Deep in the Liverpool plains , Dodge settles into a heart-to-heart with bowhunting icon Nick Morton, sharing the kind of stories that make you feel the chill of the wind and the thrill of the chase. They dissect the technical dance of bow tuning and the emotions of a clean shot, celebrating Dodges wife, Mel and her journey from frustration to finesse in her archery journey.
This episode isn't just about the hunt; it's about the people who make it what it is. Susie, a newcomer to our ranks, revels in the triumph of her first hunt, reminding us all of the exhilarating moment when everything clicks. The conversation dives into the psychological game of hunting, the essential gear that belongs in every bowhunter's pack, and the strategies that can turn a challenging hunt into a story for the ages.
Join us as we reflect on the shared bonds and we forge plans for future adventures, from mountainous elk hunts to African safaris, we chart the course for a life steeped in the ancient rhythms of bowhunting. This episode is an arrow straight to the heart of the bowhunter’s spirit, inviting listeners to grab their bows and step into the wild tapestry of the great outdoors.
For the latest information, news, giveaways and anything mentioned on the show head over to our Facebook, Instagram or website.
If you have a question, comment, topic, gear review suggestion or a guest that you'd like to hear on the show, shoot an email to accuratehunts@gmail.com or via our socials.
Deep in the Liverpool plains , Dodge settles into a heart-to-heart with bowhunting icon Nick Morton, sharing the kind of stories that make you feel the chill of the wind and the thrill of the chase. They dissect the technical dance of bow tuning and the emotions of a clean shot, celebrating Dodges wife, Mel and her journey from frustration to finesse in her archery journey.
This episode isn't just about the hunt; it's about the people who make it what it is. Susie, a newcomer to our ranks, revels in the triumph of her first hunt, reminding us all of the exhilarating moment when everything clicks. The conversation dives into the psychological game of hunting, the essential gear that belongs in every bowhunter's pack, and the strategies that can turn a challenging hunt into a story for the ages.
Join us as we reflect on the shared bonds and we forge plans for future adventures, from mountainous elk hunts to African safaris, we chart the course for a life steeped in the ancient rhythms of bowhunting. This episode is an arrow straight to the heart of the bowhunter’s spirit, inviting listeners to grab their bows and step into the wild tapestry of the great outdoors.
For the latest information, news, giveaways and anything mentioned on the show head over to our Facebook, Instagram or website.
If you have a question, comment, topic, gear review suggestion or a guest that you'd like to hear on the show, shoot an email to accuratehunts@gmail.com or via our socials.
On the fourth episode of Accurate Hunts and having that knowledge, to see the problems and correct it yourself, as opposed to being going. I didn't hit the middle, don't know why. I'll seek out those old boars. They're like a ghost to find in the first instance, very hard to get onto, and the terrain up here is very mountainous, a lot of tusse gras, and I looked at this goat coming down. It wasn't a goat, it was a boar. It was standing so high. I just discarded it because you do get goats up there, and I just thought it was a black and white billy. And I looked at this thing, my eyes and it fell in my head and I was just Welcome back to another episode.
Speaker 1:I am sitting in the Liverpool Rangers Hunter Valley area with the man himself, nick Morton. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, sir. No worries, thanks for having me. It's been a good few days. I've had a goat here on your chin, which is indicative of how these couple of days have gone. I've just been doing a bit of butchering. Before we have we have Now we've picked a little windy spot, the least windy spot. I think the whole valley is the windy spot today. Yeah, and this is the quietest spot we could find. So if you get some background noise, that's definitely what it is. But the reason we're here is to shoot some bows, and what happened was Mel. My lovely wife had a bow for several years but really wanted to get into it recently, and for her birthday I bought her a Beaux Hunter. Beaux Hunter Learning Education course. Call it what you will, call it what you will, and it has been this last few days. So we've spent this is day three now out here with you and lovely Sarah.
Speaker 2:A couple other girls as well.
Speaker 1:sort of a bit of a girl it did turn into a female trip, which has been great, and we'll talk about that. Talk about that probably a little bit later, and their sort of emotions. And it was enjoyable for me to see you because you and I are probably similar and we kill a fair bit of stuff, so you forget the firsts.
Speaker 2:The firsts and, I think, those different perspectives, that others coming. We've had Susie, who's from a non-hazard hunting, before picked up a bow, seriously a week ago. First harvest, first stalks, first everything. So it's cool to see that, as opposed to what we do or what we've been exposed to, and Mel too, killed a few animals rifle Done one with the bow prior and then now just slayed it. I think she got three or four kills this weekend and all perfect. So a couple of billies.
Speaker 1:Fox. Well, I wouldn't have been able to do that without your help, though.
Speaker 2:We started off a little bit rusty. There was a few bow tuning issues, technical things. I think Mel had been saying to you that she feels she's doing everything right and her gear's letting her down and I think that had a few frustrations there. We soon picked up on a couple things the bow wasn't set up correctly, changed a few things out, shortened the draw length and three hours later, middle every single shot and I think confidence has skyrocketed from that it did. She wasn't happy at the start. She didn't like the change.
Speaker 1:She was looking at the.
Speaker 2:U-Garn. I don't like this.
Speaker 1:What it looked like from the outside was we purchased. The backstory is we purchased Mel's bow from online Just someone was selling it secondhand and then we took it to a well-known archery shop in Sydney you might say their name, but it rhymes with Krabby and they set it up inverted commas and it was enough to get a shooting and Mel shot some rabbits and things and then she shot a goat the other week.
Speaker 1:It was consistently hitting a cube target, but it was inconsistently it wasn't improving and she was improving, but all she was doing was fighting a losing battle. She was correcting her form in an incorrect direction to make it shoot slightly better Correct and then, when she looked at it after she shot a few, you found some problems.
Speaker 2:There's a few pretty major things wrong but very basal to correct, and when that's corrected, that bow was actually performing how it should and tuned. So if you're not shooting a tuned area, you're going to fight it the whole way. Some shots might hit the middle, some won't. You're not going to know if you're shooting well and you're just going to get frustrated with it and ultimately I see a lot of people give the sport up because of those frustrations. That's sad. You could set someone up with a cheap bow or top of the line bow and if it's not tuned you're wasting your time, because that's the importance in it Having a tuned arrow. I think it's one of the sports that is so technical and it is so important to get all that fine tuning correct. So without that knowledge or know-how, you don't know what's not working.
Speaker 1:You don't know what you don't know. Yeah, it's an important thing, it's an important saying and we have all learnt a lot this. I say weekend, but it was during the midweek. But I personally have no bow knowledge. So she was asking me questions and I was like I don't know rifle sawchow and she has the hunting knowledge. But to understand the parts of a bow, the names of it, how to sharpen a broad head arrow length, the way to set up and tune your bow, we've covered a lot of those things.
Speaker 2:And I think also picking up what in her form is letting her down. She now knows how to do that. She goes. Oh, that's why that arrow went there, because I done X, y and Z and having that knowledge to see the problems and correct it yourself, as opposed to be going. I didn't hit the middle, don't know why. So I think it's given her a lot of confidence in that now and she'll want to pursue it a lot further as opposed to prior to the weekend. She's an amazing shot Hits the middle on the target. We're shooting 30 meters and she's shooting a group the size of a tennis ball. Now, yeah, now, whereas before I was I hit the target at 30. Fantastic.
Speaker 1:So that translated then through to some hunting where we took out and did some practical stuff and I just followed behind with the camera and I got some pretty cool stuff on footage. But we did you were, you know, emphasizing just to get closer, get closer. Try not to take longer shots. That's big with me, yeah.
Speaker 2:What's your sort of average shot distance? Sub 20. Sub 20. Typically my bow is not sighted in past 30 meters. Like I'm bad for that sort of stuff, like Granted, I probably should have it sighted in 40, 50, 60 or not. But to me bow hunting is about being intimate, being close, and what really resonates with me is you. You seek out that old. This is for me personally. I love hunting mountain boars for everyone home. If you didn't know my favorite, I'll seek out those old boars. They're like a ghost to find in the first instance, very hard to get onto and the terrain up here is very mountainous, a lot of tussig grass, so a lot of the shot, nothing flat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've established that and a lot of your shots. Because of the terrain you physically have to be so close because you can't shoot through two and a half foot high tussig grass or whatever it is. And on top of that the old boars are just so tough Like you can't hit them through one lung in the back of the liver and expect them to run 150 and pull up and lay under a tree and then come and finish them off. They're just going to keep going Like you're not going to recover those animals unless you hit them perfectly. So your margin for area is a lot smaller.
Speaker 2:So for me I like the ultimate scenario is you stalk that animal. It doesn't know you're there. You get in sub 20 yards. You put in one perfect arrow, it'll run less than 30 and fall over in a matter of seconds. Ethical, clean, how it should be. It doesn't get any better for that for me. So I would rather forgo an opportunity at 30, 35, whatever it may be. Then chance it and get into 14, put that perfect arrow in it and there is zero guesswork. Obviously things do go wrong from time to time, but I just like getting in close really intimate and your likelihood of success just goes through the roof and it puts your confidence up when that's happening every single time.
Speaker 1:It does and we saw that with Mel. She was obviously a little bit bummed when you started tweaking a bow and she had to learn a different form and then she just shot at the target and it was. It was consistent, Automatically more accurate and consistent because her form was already consistent and good. But now the bow was matching that and then she went out and started harvesting animals and they were all consistent shots.
Speaker 2:And I think one thing Mel said as well to me today when we were off. So Mel shot a billy. It was about five meters. We were sitting there on one side of a rock face, we were on the other and they fed around really windy, so we got away with a lot and we had to wait for them to physically turn because they were all facing away. We had a bit of a conversation there for five minutes with these goats at five meters. It was nice and relaxed and she said I didn't realise you could get this close to animals. I thought it would be like 30 meters. And as they're looking back and she said I didn't think we'd be getting this close. But it's pretty amazing what you can do with the right knowledge. And granted, we're not five meters off a winter, fellow buck, that's just super switched on or whatever. But it's the same principles that apply.
