Still looking for the big one
05-14-2009, 07:51 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location:
Posts: 23
Still looking for the big one
G'day fellas, this is my first bowhunting post on here so I hope i got it in the right place
I'm Ben from Central Australia near Uluru. We bowhunt a lot in the desert here, mostly for camel which are feral and a huge environmental problem. It also makes great ribs, steak and bbq so I dont need much of an excuse to go for a hunt.
My mate just came over from the dark side last weekend- I sold him my old bow with sights n kit ready to shoot - and he sold his crossbow to pay for it.
And I got a call the following wednesday to say he had finally dropped a camel with it. I told him it was cause the bow remembered what to do and helped him out even tho he is crap (He is a good mate!)
Anyways the boys live out at an aboriginal community in the Western Desert area of NT Australia and after that initial bit of success they came up with a plan. Basically they will try and shoot a camel every week, take the best cuts in the eskys and throw as much as possible of the rest on the back of the utefor the camp dogs. My mate is a chef so he is planning on holding cooking classes with the young people as part of his youth worker job out there and trying to get everyone into eating camel more. Only snag is he now needs some fresh dead ones.. Could I help out? You bet!
So we headed out all tooled up ready to go. Had a few quiet bevvies that night and were off early the next morning. The camels are getting pretty toey round there, they see a car at about 300m and they run now. Apparently a lot of locals and the grader drivers have been shooting at them from the roads. So we had a bit of trouble getting in on any and had a failed stalk and ambush ( you spot the camels, do a big 1km circuit out in front to a "pinch" in the land where they are likely to walk then have the two remaining guys try to stalk in on the mob from the other direction. Often the camels spot the stalkers but not the ambush guy who will get a clean shot as the move past. This time the went the other direction totally....
Anyway we had pretty much given up and were heading back the 20kms or so to home when we drove thru a scattered mob, we jumped off and the car kept going. Luckily the ones off to the left wandered back past us trying to rejoin the rest of the mob and I nailed the bull low up the leg. No stalking involved just a bit of luck really. But meat is meat and we loaded up the ute with this big boy.
Was funny as driving back in camp - like being the Pied Piper of dogs, there were about 40 of them following us as we drove around the community. Then talk about some blues as we threw out the meat
still all of them were full by the end.
After lunch we put in a stalk on a little mob of 3 satelite bulls feeding. It was a long way across some pretty open country but my mate followed me in to 38m on this boy - but he just wouldnt turn for a shot!
we waited for about 5 minutes for it to turn for a better quartering away angle and by then my poor mate had a shocking case of the nerves and missed totally. I shouldnt laugh but it is a pretty big thing to entirely miss!
Anyways they trotted away from the arrow where it hit the dirt and pulled up at 60m. I asked him if he wanted another shot but he was like "naa i cant even hit it at 40m so not much point tryingat 60m" So I took the shot and it went down nicely too after a short run.
And yeah - more cutting up.. This time for the freezers and everyone round the community (including us) who missed out from the mornings meat delivery run. Luckily we had a chainsaw this time and the axes....
Next morning was really nice, coolish and no bloody flies now. Really pretty country I reckon.
We were pretty right for meat so we went for a bit of an explore trying to find a permanent water hole which is well known in local aboriginal stories etc but the locals dont go there any more... We had trouble finding the track cause no-one had been out for about a year or so but got on the right direction in the end.
And found camels. They were in a great spot for a stalk so again my mate followed me in to about 50m where we ran out of cover. We were in tight behind the last little bush watching the group of 5 feed just down the little rise in front when one came wandering up towards us and was about to cut our wind at 25m. I looked back at my mate and go "take the shot man" and he doesnt have an arrow even out of the quivver.. heh heh, dont think he will make that mistake again.
Anyway he just says - "I cant" cause he is caught out in the open and the camel is pretty much right on top of us - so i draw behind the bush and as the camel takes the next step i hit it on the crease...
Dunno why, mebbe i looked at it instead of focussing on the the meaty part of the leg. A crease hit or behind from direct broadside just doesnt finish then fast. Often you dont recover them at all. The camels all bolt off, look around after about 200m, cant see us and just walk away as they always do.
the boys run back to the ute and i direct them from the hilltop via the 2-way in a big loop out thru the scrub. My mate gets dropped out in a good ambush spot - the ute is run off out of sight before the camels get close (they ran from it directly they saw it) and he manages to finish the camel with a nice quartering away shot as the hit one walked past him. I couldnt really see anything as im about 2kms away with the binos. But my mate reckoned it looked like it was doing fine. Definately a group effort this one and good to put it down for keeps.
yeah not a bad weekend all round. Oh yeah we did a measure on the 3 heads, none were over about 30 points and my best one is 30 1/2. Record is about 32.. So the hunt continues for that really big one!
cheers for reading
benno
Equipment
Bowtech Guardian70lb bow, 600g arrows using 210g Outback Supreme FEs broadheads (an Aussie big game head) and Easton FullMetal Jackets.
I'm Ben from Central Australia near Uluru. We bowhunt a lot in the desert here, mostly for camel which are feral and a huge environmental problem. It also makes great ribs, steak and bbq so I dont need much of an excuse to go for a hunt.
My mate just came over from the dark side last weekend- I sold him my old bow with sights n kit ready to shoot - and he sold his crossbow to pay for it.
And I got a call the following wednesday to say he had finally dropped a camel with it. I told him it was cause the bow remembered what to do and helped him out even tho he is crap (He is a good mate!)
