We were coming back from shooting Mark's bull in the heat of the day, so Dylan drove in to a patch of river he liked to check out. Sure enough, a big trophy bull was standing in the water, surrounded by cows. Dylan had seen him before and said he was a definite shooter. I jumped out of the buggy, loading my rifle, but as soon as the bull saw my movement he turned and bolted. The only chance I had would have been to shoot him from the buggy, and I had no interest in that for such a nice trophy animal. So we returned to camp for lunch.
Mid afternoon we headed out again to check the head of a remote spring coming from the escarpment, where Dylan had seen a big bull on occasion. There were notably lots of buffalo around this evening as we weaved our way along the river. We approached the spring with less than an hour's light remaining in the day. Dylan's keen eyes picked up the bull first, feeding alone amongst some pandanus palms, right where we hoped he'd be.
One look through the Swaros and I knew he was 'the one'. Thumbing an extra 500gn Partition into the chamber and locking the safety, Dylan grabbed the sticks and we were off, with light fading fast. We had to carefully cross some open ground, and then sticking to cover, make up another hundred metres before we ran out of cover. Dylan set the sticks and ranged him at 70 metres. I was comfortable with that, but the bull lowered his head again so we opted to sneak in closer and improve our angle.
Now within 50m, I slid the 458WM over the bipod sticks and settled my breathing. Sensing our presence, the bull stopped feeding, lifted his head and turned to face us. The red dot settled on his chest and I fired. The bull took off to my right, as if uninjured. I swung with him and seconds later, fired again. The bull staggered and toppled over. I wasn't taking any chances with no light left and thick cover close by, so I sent a third insurance shot into the bottom of the bull's chest.
We headed over, the blood trail was incredible! I was very happy with the stalk, and this nice mature bull.
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With one day left, we spent it trying to get Ben onto a Scrub Bull with his bow. He had a few stalks on some good animals, but couldn't quite seal the deal...so that's another reason to return!
Another incredible adventure in the Northern Territory wilderness had been and gone, with the legends at
@BIG COUNTRY SAFARIS AUSTRALIA. The place just keeps getting better and better.
I'd like to thank Alex, Dylan, Ethan and Matt for their hospitality and guiding skills. Brian for his great company and the chopper joyflight!
And last but not least, my good mates Mark, Matt, Ben, Yabbie and Rog for their awesome company and being the easiest blokes ever to share a camp with. Until we return.....
Thanks for reading folks!
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