Trad Gang

I am leaving in about an hour to begin my journey to the land down under.  I am going to miss the St. Judes auction    :(    but sacrifices have to be made!  Someone give that donation of mine a good home where she will get some more killin done, she is up to the task and longing for some attention!  I get back June 4th and will get pictures posted shortly there after.  Will see you all again in about a month.  Take care,  Joseph

Prayers for your safe trip Joseph! Take some pics for us....and keep your journal up to date.

Travel safe and have a wonderful adventure Joseph!!

Good Luck Joseph, play safe.

Good luck and a safe trip.

See ya when you get back.  Safe travels   :wavey:

leave some stuff for the Aussie boys to chase. Have a safe and productive journey.   :wavey:

Be safe and have a wonderful trip!!

best of luck, Buddy! G'DAY!, Hey, have a few Fosters' for me, will ya!?  

Be well and travel safe! Kiss a pig for me while you are there. I hear they have some real dosile pigs there just looking for a kiss. CK

Pig Kissin' eh, Curtis? Hmmmmmm, did that start for you after the 'electrikul adventure'?   :D      :scared:      :wavey:

Joseph, we expect to see a large bovine in repose, ventilated of course! Be safe.

Best wishes Joseph!

Safe trip!

F-Manny

(Holding envelope to head) "Didjeridu"

(Rip envelope, blow air into it, pull out slip of paper)
"How to you track a didjeri?"

Off you go Mate, off-you-go.  Go forth and enjoy the adventure.  Lookin forward to hearing from you when you return.  Have a safe trip and may your camera take excellent photos for all of us to enjoy.  :thumbsup:

wow man good on ya! i can't wait to see how you get on! please take loads of pics, ill be out there in sept.
wish you a safe trip
Andy

Have a Great Trip Joseph!! I hear the Spiders Down Under are  HUGE!!  So take or get some  RAID  for Camp!!
 A Whole Month of Doing what You Love to Do!  :thumbsup:  
        Life Doesnt Get Much Better!!  :archer:

Look up our Aussie site while you are here
http://www.ozbow.net/phpbb2/
I am sure you will find people that will help you get the max out of your holiday.

G'day all, I am back.  I am at my cousins house on his computer at the moment.  Going to my home in the AM.  I should be able to post the story and pictures in the next few days.  For right now I will just say if you have the chance to go to Oz you should definetly take it!!!!!!  :thumbsup:

Glad you made the round trip safely Buddy, looking forward to all the gory details  ;)

Hurry up and let us all know how you went   :)

Have a look at this thread Jo. Your already famous!

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=033602


 al

Looking forward to the tales!  There must be some good ones coming.......Let the story telling commence!

Joseph, I told you you would like it, made any plans to go back yet?  :bigsmyl:

Ok Joseph welcome back. Now where are the stories?

Looking forward to stories and pix,glad you had a great trip.

Anxiously anticipating this one! Glad you're back safe Joseph.

this is killin me! come on.... plenty pics please

Yep. Joseph I hope to see a post that rivals the one when ya went to Africa.
hope lady luck is with ya.

Okay, first of all I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes and also your patience in waiting for the story!  It is amazing how much stuff can pile up that needs one's attention when you get home.  Now down to the good stuff;
May 11th - Got on the plane in Billings, Mt. on the way to Los Angeles.  I have done a fair bit of traveling in my life and I have never been to an airport in my life that is as screwed up as LAX! Got on to Qantas and left out of LA on our way to Sydney.  Landed in Sydney May 13th, partly due to crossing the international date line, but also because it is a really long flight.  Total travel time from departure to arrival in Townsville with layovers and all was 40 hours!  Breezed through customs and had to more flights to get from Sydney to Townsville where Bill Baker and his wife Linda picked us up.
My traveling companion, Dominick Olivo, had been hunting with Bill 3 years before so it was time to get caught up on that last 3 years and to get to know me.  We loaded up and headed out to the ranch where we would be hunting, Toomba Station.  On the way there Bill told us that it had been raining alot in the month before we got there and the grass was unusally high which was going to make for some tough hunting.  This is usually the dry season down under and the cattle on the ranch would have been moved into the pastures where we would be hunting.  With all of the rain they had been having there had been know need to move the cattle so the best hunting areas were covered with grass that was anywhere from knee high at the best to well over my head making it hard to find and stalk animals.  I wasn't to worried because I wasn't at work so it was all good.  Toomba station is a 190 square mile ranch that runs 5000 head of cattle and is world famous for their Australian Stock Horses.  It is owned and looked after by Ernst and Robin Bassingthwaithte.  They are wonderful people and take great pride both in ranch and in being wonderful host.  Along with Bill and Linda they made the whole experience feel like going home after a long absence.  I slept in the next morning until 0900 then I got up and had a nice liesurely breakfast some coffee.  Dom was ready to go and Bill and him were after Chital first thing in the morning.  A few words here would be appropriet about Chital/Axis for those that have no experience with them.  Even in the peak of the rut they take caution and paranoia to a new level and posses reflexes that leave a whitetail looking slow and pathetic by comparisson!  I had heard the stories and thought I had seen some jumpy critters in Africa but these things have to be seen to be believed!  Break time.  Joseph

Good to see you back.

Here we go!  That's what we've been waiting for  :thumbsup:

My friend Dominick chose to focus on the stags and my main interest was in the pigs.  These pigs are called Basalt Warriors and with good reason.  They are very aggressive and have attacked many people over the years when being followed after a shot.  Bill had a few scars from them and on some video he had taken several years ago was one hunter who got on the wrong side of an angry boar and had his calf muscle torn loose from his leg.  He came very close to dying and had to be evacuated by helicopter.  The deer hunting options were stalking and sitting in ground blinds/tree stands.  The first few pictures are of the "Honeymoon suite" wich was more a machan than a tree stand.  It was on a little finger of ground surrounded by a spring.  It was a platform made out of bamboo that is approximately 6x10 feet and about 14 feet up in a tree.  This was a good spot where animals would come throughout the day to drink.  It was also in a funnel on a travel route.

 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0055.jpg)

 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0056.jpg)

 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0054.jpg)
The last photo is of Bill when he took us in to the stand to show us how to get there and where the game would be approaching from.  Joseph

There was another blind that I sat in several times and had my closest encounter in.  It was in a little point of Black Tee tree that was along the edge of a large plain that was partially flooded and had grass that was anywhere from 1 to 4 feet deep.  It took me a little while to appreciate the beauty of this set up.  As the deer approached the the edge of the trees there was a lot of natural movement from all of the birds and the sun was in there face.  Another thing a noticed about these deer is they trusted their eyes alot.  They quite often would walk with the wind at there backs.  Here is a self portrait of me in the blind
  (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0063.jpg)
Every morning I went there the plain would be covered with fog and between that and the long grass the deer would just appear like wraiths.  One morning while I was sitting in there a herd of deer entered the tree line about 100 yards down from me.  They had ran past the front of the blind in hi gear and I heard Dingoes howling soon afterward.  I figured that would be the last of them for the morning but decided to sit for a while longer.  After about another 40 minutes of sitting I turned my head to my right and locked eyes with a Chital doe that was only 5 yards away.  They had worked down the edge of the trees after entering them up the way.  Well it didn't take her to long to decide that whatever I was it wasn't good and then she barks and there was deer everywhere.  No shots and it was quite obviously time for breakfast. All of this occured just over my left shoulder in the picture.  Joseph

There had been a lot of rain in the month before we arrived and like Africa, rain during the hunting season is not a good thing.  This next picture is of a pasture called Long Pocket,  The fog over the pasture was there every morning due to the standing water in the pasture.  This picture was taken from atop of the Basalt wall that surrounds the pocket.  The light green grass you see at the bottom of the hill that angles up to the right varied from ankle to knee deep.  This was the road.  The darker green you see in the rest of the pasture was anywhere from 4-6 feet deep.
 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0082.jpg)

Another really good blind that was set up over a hog wallow
  (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0088.jpg)
You would sit on a folding stool underneath a tree.  The wallow had been in use for a long time, it was about 4 feet deep.  The shot from underneath the tree was 14 yards.
  (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0086.jpg)
Pigs were seen by this wallow and we attempted to stalk them without success, we were on our way in to the blind when we came across them.

