well certainly a long round trip to hunt pigs but worth every second.

the motley crew consisted of Dave (Huntit), Mel (Irish), Allan (colorado kid), Nige (leopard), Roger, Neil, myself and Mick (mad max) our host

plans where set to meet in Townsville QLD Australia for a couple weeks in the bush hunting pigs.
Quite an eventful Hunt unfolded after the long drive north up the Cape to our hunting area.

Most of the guys are back now but we all have some catching up to do with family and business so bare with us as the guys download pics and start to chime in.

plenty of pics to follow ....

tired and weary from our travels we arrived at camp not to bulldust but to the thin penetration sight and smell of Bushfire smoke, something that would be with us for the remainder of the our hunt as it clawed its way through the bush leaving only ash and smoldering termite mounds in its wake.

Always enjoy your posts Andy.  Looking forward to watching this one unfold.  Joe

there where 5 Ivys on the trip a family hunt together that has been long overdue, be it maybe somewhat less then perfect timing for some of us. that is if a perfect time even exists.

It was great to catch up with everyone and hunt together again nothing better than being out in the bush with our bows, Would be the first Trad hunting trip for Roger and Neil so they where pretty excited about what lay ahead of them.

we had the pleasure of having Dave and Mel join us on the trip, two better blokes you will not find and it was great hunting alongside them once again.

the first afternoon of the hunt we went out for a look around to get our bearings of the area, take a few important waypoints on the GPS, and meet some of the locals



fingers where getting itchy in the shooting gloves as we awaited the hunting to come

Great stuff! I'm glad this story's started! Carry-on, please!

Ahhh, here we go!!!  Been waiting for this one.
Carry on gents!      

first of many a flat tire


we hunted a range of different areas swamps, flats, sand ridges, water holes, river beds
the range made the pigs hard to find as they had so much to move between with really no need to go back to the same places twice, apart from a bull carcass here and there.



the pigs where pretty good at getting themselves tucked away in some of the hardest places for a shot or even to see... caves, undercuts, under logs, inside root thickets getting away from the heat of the day

spot the 4 pigs in this thicket...

  :D   just kidding but it was not unlikely to find one tucked up in a mess like that.

always have enjoyed hunting river beds
something mystical about them

Dang! You had me lookin'!

I was looking too!!! Really nice looking country.

Welcome back.  We have been waiting for your return and anticipating a good story.

cool...

TTT

Can't hardly wait for the rest Andy!

Looking forward to the rest of this.

The pile on my desk is waist deep so it will take a few days to get caught up. A fantastic trip it was and I sure enjoyed sharing camp with The Ivy Clan and Mel. Our host Mic Baker aka Mad Max the road warrior showed us the outback in true Ozzy style. A ride down the outback roads with Mic left you feeling like you had shaken baby syndrome and dire need for kidney dialysis. Two and a half days of flying and two days of four wheeling to get to camp was quiet a haul. Northern Queensland is one isolated, desolate and dusty place but it has inner beauty to discover. As you will see in many of Alan's and Andy's pictures above it is a magnificent place once you get out and discover it on foot. It's not a place for someone that is not used to map and GPS navigation. With only one main dirt track down the middle of the 1.3 million acre ranch and the neighbouring ranch 60 miles away your a long way from everywhere. Nowhere is close by all the time. Most of us carried between 100 and 200 onces of water in packs and relied on water dropped off at locations to top us off each day. Temperatures were hovering around the 100 mark every day and we would average 10 miles or better per day on foot. Everyone relies on their GPS to get them back to the road each day. If you ever got lost and ran out of water your days were numbered (about 2). 24hrs after bitting the dust the hawgs would clean you up and they'd be dam lucky to find your boots or your Morrison!

Yep, all in all it was a very successful trip! The company was great, and there was challenging animals to hunt!
It was great to hunt with family again, and meeting Dave and Mel was an absolute pleasure!

We all arrived in Townsville on the 10th, and were picked up by Mick.

We started off at Mick's place in Townsville, packing and preparing for the 12 hour drive up to the north...
 
 

After a great first meal together as a group, on the way up to the station, we retired in our swags on the side of the road....many battling the dreaded jet lag!
 

Here's a pic of the group on the second day of travel, from left to right - Allan, Nigel, Mick, Roger, Dave, Andy, Mel, and Neil.
 
 

Great to have you guys along for the ride. I'm off tomorrow for a month in the Cape so I will look forward to the story when I get back. Good to see all the guys getting home safe and sound.

Cheers
Mick

the boars....where's the boars?  

Hold your horses Clint, they're coming...  

Lookin forward to this thread... keep it coming lads.


ak.