Speaker 1:Do you think goats are a good place for people to start in the archery?
Speaker 2:100%. So a couple reasons Easy to hunt, less switched on, a lot more numbers there. So here is a very target, rich environment. We've seen hundreds and hundreds of goats, stacks of pigs, fair few bucks as well that we've had a couple encounters with. But goats are just great for your training wheels. So multiple numbers, they can be switched on. But also you will get away with a lot more. They'll often come out of that mountainous country, particularly when it's a little bit warmer. They'll come down a lot lower and also with that they're not as tough and you can utilise all the meat, which we've been doing as well. So there's a lot of positives there. They typically feed a lot slower.
Speaker 2:So the pigs have been hunting and they're very erratic. You're chasing and you're moving and it's almost stressful. So for someone who's just beginning hunting to have that young nanny goat or that young belly goat that's just mooching along and you can stalk in nice and slowly run through the process and like, okay, we're going to come over this rise. It'll be 15 yards. I want you to draw back, step out, take your time, go through your shot sequence. You can do that, whereas on a pig it's like he's going to be trotting across here. I'm going to pull him up. It's going to be rushed. That's not the nicest introduction, especially for beginners too. For someone totally green to it it's really nice. And the fact that we can just simply just do multiple stalks even if it was like Susie, she just had a couple of stalks and wasn't comfortable in shooting to start with we could go through that process, get within bow range and just get a comfortable and familiar with that process over and over again multiple times in one morning.
Speaker 1:And there's one today where she drew back and had to let down, just didn't present.
Speaker 2:Yep, and that was all on her own Repetition and learning, yeah, so it's fantastic for that.
Speaker 1:And also, even if you do bump them and they spot you, they don't run three hills away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this place is not very pressured, particularly the goats. They get left alone a lot. So when the animals aren't pressured they're not going to go over boondi scrub. They might pull up and you might get that other opportunity on them. So it's really good for that. It's ideal for beginners realistically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's what we're here for. It was a beginner's course where three ladies come one. No introduction to bows prior, never shot one One. Suzie had traditional archery a little bit and then just moved into compounds. She picked up a compound.
Speaker 2:I think less than a week ago. So she picked she I mentioned that we had a space become available on this week. We had another girl drop out and Suzie had come to an open day we'd done last year Messaged her, I said, hey, we've got this opening for you. I think it'd be a great opportunity. She jumped on it and she went. Do you think I should get into compound or repeat the recurve and we sort of run through the pros and cons. A couple of days later she's like okay, I'm in, Set me up a compound. She picked it up five or six days ago. You know, like we were literally she'd been shooting at target, hadn't been siding in or anything, and we've sited her bow in here this weekend and went through the form. She's harvested three animals, sort of free to full of meat, shooting accurately, has a shot sequence and has a hell of a lot more confidence and know how. Yeah, like she's literally we just done a go and Suzie done 90% of it. You know, got skinning.
Speaker 1:It was good to sit back and watch. I actually sat back on a chair and watch Mel and Suzie do the the gutting and the skinning, so and three days ago she'd never even seen it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was pretty.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was great.
Speaker 2:And particularly for the girls, because I feel in Australia there's not much for females to go out and do that. So I think that's definitely something we want to explore and get more girls into it. I agree.
Speaker 1:Suzie spoke about this earlier too was that she felt a lot more comfortable doing it because there wasn't a male in. I mean, I was here, you were here, that's fine, but it wasn't a competition. It was you and I were. You were guiding, I was backseat, she wasn't shooting against anyone. Yeah, and not that we on purposely do that, but that's what she would have felt.
Speaker 2:But we can be intimidating as males for sure.
Speaker 1:Not on purpose, sometimes on purpose, but not on purpose. So she felt really comfortable doing that with the girls and that was she grew. She grew a lot faster because of that.
Speaker 2:And I think with that as well, like they were high five on each other and had little girls groups.
Speaker 2:Yeah and I think it'll create that little, that sense of community or culture with that, which I think is very important to foster and grow that passion within the outdoors or hunting, whatever it may be, because they're going to connect after this and we'll just foster that even further. Stim-roll, yeah, yeah. Otherwise it's like how does she connect with another chick who hunts, like that's? You know it's a little bit taboo here in Australia it's not celebrated as much, particularly in females. So I think having or being able to be in those environments and align with others who have similar values and want to do what you want to do, that's pretty cool to be able to create.
Speaker 1:It was cool to see, and obviously you had Sarah here this weekend. She's, you know, got some experience overseas as well, in Australia, and shot a few things with a bow. Yeah, and to see her go out with them was cool as well. No, it was really good. It was a very proud moment for me.
Speaker 2:So, like she's taken to like a fish to water with the hunting side of things she's a better shot with a bow than me. But yeah, it's awesome to see her take the girls out and be successful. And yes, we harvested animals. But that's not really the success of the weekend. I think it was gaining the confidence, learning, being comfortable in front of animals, like I think that's the main thing with the girls, everyone in particular that starts is they get in front of that animal and the nerves just start and you just get tunnel vision and there's an explosion in your brain. So the fact that we've got them all in front, introduced them to that feeling multiple times to get their confidence up, that's to me is a big success, you know. But on top of that, everyone's harvested multiple animals yeah, even Carla, who had not shot a compound bow 72 hours ago.
Speaker 1:That's pretty wild. Yeah, you know, it's a testament to your bow. Setting up skills to me? Oh, I'm sure yeah.
Speaker 2:Anyone can shoot a bow of its setup correctly and you have your lower arch coaching. Like. I'm no whiz with technical target archery, anything like that. I like to keep it very simple, get close, but the fundamentals are all the same.
Speaker 1:You know, I know you like to think that you don't.
Speaker 2:You definitely know a lot, a little bit, not a lot. I definitely don't know a lot, but I, what I think about and what I've said to the girls is just get closer. What about if this happens? What if it's windy? What if I'm not confident? Or get closer, we'll get closer, and that is what I will revert back to. This will be a hat slogan. Yeah, get closer. I will revert back to that constantly. You know, if you're not comfortable at 20, we'll get to 15. And then you're likely heard of success is going to go far higher. So that's that's. I try and practice what I preach with that. And just, I don't think one of the girls of the further shot we had this weekend was on the Fox mail, shot 22 and a half.
Speaker 1:That was her text. I was not here last night, well, yeah. Well, well.
Speaker 2:I was at the hospital.
Speaker 1:Certain reasons. But she texted and I said, how was the fox? And said a highlight of the trip. Yeah right, so nice. Yeah, I wasn't there for it. So how did that play?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we were driving along up the track and cameraman here was in hospital getting tend to do his words. It was probably the only reason you saw the animal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it wasn't there to scare.
Speaker 2:Mel tapped me on the shoulder Fox, and I looked to my left and as we were driving up it's a pretty steep track there was the young dog fox just sitting there sort of looking at us, and there was a big tree just to his right. And so I went forward about another four or five meters, put the fox behind the tree, stopped the car, turned it off and I didn't see the fox run off and I said, oh, that might say that I was like just get out, real quietly. I got out the driver's door and I crawled under the car so I wouldn't be seen around the front. Got up in there, mel put an arrow on and this tree was about a meter wide, maybe a bit more, so it was blocking the fox's view of us. I said what I want you to do is put an arrow on and then we're going to step out.
Speaker 2:And Mel was, she was a little bit nervous. She's like I can't see it. I'm like I don't even know if it's there still, but you're going to step out and you're going to be full draw and when you see that fox then you're going to be ready. So she's like, okay, okay. She stepped out and I was like can you see it? She's like yes. So I let out the side and I see the fox's foot and she's like how far? And I was clicking the range for under, and how far was it? 22 and a half meters. So I was like, yep, 22 and a half. She's like okay, okay, went through a shot sequence was nice and calm smoked it straight through the chest. Fox, went down on the spot, shot the front door, high fives and shows, ecstatic. It was really cool. So, and from seeing her to not be confident at shooting 20, to then 10, ring a fox at 22 and a half, really tough uphill shot on a small target, so good, and she was ecstatic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and her reaction was matched up. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was great. It was probably my highlight of the weekend as well, her getting that fox, you know, just because it was so different as well as it was a target species too. Yeah, it was a challenging shot, uphill how we seen it. Yeah, everything made it pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Suzie's taken some of the meat home too. So if we never hear from Suzie again, we have a cry of act fox legs in the bag.
Speaker 2:I don't know how I feel about that but they're going home.
Speaker 1:We'll let you know how that goes. We've got the skin as well. We've got a Pelt as well. Suzie's been a good fan of taking everything home, so nothing really got wasted this weekend. I would say nothing's been wasted this weekend Bones and skulls and horns for dogs.
Speaker 2:Everything's farm has got a few carcasses as well. Feed his dogs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why pigs for you? Obviously, we've spent most of this time this week chasing the goats, but when we're out there, I can hear you like, oh, you know, we're going to go and get some goats. But then there's pigs and your voice changes, the way you act change, and you don't even clarify, classify them as the same sort of animal. They're not. So again, when did this start? When did the pig obsession start?
Speaker 2:Honestly, from when I was young. So I had no direct introduction to hunting. So my father grew up hunting and fishing. He had guns and whatnot Used to go pig shooting all the time out west and you know that was more coloring of numbers and things. And I remember I'd look at the old photos printed out as a kid, like when I was like three, four and I just I wanted to do that and I think it was because data give his guns up, didn't have the access anymore. I really wanted to do it and I was so curious about it, went fishing heaps as well. So I was into the outdoors massively. We grew up in a little bit of property and I just kept gravitating that and I just started doing that and because I didn't have the opportunity, you know I wanted to do it so, so badly.