It was the end of the first week before I was able to put everything together, doing my part and capitalizing on an opportunity.  We were walking back into an area that we had seen a lot sign in and where the grass was short enough to see.  It was about 4pm and there was a suspicious looking dark spot on the plain in front of us.  A quick look revealed that it was a lone pig so we took off at a fast walk to get in front of the pig as he was feeding.  We quickly moved up to within 60 yards of the pig and I started working in to shooting distance on my own.  At one point I was about 40 yards away and walking through some shallow water and mud when my cat like stealth   :)   was almost my undoing.  I was watching the pig and moving very carefully in an effort to be quiet.  I was in the middle of taking a step when my one foot on the ground started sliding through the mud and I almost fell over.  It was pretty funny to see on the video.  Whe I had gotten to within 20 yards of the pig he suddenly started walking right at me.  I stood frozen thinking to myself "I'm a bush, I'm a bush, I'm a bush"  I had an arrow on the string and my bow up waiting to see what was going to happen.  The pig walked towards me until he was right at 5 yards then he looked up at me with a look like, I don't remember that tree there, my harmless thoughts must have worked because he turned broadside to me and started ambling away.  I got to full draw and he was right at 8 yards away when I shot and the arrow went right through the triangle in the shoulder
  (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0064.jpg)
He didn't make it 60 yards and fell over dead.  I was very happy, 3 days before this I missed 3 shots at 2 different pigs in an hours time.  2 shots were at 10 yards at the same pig, 1 over and 1 under.  The other shot was just a little over 20 yards and was a clean miss also.  I was feeling a little less than confident about my shooting after that so this was a big shot of confidence.
 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0072.jpg)

 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0075.jpg)

I shot him with one of the new 4 blade Eclipse broadheads.  He had a thick coat of dried mud on both sides of him and the BH went through the mud, fighting shield, ribs, chest, ribs, the other shield, and out through the mud on the other side.  The arrow went through almost up to the fletch and the BH was still sharp after all of that.  Joseph

Just love your hunts Joseph!  :thumbsup:   Very interested in the Eclipse w/bleeder.

Good Stuff!

That bow is almost as purty as you Joseph.  Welcome back.  Let's hear more  :eek:    ;)

Yep, this is just great Joseph!

Let me say that those "Basalt Warriors" LOOK like what I think a wild hog/boar should look like. FORMIDABLE!!!

Maybe they should be nicknamed "Assault Warriors".

Cool story and pics Joseph. Keep um coming.  Dan

Great story so far Joseph.  That is one bad-ass lookin pig bro.  Lookin forward to more.

I was very happy after getting this pig.  Earlier in the week I had shot my first pig.  It was right at dark, next to a big lake.  The grass was right at knee deep which turned out to be just about right for stalking. I was trying to catch up to a pig that was walking along a fence with the light fading fast.  I got a good broadside shot at 10 yards with a very audible hit that brought about an instant reaction from the pig.  I wasn't able to see where the arrow hit however.  The pig went through the fence and ran into a small depression and then all hell broke loose!  The squeeling from my pig suddenly stopped and it was real quiet for about 20 seconds then it sounded like the hog battle royal had broke out and pigs came boiling out of the depression going in all directions and all of the snorting & squeeling!  Amidst all of that there was one pig that was only on 3 legs with the right front leg not working.  This was the side I was shooting at so I think I might have put the arrow into or through the shoulder blade.  I stuck an arrow in the ground at the last place that I could identify that the pig had walked and we left until the next morning.  The following days search revealed no blood, no arrow, and no pig!  :confused:  Between that and my poor shooting at the other 2 had me feeling pretty shaken.  This hog was just what I needed to get my head right and refocused back on task.

The Chital deer are very visible around the ranch homestead and the stags could be heard roaring every night while we were there.  My friend Dom and Bill spent a lot of time stalking the stags and he was rewarded with 3 shots for his efforts, none of wich resulted in a stag on the ground.  Watching them on video, it was educational and humblimg to see how these deer reacted to the shots.  I know they get killed with bows because I have seen it done on video and I know people that have done it but after a couple of weeks of chasing them I can see that I have a lot more work to do.  One of the other rewards from stalking deer was Spear Grass.  Now we have spear grass in Montana but it is just a minor nusiance.  This stuff over there was like Zulu spear grass and removing it from your body became a daily activity at breakfast and supper.  The scalpel blade got a real good workout, especially after a barefoot stalking session.

