Bushfires and Boars the Cape York grunter hunters return

[tradtusker]

she did'nt go far after that!

now let me tell you that the wind in Australia is the most unpredictable i have ever hunted in, it is just all over the place, i would guess that the wind probably bust about 80% of all our stalks.

I was hunting with my dad, and after a long walk down a dry river bed we hit a couple water holes a quick lift of the bino's revealed pigs all over, a quick decision on which side to approach from, before the wind changed put us in the right spot, i was in front there where pigs in the water, pigs feeding by and some big fella's across the water laying beside a big log.
i stopped where i thought i would get a 20yard shot at some pigs feeding past us but as luck would have it i had a pig come strait towards me at about 10 yards he lifted his head trying to make out what i was, i decided i had to draw now so i came slowly back but decide that a front on shot was not going to work under the current circumstances so i held at full draw and held and held for about 10 seconds which felt like forever the pig was not sure what i was and started to turn, when he hit broadside the arrow was gone, right behind the shoulder clean though.
The pig let out a quick squeal and took off away from the others i did not even look where he went i turned to my dad and said "he's dead lets get another" we quickly worked our way to big tree overlooking the water it would not be long before the others that had fed by would wind us so my dad decided to shoot the closest one in the water.
it was a fair ol poke out there at about 30yards i watched as the red fletch disappeared. Great shot!
In the commotion that followed i tried a shot at one of the big boars on the far bank but deflected off a small branch right in front of me.

i took off around the water and ended up shooting another small pig around a tree at about 2 meters

when i got back my Dad was on the bloodtrail of my first big and it was not long before we found him.




now across on to my dads blood trail, it was a bit thinner than we like it but with my dads tracking skills we were on him, i circled ahead trying to jump the spoor a technique we often use and i found the pig but he was not dead i did not want to shoot as it was not my bird, but it was kind of tricky getting someones attention when they'r in full tracking mode. when i did my he moved in and finished the job



i nice warm up for the Big guys i thought

[DesertDude]

Sweet...........

[bjordnolf]

I am a little jealous of your hunting but alot more jealous over the sweet Toyotas you guys get over there.
thanks for sharing

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Fantastic stuff! Congratulations on those two! Now, what about the rest?

[ozy clint]

arhh........gettin' my pig fix.    

father, son hunt. that would have been good andy?

[hunt it]

Our home in the outback.

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Our shower and water supply.

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Mels and my bunks.

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The Ivy Flat.

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Here is one of our two trusty camp watch lizards - Guanas. These guys will hiss and snap at ya but because they eat snakes we like em!

[hunt it]

The big one was well over three feet feet long.

[hunt it]

Here is picture of Mel and Mic stalking a scrub bull first morning out. Just prior to this I had arrowed a hog that made a fast escape. Catching up to it I got a second arrow in and we pursued the hog into heavy cover. We kept the hog insight for several hundred yards  berfore it eluded us.

[hunt it]

Not long after the above events Mel arrowed his first hog of the trip. I'll let him tell some of the stories, he has a good one about the hog that attacked him and he used his widow to beat it over the head.

[Shaun]

Mel just can't resist going mano e mano. He had a heck of a stand off with that large javie under the tin in Crane a while back.

[Ted Fry]

Great adventure guys , keep it up

[hunt it]

Later that same day, Mel and I stalked in on this one and he made Mel and that gave me the perfect opportunity to put the arrow right where I wanted it. We sat down on a log and watched the hog go down 75yrds out.

[hunt it]

Here is a look at a typical swamp in the outback. If you were real lucky you find a big old hog sleeping in the mud at waters edge and slip in and pay him a visit. I did not have any such luck but many of the guys did.

[hunt it]

These next few are for Vance - lets see how his sense of smell is working. Talk, sight or smell of food and he shows up quick. These are big crayfish 12" or better that are caught in the waterhole with crab traps. They call them red quill in OZ.

[turkey522]

Thanks for sharing your adventure guys and all the great pics.Keep it coming.

[hunt it]

Boiled quickly then simmered in garlic and butter you can't get any better.