back from the Outback

[Greyfox54]

Hello Everyone , Just back from my St. Jude's Buff hunt in Austrailia with Mick Baker . First I would like to thank Terry , Doug and everyone else for making these hunts and more possible through the Auction . To say it was a great time would not be doing it justice . Mick runs a first rate operation in some of the remotest areas I have ever been in .I flew from  JFK airport to LA to Sidney to Darwin and finally to some mining town which took about 30 hours of flying time and several hours of layovers . I've always said I wouldn't bungee jump or skydive but if was the only way to get to a hunt then sign me up . The flight was well worth it . After being picked up by Mick we drove about 2 hourws to the town of Booraloola , to give you an idea how remote this place is  there was a notice posted on 2 of the 4 buildings in town announcing the yearly arrival of the dentist from June 25-29 . We fueled up here and headed for camp which was 3 hours away . Between the small airport at the mining town and Booraloola and again to the camp the are no other towns , just vast open country not unlike a Mad Max movie . We camped at an Aboriginal homestead which consisted of 2 small homes ? and hoping not to offend anyone an assortment of people right out of a Geico commercial .Very friendly people who obviously don't get many visitors as I don't usually draw a crowd of kids checking out my bow and watching me shoot , best part they don't know good shooting from bad so I was safe from ridicule .
  First afternoon in camp we decided to drive over some of the hunting area and look over the Buff population , Mick wanted me to put the stalk on any Buff we saw so I would get a feel for being close to them and seeing if I could keep my nerve . After an hour or two we saw a mediun sized Buff and I started after him . The wind was steady and I got about 25 yards before a wind shift , a thing that happened more times than I thought possible over the next 6 days ,which brought the Buff about face and staring me down . Grass here is ankle high to shoulder high , trees are mostly just sticks with little chance for cover or protection , which means you are pretty much open to inspection for anything within a few hundred yards . It's hard to tell if the Buffaloes are getting ready to charge or are just curious . This one decided to walk off while keeping an eye on me . It's not a good thing to shoot them when they are looking at you as it gives them a target to vent there anger . There are also countless feral horses and quite a few feral cattle about which managed to screw up a few stalks . Even got to see my first dingoes which looked more like tan dogs than the fox and coyotes over here look . Get back later with more , Fred

[Shinken]

Bring it ON Fred!

Did you make some MEAT?

I am looking forward to the photo gallery....

Shoot straight, Shinken

[JEFF B]

hey fred you should have come down south to see me its only a 3 hour plane trip across the creek LOL!!! sounds like ya had some fun now dont make us wait for pics                      

[leatherneck]

This one is going to be good.

[Guru]

Good to hear from you Fred, looking forward to a lot more!!

[Curveman]

Welcome back Fred! I can't wait to hear the stories!
Missed you on our bear quest this year!

Steve

[tradtusker]

looking forward to seeing the pics Fred

[Lewis Brookshire III]

Wow, this is gonna be Goood!!!

[Greyfox54]

AS I was well aware that Oz is in the southern hemishere therefore it would be their winter so I asked Mick what I should expect for weather conditions , his response was that it was a little cool and would get cooler so bring a couple of light jackets ,( I thought for maybe layering) . I was in for a shock . I left our typical Jersey June summer of 80 degrees and entered the frigid cold Ozzie winter of 90 degrees . I never sweated so much in my life . Equiped with long pants and long sleeve t-shirts , including 2 jackets which never saw the light of day , we proceeded to walk about 2-4 miles every morning and afternoon , frequently more , in search of the ever elusive Buff. There were two other hunters in camp , great guys even though they shot compounds  , both Austrailians Shel and Alex . The first afternoon I got into camp Alex shot a 90" Buff and the next day Shel got his second Buff a young male with tight horns . That day all I could find were cows with young so didn't get to stalk anything except for a couple wily scrub bulls which didn't pan out . For the next 4 days the weather cooled ? down to the mid 80's and the wind went calm . Dry grass and parched ground don't make for good stalking conditions when cover is almost non-existent . We saw good Buff every day and had more stalks than I could keep track of but couldn't close the distancwe less than 70-80 yards before being discovered . With the dry ground and a few river crossings a day I decided to hunt barefoot and carry my boots over my shoulder . I have found out that there are few thorns in this country but the grass has needle sharp seeds which make walking difficult . Two days of that nonsense and I went back to my boots . My feet were so sore it actually helped as I couldn't walk fast if I wanted to so my stalking was very slow . We had seen several good scrub bulls but they are more nervous then the Buffalo . I was hoping for some change in weather and possibly some more wind to hide any noise made on the stalks but it wasn't meant to be . The next to last day we tried to sit on a good trail leading to feeding areas , a method we had tried without much luck already , when I seen a scrub bull feeding along a dry riverbed . At this point I'm trigger happy so we set off on a stalk . I tried to get ahead of him so he would pass broadside to me but when he was about 40 yards he changed course and headed away from me . I followed him with determination and at about 20-25 yards he turned broadside with the only tall bush for a hundred yards between us . I moved a little to my right and he started to turn quartering away and I shot . He made that welcome little crow-hop like you see in the videos and walked off about 30 more yards and scanned the area . Needless to say I froze in my tracks not wanting to give him a target , Mick was about 50 yards behind me .After about 20 minutes the bull walked off another 50 yards and lay down .Good deal ! I hit him a little further  back of the rib cage then I would have liked but it was still angling forward . Mick has one he shot on video that charged him and he was lucky to get behind a good-sized tree and even then the bull knocked the bow out of his hands , they seem to always be in a bad mood and shooting them doesn't seem to improve their disposition .While looking him over a group of Buffaloes come up behind us and run off , so close . Let me try to post pics ,. Fred

[L82HUNT]

:eek:

[Ben Maher]

very cool mate ...pics ! pics ! pics !

Ben

[Froggy]

 I'm waiting

[UnderControl16]

wow... can't wait to see pics...

[East Coast archer]

Pics,Pics, Pics!  Come on Fred, stop teasing.

[bowhunterfrompast]

     enjoying the hunt

[pdk25]

Sounds like an awesome experience.  Congratulations.

[JEFF B]

still no pics thats just not right tell us a great story then run.                come on bro. LOL!!!!

[JC]

Glad you had such a great hunt Fred, and glad you sweated more on a hunt than at my house    :D

Looking forward to some pics.

[joevan125]

           

[paleFace]

we're sit'n on the edge of our seats!