Speaker 2:Fast forward a few years, started by making bows as a kid and just mucking around shooting rabbits and it just really progressed from that and it just always drew back to pig hunting. You know, eventually started hunting, chop pigs, goats, blah, blah, blah and I just kept gravitating towards boars. They're elusive, they're cunning, they're tough, they're pretty much the ultimate animal to bow hunting. My opinion and it's funny, everyone would be like, oh, pigs are dumb, they're this, they're that, they're stupid. And it's like 90% of people will not even see the boars that are on their property and don't know what lives on there, because they are so elusive. You know those fleeting minutes of daylight. You've got to be very specific to hunt them. Yes, they don't have the eyesight of deer, but to me they're far more elusive. They get the age on them. That gives you that challenge and, like I was telling you this morning, you have to treat them or hunt them like a different species. There's pigs and then there's old boars. Like they are not the same.
Speaker 2:You know, an old boar will not associate with any other animals unless there's a sow in heat, then obviously he's going to be going there for that reason. Typically he won't, unless it's the winter months and it's a really cagey boar and this has to do with hunting pressure as well. You won't see him in the daylight hours. You might see him in that gray light and he's making his way somewhere. They're just paranoid. They're super tough and you have to be really close to shooting them and I like that. And it's often fast paced, high pressure make or break situations, how you're hunting them. You know all glass from one side of a mountain to the other, so I can see the whole face we set. Off that face you can probably see two and a half kilometers of mountain and I can see every nook and cranny on that, so to speak.
Speaker 2:There'll be 15 minutes of light left and here comes Mr Boar how did the thick scrub? And he'll just be on a mission, going somewhere, trotting. It's like okay, I think he's going here, I've got to intercept him. I've got 15 minutes of light left. Go, get your jaw gone. Yeah, and nine times out of 10, it doesn't work. But when it does work you'll be there. You're hard to be racing. You'll get there. You'll see him coming in and be trotting in. He'll stop and feed, look around every three seconds, keep going, keep going. And a lot of times you'll intercept them and shoot them at sub 15 yards. You know that's a typical afternoon hunt for me. Obviously there are times when they're relaxed and whatnot, but I just love everything about them. They're just so cagey, so witty and super tough. Like if you do a marginal shot on an old boar, you're not getting him back. You're just not getting him back.
Speaker 1:It's kill shot only.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they live in thicker terrain as well, so it could be dead in a log 100 meters away. How soon They've got that fighting pad on them. A lot of the time there's not a blood trail. You're not going to find them. Whereas you see a deer, it's got a antler sticking out of the grass typically, or it's a bigger animal stands higher. It's just all those factors put together to me. I love hunting them.
Speaker 1:And you've named a few some of you are trying to chase. Is there any that particularly stick out? I can think of one. Was it the three? Tusked one or something? Was that the usual?
Speaker 2:No, that was a lamb Lamb shot there, yeah, so it had like a tusk growing out the bottom of its mount. I saw the skull once, yeah.
Speaker 1:That was pretty cool, but has there been any that you know? It's taken you a few years to get onto yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's one up the back of the mountain we call the snowman. He's a big spotted thing I come across last year. There was a rutting mob and it had some really handy boards in there, nice tusky pigs, and I was going in on those way out the back of the property, in the flat stuff actually in the creek. Mel would like it and I was going in up there and there was a.
Speaker 2:There was a goat up to the right and I was going in on this mob and this goat was coming in down the trail and I was like, oh, it'll be right. And I was stopping, waiting for the wind, had the wind cutting down to my left mob in front of me late afternoon, thermals sucking down like beauty, I'm going to slip in and try and shoot one of these balls. And this goat was coming down this pad. There was a gully and he was on the other side of the gully, coming down the pad sort of towards me, and it was like, oh yeah, glassed up a few pigs, picked out the one I wanted. He was probably a five year old boar, perfect, going in, now stopped. And I was just, I think I was just waiting for something, maybe some routes to go through something, and I looked at this goat coming down. It wasn't a goat, it was a boar and it was just. It was standing so high. I just discarded it, because you do get goats up there, and I just thought it was a black and white billy and I looked at this thing in my eyes and he fell in my head and I fumbled the binos up and I was like holy demon, what is this thing?
Speaker 2:And he was unusually tall, unusually tall, like just a different class of pig. You know, he was well, well, well over that 100 kilo mark. And for those that have seen mountain boars, they're just all shoulders, just tanks. Big male hawk, all shoulders inch of ivory hanging over the top of his grinders, like everything I look for, like if I can tick all the boxes, tick all of the boxes, exactly what I was after. And it's like where'd you come from? How have I not seen you in the last six months? You know, because I've been out there hunting a lot and it's obviously a in season South. Drawn him out in a daytime. Anyway, I had him coming down the pad at 30 yards and he was pretty much going to walk past about 15, 18 meters on the pad. I was just hunkered down in the tusset grass and with that particular boar I ended up winding more pigs down below me but I didn't know where they're and they blew up the creek and took him with them. And I've seen that boar twice and haven't been able to see him again in six or nine months. So still hope. Oh, he'll be out there. He'll be out there, it's just haven't had the right conditions. I didn't hunt it this winter as much as I typically do, but next winter I'll probably run into him. But I've sort of resigned the fact that I won't see him over the summer months.
Speaker 2:No, those winter ball yeah, all those like all my success. I hunt a lot more in winter, but you get a lot more success in winter because the conditions become more favorable to us to hunt them. So the colder weather. So your best boar hunting is typically no, this is my favorite. No moon, as cold as it can get. Rain, overnight preferable. So they're like us, they like to be comfortable. But those boars are really tough. They will be nocturnal, unless they have to be one. No moon.
Speaker 1:So they have to come out during the day.
Speaker 2:Well, no moon is and this is my belief with it is they will travel less distance. Their visibility is lower, so therefore their ability to forage and feed is not at full capacity as if it was under a full moon. So they're not spending all nights snacking. Yeah Well, they can't go and travel as far to do that. So therefore to get their fill they have to come out in the day. So you combine that with cold weather.
Speaker 2:I've found over the years that once you get starting below minus two, minus three, that really starts making pigs bed up in the night. They want to be warm in their beds and then in the daytime they're going to go out and feed because they're nice and comfortable. This all comes with no pressure as well, so I really try not to pressure the animals here, so they feel comfortable and they don't have to stick to that nocturnal pattern. And then overcast weather, so no moon, and particularly if it's really cold or rains overnight, they want to be comfortable and they want to be comfortable and those big boars eventually will suck up, lay down, be nice and warm in their beds overnight and they're like I'm going to come out and feed throughout the day. So overcast weather pigs hate. They're like vampires. They will not be on the mountain if there's sun on it, like they just don't want to mention something.
Speaker 1:If there's not shadows on the side of the hill, there's, don't look there.
Speaker 2:That's typically like like I'll bring guys here and they'll be like, oh, when are we going to go for the afternoon hunts of my favorites? And like when that sun goes over that mountain and not a moment sooner because we're probably not going to see anything. You'll see young pigs, for sure, but not that target, not that older class. But in that overcast those winter days I will stay out all day behind the glass looking for boars. So that's funny. It's not like on first light. They're going to be out just moving around, feeding and targeting them. Often it's the middle of the day so they're bettered up overnight. They don't want to come out middle of. You'll be on the glass and you'll see other pigs out.
Speaker 2:The roos will get up as the day warms up and those first rays of light or the little animals are getting warm. They'll all be on those Eastern facing slopes getting warm and then it might be 10 o'clock in the morning and you just look out in the middle of a paddock and a big boar will just appear and he will feed for 20, 30 minutes and go away again and then a couple of hours later he'll go out and feed again. They sort of speed feed intermittently and very sporadically across the mountain and you can just catch them out in the most random spots in the middle of the day and some of my best boars in winter would be shot at one two o'clock just in the middle of a tussle grass bench and it's like where did you come from? And he'll go out and feed there and he'll just really aggressively feed and then he'll go back to his little bed he's got and that for me in winter is why I have more success in the winter months.
Speaker 1:You mentioned one particular boar that would feed around 200 meters.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that was interesting. So a lot of the time when you talk about boars, I'm talking about boars that are over that, like five, six year mark. You know those older class mature. Your class is a different animal. They're paranoid, like they'll be totally unalert. Nothing around them, no birds alarming, and they're just throwing their head up every couple of seconds, throwing their head up, looking around, real paranoid, particularly if they come out and they're like this is too early in the day. A lot of the time you'll even see them come out and go nah, go back into cover and then half an hour later then they'll come out. You see that a lot. But there was this particular boar here a hundred, a few times and he would feed, look around and then just run a hundred or 200 yards without seeing it.
Speaker 1:Without seeing it. Watching this through the glass.
Speaker 2:I was watching him from the scope and he'd run and then stop again and just pull up and feed, and he would do this and it's only what I can believe is as a technique, because it's kept him alive, you know. So he would literally feed for a couple of minutes, he'd take off to the next spot, get to another point of safety, exhaust whatever safety he thought he had there and would move to the next spot, and he was so hard to kill. I ended up shooting him a couple of months later and it wasn't. I'd seen this a couple of times until I picked up on. He's not actually getting spooked, he's just doing this as a safety mechanism. I haven't seen others do that, but they are very cagey in the fact that they don't like to be in the one spot too often. They're often on the move, unless they're very relaxed, like sometimes you will get on a boar and it would just be. He'll be comfortable, content. He's in a nice quiet spot, out of the wind and he would just be digging a hole, digging, digging, digging, digging, whereas other times they're on the move, like you'll see him, and they're going from point A to point B and it's like I don't know where you're going, but I'm going to try and keep up Over morning.
Speaker 2:A lot of the time you're chasing pigs back to their bed, so you're following along behind them. It's very hard to shoot them. You're trying to shoot them when they quarter or you can't pull them up a lot of the time, because a pig is not like a deer in the fact that they're inquisitive, they're curious. They'll use their eyesight to their advantage. So a pig has poor eyesight compared to deer. In fact, step on a stick. You're 80 yards off a buck. It's going to swing its head around and it's going to pinpoint exactly where you are and it's going to figure you out. And you know they're going to be looking back and forth and they're going to really figure you out and then go yep, there's danger. Then they'll go.
