I had decided after three years of not going home it was time to head back to NSW for Christmas, so after an hour on the phone to my mate Pete he decided I could come onto his property and have a hunt with him for some camels and a few trophy goats.
Christmas time couldn’t come around quick enough, with my time off from work organised then plane flights and hire car sorted all I had to do was start practicing and sharpen some arrows ready to go. For this trip I would be using my Matthews Reezen set at 70 pounds with Carbon Rebel arrows tipped with Outback Supremes in the 160 grains for camels and the 160 grain Hunter XL’s for anything else. I have found this setup quite good on boars and bulls on the cape so a camel shouldn’t be a problem.
Arriving in Cobar it was very hot and dry nothing out of the usual for this place. I dropped my bags off at my parents house said a quick gday told them what I was doing and when I would be back and headed over to Petes place for a
coffee and to work out what he wanted me to bring out to the station. Grocery shopping done and we were off by 2pm.
It was a fairly uneventful drive heading to the station seeing only some smaller goats from the side of the road nothing worthy of an arrow at this stage. Pete knows his neighbours quite well and if we were to happen to see a decent billy it wouldn’t be a problem for me to go and have a crack at it. We crossed the last grid and were on Petes place we might if we were lucky now come across a few camels. We checked two dams on the way plenty of tracks but no critters in sight I wasn’t disheartened yet it was the first afternoon and we still had much more country to check out. The camels don’t stay too long in one place so there isn’t any particular way of finding them except for doin the miles. Pete also had some molasses in a drum laid out for them nearby the house but they would only come into this after dark it was more just to keep them in the area.
Upon pulling up at the front paddock gate I got out to open it doing this I happened to look down the fence line and to my surprise about fifty camels were bedded up in the shade of the hop bushes about three hundred metres away. I
didn’t even bother opening the gate I dove straight back into the ute grabbed my bow rangefinder 3D camo shirt some arrows and was off. I started stalking in slowly going from cover to cover the low hop bush made for good stalking. I
managed to close the distance down to around 80 metres not close enough for a shot and out of cover. I had to just try my luck and close the distance at least another 30 metres to where I would feel comfortable taking a shot.
A few of the older camels spotted me and in my 3D camo I don’t think they quite knew what I was but they stood up and nervously watched me. I can remember a phone conversation to Ben McDougall who said camels will often let you get 50-60 metres from them if they don’t think your a threat but closing the gap much more can be nearly impossible because of their good eyesight and height they can see over the top of almost any shrubbery. A few more steps later and all the camels were on their feet watching me, one old cow decided it was time to move and started walking away with the rest starting to follow her. I was still too far for a shot so made the decision to quickly stalk diagonally towards the lead camel hoping they would let me get to 50 metres.
I kept ranging the lead camel as I stalked and upon reaching 50 metres I drew back my bow and waited for what thought was to be the biggest camel to walk out into a clear shooting lane. With it doing this I quickly found the triangle and placed my pin in what I thought to be the middle of it and squeezed off my shot. My camel exploded into a gallop and I lost it in the confusion with the rest of them and the hop bush but seconds later I heard it hit the deck. Knowing the shot was good and quite a good walk at this stage from the vehicle with no water I thought it best to go back as I could easily find this place again and track my camel. I turned around to head back and found Pete had to my surprise been following me with the video camera, I like to get good footage when possible. We went back to the ute had a cool drink then Pete followed me with the ute I tracked my camel to where he had expired, it hadn’t gone further than 60 metres from where I had taken the shot.
We propped it up as best we could for some photos these critters are heavier than they look but didn’t waste too much time as it was still very hot in the sun.
Christmas time couldn’t come around quick enough, with my time off from work organised then plane flights and hire car sorted all I had to do was start practicing and sharpen some arrows ready to go. For this trip I would be using my Matthews Reezen set at 70 pounds with Carbon Rebel arrows tipped with Outback Supremes in the 160 grains for camels and the 160 grain Hunter XL’s for anything else. I have found this setup quite good on boars and bulls on the cape so a camel shouldn’t be a problem.
Arriving in Cobar it was very hot and dry nothing out of the usual for this place. I dropped my bags off at my parents house said a quick gday told them what I was doing and when I would be back and headed over to Petes place for a
coffee and to work out what he wanted me to bring out to the station. Grocery shopping done and we were off by 2pm.
It was a fairly uneventful drive heading to the station seeing only some smaller goats from the side of the road nothing worthy of an arrow at this stage. Pete knows his neighbours quite well and if we were to happen to see a decent billy it wouldn’t be a problem for me to go and have a crack at it. We crossed the last grid and were on Petes place we might if we were lucky now come across a few camels. We checked two dams on the way plenty of tracks but no critters in sight I wasn’t disheartened yet it was the first afternoon and we still had much more country to check out. The camels don’t stay too long in one place so there isn’t any particular way of finding them except for doin the miles. Pete also had some molasses in a drum laid out for them nearby the house but they would only come into this after dark it was more just to keep them in the area.
