bowhunting + gamefishing

[clinton miller]

i fulfilled one of my long term goals on the weekend. i have always wanted to bowfish a big shark. i have put a few hours into getting my gear ready trying to foresee what will happen when you put an arrow in one. i have never wanted to just shoot one and run it onto a float....boring. so i knew i would need a system with a drag. i tried to make a handline with a drag system to use on the bow but i couldn't get it right so i thought, 'why don't i just run it onto a rod'? so that was my plan. i got myself a new rod and put a shimano TLD 15 reel on it and spooled it with 50# braid. i have made a custom bracket to hold a handline as the spool for the bow. i put 18m of 130# dacron trolling line on the bow to shoot with then the back end of this was tied to the rod. the plan was to shoot it let the fish take the line off the bow then give it some with the rod!

with my grand plans in place i set out on saturday to try and get a shark. i anchored up in a what i thought would be a good spot then over the side went my berley buckets. with the outgoing tide a nice berley trail was extending beyond the back of the boat. now the waiting game....

about 2 hours later i saw the 1st shark, quite small but it was a shark. then a bigger one came in. they wouldn't come close though, staying out of range. so i tied a big chunk of fish on to a length of rope and threw it out there. well come in spinner......i dragged it back and a big one followed it right to the boat. now i had to quickly get my gear ready to shoot. he was right on me when i was ready. i just drew..... then all i remember is the arrow hitting the water and him taking of with it!!

i stood there watching my plan unfold before me. the line was peeling of the bow and once i had him on the rod i reached over and pulled the slip knot i tied in the anchor rope and i was free to fight.

about 1/2 hour later i had a tiger shark beside the boat. i nocked him on the head and gaffed him in the tail so i could get a rope around his tail so i could tow him to a nearby island beach for a photo and dressing out.

a big goal behind me. what a day. it's great when a plan comes together. he turned out to be 8' long.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Wonderful! Congratulations!

[Wolfgang D]

HELL
Thats one hell of an achievment!!! Good work. Isn't it great when you plan something like that and it all works out!
You got some good tucker there that should last you a while!

Cheers, Wolfgang

[Gringa Bows]

congratulations Clint,there cant be too many people on this planet that can say thet took a tiger shark with a recurve .......................Rod

[otis.drum]

awesome. love it!... do you ever stop where do you get the time to do all this? knapping, buff, bowfishing.... unreal.

[jindydiver]

Outstanding work

[UPTHETOP]

Clint your living the dream mate.

Cheers Wayno

[longbow steve]

In Howard Hills book Hunting the Hard Way(I Think) he hunts under water, will that be your next challenge?
Congratulations Clinton

[otis.drum]

steve, underwater? that would slow the old bow down a bit. there'll be no 200fps bows underwater...


clint, where on the shark did you hit? i see you didn't use a barbed head but wire barbs. how much penetration/pass through? did it tear out much?

[Len]

Fantastic stuff mate !

[Waltron]

What a ripper - that's awesome!
Make sure those jaws go on the mantle piece.

How do Tiger sharks taste?

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Yep, Otis; Hill did hunt sharks underwater. He modified his bow with a triangular ridge on the target side (always forget if that's back or belly, you'd think I'd know by now) to cut through the water with less resistance, and he used a very long arrow.

[otis.drum]

unreal, not sure i'd get in with the sharks target side is back

sorry for getting a bit off track clint.

[piggy]

Mate what an absolute ripper!!!!
Outstanding

[longbowinfected]

Next try for an underwater pass through using an obsidian point.

Are there any bowfishing shark records kept? Points system..?

Kevin

[roscoe]

clinton
thats a nice shark mate. Did you get him off that island i spoke to you about. That whaler shark i shoot was only half the size of your tiger and that gave me a hell of a time. good to see clinton... Ross

[greybeard]

Hi Kevin,

Next try for an underwater pass through using an obsidian point.

Are there any bowfishing shark records kept? Points system..?Kevin

I believe ABA still recognise bow fishing/hunting [two separate divisions].

An aquaintance of mine had his photo [with shark] on the cover of an ABA magazine some 25 years ago.

Daryl.

