It's our wet season at present. There's lots of water, monsoonal thunderstorms, heat and humidity, horse flies that nearly take your arm off, and spear grass with seeds that try to skewer you. There's the odd animal about, though they are spread-out due to the abundance of food and water, so encountering a feral is a matter of chance. We have found a few, but have not as yet been able to put any on the ground. However, we like to head into the bush to see what we can find, and do some stump-shooting on the termite mounds. I hope you enjoy some of the assorted photographs I've collected so far this year.
Some nature photographs:
Bower bird nest
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/DonkeyAreaStumpShoot2002.jpg)
Flowers on a tree
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RuralCollegeStumpShootHunt003.jpg)
A fungus on a tree
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RCstumpshoothunt2002.jpg)
A tata lizard
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/MoreAssortedStumpingAdventures005.jpg)
Walking and searching:
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RuralCollegeStumpShootHunt007.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RCstumpshoothunt2005.jpg)
Stump-shooting:
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RCstumpshoothunt2001.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/MoreAssortedStumpingAdventures006.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RuralCollegeStumpShootHunt011.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RuralCollegeStumpShootHunt009.jpg)
thanks - enjoyed the pics.
rusty
Defeated termite mounds:
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/StumpShooting008-1.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/StumpShooting011-1.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/DonkeyAreaStumpShoot2003.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/StumpShooting006-1.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/DonkeyAreaStumpShoot2006.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RuralCollegeStumpShootHunt023.jpg)
Embarrassing moments when trees jump out in front of your arrow:
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/MoreAssortedStumpingAdventures003.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/MoreAssortedStumpingAdventures008.jpg)
Some swine-sign and donkey-sign:
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/MoreAssortedStumpingAdventures001.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/DonkeyAreaStumpShoot2001.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/DonkeyAreaStumpShoot2005.jpg)
awesome stuff Ben id love to go hunt up there with you some time,
you guys loose many arrows in that long grass? i was shooting today but instead of grass and termite mounds i had very frozen stumps and 2 feet of snow :D :readit:
Stalks and failed attempts, or, close but not close enough:
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RuralCollegeStumpShootHunt033.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/RuralCollegeStumpShootHunt048.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/Crop1.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/Crop.jpg)
Nice pics...atleast it's not 30 below
jer bear
Thanks, fellows. I'm glad you liked them. Andy, we haven't actually lost any arrows yet, as we search around for them until we find them. But we have broken four or five on rocks when we've missed the termite mounds.
By the way, in one of the stalking photographs there is an antilopine walleroo pictured. This was part of a sequence that I took of my mate trying to stalk the little buffalo; we had to be careful not to spook the 'roos. We do not, and are not permitted to, hunt native wildlife with bows in Australia.
Cheers,
Ben
Cool pics! It looks like those termite mounds were made for stump shooting.
Thanks mate, I'm home in a week and sure am missing being there on Australia Day.
ak.
Great pics..thanks for sharing.
Loved the photos. :)
Great pictures Ben!
ben...thanks for sharing. Those termite mounds look huge....is 53# enough for them?......
yeah, nothin quite like the wet season. looks like you guys have gone troppo! good fun no doubt! :archer: can't remember his name but it looks like old mate who used to shoot the gamemaster is fully hooked. longbow now. making me a bit homesick.
BTW stumping with an 80# recurve, thats hard work!
Great pictures Ben, are those termite mounds hard on the arrows?
THANK YOU! :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :thumbsup:
Cool Stuff Ben! Can you shoot the wild buffalo and wild ass this time of year? I hear wild donkeys can really get mean. Matt
I'm glad you like the pictures!
Southern Ben, your 53#er will be fine on the termite mounds as long as you use single-bevel broadheads, with high-FOC carbons!
Clint, yep, that's Tony. He's caught the bug, and is getting a Hill-style bow of his own, made by Aussie bowyer and legendary bowhunter, Barry Johnson in Sydney. I suppose we have gone troppo. Stump-shooting is fine with the big bow. But the other day, I did normal target shooting with Cooke, a thing that I'm not used-to (arrow after arrow after arrow). As a result, I have learned a hard lesson about not overdoing it, as my forearm on my drawing arm has been aching for a week, and I haven't shot in that time. It is on the mend. But, for me, with a heavy bow, stump shooting, with lots of walking in between single arrow shots, is the best thing.
Paul, the termite mounds are really good to shoot when wet. When they are dry, they get very hard, and the arrows penetrate very little. Some mounds, depending on the timber around them, get harder than others. But we don't break arrows on them. We break arrows when we miss and hit rocks behind!
Cheers,
Ben
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Excellant pics ! You guys really enjoy life , good deal , Fred
Matt, we can hunt ferals all year round. Donkeys do get pretty mean to each other. I once saw one sneak-up behind another one - he was literally tip-toeing - and bit down on his bum as hard as he could. The victim jumped sky-high and made an awful braying cry of anguish and pain, and ran away. I swear the biter was rolling around laughing his, well, ass off (we spell that word differently in Australia). But they don't get mean or vicious to hunters, as they are pretty timid toward people who bear ill-intent toward them with bows and arrows. That said, I was once out of arrows when I got "charged" by two jacks chasing a jenny. They were all so worked-up that they had no idea I was there in front of them (usually they are extremely wary) and I had to yell at them to avoid being run-over. They kindly veered away and continued their amusement.
Life is good here, Fred! You'll find-out, and probably decide to stay! I hope you have a blast later this year with Mick, and maybe even get to add a donkey to the tally!
Great pictures!!! I love seeing what wildlife people from around the world have in their back yards!! BTW ya'll have a mighty big back yard Keep 'em coming
G-day
Daren
Great pics, its like were there with ya.... just a few thousand miles away! :bigsmyl:
Great pix Ben...thanks for sharing! Look like y'all are having a blast :thumbsup:
Great stuff Ben. Looks as if your mate has the same GPS as I do - a great little number and much needed in the wilderness in Auss.
I just came back from New Zealand a couple of days ago. Had a blast with my James Jones Firefly hunting in the pine forests behind my folk's place. Heaps of feral critters there and a real hunting paradise. Lots of feral turkeys, hares the size of wallabies, rabbits, feral cocks, and feral cats.
I nailed one nice big feral cat which was a real bonus. They are hard to get close to and a real adversary.
Keep up the good work Ben and I hope we can slip in a hunt one of these days.
Sutto
Very cool pics Ben! Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to getting out to Aus in September! ;) :thumbsup: