Author Topic: Back from Australia....WOW! (Read 5842 times)

Ryan Rothhaar · « **on:** June 13, 2005, 09:04:00 AM »

Well guys, sorry to be so long getting posted, but been pretty busy. Got back from Australia a week from yesterday, and all I can say is WOW!!! Amazing hunt, better than I expected. This has to be some of the best wild hunting area left in the world. Saw average of 40-50 buffalo most days(and the guides said things were slow). Got onto a bunch of good stalks and killed a nice buff on the 9th day with Rick McGowan guiding. Rick and I got onto some good pigs too, and I managed to take 4 really dandy boars with tusks in the 7-9 inch range. The buffalo hunt is everything the guys that have been there have told me it would be. Buffalo as hard to approach and as tough as advertised. The pig hunting is great, with the pigs pretty unsophisticated and really fun to stalk. I shot my buffalo at 15 yards after a tense stalk into the middle of the herd resulting in a 10-15 minute staredown. The buff caught us making our last crawl and I ended up shooting over Rick from a low kneeling position with Rick still on hands and knees. Hit the buff good with penetration nearly to the fletching and it went maybe 150 yards before going down. Lots of smiles after that...any one-arrow buffalo is a good deal. Travel to-from Australia was no problem, including importing the animal parts. Great country, I'm sure the Dwarf will post more when he gets back....they had been there a week when I left, his partner took a good bull and Paul was into buffalo and had some great pictures I hope he'll post.

I used a 75lb @ 29 inch MAII Widow, duplex aluminum arrows with modified STOS heads weighing 1000 grains total. No penetration problem on the buffalo, but I hit it far enough forward to avoid the biggest ribs. Shooting a buff in the ribs with an arrow sounds like hitting a plywood board...I'd consider my equipment as pretty much on the light end. Anyone that wants to go needs to do it NOW....the good old days of Australian buffalo hunting are today.

Ryan

The Buff:

A good pig:

TexMex · « **Reply #1 on:** June 13, 2005, 09:34:00 AM »

Welcome back, thanks for sharing.

WaKeDa BT · « **Reply #2 on:** June 13, 2005, 10:50:00 AM »

Congrats on an obviously fantastic hunt and welcome back.

Jake · « **Reply #3 on:** June 13, 2005, 11:24:00 AM »

Very Nice Ryan ! I am glad things worked out for you.

ptaylor · « **Reply #4 on:** June 13, 2005, 12:16:00 PM »

Awesome, I'm green with envy. Congragulations.

JC · « **Reply #5 on:** June 13, 2005, 01:21:00 PM »

Ryan, congrats, quite an accomplishment. Show me a pic of your modified STOS if you will...big fan of those.

And although I've got no desire to chase the buff, tell me more bout the pigs! Unsophisticated you say? Heaven, I say!

Al Kidner · « **Reply #6 on:** June 13, 2005, 03:02:00 PM »

I'm happy for you Ryan my ol mate! Hope to catch up with you next time.

Al in Oz.

bluegrassbowhunter · « **Reply #7 on:** June 13, 2005, 03:09:00 PM »

Man that's a giant buffalo...congrats on such a fine animal.

Joseph · « **Reply #8 on:** June 13, 2005, 04:06:00 PM »

That's cool

congratulations, Joseph

Jack Shanks · « **Reply #9 on:** June 13, 2005, 04:44:00 PM »

Congratulations Ryan ! Nice buff and hogs! I seriously thought about joining Paul when he had the opening and talked with Rick McGowan too. I decided I really needed more time to prepare for the hunt so I thought it best to decline at this time.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It just makes me want to go all the more now!

doctorbrady · « **Reply #10 on:** June 13, 2005, 04:53:00 PM »

Doggonit Ryan,
I have been trying to kick the urge to chase buff next year, but now my bug is in full swing again. Seems I am going to have to book a hunt after I get back from Africa next month. It's just too cool to hunt things that scare the daylights out of you!!!! When is Rick getting back in country?

Don Thomas · « **Reply #11 on:** June 13, 2005, 06:15:00 PM »

For those interested in Aussie buff, we have one unexpected opening in August of this year on Melville Island. The full story of last year's exploratory hunt will appear in the next issue of TBM. I cannot compare the two operations since I have never been to Ric's location and I don't want to get into that anyway. But I can assure you of comparable numbers of buffalo in one of the most exciting wilderness settings I've ever visited. Will be returning in a month. Feel free to contact me at [email protected] for details. Cheers, Don

Raven · « **Reply #12 on:** June 13, 2005, 08:33:00 PM »

Ryan, congrats on a GREAT hunt! Sounds like fun.........Raven

Guru · « **Reply #13 on:** June 13, 2005, 09:06:00 PM »

Ryan, That's awesome man!! For now I can only dream of far off places like Africa and Australia....but some day!!!!!

Congratulations !!!!!

wolf man jeff · « **Reply #14 on:** June 13, 2005, 09:51:00 PM »

hey ryan a real big CONGRATULATIONS.

Jason R. Wesbrock · « **Reply #15 on:** June 13, 2005, 11:48:00 PM »

Congrats, Ryan. I'm glad to hear you had a safe and fun hunt.

Jock · « **Reply #16 on:** June 14, 2005, 12:28:00 AM »

WELL DONE!!

Plug · « **Reply #17 on:** June 14, 2005, 09:55:00 AM »

Way to go Ryan! Did you shoot the dead buff with a snuffer?

hunt it · « **Reply #18 on:** June 14, 2005, 12:03:00 PM »

Well done! Fantastic achievment! Thanks for sharing. Like JC, would love to see how you modified the STOS.

Ryan Rothhaar · « **Reply #19 on:** June 15, 2005, 08:34:00 AM »

Thanks guys.

To answer a few questions from the posts:

Rick came over around the 26th of May, and he will be there for 3 months, so he should be back around the end of August.

As far as the STOS modification goes....not really alot of changing, but pretty important on "hard" animals in my opinion--round off the tip. I ended up filing the tips to a rounded profile of 1/8-1/4 inch width. During my testing I had zero failures with tips of this profile, but substantial amount of rollover with sharp tipped heads (STOS and others). I found the STOS to be as strong, or stronger, than any of the normal traditional type 2-blades out there (tested Grizzly 160's, but not 190's). Also for the buffalo I sharpened the trailing edges. All the pig broadheads came through unscathed, but we never did find the buffalo arrow, we looked around quite a bit too. Maybe Rick will pick it up later.

For J.C.---The pigs may have never seen a human before. You can't give them your wind or they're gone, but they aren't as observant as pigs I've hunted down south. They also move around all day and can be found anywhere, any time. Sneaking into carcasses of animals shot earlier in the hunt is also a productive way to hunt pigs. I killed the big black boar below on the buff carcass.

Here you go, JC!

Didnt get a chance to shoot any Snuffers into the buffalo.

The freshwater Barrimundi fishing is good, also lots of sooty grunters to catch. Only fished about 1 hour while I was there (then found pigs along the river and the fishing pole was abandoned for a bow). Brunner was barri fishing with fly gear when I left.

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Author Topic: Back from Australia....WOW! (Read 5842 times)

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