I got back this week from my trip to the Top End. I did have a good time but I didn’t get as much hunting in as I would have liked but that’s just one of those things.
We mainly hunted late afternoons as the buff were leaving their bedding spots to start feeding. I managed to get reasonably close a few times.
There were three nice bulls in the area I hunted mostly and I got to see two of them. The biggest one I got to see the first afternoon out but he was on the other side of the billabong. I had buff walk past at 35m (metres) one afternoon and a bull was on the far side of them but I didn’t see him but my mate Chris did.
One afternoon we blew it badly – we didn’t see a bedded bull and he jumped up 25m from us.
How can you miss seeing an animal the size of a bull buff you ask? He was lying tucked up against some gum tree suckers that were about 5ft tall. I guess our eyes scanned over the top of him because of the trees. I have heard of a mate getting to within 8m of a bull before he saw it so they can blend in quite well. I came to hate that crashing sound as the buff made some distance between them and us.
Another afternoon we got to the side of a mob that were feeding in amongst the trees. We got as close as we could but found some had already got past us. We couldn’t get close enough without getting spotted so we stayed put. It wasn’t long and a cow and a couple of young ones fed out past us at about 20m. They ended up turning back toward us and I had three of them within 12m of me with a young bull only 5 – 6 metres broadside to me. I could have shot any of them but they were only small and not what I wanted. It was a real buzz all the same.
What did amaze me with this encounter was when the cow circled back she crossed the pad we had walked along a few minutes earlier. She sniffed the pad and I thought that would have been it, she would have bolted, but she didn’t really react much at all. She did look up and right at me but obviously didn’t make me out and I was in full view of her. She just went back to feeding.
On a number of occasions I was at 35m and even 20m but the former distance was too far for a shot and with the latter they were onto us so were front on with no shot presented. The wind was a problem (as it often is) as it was blowing strong and constant in the open but once in the timer and around the billabongs it kept changing direction on us.
The buff are really switched on and are every bit as good as deer IMO. Their eye sight and sense of smell is incredible. As an example, out on the flood plain we saw a huge cow come out feeding. We watched her and her companions through the binos for awhile from about 600 metres. There was no way of getting to them and the moment we moved they spotted us.
In reality it was still way too wet for the hunting to be at its best. The late wet season meant that there was still a lot of water around and the buff and pigs could wander anywhere rather than having to come into permanent watering areas. It will be better in another six weeks or so.
I chose not to hunt alone for safety reasons. Buff can be very unpredictable and dangerous and I didn’t want to be hunting them alone without any gun back up. Mind you we were hunting them a good bit of the time without back up but it kind of feels better when there are two of you although it probably isn’t much safer.
You also have to watch out for crocs as they can be anywhere and you could very easily walk up on one when walking in the wetlands. Anyway that was my choice and I know that it did limit my time hunting somewhat but I really don’t regret the decision cause I am still here.
On the second last day another mate, Mick Barrett, came out and hunted with me on the property I was staying on and we really covered a lot of ground. We actually found away out to an island on the flood plain – we only had to cross a bit of mud and water in a place that we could see and thought safe enough to cross.
On the island we were about a minute from being in a good position on a group of cows. The one had good horns and they passed broadside at 35m – so close yet so far. We also saw another HUGE cow which would have been around 105 points (bigger than a lot of bulls) but there was no way of getting to her as croc heaven was between us.
On the last day Mick took me to another property about two hours away. It is a huge place and is a hunter’s paradise. In the dry times there are thousands of pigs and there are heaps of buff. It is 1,100 square kilometres in size!!! We were only hunting the pigs as the buff cost a lot of dollars to shoot.
As mentioned above, it was really too early in the year to be there as it was too wet and the grass was very high and you couldn’t see the pigs and they were not concentrated on the water. However it was great just to be taken there and see new country.
Walking around one swampy area I saw around 30 buff but didn’t check them out real well as my wallet wouldn’t let me.
Three of us took a pig each for the day with Mick’s boar being the biggest and he was only a young one – see photos. Having said this I had a really great day just taking in the scenery, hunting and having a laugh with mates.
Talking about laughs I will mention one more little event which happened. Mick and co know of my interest in native finches and like to take the mickey out of me when they can.
We were sneaking along a very narrow little creek when Mick spotted some pigs only about 8 – 10 metres in front of him. He attracted my attention as I was only about 10m away on the other side of the creek but I couldn’t see them as they were down in the creek out of site. One came out a bit and I could see it through the grass. I was doing my best to inch forward to be able to get a shot.
At the same time I could here and see some doves and a number of Longtail Finches in the tree above Micks head. The next thing I hear a low whistle from Mick which was to get my attention. I looked over and Mick goes Cooooooooo! Cooooooooo! Good one mate as we both cracked up laughing. Oh yeah the pigs decided to move off into the grass and we didn’t get a shot – serious stuff this bowhunting.
That brought my 2006 NT trip to and end. Although I didn’t get to do a lot of hunting the trip was memorable in so many ways – new country, the hunting, the wild life and great mates. I thoroughly enjoyed myself all thanks to my very good mates up there, thanks fellas and ladies.
I have attached a few photos so I hope you enjoy them. They aren’t real flash as I was driving a SLR digi camera for the first time and I didn’t have a long zoom.
Jeff
