An evening with mates and a nice walk.

[looseplucker]

No photos of the hunt - just a tale. I went up to a property I get occasional access to. It gets a fair bit of rifle hunting from the owners. That's cool. Anyhow Saturday night was a bit of a rendezvous and we had a hoot around the fire - having a couple of beers, talking b*llocks and just enjoying each other's company. The mix was Gen Y and Old Fart. And there were 10 of them and 3 of us. I got there late on account of having wasted 2 hours of my life I will never get back at a Raiders v Doggies game.

Anyhow, drove through the mountains in the dark, which I love doing. Had a meal of goat, pork and venison that couldn't be beat and partook of the aforementioned beerage and bollocks. The chaps had been busting clays most of the arvo, riding trail bikes and generally having a blast. I pleaded I had to be up early in the morning for a bow-hunt and thusly was still at the campfire at 2:30am. Which is otherwise known as Stupid O'Clock our Half Past Idiot.

7:00am had me all frocked up and on the trail. There were appalling noises coming from the swags along with some smells that would have disgraced a sewer but I snuck out. Now I am not known for my patience at times and while I can stalk I have blown a lot by moving too quick. Which is a pest given that the Australian taxpayer shelled out good money teaching me how to move in the bush.

Piggy and Jindydiver have taught me other stuff. So did my host and I combined all of it today and it nearly came off.

Sooo I start "stalking from the camp" as Jindy calls it. 10 sloooooow paces. Stop. Count to 20. Test the wind. Look around. Move on. I did that for about 1.5 km. So that is slow time. I think I made 1.5km in an hour and a half. Most of us can walk that in 20 mins. Now generally I see a fair bit of wildlife, like the snakes that Hazard nearly treads on - poor things - he terrifies them - but this time the array was just incredible. Birdlife from wrens to hawks. Roos and a couple of species of wallaby. Love those rufous ones. And the ones that poke their heads up from the rocks with that "W.T.F?" expression - they can hear but not see you.

Anyhow moving along with the wind at my back I'm ignoring the thumping in the temples and the thoughts of "turn back for an egg and bacon roll and a PNG coffee brew" and I catch movement in the peripheral to my left - no "thump thump thump" so it aint a roo or wallaby but slightly ahead. I stop and slowly scan and there she is. A lovely fat as butter fallow doe. Head down. She has not clocked me. Instantly the thought "is this the first with the bow?" goes through the noggin. She is on a similar heading to me but as I watch she is clearly moving to a position that inevitably means she will end up downwind. Which means it is over. Testing the wind and her direction I look up to my right. Not bad cover and I reckon I can do a shallow circle up and around and keep out of her wind and get downwind of her. It means going 40 m to get into 20m which is the comfort zone for the bow I ad. OKOKOKOK Jeff I had the wheelie but I had my reasons (I have not kept up trad proficiency lately and the alternative was a bang stick and if I had that there would be no experience or story).

So I drop the backpack. I have a quick squizz and her head is down. We're 60m apart and the wind is getting flukey. Well as the Scots say about golf "never up, never in" I start in to getting on my guts (as the taxpayers would expect) to get around her. We are making good progress and I am wondering whether this will be the one with the bow. I've closed the gap by 30m and she is not downwind. She's propped - maybe found some good tucker and generally having a relaxed time. About half an hour has passed and it is colder than a mother in law's kiss and I am sweating like a pig in a sauna.

Take another squizz through the glasses and she's getting fidgety. OK. Wait. Then with her down hill to my left and the wind on the back of my head there is a shift. On my right cheek.

There is a noise from her (and she was on her own) that beat hands down the blasts coming from the swags referred to above and I have a squizz and she is pronking around in a circle and then melts into the scrub.

All over.

Friends - I am still on a high. OK - she winded me. She never saw or heard me.

I pegged on and covered a good 10km of easy to rugged terrain Sneaking up on rock wallabies, a wedgie in a tree and a joey nuzzling its mum and heaps more besides.

I reckon I saw more today in 4 hours than most greenie bushwalkers have seen in a lifetime. And they reckon we get the buzz from killing stuff. Muggles.

The romance was shattered by mine host, after hearing a less sentimental version of the above saying:

"If you'd taken my 7mm", he said, pointing to a gunrack that had 2 12gauge scatter guns on it, let the record show, "you'd have venison on the table".

Fair call. But he aint a romantic or tragic except he barracks for the Eels.

And many apologies to a colleague waiting for a bow. Next weekend. I promise.

[bigbob]

Just love your turn of phrase L/P. It make 's for some highly entertaining reading, and I enjoyed your little ramble [ both literal and perambulatory] thanks.

[looseplucker]

Cheers Bob! Let the record show I kept up my batting average on this property for spraining my ankle in concealed wombat holes and set a personal best by going face first into a creek. Which is partially spring and snow fed and I was 75% into the game by then, panting like a politician in a room full of kissable babies so it was rawther bracing. And my camos needed a wash.

I had the time of my life. I am sore in the most unusual places.

[Stickbow Hunter]

All good except the wheelie bit. Love our Aussie bush and you seem to have had a great day out enjoying it mate.

Jeff

[looseplucker]

I KNEW you would say that Jeff. OKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOK. I'll get back practising with the twigs and bent stick already. Sheesh. Go out hunting and there is always a critic.

[rodlonq]

If only your stalking was as good as your story telling John, you'd have fresh meat in the safe at all times. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers...... Rod

[Stickbow Hunter]

If only your stalking was as good as your story telling John, you'd have fresh meat in the safe at all times.

Ouch!

Go out hunting and there is always a critic.

Jeff

[looseplucker]

You wound me Sir Rodger.....But I had 5 hours in the best country that the good Lord ever gave us and it is all true. I wish that you, Jeff and everyone else had been there...

[hazard]

The mix was Gen Y and Old Fart. And there were 10 of them and 3 of us

What and no mushroom debates?

The chaps had been busting clays most of the arvo, riding trail bikes and generally having a blast.

I'm surprised you saw anything

Now generally I see a fair bit of wildlife, like the snakes that Hazard nearly treads on - poor things - he terrifies them

Thats harsh I was teaching him the foxtrot!

"If you'd taken my 7mm", he said, pointing to a gunrack that had 2 12gauge scatter guns on it, let the record show, "you'd have venison on the table".

This guy must hate the scenery and he just has to fish with Dynamite right?

Good read there LP

Hazard