Speaker 2:Step on a stick. A boar goes. I don't have enough eyesight to tell what that is. I'm not even going to bother turning around, I'm just going to run away. So that's run, and oftentimes it won't be anything. It might be a stick full out of a tree, something like that, and they'll just won't even look back to see what it was and that keeps them alive. It was super quiet, yeah, and with those old pigs, with that you can't pull them up sometimes, or I I don't like to, particularly if they're very alert. You know you might give the little dropping noise like it's another pig or something like that. But With a buck you can do call. With a goat you can bleed at it and you know you're pretty confident they're gonna pull up and have a bit of a look.
Speaker 2:I've done it at times before. Where boars are moving through, do a little, now take off, and it's like I Made a pig noise and they've run away, you know. So that just adds another element to it. A lot of the times you're shooting them on the move and Again, like for the tusset grass we went through, there'll be two foot of tusset grass and you can see the pig through it, but you can't see the vitals and your visualizing where you need to aim, assuming, and that brings a lot of people unstuck, and it's a very challenging aspect, particularly late afternoon, when that you're racing that light and it's fading away. Can you explain the?
Speaker 1:trick with the stick and the what people shoot.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, okay so this is just something that was a test scenario that you set up, yeah, so what I find with when people Shoot through the grass is I'll always hit at the very top of the grass. They'll get scared to shoot through that or Say you've got a shoulder and there's a tree blocking the pigs head in front of the shoulder. So the vitals and the stomach are there and you might have to shoot two inches to the right of the tree. The tree is blocking the head in the front of the scapula, where there's no vitals. You're not gonna be aiming anyway. You'll find that people will shoot eight inches back and overcompensate for that.
Speaker 2:So I set this up on the target for the girls yesterday. They're all shooting in the dot. You know like 15 meters, 20 meters shooting. They're all shooting in the middle of the dot. I just simply put a big stick to the right of the dot. We're aiming at the dot anyway and this stick is an inch to the right. Everyone hit three inches to the left. Just because of that mental thing obscuring. I'm like, don't worry about the stick, but when you're aiming you're like, oh, I better not hit that. So you're gonna aim even further away. So I think that brings a lot of people unstuck Aiming like that a lot of the time you have to shoot through the grass, and I'll shoot at the top of the grass. Often that's just through the top of the back in no man's land. So it's very hard to do if you're not used to it.
Speaker 1:What are some other things that bring beginners unstuck? No, but well yeah, buying a poorly set up bugs yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I think the biggest thing with being a good bow hunter is understanding animal behavior and being calm. When the timer rises, you know you've got your shot sequence, you can shoot the target, your gear is tuned, everything. It's good to go, because you're wanting that so badly, that opportunity, and it's almost like an intense silence. You there, those nerves are going through. You'll want it so badly. People just get tunnel vision and it's that Not being focused, going through their shot sequence and just not even rushing. It's. They don't even realize they're not doing five out of their ten points in their checklist and going. I Can't remember what happened.
Speaker 1:I saw that Carla came back from one of the stalks yesterday and she pulled back on something which had a finger in front of the trigger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as you pull back, it goes about that far and arrow flings off, and she'd never done that on the target, no, so just the emotion was a adrenaline at the time.
Speaker 2:Hmm, I don't. Until you get in those situations, as in someone who's never hunted before, it's very difficult to explain it to someone to go look, this is going to be the most adrenaline you've ever had searched through your body, it's going to be uncontrollable. You're gonna have the IQ of a potato and you just got to do your best like. You can't explain that to them until you experience it. So I think a different feeling it is, it is, and it's very hard to collect your thoughts and be present in those times. So I think being present and concise and making Smart decisions, that's how people improve. But you can only improve that by putting yourself in those situations. Practice. We can all shoot the target and get that repetition. Yes, that's very important, but I think there's more to being a good hunter that's out there in the field as opposed to getting at the target. And there's there's a few trains of thoughts with that. Sorry for keeping you man.
Speaker 2:Few trains of thought of a few hills. There's a few trains of thought with that. Like, obviously accuracy is very important. I would never recommend anyone going out and shooting past their effective distance, but that simple getting closer and helps eliminate all of those things from that. That's why I'm such a big advocate for it. Like if, if the girls are shooting at 20 which everyone was shooting really good groups at 20 meters, I wanted everyone sub 15, 10 meters, if we could, just so it's guaranteed you get that first kill under your belt, confidence skyrockets. That's what you want for people starting out. So, and that's what we got this weekend.
Speaker 1:What's a long shot for you? 30?
Speaker 2:Yeah that's just getting there. I've shot Buffett 40, but again a buffalo is to be a target. The buffalo is a buffalo, it's a pig at 10. Yeah, I just don't like Reds dag sub to have shot reds dag at 6 and 20 and 14 meters. A lot of my best fellow. All of them have been sub 20. I Think I have a more aggressive. I know I have a more aggressive hunting style, like it's make or break and I'll get in there, but I just don't. It's not me like just flicking an arrow at something like that. Animals not gonna evaporate if I don't shoot it like it's still out there. I am fortunate with this access. I've got soul access here so if I don't shoot this animal this month I might be able to shoot it next month or I might be able to shoot in the right it's not like a state for a situation, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think Opportunity for me helps with that and obviously I've shot. I've been very fortunate. I've harvested a lot of animals, particularly boars. Do you ever count? No, maybe on the days, but no.
Speaker 1:They're a particularly good day.
Speaker 2:The most of boars I've ever shot in a day, like good quality Tuskey boars was three in an afternoon and that was like that's a good guy. Yeah, like because they're not close, no, they're big days Like I'll do some days over 30 kilometers up here, five, six, seven hundred floors on real big days. You know, like it's hard jacket, it's not easy. But to me, like if I had a spell last winter where I went seven weeks without finding a shooter boar and I was here three days a week and I remember when I finally shot, when I was on the phone to Jack and I was like man, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I just can't find a boar. I'm seeing sign, I'm hearing running like I know they're here, I just can't find him. Like I was just doing all the wrong moves and it was a lot of.
Speaker 2:It was pure luck as well, a bit situational, and I just could not find a shooter boar. And I was it's in the middle of winter like prime hunting at the hunted should be here. I'd hunted 20 plus 25 days, you know, and not seen a shooter boar and this place has got heaps and I said to him I was going to come home he's like why the store's all good, I got it all covered, just stay there until you shoot one. Like you've been, you've waited all winter to shoot one to stay there, and that afternoon I shot a really good boar, but it was like I went seven weeks without seeing a shooter. But I'm also okay with that.
Speaker 1:You had the restraint to hold back from not shooting the young ones. You've got to. You know your own personal mantra and not shooting young boars, but I don't need to shoot something.
Speaker 2:It's not about that either. Like if I don't have the right animal in front of me, I don't need to draw my baby and shoot it.
Speaker 1:I asked you today what sort of animals you chased, and you said I'd rather adventure. Yeah, it wasn't an animal.
Speaker 2:It was adventure, yeah, yeah. I think the process and the people you deal with and the places you go to, that to me now like back in the day when I started, like you know what it's like.
Speaker 2:You want to get that trophy right yeah, so and like this, I still like that. Like if I see a big boar I get so excited, like we see one with the girls, and I was like the girls are trying to shoot a little slip for me, and there was like a eight or nine year old tusky boar that literally was missing half his fur. He was that old and his ears flopped over his head and I was like, oh you, sure you don't want to shoot that one.
Speaker 2:I can still get like that every time I see him. But for me like more the adventure side of it now, like New Zealand, I really enjoy New Zealand. Going back over to America in a couple of days five, six days, till I fly out with Sarah I'm excited for that. Going back over to Africa with RASAP, backcountry Africa that's always an epic time up there. That's what excites me a lot more. I have started harvesting a lot more meat and things like that now, typically, particularly on this property. I never harvested deer because I wanted the numbers to establish. When I first hunted here there was no deer. Five years ago there was five bucks on this property. Now there might be 60. So I'm happy to start shooting those animals. But it's more the adventure side of things now. You know, like I love packing for a trip into the unknown, into New Zealand, or you don't know what's going to happen. Things go wrong. You fix it. It all becomes part of the story, like that's good for me.
Speaker 1:On your story. You just mentioned Jack and the shop. How did the shop come about and what led up to the, the point where now you own a bow hunting only shop?
Speaker 2:So by name and nature. So, um, frustration led me to starting bow hunting only so I've had the brands. I started Oscut Broadheads in 2014. That was my baby recently sold that last year. Moved on, I do have another brand of broadheads coming that you've seen. I have Nexus Bow Hunting as well.
Speaker 2:Started that in four or so years ago I couldn't tell you off the top of my head and we're always in that sphere. They're always communicating with the community and everything like that. We're always happy to help people with their setups. You know we sell broadheads and arrows. That's what we've done. We have the studio there.
Speaker 2:But people would message us hey, what gear should I use for this? I'm having this issue with tuning XYZ and I was happy to help out along the way whilst we were doing the arrows and broadheads, and I would continually recommend gear and I'd put in a lot of work and go. Here's a list of XYZ of what I recommend. This is what I use and I give it to people and they take it to the archery store, hunting store, whatever, and go I need this and that was I was happy to do it.
Speaker 2:You know, I'd invest a week or two talking to all these people give them all this information and they go out and get the gear and then they would come back and go hey, I'm still struggling with this and there was a few instances when we had our first warehouse and it wasn't really open to the public or anything but guys would be like, hey, can I pick my order up?
Speaker 2:And it sort of turned into can you look at this on my bow? And it was just nightmare stuff just like brand new bows not set up correctly, peeps not tied in, incorrect draw lengths, incorrect arrow setups, just very disappointing in the setup, and people were very frustrated with the custom service they were getting and I got to the point where I was like I'm sick of this. I would like to start out a store with dedicated bow hunting knowledge, gear and advice from people that do it. You know there's a lot of people that work in certain retail outlets that don't hunt but will give hunting advice, and to me that's quite foreign. You don't go to a fishing shop and the guy at the counter doesn't fish you know.
