Thread: Laugh a Minute

Been trying to jack this up for quite awhile now..like as in over a year,opening day of duckshooting confirmed it forsure...well past time to get @Billbob out for a decent walk and see if could get him a wallaby of two. Today was the day.. the good man arrived at my residence dead on 6am as planned and we set off,stopped at servo for fuel for both his fine automobile and two rather rotund bellies that always seem to scream "feed me" whenever a pie warmer is past,a short drive later saw us arrive at the hunting grounds in perfect timing,20ish minutes before daylight.some rather good shooting stars were spotted"will be a good hunt"says billbob.. bags were shouldered and of we rushed at a sedate plod (did I mention rotund bellies?) running is just not a happening thing.
the bush was awesome in the predawn silence,then the bellbirds started up,a NZ Falcon screamed out his hunting cry to add to the chorus,part way up track the torch got pocketed and we continued up track...a wallaby let me walk past then moved,hopped away a short distance..."ummmm is that it "billbob asks pointing to dark blob all of five yards away...I look through scope just as it bounds away....yip talk about a circus...sitter five yards off track in clear bush,right on first light and its still laughing at the two dopey humans.
We were a lot more careful after that but didnt have anymore encounters untill open country was reached..big crashing away through STEEP undergrowth and a bark over other side..yip right pair of clowns we looked..that circus music was getting louder by the minute,did we care??hell no,a beautiful morning to be out huffing n puffing up a hill.
a lookout point was reached and soon enough the many Australian overstayers were seen soaking up the vibes of a distant hillside,the more we looked the more were seen....450ish yards away..but getting closer is possible,you just have to climb back DOWN hill and loose altitude again and scramble around a bit to a rocky point where barrel is slightly less in danger of stretching.
more big crashing away was heard on way down to said point,but nothing spotted (not surprising as as anything there will nearly need to be roped up) so we continued to the sniping spot.
got there and got shit sorted,I dug around in pouch and found my expendable rounds,all 25 of them...got Billbob in behind rifle in semi comfortable position...oh alright e was hunched up like horn teenager in backseat of a mini,but it was best position available as a sheer drop was not far below us,daybags employed as rest for rifle and prop up for chest...and the barrage began...23 rounds were fired between us at targets from 250-350 yards (yes used a rangefinder) pretty big ask for mainly 50 grn .224 projectiles but there were enough hits to put slight dent in population...if we said between 6 and 10 we wouldnt be telling porkies.
then when all the brass was picked up and my ammunition stash was down to 7 rounds four of which are TTSX for deer....hmmm put the remaining soft points in mag and we RECLIMBED the plurry hill picking up billbobs weapon on the way..wasnt a lot of point lugging it down hill just to cart it back up again so it was carefully placed on clear spot...one of us wasnt to phased about finding it again,its owner got a little flustered but all was good.
Back up to origonal glassing spot and more wallys were seen back in the killing ground except now they were dancing around poking tongues at us...next time you huas,next time.
A light snack was had along with hot cuppa then onwards we strode....carefully as next 7-800 yards gets a bit dodgy in places @Lurch if your reading this,the creek never even got bottom of gaiters damp..bit different from when we waded it just above knee height!!!
a quiet stroll along in real hollywood bush followed with very few hoppers spooking. got along to spots where normally wally is around and nope nothing doing....last throw of dice coming up..a funky wee side gully ,I sent billbob up here alone with instruction to wait just short of boundary ,stay quiet and keep eyes and ears open while I wandered further along and looped back to hopefully spook animals past him...
Well folks its not often a plan works out so well but man did it ever.
I shall let Robin hood/billbob fill in that bit
a plurry great day out,came home with sides sore from laughing and my batteries recharged
thanks mate.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

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Well done Billbob. Those trees look familiar, might have a look in there on the weekend.

Hahahahaha. I'm typing this reply for the hot depths of a bath soaking my tired limbs. Biking yesterday certainly wasn't the best plan before a walk like this!

