ole one tusk
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:12 pm
I just came back from a week in the cape at bowhunters lodge and there was 4 hunters...Johnno,Adrian myself and Mark who we met for the first time at Cairns airport.
I noticed a bloke have a look at Johnno's bowcase as it was coming through the baggage collection.
He must of thought it was his and then put it back down so I said...
"you going to Weipa mate?"
"yep" came the reply "names Mark"
After the introductions we were all mates instantly and he told a great yarn and was good value for the week we were there.A good bloke all round.
I hunted with Adrian for the first 2 days,Johnno for the next 2 and Mark for the last 2.
Tuesday morning 6\11\07
Johnno had just taken a good boar off a bait that Larry our guide for the day had taken us to and I was keen to do a walk along a good looking creek that was at the back of the bait.All the pigs on the bait had taken off into this creek earlier when they got spooked.
Upon entering the creek we had gone no more than a couple of hundred metres and it was such noisy going on the crunchy leaves that its extremely challenging work to take a pig out of it .
Anyway above the noise of 2 blokes crunching along through the creek I heard some crunching going on on top of the bank to the right that was drowning out the noise we were making.
It was the sound of a lot of sows and suckers feeding through the dry leaves and bushes of the rainforesty type scrub that lined the banks.I couldnt see how many there were but it sounded like a good 20 of them at least
It was pretty hard to get a shot on any of them cause it was so thick and so we left it and continued down the river bed.
This creek had a lot of muddy water holes in it with plenty of pig tracks and wallows.Some of these waterholes were not a light brown muddy color like the majority they were a dark brown murky color and I wondered if there were any salties in them.
A little further on and I spotted a boar trot through the dry bed and up the bank and stop at the top.I tried to put in a stalk but by the time I got up there it was in the bush, only maybe 30 metres out but as I tried to get closer it seemed to be moving further away cause I could hear it crunching around.It moved into the position where it was downwind from me and I knew it was gonna be a fruitless effort to pusue it .
We continued on down as quietly as possible and came to a point where there was a bend around to the left , we were walking along about halfway up the bank . I carefully checked to see if anything was below us and also around the bend from our position cause I could see there was water and also big fallen logs.
Another step and there was movement and noise from maybe 3 or 4 metres directly in front and below us . A scurvy lookin little dingo came out from under the bank we were on and stopped 5 metres away, side on and unsure of what had distubed it .
I drew back , aimed and fired...and missed,
just under him it went.This dingo had a body no bigger than a hare but anyway I quickly nocked another arrow cause it ran up the opposite bank and stopped broadside at about 15 metres.
I led it as it was running and was about to fire but thought better of it.
Then left of where it first was I saw a boar.It was backed into the big fallen logs and was facing me at 5 metres.
It could only just see me cause it was slightly around the bend so I moved my head back out of its view and motioned to Johnno that there was something more there.
Then with fingers on the string I drew back and edged around for a shot.The boar then started to move,it ran side on and then directly away from me the same path the dingo took and I tried to shoot it down through its back.
The arrow went behind it by bugger all and I really have to remember to lead them a bit more next time.
I quickly nocked another arrow and led it again as it got to the top of the opposite bank and it stopped for a look. At 15 metres I let one fly and hit it right in the point of the shoulder.
The boar took off and before i got to the top where i'd hit it I heard a lot of crashing noise and then a splash maybe 20 metres ahead where it had run.
It turned out the bend we were on had the creek go about 100 metres further up and do a hairpin turn and come back so over the bank was the same creek about 10 metres across from the top where i hit the pig.
There was a largish water hole in this section and i noticed some small waves rippling across it.A film of what must be pig urine and other filth formed on the surface of the water and where i'd last heard the pig it was broken in the spot directly below.
It couldn't have died and fallen in I thought? No it must have just run through and was now long gone.
The arrow had gone in about 10 inches and snapped off on a tree as it ran and we picked it up and there was blood for about 6 inches of it.
The was also a blood trail.
Me and Johnno follwed this trail to the point where it was a pig pad track forking off in 2 directions and neither way had any more blood spots.
We checked the slopey bank and yes there were the spots again.
Then I was feeling more confident but this water hole looked very murky and potentially croc worthy.
I snapped down a thin tall tree and removed the branches and began scraping around in the water.
After about 5 minutes of this I called to Johnno I think ive found it.It was hard to move it but after a while this leg rolled up and I grabbed it.
We dragged it onto the log in the photo.
The boar rolled in up the back of the photo maybe 10 metres from where it is on the log ,you can see where it disturbed the leaf covering on its way down.
As I dragged it along it wasnt till Johnno helped that its head came out of the water cause he was a heavy bugger and I saw he had only 1 tusk which was broken.Had he had the full set I think it would have been a goodun.