A typical day would have one of us sitting in a blind in the morning while the other went out stalking deer with Bill.  About 0900 or 1000 we would converge on the house to eat and figure out what we were going to do that afternoon.  Then we would take care of whatever task needed attention such as laundry, touching up broadheads and the like.  The was usually a balloon shooting contest somewhere in there and then depending on where we were going in the afternoon we would head out at 1430 to 1600 and hunt until dark.  
 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0101.jpg)
This is a typical afternoon spot that we would sneak into and watch or go from swamp to swamp  looking for pigs.

I mentioned previously about the blind I sat in and the deer would appear out of the fog and grass like wraiths, here are 2 pictures out of that blind just as it was starting to get light
 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0059.jpg)

 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0060.jpg)
It was a really neat place to sit and I saw deer within range almost everytime I sat there.

Toomba station is located in an area of Queensland known as the Great Basalt Wall.  It is an area of extensive lava flows that ran for about 120 miles.  The basalt usually follow riverbeds but there are also areas where it covered the ground for miles in every direction.  The water that flowed in the river beds before the lava came now flow underneath it and pop up in springs leading to a lot of wet ground.  Toomba also has a large area outside of the lava flows that is considered dry ground.  A lot of this looked very similar to southern Africa.  I had heard mention several times of the "waterfalls" and decided that this is something I needed to see so we headed out there one day and this was the site that awaited me.
  (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0131.jpg).
The other waterfall was just off to the left of this one but it dry.

You can see in the picture that the Basalt which is black has flowed over the original land surface which is the white stone.  Here the grass and other plants have completely grown over the basalt but in other areas the ground was nothing but cracked basalt with only sparse vegitation growing up through cracks and trees in the low spots where water collects.  On the way back to the house we also ran across the walking thorn brush control program
 (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0121.jpg)
Nine camels were turned loose to control a type of thorn brush that was getting excessive in one part of the ranch.  They are doing a good job and it was neat to see them strolling around.  Another animal that I haven't mentioned much about yet are the Wallabies and Kangaroos.  Again, a cool animal to see hopping around when you have grown up in Montana but I soon learned that they have a dark side!  They have a very annoying habit of sitting and watching you sneaking up on a deer or hog and then just when you think you might be going to get a shot they do a double thump on the ground with their back feet and send everything running   :banghead:     They were off limits to being shot with a bow so all you could do is get mad and look for something else to stalk somewhere else.

Welcome Back Home Joseph!! Some Great Pictures and that Boar just "Looks" Ugly, Mean, & Nasty!! Good Shooting!! What would they let you bring home with you on the Plane? One More Question, What kind of Arrow did you Snuff that Fugly Critter with??

Bring it Brother, Bring it.  I'm lovin this Joseph.  Thanks for sharin like this.  It'll be a while before we can hook up I think.

My total for this hunt was 2 hogs, 1 not recovered, 2 hogs missed, 2 dingoes missed, numerous close encounters with deer, and a whole new treasure trove of memories and new friends!  I think there was only one day out of 14 when I didn't have an oppurtunity to stalk deer or hogs and usually it was multiple stalks per day.  I was very happy with this considering the unseasonably wet weather and long grass that in many areas was over my head.  My friend Dom got 3 shots at Chital and he shot 6 pigs and 1 dingo.  We spent another week after the hunt with Al Kidner and his wonderful family doing the tourist thing and seeing more of Australia.  It was a wonderful time and I am already planning on going back in 2008.  My return to Africa is going to have to waite another year.  Australia is a really fascinating country and the people are the friendliest of any country I have been in which is a few.  There is also a wide variety of hunting oppurtunities there to cover just about anyones interest.  We did our hunt with Bill Baker who owns Pacific Bowhunting Safaris.  He can be reached at; pacificbowhunt@ozemail.com.au
He does Axis/Chital deer and hog hunts at Toomba station and Aisin Buffalo hunts on Melville Island off the north coast of Australia.  Bill had some video with him of buffalo hunts including Don's buff he shot last year.  This trip was also a bargain compared to Africa but I think they are both money well spent.  They are two different experiences, each one unique unto itself.  Hope you all enjoyed it. Joseph

