This hunt started almost 6 months ago when I first met Joe the owner of a large station only 30mins from my home. I had dropped in to meet him and gain permission to hunt his land but I had not intended for him to be such a hard cookie to crack...... Normally cattle station owners will come round to a bowhunter's request to hunt their land but not old Joe! He had seen it all! "Hunters nothing but trouble! They are more trouble than the pigs" he exclaimed. Gee I had my work cut out for me!! I quickly informed him that I was a Bow hunter, I walked the country I intended to hunt, used no firearms and new the ways of the bush and I could help him with the feral pig problem I knew he had. Today 6 months later, after many phone calls and visits I finally can say I have hunted the property in question. Today was a success in many ways. It started like many other hunts, up At 6am finish sharpening a few extra broad heads, gear check and loaded in the car and to the local service station for a bacon and egg toasted sandwich. This is where my luck started! Just as I walked through he doors a fresh batch made their way to the warmer. I didn?t even have to wait today I thought! I headed south along the highway cramming my toastie down my throat while also loading up on fluids for the day. It was going to be a long hot day and I wanted to get at least a litre of water into me before I reached my location to help with dehydration prevention. The radio was playing some great music this morning and the car was filled with my attempts to bust out a tune. Upon arriving at the property I had to jump out and open a gate. The wind was checked with a kick of the dust and GPS way point logged in. I was heading to an area of the river that looked great on the map. 5.4km later I was right where I wanted to be. I loaded my pack, strapped on my release aid and grabbed my Katera and headed off with the wind in my face down the river. I had walked for about ½ an hour and was getting impatient. The spot just didn't look so good. There was sign of pigs around but it wasn't as numerous as I had hoped. I was just finishing telling myself I would go another 10 mins then turn around and find another part of the river more suitable when the tell tale flap of an ear gave away the location of the semi concealed boar that was laying behind a pandanus palm in a wallow next to the river. The range finder told me I was 28ym away. I skirted around to open up a shot on the bedded hog. 25y and a clear shot- perfect. I drew, aimed and immediately noticed how much I was shaking.... I gave myself a mental uppercut and told myself to get it together! The pin finally held steady on the boar's lung area and I touched the release. Perfect I thought as I watched the boar jump to his feet. He was bucking and jumping regathering himself when his legs gave way. Nice a great way to start the day! I crossed the creek took some pics and headed back to the side I was hunting- no need to change a good thing right? I had just made other side and was walking up the bank to a shady tree in which I wanted to sit under to put my shoes back on when I spotted another boar feeding along the river bank about 100y further along the river on the same side as the previous boar. I quickened my pace up the bank and got into a shooting position. 26y away the boar didn't know what was about to come from above. The shot was good and the boar was down in 15y. The commotion of the boar bought out another to see what was going on. In the time it takes an arrow to travel 35y I had another boar down. Now I was excited! I walked across the creek once again to claim my trophies. The 1st boar had no tusks at all and the 2nd had them both snapped about an inch from the base. Bugger I thought. Pics taken and I was on the move again. I was walking for about 15mins when a suspicious black lump amongst some pandanus palms. I was only 10y off but I couldn?t make out which way it was facing, if it was a boar or a sow or even how big it was. I was now only 5y from the lump and I could make out his ribs and back line. I picked my spot and let him have it! He came out the other side and that's when I got my 1st good look at him. He was huge! My arrow was hanging out of his side and looked like it was right on the money. 100y latter and the big boar was down. "Man this thing is big" I thought. Now I have weighed allot of boars but this fella was right up there! I spent allot of time trying to get the perfect pic. The dust I kicked up as I was walking back to the hog after setting the timer played havoc on the pics! The big boar sported some descent tusks and they were taken to join the others at home in my trophy room. I walked for another uneventful 20 mins. About the only excitement was the 2 mobs of sows I snuck past as not to disturb them. I was pretty hot and over it.... I had taken 4 boars and 1 of them was a monster so I was happy with the day as I turned around and headed back to the 4WD. About 10mins into the return journey I spotted a nice black boar coming down for a drink on the other side of the creek. The wind was pretty average so I did an arc to improve my chances. A large tree was the perfect cover to conceal the movement of drawing my bow. The boar presented a perfect quartering away angle at 24y so I took it. It was a great shot! The arrow had done its job and I watched as the boar raced up the river bank up into the grass though he didn't get far. He had laid out a great blood trail and the boar laid lifeless 50y from the impact site. Gee I was having a great day but was running out of arrows fast! I was going to have to be real selective from now on. I took some pics and the boar's tusks and headed back to the river. I laid in it for awhile to get the temperature down a bit. Aaaah this is the life I thought! It was 1:30pm and getting really hot, it was time to get back to the air conditioning. 500m upstream the pigs had other ideas. There were 2 solid pigs in the water. It looked as though the closer 1 was a boar and the other a sow. I had just come to this conclusion when the "boar" turned out to be a sow as it walked up out of the water- bummer I thought. The "sow" then turned into a nice solid boar as it raced off up the bank! Darn it! 100m up more movement caught my eye, a boar and he had some WOW factor about him! 32m on a steep downhill angle proved to be too easy. The arrow struck the boar hard and he was down for the count in 10y! How good is this hunting property I thought!!! The boars sported a nice set of tusks and they were added to the cargo in my timber hawk pack. I had 2 more arrows left so I decided I would bee line it to the 4wd. It had been a great day but I still had a 2 hr walk to the car. I was on a hunting high as I made it back to the car. Oh what a day!
Very good story and an excellent hunt. Well written and fun to read. Hope to hear more of your hunts.
Great story and pics!! Congratulation's on your pigs!!! Old Joe might not think you hunters are so bad now!!
Congrats sounds like a GREAT day of hunting!!!! Couple questions, just because I wondered.... If the hogs are a problem though, why not kill the sows to help decrease the population??? And do you eat them, or just kill them and take their tusks???
Great story. That's a lot of bacon you laid down. As I was reading I was thinking, "he must be running out of arrows" just before you said you were low on arrows. LOL
Thanks guys Yer Joe sure has changed his thoughts on bowhunters since i first met him.... It is the wet season now and hunting is hard so renovations to the house are priority. i ran into Joe the on Monday and he asked where had I been as he is still seeing alot of hogs and buffalo! Owell If i can manage a leave pass from the wife over the weekend I will have to go for a look.
Great story Cooke and wicked pictures , thats a serious amount of bacon in the freezer . You won't be going hungry
