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01-12-2009, 08:35 PM

#1

RockSteady

Spike

Join Date: Jan 2009

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Posts: 22

My sons first Boar

Ben my 12 1/2 year old son had been coming with us on our annual Cape trip for about 3-4 years and he was keen to get his first Big Cape York Boar. He had his Martin Jaguar set to 40 pounds and he was shooting Terminator Carbon shafts with razor sharp Ironbark broad heads weighing about 390g, he was ready to take on a Big Boar with Dad backing him up.. On previous trips he had shot some sows and small boars but now he was ready to take on the Big Boars. We had been hunting for a couple of days walking the dry creek beds trying to find a bedded boar and as luck would have it Ben had not had an opportunity to shoot yet. Both Roland and I had taken a couple of boars so I told Ben we would not shoot another Boar until he got one.
It was getting late in the day and we had been walking for quite sometime when we got back to where the creek crossed the track our vehicle was parked on, being this late I would normally have walked back along the track to the LandCruiser as most of the bedded Boars would have started moving about and feeding by now. I looked over at Ben and I could tell he was starting to feel tired and a little upset as we had walked a lot today and it looked as though he would have to wait until tomorrow to get his chance. I new the creek we where on only went for a couple of hundred meters with a small fork 50 meters after it crossed the track and then just petered out. I turned to Ben and said what the hell we may as well check the rest of the creek before we called it a day, a big grin came across his face and off we went, we came to the fork in the creek and decided we would take the r/h fork as we had hunted the L/H fork earlier in the week. Ben and Roland had just started to walk the R/H fork with one on each side of the creek with me following 20 yards behind. As I turned right to follow my son up the R/H fork I looked back up the left fork and though the small bend with a bushy tree covering it just 20 meters up the fork looked too good to walk past so I quickly walked over to the other branch of the creek for a quick look, I stopped because as soon as I got near the edge of the creek I saw a good boar laying broadside only 10 meters away. I backed out and whistled to Ben to come over. As soon as he saw me make the Boar signal (or my big grin) he almost started to run and then I saw the change come over him as he became a determined young Bowhunter.
I stood and placed an arrow on my string to back my son up, he came in and selected a razor sharp arrow from his full quiver and slowly placed it on his string, his shoulders travelled up and down as he settled his nerves and then the stalk started. The sun was touching the horizon and the shadows covered the whole area, I whispered to Ben that the Boar was laying broadside up against the opposite bank with his nose pointing up the creek, Ben slowly started to stalk staying low and slow until he could see the bristles on the neck of the boar over the bank of the creek, the boar was laying on the opposite side so Ben slowly drew his bow back and settled in for a shot, he slowly rose until he had a clear view of the Boars chest and settled his pin tight in behind the front leg. He squeezed the trigger on his “Little Bitty Goose” release and the razor sharp BlackStump Iron Bark flew straight through the Boars chest and only stopped when it was buried into the soft dirt the Boar was lying on. From where I was standing it looked good to see his arrow buried to the flights so tight behind the Boars front leg. The boar burst to life woken from his sleep only to enter the never ending sleep within 4 meters, Ben had gotten his first Big Cape York Boar. To say he was excited would be an understatement and I don’t think I was far behind him, big grins and handshakes all round as we went in to check the ivory out. Ben later asked me if I saw how much he was shaking and I told him from where I stood he looked as cool as a cucumber. We took the normal photos and video of his trophy and I don’t know if he came down off his high for a couple of days.

I am proud of my son’s achievements with his bow, I have been taking him hunting since he was in nappies and have watched him evolving into a competent hunter absorbing knowledge from every hunter we hunt with and gaining experience about the environment and different game species we hunt.

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