Speaker 1:So you don't sell target archery stuff.
Speaker 2:No get it hunting only. But I think it's good, like if you've got guys starting out and saying, hey, what do you recommend for fallow, what do you shoot bores with? Or I'm going to the northern territory to hunt a buffalo. What do you use to shoot your buffalo? Let's build an arrow. Yeah, well, this is what I use. You know you can give first hand advice and I just think we have a want to. So just to digress a little bit, jack has been with me from nexus and oscar from day one pretty well. So he's jack crick. Um, he's in bow hunting only with me, who both own that store, and we're just really passionate about setting people up correctly, you know, um, doing things right and making sure they get the most out of their setup and they enjoy it. Because, like with mel, she had a setup. She was getting frustrated with it. Ultimately, that lead to people putting down a bow and going. I'm not going to do this because she was like I said yeah, and I could tell that she was frustrated.
Speaker 2:We fixed it in three hours and there's a renewed passion there. She had gears working correctly. So that's what that's what bow hunting only is about. So that first hand knowledge and advice, all of the gear we have in I would say 95 percent of the gear we have in store we've all personally used in combatch. Well, we don't have the biggest range, but I know if I hand someone a product, I've used it, jack used it, or one of the boys have used it, and it's solid and reliable. We don't just stock products that we don't know about and there's products that I won't stock because I don't believe they're of quality that people should use, not a benefit. Yeah, so it's going really well. We've got an awesome community there. I believe we do a good job, offer a lot of value. We've run a few events and we're looking at doing a lot more sort of open days and community things down the track that we can. So I think it's been a net win for the Australian bow hunting community yeah, well, I've seen that on the public side of.
Speaker 1:We see them in the forums and the facebook pages. People are starting to mention it more often. And where do you get that from? Oh, up at. This is place at Newcastle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where are you? Actually based Thornton just outside of Newcastle. Yeah, in between Sydney and Newcastle, so it's pretty good locality just close off the highway.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's great. Yeah, so I haven't had a chance to get up there and have a look yet, but I'm looking forward to Monday, soon one of your events up there we've done something pretty cool. Anyway, we did some more cool. This is probably more cool than hanging around the shop, definitely, but this course we're on now. Is it something you're looking at doing a few more definitely so.
Speaker 2:We chatted a little bit about this. I've offered guided hunts on and off. Like I get hit up a lot about it, like I have guys going hey, I want to shoot a big Tuskey Mountain boar and I'll do a handful of hunts every year, two or three at the most, typically on this place, mainly through. That's me not wanting to manage my numbers. I don't just want to go shoot all my boars, you know, and now your?
Speaker 1:boars yeah, like you've said, soul access, and if you've also told me some stories about people wounding stuff, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's part of it, though so that's mainly out of a management reason. But we get a lot of people and particularly when we've had to store, a lot of people wanting to get into it, not having the opportunities, the access, the know-how or what to do. Going where do I start? And I've really enjoyed, I really enjoy beginners and teaching their ropes, seeing them start from zero experience to going home Seeing that this week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly what this weekend is Going home successful, met in the freezer, big, deep dive, immersive event with a lot of confidence that they're going to be able to take and use and be more successful in their future endeavors hunting, you know. So I definitely want to do a lot more of the beginner stuff. I think this place is perfect to do it because of the game rich environment that we have. It's big enough to do so. We've got accommodation, everything's there, the right recipes for it, and I really get a kick out of doing it and, like Sarah, doing it with the girls here as well. I think that's another avenue that we can sort of bring out, like I've already.
Speaker 2:I was checking my messages when we had service before. I had a few people messaging saying, hey, my partner would be super interested in this. Are you going to do more of these for the girls events? Blah, blah, blah. I've got a few more beginners. I want to get into it. How can I do this, you know? So it's definitely something I'm going to pursue a lot further and I think I can bring value to people that way and I enjoy it and sort of brought a bit of passion back to it Because, like I've been sort of in the archery hunting sphere now for close to 10 years. So and obviously passions come and go and, you know, get a little bit burnt out, which I did over the last 18 months and I've sort of used that time to reset and whatnot, started bow hunting. Only that took a big chunk of energy, but I think that's definitely an avenue that will incorporate with the store. You know those beginners tailored packages to do that.
Speaker 1:We can see it Like. We can see your passion both you and Sarah very different people in the way that you guide and hunt. Yeah, she's very calculated and methodical and you'll just run I'm a Nick and then we have to keep up. But it's resolved, you know we've got results.
Speaker 1:And there's more than I might as well. Definitely I'm not saying definitely not a bad thing, but we can appreciate the skill set that both of you have bought to this week you with your definite passion and knowledge and her with her calm, understanding and skills and spending extra time with the girls and being quiet and methodical and also being an amazing chef.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's helped.
Speaker 1:Amazing, because I do enjoy feed. Yeah, she does. She does cook a mean meal. The food here has been impeccable.
Speaker 2:I think we'll just go back to your point there. I think having another female with the girls is very important because we're two separate creatures. The first thing with Mel. We had an opportunity. 14 seconds in we were driving the car along like billies, got out of the car and the billy literally crested the rise. We're going for another one.
Speaker 2:A billy crested the rise and the shot was just there and I was like nine meters, let it rip. And Mel was like, wow, I'm not ready for this right now. I drew back and we had a miss, just missed, just missed, you know. Thankfully it was a clean miss and she's like, she sort of spoke to me, she's like I need more time than that. And it's like I understand that because their thought process is a lot different. They like to be slower, more calculated, and I'm like, and Sarah's like, yeah, yeah, you can't like push it like that. In my mind it's like that's an opportunity. We were just nine meters, but it's like, no, that was the most stressful thing in the world. So it's like having that different perspective to, I guess, teach and lead and nurture them that way is very important as well, because guiding guys and girls, two different methodologies, you know.
Speaker 1:And I can really see you enjoying the beginner thing and the new people thing, and I'm a little bit the same where you know we mentioned before we both killed some stuff, yeah, and it gets to a point where you need a different high, you need a different hit and it's not always doing yourself, but seeing and helping and investing in someone else and then watching them flourish from that, to watch them smile and receive that high five for them, instead of them being there to watch you get one. It's, it's a whole man. And then even to me, to see it as a husband, like to see my wife achieve that yeah, that was, that was massive and it's something that and you saw a big hunting background with it.
Speaker 1:You're a guide, yeah but, like I've only been at 10 or so years, like yourself, but, and you know, she's been shooting for a long time, but with rifles. So this is something new for both of us to really I'm not a bow hunter, but it means, like I told you, I'm a bow shooter. Yeah, I'll hopefully carry the rifle over the other shoulder, but to see her just get such enjoyment out of this this week has been a really enjoyable thing for me, and I appreciate your passion and time too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's been awesome Like I've. It's funny Like we're shooting little billy goats right and I'm I'm nervous because I'm so excited for them. I know what it means and I get more excited than the girls sometimes over this course this weekend because I know what it means to them, you know, and like that's awesome for me Because it's like I know the position that they're in. Oh, that was me 15 years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I forget those. I forget those first moments. It's hard to recreate. You can't get your first back. Yeah, so to watch a, you know, yeah, first Fox, like I wasn't there for this but I have to shoot another one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you know, first Billy's and, and then just to watch him cut it up too and enjoy and take that home. Yeah, yeah, it'll be cool to see. Yeah, so we'll talk about this. On the cutting up part, obviously I did something a little bit silly, but I was using a knife that I should know how to use better and shout out Eagle Hawk. Shout out to Braden at Eagle Hawk. He already knows about it. I sent him a photo.
Speaker 1:But we're out here, not so much in the middle of nowhere, but we're an hour and 40 or so from the nearest hospital, the regional which regional? Which I visited last night. A little bit disappointed Hospital slash vet Got a little bit disappointed in the care that was provided. But it got got nasty pretty quick and I put a scalpel blade. I was cutting some, cutting the neck off the goat, and it just went straight in, straight out.
Speaker 1:But the moment I did that there was more blood on the ground from me than there was Arterial spray, proper arterial spray. It was a goodie. It was a goodie. We'll put a photo up. But then we, you know, we patched it up a little bit and it seemed good. It was good enough that night and then I had to share and took the bandage off, washed it up and it was clean. The next day we bandaged up again and went hunting. And then I fell over yeah it just happens and just had both hands down on the ground. And as soon as I did it I looked down and this hand was just red instantly.
Speaker 2:And I feel that it was fine.
Speaker 1:And you copped a fair spray.
Speaker 2:So I still remember you had the gauze pad over it and I was like, how bad is it? And you were. I opened it and it sprayed out about a foot. It's just pure arterial spray. And I was like that's not good. No, and I think you realize that as well at the time.
Speaker 1:No, it's not good. And yeah, look that was. I do carry a fair first aid kit but, like you said, being a guide, you sort of build up these little things and prior to that I probably wouldn't have. But each trip I go away I learn something new and put something else in there, and this one I learned was it pepper, cayenne, pepper, cayenne, pepper, mac and pepper Is, yeah, put in there as a coagulate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that'll if you have pepper. So we've learned, if you put it in there, that'll help congeal that blood. And so it wound up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't do anything for the antibacterial stuff, but one person told me it stings really bad. The other person tells me it doesn't, but I don't care yeah.
Speaker 2:As long as it fixes you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's going to stop blood, so I took a bit of time out last night to go and get that. The only thing that we probably didn't have, that we should have was a bit of glue to super glue that up which I have in my bird's eye table.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah so but apart from that it's surprisingly okay considering what it could have been.
Speaker 1:No pain. I'm concerned about what's happening underneath the skin. Yeah, because it was mid processing a goat Cross that. Yeah. Yeah, the knife had some stuff on it. Hmm, yeah, it did. I don't see what I'm talking about. What's the next part?