To answer a few questions, I used an Ipe arrow when I shot the hog.  It's total wieght with the 4 blade, 145 grain Eclipse on it was 1025 grains.  A little excessive but it was cool to see everything it went through.  I was really happy with the 4 blade broadhead.  Bill had told us that the shield on hogs would close up around a shaft and there would not be hardly any blood trail.  My hog had blood running down his side the instant the arrow hit him and when Bill was fleshing the cape you could see how the cross cut from the bleeder blade had opened up the cut both through the hide and also the fighting shield.  When I came back through customs in LA I had my hog cape and the back skin from a cull deer.  They had both been well salted and were dry.  I declared that I had animal products and when the customs officer asked what the were I said animal skins.  He said okay and let me through.  Wether or not things would have been the same if he had inquired further or looked at them I don't know.  I also brought back the upper and lower tusk from my pig.  The lower ones are going to go on a plaque next to the shoulder mount and the upper ones just look like bow limb tips to me.  Joseph

I am Glad to hear that Customs didnt give you a Big Hassle!  :rolleyes:   Congratulations on Your Expidition, sounds like a Great Time was Had By YOU and everyone Else!!  :thumbsup:  
 Memories to last a Lifetime!  :campfire:    :archer:

Joseph,

I also asked Don this questipon, where did you get your ipe shafts?

Oh, and thanks for the story!

Steve, sent you a PM.  Shafts came from Allegheny Mountain Arrow Woods.  Joseph

We have all our buffalo hunters bring their horns and capes home with them as checked baggage. Australia has disease free status with US so no "dip and ship" is required. As compared to Africa, you get your stuff home months and sometimes years earlier and can save hundreds or even thousands in fees.
The basalt comes in both black and red, a geologist told me that the black is lava that flowed under the sea and a chemical reaction caused the color.
The "roos" and wallabies, nothing like following up a buffalo or scrub bull and having a big roo coming busting out of the scrub at your feet, really gets the blood pumping!

Glad to see you made it back safe, and that you had a great time   :)

Good stuff Joseph...congrats on a great hunt bud    :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:

SORRY!!!

   (http://www.tradgang.com/archive/imgs/PICT0075.jpg)

Just had to see that one again!     :D  

Congrats Joseph!

Thankyou all and Rick was right.  It's a great place!  One thing I forgot to mention about Hog tusk.  When we rolled this one over to see where the exit hole was one of it's tusk got caught in my boot laces.  I reached down to pick up it's head to free myself and grabbed the best looking handle I saw.  Turned out it was the lower tusk on the left side.  :confused:  Well you know them stories you here about a pigs tusk being razor sharp?  Wel I can attest to that!  I tried to pick that hog's head up by that tusk and sliced my finger open like I had run a straight razor over it!  :scared:  I didn't feel a thing, saw lots of blood, I let it bleed out for a little while to clean it as his tusk didn't look real clean then I put a bulk dressing on it and pullled a latex glove over it.  All that was left to do was superglue it shut when we got back to the ranch.  I had shot 3 pigs before this but never one with good size ivory.  When folks talk about razor sharp tusk they aint kidden!  Joseph

Too cool, Joseph.  We leave on Aug. 4th for three weeks of the same.

Question on the broadheads.  I'm going to use the two blade Eclipse for buff, and will probably take some Woodsmans for deer, but am still undecided on the hog medicine.  From the sounds of it, the bleeder blades may be a big help getting through a big boar.  I've had marginal penetration on a couple of big boars in Texas with the WW when they get into the shield.  Thoughts?

I suspect the 2 blade Eclipse would be very good on hogs, and the 4 blade (see the above proof!) is good medicine if you have the arrow weight to get it through!  If you've got heavy shafts prepared for buff, just put the 4 blades on a few for hogs.

Joseph, I think I read somewhere that the Aussies don't eat these hogs because they taste terrible for some reason. Was that true in your area?  If it is, that's a darn shame. Nothing better than free range pork!

PS. are we gonna see you in Sept for the Montana Goat Sweat with Leo?

