N.Z. bowhunter lands shark

Press, 15 January 1988, Page 20

N.Z. bowhunter lands shark

PA Tauranga The Omokoroa bowhunter, Robert Broxholme, shot his way to a New Zealand record with a 128 kg shark landed in the Tauranga harbour. The builder, aged 28, whi is rated as one of New Zealand’s 10 master bowhunters, opened a new chapter in the record books after boating the shark single-handed in Hunters Creek. A stingray, shot for bait, was used to lure the shark within range. The bait attracted several sharks but one in particular kept coming back. "He must have been hungry, because he kept hanging around,” said Broxholme. He took a

couple of shots, both glancing off the hard nose. Then about 5.15 pm the shark came close to the surface, just a few metres from the boat. “It was about six ft away, just gnawing on the stingray.” Standing in the stern, Broxholme shot it. The arrow, with a drop-off head, pierced just behind the shark’s head. He fought it with a 1501 b (68kg) breaking strain nylon line on a reel, attached to a float and a 15m steel trace attached to the arrow head. He had about 300 metres of nylon. He said the float disappeared for about 10 minutes, before “popping up” about 200 metres from the boat.

After a fight of half an hour, the shark was beaten and hauled alongside. Broxholme said he could not make any headway towing the shark. So he headed for shallow water and, tipping the 3.5 metre aluminium dinghy on its side, rolled the shark on board. Progress back to Omokoroa was still slow, he said, because of the shark’s weight. The shark is one of the greatest additions to Broxholme’s already impressive list of successes. His record includes a red deer, a sika stag of seven points (fourth largest on record) and many stingrays.

The shark is the only big game shark (over 20kg) landed by a New Zealand bowhunter. Broxholme used a compound bow of 701 b (31.8 kg draw weight. The arrows were homemade of heavyweight aluminium with drop-off heads, similar to those used on diving spearguns. The New Zealand Bowhunters’ Society area vice-president, Len Purser, of Tauranga, said the shark would be a New Zealand record.

It would probably earn Broxholme a special award and would open a new section in the society’s record books, since it was the first big game shark ever shot here.