what pound bow for north queensland hunting

[damo elessar]

Hello everyone just wanted to know your thoughts on what pound longbow you would need to hunt pig, deer and a bit of scub bull up here in north queensland i have always believed accuracy is more important but what do you think would be a good pound longbow hunting up here.

also for another subject does anyone know just how many dear rabits or other game there is up here other than pigs i would like to hunt a variety of animals to be able to get skins and feathers and other archery materials.

[slayer]

Hey Damo good to see another trad hunter up the north way! I come from the tablelands myself,though now reside in the whitsundays.i used to hunt pigs and rabbits up there and found no shortage of either.you asked about what size bow to get, firstly I recommend getting something a little lighter to start off as even though you may be able to shoot a higher poundage bow it is a lot easier to get good on something that is a more comfortable weight .then once you find your shooting is improving then you will find the poundage bow that suits you,in saying that those scrub bulls are tough buggers and I personally would use at least 65# plusand always with razor sharp broad heads

[damo elessar]

cheers slayer and i think you can help me out with something else well im in mareeba and wanted to know just how many rabbits are up here and where to find them

[Flatliner]

Hi Damo, wellcome to the site.
I live in Gordonvale just south of Cairns. I have a couple of spots around Atherton where I'm aloud to shoot rabbits, so we could get together and work something out.
From my expierience the vast majority of the rabbits up here live in or on the edge of townships, very seldom see one out in the padocks. It may have something to do with the high rainfall because they tend to burrow under shed slabs etc rather than out in the open fields. The areas I know there are plenty are in and around; Atherton, Tolga, malanda, Millaamillaa and I have been told Herberton, Don't know about Mareeba. I would suggest you get out and have a drive around the outskirts of town at sundown and see whats around, drive slowly, stop often and look, and remember get permission from those concerned before you let go a single arrow. The whole archery community relies on the sensible discretion of every archer that makes it up.
As far as pigs are concerned, they seem to be fairly thick on the ground everywhere up here. The problem (for me at least) is access to properties to shoot on in areas where the bush is open enough to see, shoot and track them. Coming from Mareeba maybe you know some land owners you could approach about access for bow shooting.
There are dear on the Tablelands in a few places such as Malanda where they have escaped from dear farms after cyclones, but again access and country that is open enough is the main problem.
As for bow weight, Rabbits can be taken with quite low poundage bows, my guess would be as low as 25# but pigs would require at least around 50# (unless of course you have a Flatline, then you can get away with about 40# ) Dear and goats could probably be taken with a minimum of around 40-45#
You can find my contact info in the Flatline bows thread under Bowyers in the resources section of the Board index page or hit the link to my website below, give me a call or you can email me at the address below.

Cheers, Rob.

[damo elessar]

hey mate thanks for the info its a great help and i would love to meet up for a hunt some time. and do flatline make longbows at all im after a long bow and since your local i think it would be good to go to through you and if not what are the prices on your recurve one peace bows

[Flatliner]

Hey Damo, Sorry mate I don't make long bows only recurves and anyway I would suggest you get yourself a cheaper bow untill you really work out what is going to suit you best, mine are fairly top shelf and not cheap.
Having said that you are more than wellcome to come down the hill to my place and shoot a few recurve bows, maybe you will change your mind on the long bow .

For details on the bows I make including prices click the link below.

Cheers, Rob.

[damo elessar]

yeah that sounds good mate. and i would like to ask you this i am really keen on getting into self bow/arrow making and would love some one with the knowledge to show me the ropes is there any chance if i drop in some time that you could pass on some knowledge.
cheers damo

[slayer]

Mate if I where you I would take up flatliners offer,I have seen his work and as he said "top of the line". And you can only benefit from a contact like that. I came from ravenshoe and there was no shortage of feral game especially rabbits even game pheasant, but that was then I have since lost my contacts and you would need to ask some property owners for permission,hey you can only try

[Macca]

I will say once you see and shoot Robs recurves you will what one yet, very sweet bows

[damo elessar]

yes i looked at the site and the bows have some real good effort, sill and knowledge put into them. i only hope that maybe one day i could pull off such a bow. (fingers crossed) but i will take robs advice and start out on a cheaper bow or two but when i get more skill and knowledge i will look to getting something as nice as robs bows.
when such bows as robs are made they are more then just a target shooter or hunting weapon they are works of art and the traditional look just brings it to life. as i said maybe one day i hope i can craft something as great as that off.

and cheers you are all great helps with good advice.

[Flatliner]

yeah that sounds good mate. and i would like to ask you this i am really keen on getting into self bow/arrow making and would love some one with the knowledge to show me the ropes is there any chance if i drop in some time that you could pass on some knowledge.
cheers damo

Hey Damo, yeah sure you're more than wellcome and I'm allways keen to pass on the knowledge I have gleened, though I have only made 3 selfbows I'm sure I could get you started. Give me a call and we can organize a time.

Cheers, Rob.

[hazard]

Mate if I where you I would take up flatliners offer,I have seen his work and as he said "top of the line". And you can only benefit from a contact like that.

Do yourself a favour, Rob has a lot on offer you can learn and it may well be the best influence on your journey through Archery.

Having said that you are more than wellcome to come down the hill to my place and shoot a few recurve bows, maybe you will change your mind on the long bow .

Hey Rob, give him a go of your Raptor!

I will say once you see and shoot Robs recurves you will what one yet, very sweet bows

I own one of Robs Flatline bows, and without any reservation they are fast and smooth and offer an entirely different perspective to long bows. I could never take away the value of a well made long bow but from where I came from the recurve had a profound influence on the direction, enjoyment and exprerince of Archery.

Aside from all of that Robs bows are works of art.

Hazard

[Fraser]

Hunting draw weights! Now you opened a can of worms Damo! There are two lines of thought on this: 1. Use a bow just heavy enough to do the job. 2. Use a bow as heavy as you can comfortably draw.

The catch cry of shot placement is all well and good, but don't forget Murphy's law, what can go wrong will go wrong. And it's unpleasant having an angry boar coming after you because your arrow didn't penetrate the armour on his shoulder!

Fraser

[damo elessar]

yeah that is true thats never a good thing