saberhunter
23-10-07, 11:20 AM
My Lucky Day
Those exciting plans were again made for the weekend which was getting closer and closer by the second. The bags were all packed, the camera batteries were charged and it was time to leave home. I met Ben and his Dad, Michael at Subway, loaded my gear into the four wheel drive and we headed off.
After the one hour and fifteen minute drive we arrived our destination and quickly unpacked all the gear, had some tea, sharpened our broadheads and got a good sleep in the swags before the early wake up call from Bens noisy alarm.
The alarm screamed at us and we slowly got out of the swags, got into our camouflage gear and made sure all the bags and water bottles were in the car. We had a feed of Weet Bix and jumped in the car hoping to get in on some decent boars and maybe a good billy goat if one will present a shot.
Driving through a series of gates and steep gullies we came to a view point that usually shows off some decent hogs or atleast some sows and slips. There were plenty of goats in most gullies and on most ridges that we could see but hardly any pig sign besides a heap of fairly fresh diggings and some sort of fresh poo. Ben and I decided that we would start walking along a high ridgeline so we could glass the gullies and flats down lower.
Nearing a fairly high point of the ridge we spotted a solid young boar walking down into a gully towards us. Ben was happy to let me take the shot so we crossed the open country briskly as the boar disappeared into the gully. Ben and I got into about thirty yards from the boar as he slowly made his way up towards us. As the boar was digging a few holes and poking around under a few roots, Ben set the video camera up and I made it to a little over twenty yards from him. I stopped for a minute to catch my breath as the adrenalin had kicked in. I came to full draw and stood up seeing that the boar was presenting the perfect shot. So I touched the trigger on my release aid and sent an arrow away down through both lungs and all the veins and arteries in between! The boar stumbled around 60 yards downhill and rolled a few metres back into the gully and he was all over.
I did a bit of a dance on camera as I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I just shot my first boar and he was a ripper of a first. Michael came over to the gully and congratulated me on my boar and we then set him up for a few pictures and some video footage. After the long photo and video shoot we removed his jaw and headed back to the four wheel drive for something to eat.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/Myfirstboar.jpg
Michael, Ben and I discussed which section of the property we should hunt next as we had a little under 100,000 acres to cover. We thought that it would be a good idea to hunt down a gully that Michael and Ben hadn’t hunted in for years. We parked the car at the top of the gully, threw our bags on and slowly made our way down using an old track. Around 500m of walking revealed two young billy goats. Ben let me take the shot again so I made my way to the top of a little knoll and let the grey and white billy have it with a quartering away shot from 25 yards. A quick photo and video session was over and we continued down the old track. We stopped to have a bit of a fox whistle on the way but nothing responded to it.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/Thegreyandwhitebilly.jpg
Just as we were making our way down from our whistling spot I viewed a mob of pigs making their way up the gully towards us. I was again offered the shot as they were only a smallish mob of pigs. Michael set up the video camera and filmed me stalk the mob until I was no more than 20 yards off them and thwack…I dropped the biggest sow in the mob with one shot. By this time I was getting good at photo and video sessions and couldn’t wait to see all my footage and pictures from my lucky day!
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/Sowdroppedfrom20yards.jpg
My boar later measured a very nice 24 4/8 DP with 3/8 of an inch missing off the tip of the left tusk. I am very happy with the result of my first boar!
SH ;)
Those exciting plans were again made for the weekend which was getting closer and closer by the second. The bags were all packed, the camera batteries were charged and it was time to leave home. I met Ben and his Dad, Michael at Subway, loaded my gear into the four wheel drive and we headed off.
After the one hour and fifteen minute drive we arrived our destination and quickly unpacked all the gear, had some tea, sharpened our broadheads and got a good sleep in the swags before the early wake up call from Bens noisy alarm.
The alarm screamed at us and we slowly got out of the swags, got into our camouflage gear and made sure all the bags and water bottles were in the car. We had a feed of Weet Bix and jumped in the car hoping to get in on some decent boars and maybe a good billy goat if one will present a shot.
Driving through a series of gates and steep gullies we came to a view point that usually shows off some decent hogs or atleast some sows and slips. There were plenty of goats in most gullies and on most ridges that we could see but hardly any pig sign besides a heap of fairly fresh diggings and some sort of fresh poo. Ben and I decided that we would start walking along a high ridgeline so we could glass the gullies and flats down lower.
Nearing a fairly high point of the ridge we spotted a solid young boar walking down into a gully towards us. Ben was happy to let me take the shot so we crossed the open country briskly as the boar disappeared into the gully. Ben and I got into about thirty yards from the boar as he slowly made his way up towards us. As the boar was digging a few holes and poking around under a few roots, Ben set the video camera up and I made it to a little over twenty yards from him. I stopped for a minute to catch my breath as the adrenalin had kicked in. I came to full draw and stood up seeing that the boar was presenting the perfect shot. So I touched the trigger on my release aid and sent an arrow away down through both lungs and all the veins and arteries in between! The boar stumbled around 60 yards downhill and rolled a few metres back into the gully and he was all over.
I did a bit of a dance on camera as I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I just shot my first boar and he was a ripper of a first. Michael came over to the gully and congratulated me on my boar and we then set him up for a few pictures and some video footage. After the long photo and video shoot we removed his jaw and headed back to the four wheel drive for something to eat.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/Myfirstboar.jpg
Michael, Ben and I discussed which section of the property we should hunt next as we had a little under 100,000 acres to cover. We thought that it would be a good idea to hunt down a gully that Michael and Ben hadn’t hunted in for years. We parked the car at the top of the gully, threw our bags on and slowly made our way down using an old track. Around 500m of walking revealed two young billy goats. Ben let me take the shot again so I made my way to the top of a little knoll and let the grey and white billy have it with a quartering away shot from 25 yards. A quick photo and video session was over and we continued down the old track. We stopped to have a bit of a fox whistle on the way but nothing responded to it.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/Thegreyandwhitebilly.jpg
Just as we were making our way down from our whistling spot I viewed a mob of pigs making their way up the gully towards us. I was again offered the shot as they were only a smallish mob of pigs. Michael set up the video camera and filmed me stalk the mob until I was no more than 20 yards off them and thwack…I dropped the biggest sow in the mob with one shot. By this time I was getting good at photo and video sessions and couldn’t wait to see all my footage and pictures from my lucky day!
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/timdegrey/Sowdroppedfrom20yards.jpg
My boar later measured a very nice 24 4/8 DP with 3/8 of an inch missing off the tip of the left tusk. I am very happy with the result of my first boar!
SH ;)