Well theres always next time but it was an unreal pig to get especially with having to follow the trail into the water and then actually finding it I was pretty happy.
I noticed a bloke have a look at Johnno's bowcase as it was coming through the baggage collection.
He must of thought it was his and then put it back down so I said...
"you going to Weipa mate?"
"yep" came the reply "names Mark"
After the introductions we were all mates instantly and he told a great yarn and was good value for the week we were there.A good bloke all round.
I hunted with Adrian for the first 2 days,Johnno for the next 2 and Mark for the last 2.
Tuesday morning 6\11\07
Johnno had just taken a good boar off a bait that Larry our guide for the day had taken us to and I was keen to do a walk along a good looking creek that was at the back of the bait.All the pigs on the bait had taken off into this creek earlier when they got spooked.
Upon entering the creek we had gone no more than a couple of hundred metres and it was such noisy going on the crunchy leaves that its extremely challenging work to take a pig out of it .
Anyway above the noise of 2 blokes crunching along through the creek I heard some crunching going on on top of the bank to the right that was drowning out the noise we were making.
It was the sound of a lot of sows and suckers feeding through the dry leaves and bushes of the rainforesty type scrub that lined the banks.I couldnt see how many there were but it sounded like a good 20 of them at least
It was pretty hard to get a shot on any of them cause it was so thick and so we left it and continued down the river bed.
This creek had a lot of muddy water holes in it with plenty of pig tracks and wallows.Some of these waterholes were not a light brown muddy color like the majority they were a dark brown murky color and I wondered if there were any salties in them.
A little further on and I spotted a boar trot through the dry bed and up the bank and stop at the top.I tried to put in a stalk but by the time I got up there it was in the bush, only maybe 30 metres out but as I tried to get closer it seemed to be moving further away cause I could hear it crunching around.It moved into the position where it was downwind from me and I knew it was gonna be a fruitless effort to pusue it .
We continued on down as quietly as possible and came to a point where there was a bend around to the left , we were walking along about halfway up the bank . I carefully checked to see if anything was below us and also around the bend from our position cause I could see there was water and also big fallen logs.
Another step and there was movement and noise from maybe 3 or 4 metres directly in front and below us . A scurvy lookin little dingo came out from under the bank we were on and stopped 5 metres away, side on and unsure of what had distubed it .
I drew back , aimed and fired...and missed,
just under him it went.This dingo had a body no bigger than a hare but anyway I quickly nocked another arrow cause it ran up the opposite bank and stopped broadside at about 15 metres.
I led it as it was running and was about to fire but thought better of it.
Then left of where it first was I saw a boar.It was backed into the big fallen logs and was facing me at 5 metres.
It could only just see me cause it was slightly around the bend so I moved my head back out of its view and motioned to Johnno that there was something more there.
Then with fingers on the string I drew back and edged around for a shot.The boar then started to move,it ran side on and then directly away from me the same path the dingo took and I tried to shoot it down through its back.
The arrow went behind it by bugger all and I really have to remember to lead them a bit more next time.
I quickly nocked another arrow and led it again as it got to the top of the opposite bank and it stopped for a look. At 15 metres I let one fly and hit it right in the point of the shoulder.
The boar took off and before i got to the top where i'd hit it I heard a lot of crashing noise and then a splash maybe 20 metres ahead where it had run.
It turned out the bend we were on had the creek go about 100 metres further up and do a hairpin turn and come back so over the bank was the same creek about 10 metres across from the top where i hit the pig.
There was a largish water hole in this section and i noticed some small waves rippling across it.A film of what must be pig urine and other filth formed on the surface of the water and where i'd last heard the pig it was broken in the spot directly below.
It couldn't have died and fallen in I thought? No it must have just run through and was now long gone.
The arrow had gone in about 10 inches and snapped off on a tree as it ran and we picked it up and there was blood for about 6 inches of it.
The was also a blood trail.
Me and Johnno follwed this trail to the point where it was a pig pad track forking off in 2 directions and neither way had any more blood spots.
We checked the slopey bank and yes there were the spots again.
Then I was feeling more confident but this water hole looked very murky and potentially croc worthy.
I snapped down a thin tall tree and removed the branches and began scraping around in the water.
After about 5 minutes of this I called to Johnno I think ive found it.It was hard to move it but after a while this leg rolled up and I grabbed it.
We dragged it onto the log in the photo.
The boar rolled in up the back of the photo maybe 10 metres from where it is on the log ,you can see where it disturbed the leaf covering on its way down.
As I dragged it along it wasnt till Johnno helped that its head came out of the water cause he was a heavy bugger and I saw he had only 1 tusk which was broken.Had he had the full set I think it would have been a goodun.
Well theres always next time but it was an unreal pig to get especially with having to follow the trail into the water and then actually finding it I was pretty happy.