Speaker 2:How have you enjoyed it this weekend?
Speaker 1:Well, I've had a great time because I haven't done anything.
Speaker 2:I haven't done any hunting. You shot a bow this weekend. I did. Did you bow?
Speaker 1:set up. I did. Yeah, that's what we should do. We got a bow set up, nick Noreen. Nick Noreen did a thing Meet, meet Noreen. So we'll get well. Okay, I'm not a bow shooter, I'm not a bow hunter. I'm a bow shooter, yeah. So Nick and I have been yeah, yes, speaking for a few months about different things, and this was one of them, and what is created here for me is a new toy that's going to cost me more time and money than I've probably got at the moment. But what have we done? What have we got?
Speaker 2:So basically we've set you up top of the line aluminium riser, hoy bows, this is a VTM 34. It's actually the same color configuration as me, so matchy, matchy, yeah, yeah, um, we've tracked the quiverlizer on that, which is what I hunt with. And then we've put just a bomb proof five pin fixed pin side on there, sort of no frills set up, bomb proof. It's going to last Got that all tuned up and got a few arrows put through it and this thing will kill any animal in the country or the world. It's a six, it's a 70 pound set up 29 inch draw. It's acting at the most on the most efficient point on that can and it shoots like a dream?
Speaker 1:It definitely does, and it's not a light. It's not a light set up, but it's very evenly. Evenly distributed with the quiverlizer on the front.
Speaker 2:Yep, so Hoyt do a carbon riser bow in the top of the line bows and an aluminium riser. So this is an aluminium riser with their HPX pro cams. The cams are the same different risers and then you'll have differing brace heights and a few little differing specs on them. This is the exact bow that I use, absolutely love it and it's just a no frills performance bow. Like I'm a Hoyt man, there are other fantastic bows out there, but for me, hoyt is the most reliable bow you can have. That's not going to let you down.
Speaker 1:And how like is this something you would sell a beginner as a package?
Speaker 2:If they wanted to spend the money. So this is getting towards the upper end of what you're going to spend. Dollar wise Might take this bow away from that. And if you put in a bow called a Hoyt Torex XT or a Hoyt Torex that's their entry level bow You're saving several hundred bucks and getting 90% of the features of that bow in an entry level package. So those components, particularly the quiverlizer, just whack it over your shoulders. You don't have to carry the bow. Drop away arrow rest. That's very common with what we sell. You know I like to sell things to people that I know are reliable, I know will work. So that's.
Speaker 1:we sell a lot of the same sort of stuff because of that and now, so I don't do a lot of shooting of it. What are some sort of techniques and practices that we could do at home that would help build, because it is different muscle groups that you use? It is, yes, it's not for you, because it's something you've grown up shooting, right to be honest, I don't shoot my bow.
Speaker 2:I don't shoot my bow nowhere near as much as I should. I would call myself a good hunter, average archer. Okay, technical side of things I know a lot and, like Jack, is way better at coaching people than me and all those little subtle things with form. But the most important thing is to control your shot and being consistent. And if that is shooting a target at two meters away, with your eyes closed, going through your form, going through your release, then so be it. It's all about being in control of the shot sequence.
Speaker 1:With a bow, you did some interesting stuff with the girls and the targets. You weren't just shooting it 20 meters or 10 meters, you had them kneeling bending down, then you put it behind the brush.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so a lot of things like everyone shoots, we've got a camera guy. Yeah what.
Speaker 2:Everyone will shoot a bow, standing up dead, broadside, flat ground, no obstruction, shoot it. And they're like, yeah, this is great, you go hunting. Then you'll be all bent over and contorted, half leaning, shooting through a gap with a little shooting lane and it just it throws everyone, you know. So the girls were struggling with kneeling shots and things like that. So I was like, okay, kneeling shots, it is all morning and I was making them draw back, let down, kneel, stand up a little bit, wait, wait, okay, now shoot. Because that's so typical of a hunting situation. And to start with they weren't liking it. They're like this is really hard. I'm like well, this is what you'll be subjected to when you're hunting. Because there's an animal moving, you might have to go up down, stop, go to let down. Then you get that opportunity again. That's never just straightforward. And then when they went hunting.
Speaker 1:They got to put those in practice. Yeah, and they were fine.
Speaker 2:Kneeling shots and uphill stuff and a lot of as well. I was having them shoot with their backpack on or their binae harness, because when you're hunting you've got your binae harness on, you got your backpack on. That's real world situations as opposed to just target shooting and bit of foam. So the biggest thing I would say to people is to be yes, shoot your bow. Yes, be accurate. Yes, have your gear dialed in. But don't think that just because you hit the middle on the target means you're going to go and harvest an animal, because that is the furthest thing. There's so many more steps in between that have got to happen in a line for you to be successful. I think that's a big thing that people get overconfident with. If I hear so often come into camp, I'm good to 70, then we'll miss at 20, because of nerves, adrenaline, whatever. So I think the realization that that is a very important component of it, but it's not the be all and end all. There is more to getting ready for a hunt than simply putting arrows into a target.
Speaker 1:After this trip, Mel asked you what are some things I could probably do in the future, and you mentioned paper tuning. Can you explain?
Speaker 2:one what it does and how to manage that. So paper tuning is basically shooting at six, seven feet from a sheet of paper and your arrow flight. It will show the arrow flight. So if your arrow is coming out of the bow dead straight, it will simply be a board hole with the three fletch markings on there through the tear. So this is a piece of paper stretched out across the thing and then you shoot into a target. So it shows you how the arrow is coming out of the bow.
Speaker 2:If, say, you have a right tear, that will be the arrow coming out with the Fletcher's to the right and coming out on the side. So therefore that arrow isn't coming out dead straight, it's not going to be flying efficiently and it's going to take a lot more to straighten up and it's not a correctly tuned arrow. So basically, we can shoot that bow through paper, as we say, and see if that bow is tuned or not. If it's the right tear up or down, we might have to remove the rest, up or down, we might have to shim the cams, we might have to do something to get all that in alignment and get that nice little board hole. So you know your arrow is coming out perfectly. It's transferring all that energy efficiently. You're going to get the most penetration and your bow is going to work efficiently.
Speaker 1:I wanted to talk about that, the transfer of energy, and you're explaining if an arrow is tail-whipping or whatnot, and different broadheads too, and how that transfers to a rib shot or.
Speaker 2:Yep, so how they can? Yeah, so basically, like, ultimately for a hunting arrow and this is me there's a few trends of thoughts on this. I want an absolute direct transfer of energy going forward. So the arrow is coming in and I want it to hit dead straight because it's driving that energy exactly where you hit. You want it to keep traveling forward in that direction.
Speaker 2:If you have an arrow coming off to the side, it's going to hit, you're going to lose energy, it's not going to penetrate as far and it can also become prone to deflecting when it's not traveling straight. So deflections, you'll get a couple of things. So the approach angle of your broadhead, whether it's acute or obtuse. So if you've got a broadhead like that versus a narrower angle, if you look at that on a curve, that transfer of energy is going to be very sudden. It's going to be wanting to deflect. It's going to want to go the easiest route when, as you've got more of a needle point like an acute head, it's going to want to dig in and keep tracking straight.
Speaker 2:So if you've got that arrow driving that in like that nice and straight, that arrow is going to keep tracking on that path, because when you're shooting an animal, you're going to hit mad. You're going to hit fighting pad on a ball, you're going to hit bone. There's all these things that I want to just throw everything everywhere and you want your arrow to keep tracking dead straight. So if that arrow is, by default, dead straight, you're going to have the greatest chance of that happening. Because if it's coming out like this, and a lot of the times you'll see shots on an angle and it'll track down a ribcage and won't actually go in there, even though it's hit on this angle, it's going to change 30 degrees and skate down ribs. Whatever Wins.
Speaker 1:Pretty bad it is picking up a little bit On the broadhead topping, broadhead selection, two blades, three blades, and then we spoke about poundage and how maybe a two blade might work better for the girls.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, so a lot of personal preference in this and expandables touch on that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we don't use them.
Speaker 2:Not a fan of expandables at all. I'm a fan of good shot placement. But a lot of it is down to personal preference. But you have to understand what the broadhead's going to do. A two blade is going to give you superior penetration, but it's going to cut less. A three blade is going to cut a little bit more. It's going to open up the worm channel a little bit more, but it's going to penetrate less. A four blade, so on and so on. It will repeat like that.
Speaker 2:So you got to look at what species am I hunting? Are they heavily armored or are they thin skinned? What's my poundage? What's my effective range? Xyz. You know, like if it was someone like myself and I was just shooting deer, I'm getting passers with a three blade anyway. So for me, if it was a thin skinned deer, I personally wouldn't use a two blade because I'm blowing an arrow straight through them anyway. Yes, you don't need more penetration, I don't need more penetration. So it's like I can get away with a little bit more cut. You know, and you look at like the kaiyugas, they've got the four blade option, so a lot of guys might hunt their pigs with.
Speaker 2:So, with the little black bleeders Got the bleeders on there so they might hunt, say, the hunting buffalo or pigs. They might use the two blade option a bit of a hunting like a fallow or light skinned animal. You're going to get that extra penetration anyway. So we might put the bleeders on and shoot that buck with it and create that bigger wound channel and probably still get a pass through anyway. That's the same as my thinking with the three blade. I use three blades for everything myself. I particularly like them on boars because they're fighting pad. You put a two blade through it to slit like that A lot of the time. When it's really thick it can close up and it makes it difficult for a blood trail, whereas a three blade will open it up a little bit more and that blood can escape. And obviously it's got a slightly larger cutting area. So you're cutting more arteries. Yes, the bigger broadheads and three blades will help on marginal shots. So at the back of the lungs, liver, you've got that extra 20 to 30% of cut there. That does help. But that's not really my likening for that.
