Somewhere over the rainbow -- back from the land of Oz (Chapter TWO)

[amar911]

I know I have been promising this second chapter of my Australian adventures for too long without delivering, but my work has been eating up all my time, both during the week and on the weekends. All I have had time to do is get on TradGang occasionally and post a few comments. I am going to tell you about what happened after the great buffalo/boar hunt we had with Andy Ivy and Mick Baker.

In Chapter One, I left off when Doug and I returned to Darwin with me having killed a nice wild boar and the huge Asiatic buffalo and Doug having spared the lives of all the animals at the hunting concession other than one big Barramundi fish he caught and killed that fed the four of us for three meals with some leftover meat that we couldn't consume.

Doug and I were really tired by the time we got back to the Darwin Airport Inn for the second time since our arrival in Australia. After napping, getting up for dinner and then going back to bed for the night, our alarms went off at 4 am. We got ready and packed all our gear, then went downstairs to meet our fishing guide for the next two days.

We had never talked to or met our guide, Rocque Chong Wee. To say Rocque is a colorful character is an understatement. Doug and I were unsure of his ethnic background until we asked. It turns out he is half Chinese and half European background, with his father (and last name) being Chinese.

We came down to the hotel lobby at 5 am on June 11, and I got there first and introduced myself to Rocque. He and I started loading my luggage as Doug came down with his stuff and put it in the back of the Landcruiser. Rocque immediately told us that he had heard from his boss that we had been hunting and asked us what we had gotten. We said that I had killed a big buffalo and a wild boar but that Doug had struck out. He asked us whether we had been hunting with rifles or pistols and was surprised when we told him we had been hunting with traditional bows and arrows. The next thing he asked was whether we had them with us, and we told him we did. His next words really got us excited: "Do you want to do some more hunting?"

Guess what our answer was!!                

Allan

[4dogs]

Oh Boy!  

[Claym]

[jcar315]

Can't wait for more of this one!!

[amar911]

It was still very much dark as we headed out in the Landcruiser to the billabong where we would be fishing -- and apparently hunting. I can't tell you the name of the billabong for reasons I don't want to explain here. But it doesn't really matter for purposes of the story.

We stopped at a pub near the billabong to get breakfast. That place sure knew how to make a good egg, bacon, cheese sandwich. I had some more of the coffee flavored milk and off we went to to billabong where the boat was already positioned on its trailer. For those of you who have heard the word "billabong" all your lives in those Australian songs like "Waltzing Matilda", but you don't know what a "billabong" is (like Doug and I didn't before we started planning our fishing trip), a billabong is generally an oxbow lake that is formed when a river starts cutting a big horseshoe curve and then cuts straight across the bottom of the horseshoe when there is a flood, making turning the whole curved area into a lake. Of course, the oxbow may be a much more extensive and complex set of bends in the river besides just a horseshoe shape, and that is when the lake gets to be much more extensive, like the billabong where we were fishing.

Rocque got the boat into the water, and we got Doug's bow and arrows into the boat, and off we went. I didn't take my bow and arrows because if there was going to be any hunting to do, I wanted Doug to be the one who got the first two animals so he could catch up with me. Since we only had two days, I thought there was a good chance he would not get two animals before our time was over. Heck, both of us were going to be happy if he even got one!

Allan

[USN_Sam1385]

Excited for this.

[amar911]

The first order of business was to find fish. In the meantime, we would be looking out onto the "dry" areas beside the water for wild boar and buffalo. When I refer to the "dry" areas, that is a little bit of a misnomer at times. There was often a lot of water in those areas, and also such nasties as snakes and crocs -- lots of crocs! For example:

 

I can't say that any of us were ready to take off our shoes and socks, jump out of the boat and go dashing off willy-nilly chasing wild boar!    

We did manage to start catching barramundi (barra) pretty quickly. Here I am with Rocque and a nice fish. In case you haven't figured it out, he is the guy on the left -- the fish is the one in the middle.          


Not to be outdone, Doug was catching his share of barra too.

 

We love to fish, but what was most on our minds was trying to get Doug on a spot-and-stalk for some biggie piggies or a buffalo. I have to admit, the fishing was very good, and we were having fun.

Allan

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Nice fish, eh.

It's "Waltzing Matilda", not "Dancing Matilda".

[amar911]

Ben,

I knew that, but obviously it's been awhile since I was a kid and heard that song. Notice the very gray hair!            The waltz is a dance, isn't it? Give me a break, I was close.               I edited my earlier post to note the correction. Thanks Ben.  

Allan

[amar911]

You can see from the pictures above what the banks looked like. Sometimes there was dry ground, and sometimes it was swampy, but usually it was a mix of the two, and it was important to make sure when you got out of the boat that you were watching out for the snakes and crocs, with the deadliest snakes being the greater risk.

As we were fishing a couple of hours into the morning, Rocque spotted some black shapes wandering around off in the distance through the flood plains and trees. He told Doug to take off his shoes and socks and get his bow and arrows ready. Then we headed for the bank. Doug saw the hogs as we slid onto the shore, so he slipped off the side of the boat and began his tenderfooted journey across to where the piggies were feeding. As opposed to Rocque and Mick whose feet were calloused so that they could skip across the ground with no problem, Doug and I would limp around feeling every piece of grass, stick, rock or anything else under our feet. And Doug was having to go quite a distance to first approach and then follow the hogs.

Fortunately for me, I had binoculars in the boat and could sit in a comfortable seat and watch all the action almost like being there with Doug. I don't know how many people think optics are not important for hunting, but I am of the opposite opinion. I have the best optics money can buy and think they are one of the most important hunting investments someone can make. A good pair will last a lifetime and provide all sorts of advantages over a half-a$$ed pair. I was carrying my Swarovski 8x30 SLCs and Doug had his Leica 8x32 Ultravids HDs. I have a pair like Doug's too, but chose to take my older and much more used pair of Swarovskis (that still look almost new) because they are old friends that have accompanied me on hunts all over the world. Both binos were perfect for the hunt and for watching the action of the hunt from the comfort of the boat.

Rocque has great eyes and could see the action without binos almost as well as I could see it at 8x with my older eyes. We saw Doug chase the hogs as they moved to the right, then far to the left, then back again to where they started. Doug finally started shooting at moving animals from 40+ yards when he couldn't get close enough and had 2 or 3 misses before he calmed down and decided he needed to back off. He knew he was shooting "Hail Marys) and should go back to the boat, regroup, find a different group of hogs, and then try to get closer on standing animals before he shot again. So back he came to the boat for more fishing and looking for hogs.

I do have to say that it was exciting to watch the hunt from a distance. I rarely get that opportunity except while watching hunting on TV. I guarantee you it is not the same excitement as actually being there!

Off to church. More this afternoon. My next post will have more pictures, so I don't need to be reminded. I am going to start by posting a picture of the best hunter I saw when I was in Australia.    

Allan

[pdk25]

Can't wait for the rest.

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Staying tuned Allan!

[Dry Creek]

[amar911]

I promised to show you a picture of the best hunter we saw in Australia.

 

I don't remember what Rocque told me the name of this bird is, but it reminded me of the African fish eagle or the North American bald eagle. This was a young bird, but he knew exactly where to perch. In fact, we caught at least half a dozen barra in the stretch of river directly below him in just about 30 minutes. I wish I could spot my prey like he could. We regularly saw birds plucking smaller fish out of the water. This guy wasn't looking for barra -- they are too big for him to handle. He was looking for the bait fish that the barra were also eating.

Allan

[Benny Nganabbarru]

[tradtusker]

 

Keep it coming

[hardtimes]

Thanks for sharing.  

[amar911]

After fishing a bit more on June 11, we spotted another group of hogs on the bank, wandering around in various places, but mainly in the areas where there were scattered trees. So off we headed to a spot on the shore that seemed to be fairly dry and free of crocs. Again, Doug grabbed his Brackenbury Drifter recurve, with its full quiver, and hopped barefoot off the boat onto the ground. I grabbed the binos and settled in for the show. The hogs were some distance away, but Doug closed in on them fairly quickly as they moved around. Because of the trees, we often lost sight of either Doug or the hogs or both as the worked their way around to various spots.

Even though Rocque has great eyes, my binos really did give me a big advantage. Sometimes he would borrow them to see what was going on, but most of the time I was giving him the play-by-play account of what was happening. The hogs were going one way, then Doug would circle them and they would head back the other way without giving him a shot. Finally, I saw him stalking up on a boar that was hidden from my view, but that I had seen going towards the spot Doug was now headed. I was getting really excited and told Rocque that it looked like there was going to be a shot within seconds. Almost immediately, Doug raised his bow, drew back, held for a moment, then released.      Oh, I forgot to mention that the boar weighed about 225 pounds (around 100 kilos for you Aussies).

Allan

[amar911]

Also, notice Doug's bare feet. It seemed like the most successful hunting method was to stalk without shoes. That may have felt fine to Mick Baker and Rocque who are used to walking around that way, but Doug and I got sore feet when we did it! Since I had been barefoot during my hunting, I did my best to keep my shoes on during Doug's boar hunting. I am in the process of getting some Arrow Moccasins to take with me next time and carry in a pack while we are out hunting. For tenderfoot guys like Doug and me, some moccasins sound way better than barefoot walking. The trouble with the areas around the billabong is that you can easily sink up to your thighs in water and mud, like Doug did when he was stalking the hogs. Moccasins are not so great for that!

I was talking about how happy I was for Doug, but here is a picture that shows it as opposed to just describing my joy. You can see I am wearing something on my feet, but my boots are hidden behind the boar.      

 

And if you didn't believe that Rocque was the happiest and most excited of everyone, take a look at him with his hands in the boar's mouth. I think Rocque is a frustrated dentist at heart! Say "Awwwww".      

 

Allan

[steadman]

What a great shot!!!!  Great story, now I hope there is more