Anyways the boys live out at an aboriginal community in the Western Desert area of NT Australia and after that initial bit of success they came up with a plan. Basically they will try and shoot a camel every week, take the best cuts in the eskys and throw as much as possible of the rest on the back of the utefor the camp dogs. My mate is a chef so he is planning on holding cooking classes with the young people as part of his youth worker job out there and trying to get everyone into eating camel more. Only snag is he now needs some fresh dead ones.. Could I help out? You bet!
So we headed out all tooled up ready to go. Had a few quiet bevvies that night and were off early the next morning. The camels are getting pretty toey round there, they see a car at about 300m and they run now. Apparently a lot of locals and the grader drivers have been shooting at them from the roads. So we had a bit of trouble getting in on any and had a failed stalk and ambush ( you spot the camels, do a big 1km circuit out in front to a "pinch" in the land where they are likely to walk then have the two remaining guys try to stalk in on the mob from the other direction. Often the camels spot the stalkers but not the ambush guy who will get a clean shot as the move past. This time the went the other direction totally....
Anyway we had pretty much given up and were heading back the 20kms or so to home when we drove thru a scattered mob, we jumped off and the car kept going. Luckily the ones off to the left wandered back past us trying to rejoin the rest of the mob and I nailed the bull low up the leg. No stalking involved just a bit of luck really. But meat is meat and we loaded up the ute with this big boy.
Was funny as driving back in camp - like being the Pied Piper of dogs, there were about 40 of them following us as we drove around the community. Then talk about some blues as we threw out the meat
still all of them were full by the end.
After lunch we put in a stalk on a little mob of 3 satelite bulls feeding. It was a long way across some pretty open country but my mate followed me in to 38m on this boy - but he just wouldnt turn for a shot!
we waited for about 5 minutes for it to turn for a better quartering away angle and by then my poor mate had a shocking case of the nerves and missed totally. I shouldnt laugh but it is a pretty big thing to entirely miss!
Anyways they trotted away from the arrow where it hit the dirt and pulled up at 60m. I asked him if he wanted another shot but he was like "naa i cant even hit it at 40m so not much point tryingat 60m" So I took the shot and it went down nicely too after a short run.
And yeah - more cutting up.. This time for the freezers and everyone round the community (including us) who missed out from the mornings meat delivery run. Luckily we had a chainsaw this time and the axes....
Next morning was really nice, coolish and no bloody flies now. Really pretty country I reckon.
We were pretty right for meat so we went for a bit of an explore trying to find a permanent water hole which is well known in local aboriginal stories etc but the locals dont go there any more... We had trouble finding the track cause no-one had been out for about a year or so but got on the right direction in the end.
And found camels. They were in a great spot for a stalk so again my mate followed me in to about 50m where we ran out of cover. We were in tight behind the last little bush watching the group of 5 feed just down the little rise in front when one came wandering up towards us and was about to cut our wind at 25m. I looked back at my mate and go "take the shot man" and he doesnt have an arrow even out of the quivver.. heh heh, dont think he will make that mistake again.
Anyway he just says - "I cant" cause he is caught out in the open and the camel is pretty much right on top of us - so i draw behind the bush and as the camel takes the next step i hit it on the crease...
Dunno why, mebbe i looked at it instead of focussing on the the meaty part of the leg. A crease hit or behind from direct broadside just doesnt finish then fast. Often you dont recover them at all. The camels all bolt off, look around after about 200m, cant see us and just walk away as they always do.
the boys run back to the ute and i direct them from the hilltop via the 2-way in a big loop out thru the scrub. My mate gets dropped out in a good ambush spot - the ute is run off out of sight before the camels get close (they ran from it directly they saw it) and he manages to finish the camel with a nice quartering away shot as the hit one walked past him. I couldnt really see anything as im about 2kms away with the binos. But my mate reckoned it looked like it was doing fine. Definately a group effort this one and good to put it down for keeps.
yeah not a bad weekend all round. Oh yeah we did a measure on the 3 heads, none were over about 30 points and my best one is 30 1/2. Record is about 32.. So the hunt continues for that really big one!
cheers for reading
benno
Equipment
Bowtech Guardian70lb bow, 600g arrows using 210g Outback Supreme FEs broadheads (an Aussie big game head) and Easton FullMetal Jackets.
05-15-2009, 08:44 PM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Central, Alaska
Posts: 1,774
RE: Still looking for the big one
ORIGINAL: Ben / PA
Nice post man. Welcome. Sounds like a blast. You had me at "ribs, steak, and bbq."[8D]
Nice post man. Welcome. Sounds like a blast. You had me at "ribs, steak, and bbq."[8D]
05-17-2009, 03:19 PM
#9
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location:
Posts: 23
RE: Still looking for the big one
Thanks for the welcome and all the kind words fellas.Its always fun to meet some like minded bowhunters from round the world. If you ever visit Aus and are coming to see Uluru let me know for sure.
Camel is great eating - think something that tastes a little like a cross between lamb and beef. Just cutting it up is an effort, live weight for a bull camel is over 500kgs thats about 1100lbs up to a maximum of around1650 lbs.You sure fill some eskies with a couple of those boys!!
My camel setup is
Bowtech Guardian at70lbs , 600g arrows using 210g Outback Supreme FEs broadheads (an Aussie 2 blade big game head) and Easton FullMetal Jacket arrows. You dont get many pass thrus tho =)
Camel is great eating - think something that tastes a little like a cross between lamb and beef. Just cutting it up is an effort, live weight for a bull camel is over 500kgs thats about 1100lbs up to a maximum of around1650 lbs.You sure fill some eskies with a couple of those boys!!
My camel setup is
Bowtech Guardian at70lbs , 600g arrows using 210g Outback Supreme FEs broadheads (an Aussie 2 blade big game head) and Easton FullMetal Jacket arrows. You dont get many pass thrus tho =)