Joseph, that hog in your photo has BIG tusks, you don't often see more than that sticking out of the jaw. When you boil and pull them out, what you see sticking out of the jaw is only 1/3 of the total length. On mounted ones you see with big long teeth, the taxidermist "improved" on the live version. Ryan Rothaar became a believer last year, he shot a bunch of BIG boars with his buff head the 160 STOS and you know he gets the Snuffers free. I think on his first three boars the recovery distance was something like 7 FEET.
I became a believer on not eating the pigs after I have kicked lots of them out of dead rotten cattle and buffalo carcases. I don't like to even touch them, let alone eat them. I've seen them sleeping inside a nasty rotten carcase AND still smell a hunter in an instant if the wind changed, how bad must we smell?

The wild pigs is OZ taste really good, it's the best pork you will ever eat but we don't often eat them because of disease, some people have died miserable deaths over the years. There use to be wild pig abbitoirs over the years but they have all been closed down because of the health risks...Glenn...

:wavey:  
That's just you poor Queensland guys Glenn. I wouldn't touch a QLD pig except to kick it in the guts to roll it over to get to the tusks, smelly wormy mongrels. You see lots of trophy pics from up the cape with guys almost cuddling the pig, I wonder how many of them hurl about 2 seconds after the pic is taken    

I still eat every pig I shoot here in the south, like you say best pork available  :)  Shame we don't have as many down here  :(

Jindy it's a bloody shame we cant take our pigs to one of the game abbitoirs and have them tested like they do for the German wild pig market. When I was a young fella back in the early 70's myself and a couple of mates had a nice wild pig business, we use to trap wild pigs on the wheat and milo paddocks and bring them back to Brisbane, the Italians use to buy them off us for salami, it was fantastic salami, we ate plenty of those pigs and we were never sick.
I would think twice about eating a pig that was backing out of the stomach cavity of a dead horse or cow though. Pigs out of good river country are very good eating...Glenn...

We did eat one pig, it was a smaller one, around 40-50 pounds on the hoof.  Bill checked several different organs in it looking for signs of disease or parasites.  It was really good.  He also said that around Tully they shoot pigs to eat that are on Banana plantations.  Alan said the same about the area around Mackay where the pigs live in sugarcane fields.  If they are strictly vegetarian they are okay.  It is the ones that are eating carcasses that need to be avoided.  On broadheads I don't think that the bleeder blades helped with penetration.  What I think it did do was help with a better blood trail which wasn't needed in this case.  Mark U, I think you would be okay with woodsmans if you are shooting a heavy enough bow/arrow combo but how you decide what that is I am not sure.  I do know that Bill is a big believer of putting Vaseline on the broadheads to aid in penetration.  Beachbowhunter, I don't know, Leo hasn't said anything to me about it but it is a definate possibility if he goes to his usual goat hunting area.  It is pretty close to where I live.  Joseph

well done! thank you for sharing.

:thumbsup:    :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:    :archer:

Sounds like an awesome trip Joseph! Congrats on that big boar!  :thumbsup:

Well it's good to see your post at last mate, some real good pics there. Me and the Family just got back from the Traditional shoot at Gladestone. Got rained on, caught up with Bill and had a good time all round. Simon kicked butt and took out all trophies. Must stop making that fella arras!

I'm glad to hear you had no troubles with the skins mate.

Kelly and the Kids say Hi, and everytime we have a meat pie we think of you and Dom!

See you in 2008 mate, in Oz, al.  :wavey:

Congratulations, Joseph! Great shooting on an awesome pig, and thanks for sharing your adventure! Welcome back!

More pics Jo Jo!

  :readit:

Way to go guys! Sounds like a great trip all around.  Thanks for sharing it with us Joseph and congratulations.  You are to be complimented on your hunting and your photos.  That is one of the best "hero" pics I've seen.  I like the way you used the arrow shaft and your smile tells a story of its own.  I hope you bring that photo to Pittsburgh in '08.

Thankyou all, don't have anymore pictures to post, I'm glad you liked the story.  Joseph

Not sure how I missed this until now Joseph.  Congrats on what sounds like a awesome trip.

Great storey Joseph! as always.

Hey Joseph - I may have missed it but what is the bow that you used??

Sutto

Sutto, that is my favorite Robertson recurve.  It is 58" long and 64# @ 29".  Joseph

Thanks for reliving the trip with us Joseph....really got me ready to book a trip!