Longbow pig

[Jacko]

I was cleaning out my hunting gear cupboard making room for my reloading gear and found this photo of a solid pig I shot over the Easter long weekend in 2005 . Excuse the poor quality , as a photographer I make a good billiards player .

The property is around 900 kilometres Sth West of Brisbane and at this time was into it's 10th year of drought . There had been some rain that gave the country a flush of colour over that time but not enough to make any real differance . The saving grace as far as water goes is bore drains which had been dug by hand at the turn of the 20th century and channeled artesian water across the 48 000 acre property . It's a great hunting property despite the hard country and drought which thankfully late last year was finally broken buy months of good rain and floods .

My hunting mate and I where walking along the scrub line 30 yards off a bore drain with the wind blowing across us right to left approaching a 3 day old sheep carcass hoping to bust a Boar feeding on it . Sure enough we spotted a small mob of pigs being chased off the carcass buy a solid looking pig with a high shoulder line and sloping hindquarters , very typical profile of a Boar in this district .

It was my shot so I circled around put the wind in my face and closed in on the pigs , at 30 yards I ran out of cover and as the mob of smaller pigs was shuffling about and quarreling between me and the largest pig in the mob I had no choice but to take the shot from there . I waited , appalled at the stink trying not to be distracted with the foul meal of sheep intestines the pig was slurping down like spaghetti . After a few minutes the pig presented a broadside shot , all I remember is focusing on a tiny spot literally picking out a hair and watching my home made arrow smack that hair dead centre .

The pig ran around in circles for a bit , staggered 20 yards and fell into the boredrain . We gave it a few minutes , shared a drink of water and wandered over to check out the pig hoping it had decent tusks as I had not had a clear veiw of the pigs head due to the carcass . We where a little disappointed as we gragged the 60 odd kilogram pig from the bore drain to discover it was a sow - but hey a pigs a pigs a pig when it comes to bowhunting .

regards Jacko

[kombi1976]

From what I've been told by mates who bow hunt closing the deal is a real bugger of a job.
That's a really decent pig, Jacko.
Nothing to be ashamed of there, especially using kit you made yourself.

[Chappers]

Good story Jacko, you mention that the arrow was homemade did you make the bow too?

[Jacko]

I do make my own bows , usually selfbows [all timber] but have made a few using fibreglass and timber laminations . That particular bow started life as a crappy Korean made Internature 40# @28" - I cut it in half through the handle cut an inch out of the riser , fitted a takedown sleeve system , lopped another inch of each limb and retillered it to 46#@ 27" - turned it into a top shooting little bow that was great for packing into my hunting bag for transporting out hunting . I've since sold it and have made a 46#@28" 3 piece Recurve too replace it .

regards Jacko

[Chappers]

The only bow i have used was one a mate and i made at a quiet and unproductive nightshift out of three bed slats. It could sail a arrow (bamboo shafts) about 20 meters but we hunted cane toads at work, i think the longest shot that hit was two meters.  Do you have any pics of your home made bows you could share? i guess 40# (is the power of the bow) @ 28” (is the length of the bow).
Cheers

[Jacko]

Here's a photo of 2 of my selfbows made from Brigalow which was cut out near Tara , one of Australia's best bow woods in my book . Chappers forgive me for lapsing in bow jargon , 46# is the draw weight in pounds at 27" inches of draw length . This is considered quite a light hunting draw weight but I woke up to the macho crap of 70 # bows years ago , razor sharp broadheads and heavy shafts is the go


I will get around to posting some photo's of some of the archery craftwork I have done over the years


regards Jacko

[kombi1976]

They're lovely pieces of kit, Jacko.
You're a real box of surprises mate.