[clinton miller]

i hit it in the gill slit on the side facing the camera and the head and barbs came out at the base of the pectoral fin on the same side. their skin is really thick. like the shield of a pig.

the jaws are drying as we type.

here is my arrow setup. it has been customised a little bit. i turned up a small adapter to replace the chisel point that comes standard on the garpoon point, that allowed me to glue on a small broadhead. bit of extra hurt. i used a cable slide system to eliminate the chance of losing anything due to arrow breakage.

ross- yeah it was off that island.

[greybeard]

Hi Clinton,

Did you have to check with the State Government [N.T.?] regarding the area you wanted to bow fish?

I believe that in Queensland waters you can only bowhunt/bowfish in gazetted spear gun areas.

Daryl.

[Jeffro]

Hi Clinton,

Did you have to check with the State Government [N.T.?] regarding the area you wanted to bow fish?

I believe that in Queensland waters you can only bowhunt/bowfish in gazetted spear gun areas.

Daryl.

geez Greybeard there's always one isnt there.how bout a bit of praise for the bloke instead.




Well done Clinton I have often wanted to try a setup like that but my idea just involved the arrow being tied directly to the rod and another person holding the rod where I just do the shooting.
You have gone all the way and Should be well proud of yourself .That is the best thing I have seen on any of the forums for a long time and I really hope you can show us more sharks using your method and other fish too.

totally awesome

[greybeard]

Jeffro, I was not trying to diminish Clitons achievements, he has excelled in all aspects of hunting with the bow and arrow.

I merely asked a relevant question.

Daryl.

[Jeffro]

ok mate sorry for jumping the gun.
In the past there have been certain individuals who immediately go for the negatives and it very discouraging to see.

[greybeard]

Hi Jeffro,

My concern is that all forms of hunting are being put under the microscope by the 'anti' and 'libbers'.

If hunting is to survive in the land of Oz we must cross the 't's' and dot the 'i's' and make sure the hunter follows government legislation.

Unfortunately bowhunters are spread far and wide across Australia and although it may be a difficult task they need to take on the government as a united body to set up a framework for ligimate and sustainable hunting.

The 'anti' and 'libbers' appear to be well organized, what about the bowhunters?

Daryl.

[aussiehunter]

clinton good on ya....

ive a few rigs ready to go,im using the ams reel,with 600lb gator line,heads are the innerloc 3 barb with a 3 balde cut on contact heads
..


i dont know if its just bloody qld but we cant shoot over 1.5 metre sharks and rays


good on ya again

chat soon
pat

[clinton miller]

greybeard- don't worry it's all legal. here in the NT one can bowfish in both salt and freshwater. there is no size limit for sharks here also, although there is a few no take species of shark, namely any sawfish, northern river shark and speartooth shark.

i believe in QLD one can bowfish anywhere except in designated non spearfishing zones. no fresh water, salt water only. bowfishing is considered spearfishing in regulatory matters.

pat- yeah, i've heard that there's a maximum size in QLD now. seems i got lucky having got a big one while i'm here in the NT. good luck with your shark hunting. some more info on your gear would be good. pm me if you like.

[Stickbow Hunter]

Now that's something different. I'm sure you were working to get him to the boat - congrats!

Jeff

[otis.drum]

clinton, i think the laws in qld have changed this year. i don't think you can bowfish (from boat, compared to bowhunting for fish (from land)) anymore, and i think shark sizes are max of 1m. at least that what i was told.

[BowDonkey]

You Aussies never cease to amaze me! Awesome!

[roscoe]

Since moving to queensland, i checked up with the dpi. The dpi officer in port douglas said i couldnt bowfish at all? So I telephone the australian bowhunters association and they did a great job and telephoned the dpi and i think even the officer in port douglas and completely clarified the answer. What clinton said is correct in queensland, From memory the law said, you can bowfish tidal waters, except, closed tidal waters and no fresh water at all including lakes etc. I know that these rules change by state to state. I would like to say here, that the ABA person i spoke to did a great job in not only informing me of the laws of bowfishing in queensland, but, also informing the dpi office of the laws as well. You will find that some of DPI officers are very grey in that area of the fisheries laws.

roscoe

[roscoe]

sorry otis i should have read your thread more carefully. I know who iam going to telephone for updated info on this law and my first call is not the dpi office.

roscoe