Upon pulling up at the front paddock gate I got out to open it doing this I happened to look down the fence line and to my surprise about fifty camels were bedded up in the shade of the hop bushes about three hundred metres away. I
didn’t even bother opening the gate I dove straight back into the ute grabbed my bow rangefinder 3D camo shirt some arrows and was off. I started stalking in slowly going from cover to cover the low hop bush made for good stalking. I
managed to close the distance down to around 80 metres not close enough for a shot and out of cover. I had to just try my luck and close the distance at least another 30 metres to where I would feel comfortable taking a shot.
A few of the older camels spotted me and in my 3D camo I don’t think they quite knew what I was but they stood up and nervously watched me. I can remember a phone conversation to Ben McDougall who said camels will often let you get 50-60 metres from them if they don’t think your a threat but closing the gap much more can be nearly impossible because of their good eyesight and height they can see over the top of almost any shrubbery. A few more steps later and all the camels were on their feet watching me, one old cow decided it was time to move and started walking away with the rest starting to follow her. I was still too far for a shot so made the decision to quickly stalk diagonally towards the lead camel hoping they would let me get to 50 metres.
I kept ranging the lead camel as I stalked and upon reaching 50 metres I drew back my bow and waited for what thought was to be the biggest camel to walk out into a clear shooting lane. With it doing this I quickly found the triangle and placed my pin in what I thought to be the middle of it and squeezed off my shot. My camel exploded into a gallop and I lost it in the confusion with the rest of them and the hop bush but seconds later I heard it hit the deck. Knowing the shot was good and quite a good walk at this stage from the vehicle with no water I thought it best to go back as I could easily find this place again and track my camel. I turned around to head back and found Pete had to my surprise been following me with the video camera, I like to get good footage when possible. We went back to the ute had a cool drink then Pete followed me with the ute I tracked my camel to where he had expired, it hadn’t gone further than 60 metres from where I had taken the shot.
We propped it up as best we could for some photos these critters are heavier than they look but didn’t waste too much time as it was still very hot in the sun.
I cut off the skull for my trophy and Pete grabbed some of the hair or I should say wool to make things out of it. After this we continued to the homestead unloaded the ute and decided to have a quick walk around the dam nearby as we spotted some pigs there and wanted to see if a big boar was hanging around.
Slowly stalking around the dam we counted around 20 pigs but only sows and some smaller boars Pete doesn’t bother them too much unless there is something decent spotted so we took some photos and headed back to the house for a few quick beers.
Early the next morning saw us up doing some jobs around the shed before it got too hot. By about 8am it was starting to heat up so we had something for breakfast filled up our day packs with water sandwiches and fruit and headed
down to one of Petes favourite dams. As we neared the dam Pete switched off the vehicle and quickly drew me a mud map of which way he thought it best I approach he would wait in the ute for me to yell out so he could bring the ute down.
I slowly stalked in through the hop bush the red sandy soil was very quiet underfoot, closer and closer to the dam until I spotted the first few goats. Up with the binos I quickly spotted a couple of nice billys that if given the opportunity I would slam an arrow into. But my biggest problem was I had around 100 sets of eyes looking for danger everywhere. I had to be patient and stalk very slowly. After an hour of watching the goats four big billys decided to bed together in the shade I would have to make about forty metres to be within bow range of thirty metres. I slowly crept forward but would have to start belly crawling if I didn’t want to be detected. Twenty metres of belly crawling had me really regretting this in my clothes I had picked up numerous galvanised burrs and bogan fleas and they were really starting to annoy me. At this I decided to pop up with my bow drawn for a 35 metre shot. As I popped up the closest billy which was the biggest had its vitals covered by a nanny goat and the whole mob was looking at me they knew something wasn’t right and started snorting and stomping at me. A shot now was going to be almost impossible without wounding another goat as my arrow at this distance would most definitely go completely through. I held back at full draw for what I thought was an eternity when a smaller billy than the one I wanted came into the open he was still a shooter and not having shot at a goat for 3 years would be still a nice trophy. I centred my pin on his vitals and squeezed off my release. The arrow passed completely through the billy all the goats bolted as quick as they could, my billy did a few quick circles before expiring and rolling down into water of the dam.
To say I was happy is an understatement the afternoon before I shot my first camel and this morning I shot my first billy in 3 years and it was a nice trophy at that. I left my bow and pack at the dam and ran back to Pete in the ute we
drove down to the dam dragged my billy out for some photos and put him in the back of the ute for dog meat.
Slowly stalking around the dam we counted around 20 pigs but only sows and some smaller boars Pete doesn’t bother them too much unless there is something decent spotted so we took some photos and headed back to the house for a few quick beers.
