is a bowhunting virgin and archery newbie, so we spent an hour practicing when we got there. It was his first real hunt, so naturally he was very excited.
Our modus operandi is to walk along the creek looking for pigs bedded down or heading for water, basically spotting and stalking, so it involves a lot of walking.
Thankfully Moree is quite flat, so it makes it easier to walk but the heat was taking its toll. We had walked for an hour without seeing any pigs, so after a quick drink and snack, we regrouped and headed down to from the car, all the time trying to avoid the numerous and inquisitive cattle grazing on the paddock.
As we neared a bend in the creek, I unconsciously nocked an arrow. Noting this, Andrew sarcastically quipped "Feeling optimistic, are you."
I smiled and nodded but I felt that pigs were close by for some reason. Maybe it was the creek meandering to the right or the sudden stillness in the air but I really felt something then.
We walked another fifty metres and out of the corner of my eye I saw some black shapes in the distance amongst the briars. Pigs at last!
I motioned to Andrew to stop and pointed them out to him. About a hundred metres away a mob of about eight pigs were feeding next to the creek. I could see a sow and her suckers milling about, nearby some young boars were playing, making a racket with their grunts and sqeals.
We slowly walked in closer, shrouded by the scrub between us and the mob.
The pigs seemed oblivious to our presence, so I pulled out the camera and tried to take some photos of the mob. Here's the best one I could manage with my little digital camera (if you look real hard and use your imagination you can see them quite clearly)
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff143/belegstrongbow/mobpigs1.jpg
There was a bush about fifteen metres from the mob and I felt we could stalk in and make our shots from around the bush. As we prepared to come out and shoot, a bigger boar trotted out from the bushes to the right of the photo. He had seen us and with a few grunts, drove the mob to some thick bushes to the left. They didn't seem too alarmed, so we waited a while and followed them around.
To cut a long story short, they simply disappeared into the scrub, quietly and quickly, but we did see two bigger pigs running off towards the left.
We thought we'd try to cut them off by walking along the edge of the paddock around them but after following slowly for ten minutes my calf cramped up horribly. I couldn't move and the pain was unbearable.
It slowly subsided and I wished I had drank some more water when we had a chance. I was clearly dehydrated.
We tried to follow the pigs and managed to catch up with a boar but he was a clever one. He led us on a wild goose chase across a creek (which was tortue to cross with a crampy calf), through some scrub, lost him and then saw him cross the same creek further down. All just out of bow range.
I reckon he was laughing at us when he crossed the second time.
Frustated, we headed back to the car and checked out an area we hadn't hunted before. It looked good but no pigs were sighted. We did come across an echidna snuffling along near an ant hill, so I took a photo of him and Andrew.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff143/belegstrongbow/andrewwithechidna.jpg
Anyway, the pigs lived to be hunted another day, hopefully by me and not by some doggers.
As always, valuable lessons were learned. In this case, to pay more attention to the wind and to boars hiding in the bushes. Also to not muck around taking photos of pigs when I should be shooting them.
Next time I'll get that cheeky boar!
The anticipation was high leading up to Saturday afternoon. The week was busy and time to prepare for the hunt was scarce.
I was waiting for a new sight (well, used but new to me) which I bought from Warlocke in the classifieds section. When it came on the Thursday I ripped open the package, danced an excited jig and quickly attached it to my bow.
Here's a picture of the aforementioned sight.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff143/belegstrongbow/newsight.jpg
Saturday dawned and after the mandatory chores, my mate Andrew and I drove off to the hunting property to chase some pigs. Andrew is a bowhunting virgin and archery newbie, so we spent an hour practicing when we got there. It was his first real hunt, so naturally he was very excited.
Our modus operandi is to walk along the creek looking for pigs bedded down or heading for water, basically spotting and stalking, so it involves a lot of walking.
Thankfully Moree is quite flat, so it makes it easier to walk but the heat was taking its toll. We had walked for an hour without seeing any pigs, so after a quick drink and snack, we regrouped and headed down to from the car, all the time trying to avoid the numerous and inquisitive cattle grazing on the paddock.
As we neared a bend in the creek, I unconsciously nocked an arrow. Noting this, Andrew sarcastically quipped "Feeling optimistic, are you."
I smiled and nodded but I felt that pigs were close by for some reason. Maybe it was the creek meandering to the right or the sudden stillness in the air but I really felt something then.
We walked another fifty metres and out of the corner of my eye I saw some black shapes in the distance amongst the briars. Pigs at last!
I motioned to Andrew to stop and pointed them out to him. About a hundred metres away a mob of about eight pigs were feeding next to the creek. I could see a sow and her suckers milling about, nearby some young boars were playing, making a racket with their grunts and sqeals.
We slowly walked in closer, shrouded by the scrub between us and the mob.
The pigs seemed oblivious to our presence, so I pulled out the camera and tried to take some photos of the mob. Here's the best one I could manage with my little digital camera (if you look real hard and use your imagination you can see them quite clearly)
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff143/belegstrongbow/mobpigs1.jpg
There was a bush about fifteen metres from the mob and I felt we could stalk in and make our shots from around the bush. As we prepared to come out and shoot, a bigger boar trotted out from the bushes to the right of the photo. He had seen us and with a few grunts, drove the mob to some thick bushes to the left. They didn't seem too alarmed, so we waited a while and followed them around.
To cut a long story short, they simply disappeared into the scrub, quietly and quickly, but we did see two bigger pigs running off towards the left.
We thought we'd try to cut them off by walking along the edge of the paddock around them but after following slowly for ten minutes my calf cramped up horribly. I couldn't move and the pain was unbearable.
It slowly subsided and I wished I had drank some more water when we had a chance. I was clearly dehydrated.
We tried to follow the pigs and managed to catch up with a boar but he was a clever one. He led us on a wild goose chase across a creek (which was tortue to cross with a crampy calf), through some scrub, lost him and then saw him cross the same creek further down. All just out of bow range.
I reckon he was laughing at us when he crossed the second time.
Frustated, we headed back to the car and checked out an area we hadn't hunted before. It looked good but no pigs were sighted. We did come across an echidna snuffling along near an ant hill, so I took a photo of him and Andrew.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff143/belegstrongbow/andrewwithechidna.jpg
Anyway, the pigs lived to be hunted another day, hopefully by me and not by some doggers.
As always, valuable lessons were learned. In this case, to pay more attention to the wind and to boars hiding in the bushes. Also to not muck around taking photos of pigs when I should be shooting them.
Next time I'll get that cheeky boar!