Speaker 2:I'll always be an advocate for good shot placement over a bigger cutting diameter. So the cutting diameter is I personally have in my three blades is one inch. That's smaller than the industry standard by a fair bit, but with that comes increased penetration. So I can have more penetration and still use a three blade. Yes, and that's a mean. I'm cutting the width to be cutting along the distance. Yeah, so that to me is a good trade off between two blade and a three blade. It's penetrating more like a two blade as opposed to a conventional three blade which might not penetrate as far. But personal preference with a lot of that stuff. But the main thing is shot placement, shot placement and sharp broadhead. So that's the things to really focus on and what sort of poundage.
Speaker 1:I know the girls here are shooting 40, some 50 sort of poundage. I think that's our legal minimum in your stuff. I think it's 40 pounds. Don't quote me 40 or 45, maybe for fallow, but it's a recommended minimum anyway. Yes, but you were talking about a female is coming up to shoot a buffalo and she's got a 45 pound bow or 47. I think you said yeah, so it can be done. Can be done Shot placement and arrow set up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, shot placement arrow set up and then extremely sharp, broadhead, super critical, and again, with that, get close. You have to be close for that. That's when it's 15 meters and under, typically, that we're going to have to do that, which is still only getting this sort of penetration. Yeah, and obviously not spook the buff after and because they can thunder off and all those variables. But when it comes down to it, you have to put that arrow in the right spot for it to be effective. That is the number one thing. You don't do that. What's the point of having all the poundage all the way down? All the poundage or the gear or the whatever Extra blade is not going to help you. Yeah, you should something through the guts.
Speaker 1:It's not good. No, what about sharpening the broadheads? You said they're an extra sharp, but do they need to be razor sharp shaving hair for?
Speaker 2:So they need to be as sharp as you can get them. Shaving hair is very preferable, but if you can get them as close to that point as you can not everyone has that ability to do that- yes.
Speaker 2:Broadheads will come out of the pack shaving sharp. Give them a touch up Because you can get them that little bit sharper. It's like if you shoot an artery there. If it's sharp it's going to cut the full width of that blade. So it's an inch and an eighth. You're going to get an inch and an eighth of cut of arteries. If it's dull, like I've done, they might stretch over and you might only cut half an inch. So it is very important you can shoot into rubber bands and things like that and we'll show you when it's really sharp We'll cut all those bands. When it's dull it'll cut a third of those bands and that's like arteries, you know. So razor sharp, broadhead very important.
Speaker 1:Have you had some I want to say not major failures, but like I've had a shot two buff. The first one penetrated about that far because it hit the shoulder bone, yep, and just went and this thing ran away. Yeah, it was a shot placement issue. And the second one was front on and just went straight through there and was dead on impact. But have you seen some poor, poor shots like yeah, equipment failure, equipment failure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's what made me start. I was cut back in the day. I remember I shot. I had a really good bore. This is exceptional bore, except particularly for how long ago it was my bow hunting career.
Speaker 2:He come in and I put a good shot on him at about 14 meters, right on last light and he was basically brought to a head in square on in the pad and the broadhead broke on the pad Like bent like a banana on the pad. In the hour I fell out and I done everything right. It hit a bit of mud fighting pad and a rib and the broadhead literally bent in half and I found it when he hit the fence and it ripped the arrow out like hit and turned and I found it and I just was at a loss of words because I've done everything right and my gear just let me down on the best animal I'd ever been faced with. And I done, I put the perfect shot on him and it broke and I just went. This is ridiculous and I went. I can make something better than this, surely? And that's what spurred it on. So, yeah, that was my first taste of equipment failure.
Speaker 1:Well, it's burnt on the holes, sort of things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it did Like literally, that moment is what changed everything for me. But you hear a lot of stories about equipment failure, particularly on expandables, on big animals. Yeah, they work a lot of the time, but when they fail, they fail in an epic way. Whether the blades don't open, they just they penetrate an inch and we'll just flop around just under the skin. I'm just not a fan of that sort of stuff myself and again, that comes with my get close philosophy.
Speaker 1:And equipment, phase broadheads, things like that we can't really fix in the field. What are some things on it? You carry Allen keys in your pocket pretty much everywhere you go. What are some things that you can keep when you're out bow hunting to try and like a set of Allen keys, a good multi tool and a knife.
Speaker 2:Some spare deep, spared deep material is almost a must. So it does pop off, does it? So last last week, when we're guiding here, I had one of the guys I called in a bore out of a rutting mob. He went to drawback six yards, bang, pop, loop snapped, had to change that loop out in the field and I had just have something by buying a harness. So I'll try and just have some basic little bit of serving D loop and all that so I can get myself going in the field. So it'd be like a peep D loop material, a bit of serving a lighter knife, and that's typically what I'll carry in my bino harness, just in the field. But if it's more than that it's a bit of a serious fix. Didn't have a bro bow press up here at this time and we had a bow derail and I basically just put paracord around each end of the axle, joined it together with a ratchet strap and I ratcheted, strap the limbs together and put a string back on this week.
Speaker 2:So it's more it's more than know how and knowing what to fix as opposed to the gear you've got. That can get you out of trouble. So there's a heap of ways you can do it, but you need to understand what is wrong to be able to fix it. So having basal knowledge of your gear will allow you to do that in the field, and I think even Mel like if something goes wrong with a bow or she has a bit more of an understanding now, so maybe get herself out of trouble. So I think having the knowledge of what's wrong will allow you to to jimmy up some sort of solution to fix it in the field.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen some dodgy fixes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and we had some dodgy fixes here this weekend, but we're not here at a shop. We don't want to drive a couple hours home, so it's consistent of me holding them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that quarter draw, just so you can get the screw in the right spot. Yeah, to change the modules out. So basically, for those who understand, the module on Mel's bow was on, say, a 24 inch drawing. Then the draw stop was on a 27 inch draw length, which basically is a sponge at full draw, just no valley, no wall and just yuck. So we fixed that out and it was a bit how you going to do it. It did need a press to do it, but Dodd was half drawing it. Take out the little bolts, put them in the right spot, and we got it done so yeah, yeah, it got a work and that was the major change on her bow.
Speaker 1:It was, yeah, it was the most important change we done. So something you asked me before and I've been thinking about it. It's hard to be doing these interviews because you're on a well, no, I'm trying to always formulate the next question, but also listen at the same time, and I want to go back to it. You ask something. You know, what have I learned or have I enjoyed? And Something I really picked up on and I haven't spent much time on myself learning is wind. Yeah, okay, and you likened it to war. Yes, can you explain that? Because that was a like, it was just a. You're an idiot. Why have you never thought about that? Yeah, and to give a bit of an idea, I'm looking at this sort of property now, where we are, and you've got a basic ridge line across the top and then these fingers that run Down, the drop down, and each one runs down and drops down, and you're explaining how. You know how the wind works Different times a day. Can you explain that and how that impacts?
Speaker 2:As a rifle hunter Wind is not an issue.
Speaker 2:You shoot further back. Yeah, so basically, the wind is what will do you in as a bow hunter 99% of the time. You know, particularly in this mountain country, it's very fickle, it's very hard to read, so you might have basic ridge running along with all its little fingers and gullies in between. Thermals at the start of the day and the beginning at the end of the day will affect you. So basically, heat rises. Okay. So in the first hour or two of the day it's nice and cool. In the valley, the shade on the mountain, that's nice and cool. Everything's going to be wanting to suck down. So if you look at these finger ridges, it'll be sucking down and there'll be a valley wind, whether it's going northly or subtly, you know. So would you be hunting at the bottom? No, sorry.
Speaker 1:Yes, I would be early morning.
Speaker 2:Early morning I would be below the animals because that wind is sucking down, you know, because it's nice and cool.
Speaker 2:It's coming into that valley floor and along the valley and along the valley, whether it's north or south, you know it's going to have a bit of that orientation. Fast forward an hour and a half. Raise of light are starting to hit the mountain there. Top of the mountains, in the Sun bottom mountain is in the shadows. We get heat up here, cool down here. So in the bottom of the valley it's going to be wanting to suck in there still, but at the top it's going to be wanting to go up. Those thermals gonna run it up. So you have this real intermittent zone where it will just go back and forth and be very swirly, unpredictable. You can't read it. So that period for like an hour and a half after the Sun comes up up until that heat establishes itself in the day, very, very hard to bow on.
Speaker 2:As the day goes on your Sun starts to set, the shadows get longer and that Sun goes away from the mountain. It will then begin sucking down. That's my favorite time to hunt because you know If you're glancing something from the other side of the mountain I could come in from below it and those wind, those thermals are going to be sucking down. And as the day goes on the wind will become more and more Consistent because it's getting cooler and cooler and that wind is going to be sucking down. But what I like into water and this is just something I try and think of myself is, say, I've got a bench like this and it rolls down like that. If you poured water on that, it's going to roll down like that. So that's what I think Down in the gut. It's going to suck down into the gullies really easy. But up on top of those benches a lot of time the wind will swirl around everything. It doesn't really have a direction it can get pulled.
Speaker 2:I Try and think of it like that. It still is unpredictable at times, but the more knowledge you have around wind and thermals and what it's going to do in those little gullies, it might be going one direction where you are, but where the animal is you have to approach from the opposite side and knowing that, having that knowledge before you get in there, we'll often put that stalk in your success, in your favor. So you might have to get on the total opposite side. It might be sucking. Left on the side you're on, but right on the side it's on and you just have to trust your knowledge and you get there and go oh, the wind is actually going this way, whereas if you went with, just it's blowing this way here, it'll be blowing this way there.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it won't work and you carry a wind decatur with you. This is a wind puffer full of cornflower.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cornflower friends, that's the trick. Yeah, and just like, obviously, learning your property, you'll know what, what it will do. I like I'll be showing you here. I'm like we'll get here. The wind will suck down, it will go this direction, but on this, from experience, yeah, from experience and learning, that helps.
