HUNTING.

A mate of mine from here took me out hunting for pig and buffalo last night. I've never been so excited for something in my life. The plan was to leave pretty much straight after work. After chucking the guns and the dogs in the back of the ute we headed East out of town. I rode in the back of troupe carrier until we got pretty far into the bush - we went down the same direction where I had been out setting fireworks off the week before. We got about 20km out of town and we all jumped onto the back of the ute armed with the 2 guns and the spotlight. And then we drove. And drove. And tried to spot out Buffalo. Buffalo were our main target.

After a while I spotted our first Buffalo. We pulled up, but it ran too far into the thick before we could take shot. It was all pretty exciting. I couldnt believe that we had seen one just on the side of the road, and how close we had come to getting it!

As we went  on we approached an Outstation. Until this moment I wasnt entirely sure exactly what an Outstation was. Ive heard people talk about them, saying they come from one, or that they work there and no one could ever really explain what it was. So basically its a small group of people, a tiny community living together. Its impressively alot cleaner than our community. They have power, decent housing, and AUSTAR! So its a pretty nice little set up they have going.  Alot of the time the people that live on the outstations are the traditional land owners of that area. (Every piece of land up here had a traditional land owner (A "T.O"), they get paid royalties for the white man being on their land. I have heard of people getting paid like $20 000 every quarter just for the white man being here. But they still treat us like shit, even though they get compensated for us being here).

As I was saying, the outstation where we went to last night is where the T.O lives for the land we were hunting on. Everyone has to get permission to hunt on their land or they can fine you, take your car etc etc. It can get fairly hectic. So basically they just charge you to hunt on their land. Usually you will just give them some meat when you return of something like that. For example last night Dave (the T.O) asked for a sets of horns if we got a Buffalo.

After meeting with Dave we continued on further into the bush. It took ages for us to even see anything living. Once we did we saw a small herd of Buffalo. Our driver was a local man called Olly. Its a great choice to have someone like that driving because they know the bush like the back of their hand. We get the Buffalo lined up for a shot, they Olly takes off in the truck! We are bouncing around on the back of this truck, trying to take a shot at these buffalo going about 40km. It was hectic, Richie still went for the shot though. As the gun fired, I didnt even consider how loud it was going to be, my ears blocked instantly, I nearly fell off the back of the truck and dropped the spotlight. After all the commotion I think we got a shot in but didnt take any down.

After this we ended up finding a pig, which as it went down another one ran out of the scrub. So we decided to go with it and chase it down. Olly did a pretty good job of getting up next to it......and  running it over. The poor thing had a mangled back and still wasnt dead. It didnt suffer too long. This was the first pig that I ever saw get cut up. I decided to jump straight in and help him cut it up. Even though I was a little weirded out by the fact that it had been alive about 90seconds ago. But there i was holding it up by the ears, pulling its legs around and carrying them into the back of the ute, and pulling the ribs out.

We continued on. We still needed at least one buff to end the night. I reckon we would have done about 20kms before we saw anything and it was now my turn to try and shoot something. For about an hour and half we drove. And I sat. I sat so tense, just waiting for that blue glint of a buffalo eye. Would I choke? Would I be quick enough? Would I remember how to shoot the gun? Would I shame myself by a stupid shot? I was having some serious performance anxiety issues. Proper self doubt.

Then it happened. We saw them. About 50m away in some bush. I thank god that they were in the bush because that meant that Richie took the shot (he's an incredible aim). He took the shot and it went down. This was it. The moment that I'd get to see my first buffalo up close, and watch it get cut up. We got over there and I walk over in all my excitement to take a photo. Turns out the buffalo wasnt dead and tried to get up. I shit myself and ran. These things can tip over cars. Its back would have stood about my shoulder height. He put another shot in its head to be sure. We went over to start cutting it apart. I decided 'Its all or nothing' I cant come all this way and not get amongst it. So I pick up the Buff leg and Richie starts to cut. The friggin thing still had life left in it and kicked its leg out. I shit myself. I dropped that shit and ran. And probably screamed a little bit as well. I admit it was a bit emabarassing. But hey, it was my first time.

But I got over it. I held the leg while he cut it. It was epic. The legs weigh about 100kg each. So I basically had my whole weight pulling these legs. Fell over a few times and all my muscles in my arms are shot today. When we got the first leg off, I noticed that the meat was twitching like it was still alive. It was so interesting. I really think its something worth doing. I reckon it would have taken over and hour to take apart. I even got amongst it and had my hands in under the ribs trying to pull them out. My feet were covered in blood. Flesh on my hands. It was the most intense thing. We ended up getting the horns for Dave, even though it was a crazy struggle.

After this, due to our covered-in-blood-ness, we decided to call it a night. Richie still insisted that the whole way back we still spotlight just in case there is something there. He reckoned that I could go for whatever we saw. To be honest my arms were still that shot from lifting the buff legs I couldnt even lift the gun to shoot it. Glad we didnt come across anything else. I wouldnt have been able to do it all again. We made it back to the outstation, where Dave met us to see what we had caught. He then told us he didnt even want the head of the buff, it was the horns he wanted! After all the struggle we went to, to get the head off, I couldnt believe it.
We headed home.

I had the most amazing time. Its crazy when you get back to nature like that. Everything that we killed last night will be eaten. The meat we salvaged was donated to all the locals. Out here if you kill something for no purpose but just to kill it, you get into trouble. Why kill something for no reason? If we dont want the meat, there is always someone here who will eat it. Its a great process. We dont go out for the purpose of eating the meat. We go for the thrill of the hunt, so the locals benefit from this. And by giving them the meat you also gain their trust and build lifetime bonds. I didnt get to shoot anything, but thats ok. Im glad I just got to sit back and watch it all. I will go again. I wont be killing a Buffalo, even though I said I would. I just cant do that. I dont want to kill something that I wont be able to cut up. And there is no way I can cut up a buff. A pig will be no sweat.

However I must end my blog here for today. I have an epic day ahead tomorrow. Jabiru is planned for the weekend again, which it has taken me the whole week to secure a ride in. The amount of alcohol that is going to be drank to make up for this intense week is going to be historic. And possibly quite a bit sad. It is worrying that I am relying on getting out of town for the weekend just so I can soothe my issues with alcohol. But on the other hand, life here is intense, and not always great. I find myself in quite deep depression if I dont do anything or have anything planned. But! I must go.

See you all on the other side of a weekend in Jabiru.