I had been thinking of a weapon of choice for a hunt like this and decided to bring along my old Bear Super Kodiak recurve bow. 55lb shooting victory carbon Trad arrows and some 2 blade Broadheads. I did a quick shoot yesterday at 15m and got a 6" group which I thought wasn't bad for not shooting Trad for so long!

Fantastic morning, -1° in Ashburton so choose long pants which I very soon regretted within the first 10m of elevation as at location X was a fine warm morning. Chugging up hill with a frame like mine and I'm glad my hunting buddy is of similar stature and not some athletic guy who would of run up the hill!

Micky let me take the lead further up the hill nearing the clearing for me to have first pop should something present itself within bow range.

On nearing the top, and yes spooking what ever the deer were. I couldn't help but think even if we don't shoot something just the walk, scenery, good laughter and banter was going to be worth the while.

The sniper spot was precariously on the edge of a ravine, still have no idea how animals can live in stuff like this! I managed a few direct hits with the .223 before Micky showed me how to do it and even a couple free handed!

Back up the hill, thought my lungs were going to rip out of my chest a few pics to show my good wife I had actually climbed a hill and a recharge and off we go. Micky has a habit of saying we are over the worse and then take you vertically up hil again hahahaha!

Mickys plan worked fantastically. I sidled up to his given spot X and set up for a ambush. Wasn't long and I heard some footsteps coming and started to get very nervous as I thought it was deer and was hoping I wasn't going to stuff it up. Next second 4 wallabies came charging down, the first passing by me by a couple of meters, I let that past as I could see a huge one coming straight at me. It diverted around last me and I let fly with an arrow at 5m and missed clearly straight over its back. A smaller wallaby was bearing down but moving a little slower and I mocked another arrow, let fly also at 5m and collected it's shoulder punching both lungs. It made it barely 20m from where I shot it and was dead in seconds.

First animal with the recurve and I was totally stoked!

Back up the hill for a cuppa and noodles and a slow stalk out with Micky taking a couple more out on the way.

Absolute fantastic day, sore legs, sore chest from laughing and a bloodied bow....

Originally Posted by RUMPY

Well done Billbob. Those trees look familiar, might have a look in there on the weekend.

You might find my hat, Camo Browning one

Dare say that's a holy roo.Well done BB.

Excellent, hoping to be down there in August with a rifle in tow.

My favourite photo of the day.

forgive me billbob for I have sinned.your shooting is fine,for first time in 26 years my scope was moving in the rings...noticed when giving it a clean. Considering 2nd to last wobbly died at 225yards it can't have been too bad. Promise it won't happen again

Hahaha really? Let me know when you need to go back and test it

Originally Posted by Billbob

My favourite photo of the day.

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I see you have four pompoms on Robin hood. A goog laugh Is good for the soul.

Good story thanks fellas.

Originally Posted by SmokeyJason

I see you have four pompoms on Robin hood. A goog laugh Is good for the soul.

A bit of background behind the bow, I brought it off Trade me for $50 as a wall hanger as it had a crack down the riser from when the original owner brought it to NZ.

I took it to show Mathew at arrowhead archery and he showed me how to repair it and tuned arrows to suit. It's a fantastic smooth shooting bow.

Yesterday confirmed I need to shoot it more often.. so maybe it's the start of something

Redemption day today. Had a few things I wanted to tick off. Get out with Rumpy again. Tick. Find out if stalking around a certain face a certain way is worthwhile...if "someone who shall remain nameless" didn't miss,yes very much so.tick #2 . find out what back pack sized orange blob down in scrub was,we had spotted it from eight hundy yards away the other day.found it and moved to more appropriate position#3 ticks. Go down and bomb a few more wallabies#4 tick.. use up some old 270 loads #5 tick although not without drama as had case stick in chamber and extractor kept riding over it...but of fence wire sorted that.

#6 was find billbobs hat. Tick #7 was get another wallaby head so he can boil it out for trophy.and good man that he is, RUMPY did the drive to my ambush position while I waited and mighty 270 did the rest. Tired and a little footsore but my batteries and soul are recharged.