Early the next morning saw us up doing some jobs around the shed before it got too hot. By about 8am it was starting to heat up so we had something for breakfast filled up our day packs with water sandwiches and fruit and headed
down to one of Petes favourite dams. As we neared the dam Pete switched off the vehicle and quickly drew me a mud map of which way he thought it best I approach he would wait in the ute for me to yell out so he could bring the ute down.
I slowly stalked in through the hop bush the red sandy soil was very quiet underfoot, closer and closer to the dam until I spotted the first few goats. Up with the binos I quickly spotted a couple of nice billys that if given the opportunity I would slam an arrow into. But my biggest problem was I had around 100 sets of eyes looking for danger everywhere. I had to be patient and stalk very slowly. After an hour of watching the goats four big billys decided to bed together in the shade I would have to make about forty metres to be within bow range of thirty metres. I slowly crept forward but would have to start belly crawling if I didn’t want to be detected. Twenty metres of belly crawling had me really regretting this in my clothes I had picked up numerous galvanised burrs and bogan fleas and they were really starting to annoy me. At this I decided to pop up with my bow drawn for a 35 metre shot. As I popped up the closest billy which was the biggest had its vitals covered by a nanny goat and the whole mob was looking at me they knew something wasn’t right and started snorting and stomping at me. A shot now was going to be almost impossible without wounding another goat as my arrow at this distance would most definitely go completely through. I held back at full draw for what I thought was an eternity when a smaller billy than the one I wanted came into the open he was still a shooter and not having shot at a goat for 3 years would be still a nice trophy. I centred my pin on his vitals and squeezed off my release. The arrow passed completely through the billy all the goats bolted as quick as they could, my billy did a few quick circles before expiring and rolling down into water of the dam.
To say I was happy is an understatement the afternoon before I shot my first camel and this morning I shot my first billy in 3 years and it was a nice trophy at that. I left my bow and pack at the dam and ran back to Pete in the ute we
drove down to the dam dragged my billy out for some photos and put him in the back of the ute for dog meat.
Back to the ute and onto the next dam we went. The next dam we spotted a few camels that were onto us and weren’t going to hang around and a big mob of goats but nothing big enough to waste our time on. So we pressed on to the next dam. At the next dam we pulled up short of it and walked in spotting some nanny goats in the shade of the trees, but once again there didn’t appear to be any decent billys. We decided to check out the flat at the back of the dam as we headed out and around the nanny goats they decided to run off I glanced over them again and noticed one of the biggest billys I had seen in my life. Where he had come from I don’t know but he was definitely hanging with the nannys and we had missed spotting him. I gave chase with bow in hand and closed the gap to ten metres from him I couldn’t keep up with him for long so on the run I knocked an arrow stopped came to full draw settled my 20 metre pin on his back end picturing where his diaphragm was and touched off my release. My arrow hit him well passing clean through coming out his chest. The billy ran another 50 metres before expiring on the run. I was now definitely over the moon, I had just shot my biggest billy to date and was standing over the top of him catching my breath. Pete came over with my camera and after quite a lot of photos we put him in the back of the ute for dog meat as well.
We headed back to the homestead to cut up the billys and feed the sheep dogs and of course have a few beers.
Early the next morning I decided I wouldn’t mind having another go at the big billy from the day before that I couldn’t get a shot at so went down to the dam where I had first seen him and waited in a good vantage point. Not to be
disappointed at 10 o clock in they came with the big white fella one of the last to make an appearance. With my strategy set I slowly stalked in to a big gum tree on the waters edge that would give me a nice 32 metre shot. The billy was a little bit away from the others so if I missed or passed through I wouldn’t wound any other goats. He was quatering away I drew my bow settled my pin just behind his shoulder and squeezed off my release. The arrow hit him perfectly and he ran up on top of the bank of the dam where he laid down and expired. I took a few self timed photos before going back to the vehicle and back to the homestead for breakfast.
Early the next morning I decided I wouldn’t mind having another go at the big billy from the day before that I couldn’t get a shot at so went down to the dam where I had first seen him and waited in a good vantage point. Not to be
disappointed at 10 o clock in they came with the big white fella one of the last to make an appearance. With my strategy set I slowly stalked in to a big gum tree on the waters edge that would give me a nice 32 metre shot. The billy was a little bit away from the others so if I missed or passed through I wouldn’t wound any other goats. He was quatering away I drew my bow settled my pin just behind his shoulder and squeezed off my release. The arrow hit him perfectly and he ran up on top of the bank of the dam where he laid down and expired. I took a few self timed photos before going back to the vehicle and back to the homestead for breakfast.
The clouds rolled in that day and dumped more rain in the one downpour than that part of the country had seen in the last two years, so I had to quickly pack up my gear and head back to town. Which didn’t worry me as I had a great
hunt one that would be in my memory banks for quite a lot of years to come.
I did manage to shoot a bunny while visiting my uncle on his small block just out of town also.
hunt one that would be in my memory banks for quite a lot of years to come.
I did manage to shoot a bunny while visiting my uncle on his small block just out of town also.
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