Speaker 2:But different weather conditions will change everything. So A lot of the time you might be on a face and it'll be in shadows. Right then, when it be sucking down, sucking down and the clouds will go away and you'll get a bit of sun on that hill for five minutes, it'll totally change away, the winds going because the sun's on it and you'll see that in stalks You'd be like I've got five minutes left of cloud cover till that sun comes out and it might start just Intimately sucking back and forth and I've had stalks blow because of that, you know. But it's again, having that knowledge and know why it's going to do that, that will allow you to put yourself in a different position or just just be more successful, really and the third like in the morning, can you feel the thermals like, you feel wind like, or they sometimes so subtle?
Speaker 1:I think it's just subtle, you know. Yeah, so it's more of an assumption. Yeah, you're puff and you can see your puff float away, and you can feel it when we've gone.
Speaker 2:Now you can feel it with the temperature, like we're in gale force winds now. You know that's a pressure system doing it as opposed to thermals, but you can feel it as that temperature changes you know that that wind's gonna start sucking up, you know, and it's just very intermittent and fickle and Mid-morning is the worst time to bow hunt because of that wind and, like I said you, it's all, particularly for boars. It's all late afternoon stuff. As the day goes on, that wind just gets more and more consistent because it gets cooler and cooler.
Speaker 1:Was that mid-morning rest time? Is that like when you had the nap today?
Speaker 2:Is that I may have rested my eyes so five to 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:Mid-mid TV show yeah, Lord of the Rings.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right, it's standard up here. I've watched each episode about the six thousand times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who knows them? Word for word. It was dreaming and quoting it On your search for adventure. Yes, you meant to ride at the start. You're going back to the States, mm-hmm. What's in it for you this time? Where are you?
Speaker 2:headed Hi. To be honest, I'm so not ready nor prepared for this. I've come back from the territory Four weeks of guiding up there. I've spent I'll do nine days guiding here. I have two days off at home and jet off. So essentially I have a Montana Big game combo tag which is an Elkin Mule deer tag. I Know the area and unit I want to go and I've hunted that before and then I also have a Colorado tag. But my main focus. So the plan is go Montana, harvest an elk in the unit that I know. I believe I'll be successful there. I know a good spot to go in. It's a big trek in. That's why it is a good spot. But the harder job will be packing an animal out if I do get it done in there. So basically, go to Montana, hopefully kill an elk as quick as I can. If it's not happening in there, go to Colorado and we're gonna get an over counter tag for Sarah and that'll be my focus to try and get her her first ball.
Speaker 1:So that will mean more to her than me shooting a ball, and that's something she can do because she's a resident.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll, colorado over the counter. Yeah, anyone can. Yeah, so we'll just be hunting those pure general DIY units with everyone else. But I think with a bit of hard work and just persistence, hopefully we can get it done. But that's more my focus. Hopefully, go and get myself a ball. I'm actually love to do that. Go out there, do that and then hop over to Colorado and then hopefully get cerebral and, if she's successful, and then we'll go into those units that I've got there. So I've got time here for a change on you know. So I'm on a tight time frame. I'm going flying straight back into Darwin, then I've got another five weeks in the territory, maybe six, and then it's Christmas.
Speaker 1:Is it?
Speaker 2:time, yeah, so I'm excited, though, yeah, big couple of months.
Speaker 1:For me it is, and I know in the past you've been overseas several times to different places. He said we've been Argentina red state, that was Africa. Yeah, so I've done it twice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Nibbibia, zambia, zimbabwe Love every minute of my time over there. I'm head actually heading back there when I get back from, so we'll go to the states it's got about that. Yeah, I forgot about that states back guiding the Australian hunting safaris in the territory and then ducking back over to Zambia. November, november, yeah, so it'll be mid November. I'll be over there. So it's currently 7th of September or something like that, is that right? Yep, yeah, so, yeah, so pretty much up until December I'm hunting pretty much every day.
Speaker 1:Exciting it's hard life.
Speaker 2:What are you chasing Adventure? Honestly, I don't really have hit list animals as such. Russ is really good mate of mine. I'm excited to catch up with him over there with back country Africa. It's just so awesome You're going in Africa. For those who haven't been there, there's just so many different species. You're like what's that? What's that thing? What's that? Like you know, I would like a bush buck is probably on the list or an island, but I'm really not fast, you know not so that kudo situation.
Speaker 1:They didn't believe you.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. So Myself and Liam Woods we went over to Namibia and this is four or five years ago it would have been pretty covered pre-COVID, when the world was good. We went over there and we're doing a bit of a promo for the outfitter, the somba Nord I know I didn't say that correctly, but Went over there and we shot a bunch of animals out of the tree stands and blinds and everything got a heap of footage and we're like can we go stalk some animals now? And he's like, oh, it's, you won't be able to shoot it. He was like, oh, can we just try? He's like, go for it.
Speaker 2:Anyway, we in the end we sort of he trusted us and he gives the vehicles and we go out and pretty certain we weren't allowed to do that with a pH, but anyway, went out and we're gonna be back for lunch at, say, 10 and we're actually in a tree stand trying to shoot a heart of beast and we spotted herd of kudo come through, a bunch of cows and a nice bull at the back and we thought they were gonna come in but they just kept feeding through. So I was like, well, down the tree we go. And and Liam was up and I was like I'll film you and yeah, liam, and up getting it done. It was crazy footage I got. He was a full draw and I was zoomed in from behind him, probably 80 yards back, jammed up in this lawn, bush, and he crawled, crawled in on this herd and the bull must have heard a bit of a noise I think he's bow Creek 20, drew back and the bull come out and looked and in the footage Liam is here and the bull is there and it looks like it's about 20 yards away and just looks out. I think he's a full draw for over three minutes because if he let down, that bull just would have picked him and I was looking over and past him and he was jammed up in some bushes. Bull end up turning away, put an arrow in, killed it with one arrow, got all on film, everything like that. And we're like, okay, right, we've got it. We're like we'll go back and get everyone, get all the boys and get proper photos, take the whole animal out and everything. And we got back to lunch.
Speaker 2:He's like, oh, where have you's been? Like we'll get a bit worried about you. We're like, oh, we shot a kudu. And he's like, oh, ha ha, like, come on lunches ready. Well, no, no, no, we've got to go and get it. He's like where'd you shoot it from? Like, oh, we stalked it and such and such things. He's like no, you didn't. I said no, I really we did. He's a bullshit, you didn't. Anyway, went out there and, yeah, showed him and he was blown away with it. You know. He's like oh, this is the first time that's ever happened here, with a spot and stalk, with a bow and arrow, like he's. They've had guys do it off the vehicle or follow him up with a rifle, but he was just blown away. That you could do it with the bow and arrow. Like we did get lucky, but obviously there was a lot of skill there from Liam to make it happen and it was yeah, it was one of the coolest hunts I've seen. So I think.
Speaker 1:Definitely confirmed something I thought for. Wilder Australians are generally pretty good hunters in comparison to other international hunters.
Speaker 2:Definitely. I think we have. Look at the opportunities we've got and how much we can do it all year round. I this is one thing I truly believe is true. So, sarah, being an American, americans are better archers than us. Like, they shoot the shit out of me on a target, but we are better hunters because they have 340 days of the year to shoot a target, whereas, like I'm just gonna go for a hunt every week. You know, as opposed to probably should shoot the target more, but it's very hard to do that when you could just go hunting. You know and we're in. We don't have quotas, we don't have tags as such, we don't have seasons. We're very lucky.
Speaker 2:Hmm, it's, and it's the only way to practice to be a better hunter is by hunting. In my opinion, if I'm, if I'm gearing up for a big trip, I'll go and shoot goats. I'll just get your eye in there. Yeah, yeah, I like. That's my mind. So, whether people think that's good, bad or indifferent, putting an arrow through an animal is the best way to practice to put an arrow through another animal, in my opinion. There's a lot of people out there.
Speaker 1:They don't have the access?
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course. Yeah, I'm very fortunate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there is other options though that you can do 3d comp and things. Definitely, which is probably closest you can get, it's like a mixture between hunting and target Practice, and a lot of local archery clubs around the country host those regularly, and if you've ever tried one or not, I have back in the day yeah. Yeah, how was it? Yeah, I forgot it.
Speaker 2:It's different, it's. It's challenging. You've got a guess or can't use range fire. I'm not too sure now. I think they're letting you now and I think you can just go and shoot non-competitively, which which I would do.
Speaker 1:Um, what we're talking about is life-size. Viceraptors, all sorts of random animals, but you also will have boars and deer and yeah, at random distances. They might have something up in a tree, something in the middle of a dam or right on the water in a wallow or cross a gully Shadows across the more lifelike situations. It's not shooting the test you a bit a nine cube target yeah.
Speaker 2:I hate shooting targets with faces. So I I the Reinhardt targets. For those that don't know, it's a black target with about 36 bright green and yellow dots on it. Yeah, I hate it, absolutely hate it because it just is target panic inducing. I'd rather just shoot a black target with one little spot to aim at. That's just a personal thing of mine. I know a lot of people will get their Reinhardt and just spray paint it Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, doesn't end up with one big hole in the middle. Yeah, you just paint another one on there.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's a good tip, Right? Well, we're running to the end of our time, but thanks for sitting down and having a chat We've got lots of flies buzzing around.
Speaker 2:This is the, the meat processing area, and we're in the wind as well, and we made the best we could.
Speaker 1:We made the best do we could, but the focus of this week was Mel and her bow and getting her some experience, and you've definitely assisted with that.
Speaker 2:So I appreciate that?
Speaker 1:How do you if people want to get in touch or find more about the shop?
Speaker 2:I just bow hunting only on Instagram, or the web, obviously, or myself through Instagram, which is just Nick Morton. So reach out, say hi, don't be a stranger, I fringe, that's right. Thank you, man. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1:On the fifth episode, back here at Hunts, currently out of the United States, we've got Robbie Kroger from Blood Origins. Welcome to the show. Actually didn't start as blood origins.
Speaker 2:Started. The name actually was in the blood.
Speaker 1:I hunt Because the reason I'm hunting is because I want to. This may be controversial, so hold on to your seeds, but because I intend to kill something.