Table of contents for Edition 73 in Australian Hunter

No one in my immediate family hunted when I was growing up. Plenty of people fished, my grandfather and parents in particular, but no one hunted. It was not until adulthood that I was able to realise a long-held desire to start hunting myself. Even then becoming a hunter was quite the challenge. After a handful of short forays with friends of friends, and some frustrating solo trips, I was fortunate enough to meet Tony in 2008. We linked up while I was living and working in Darwin. Tony had accumulated more hunting knowledge and experience than I could ever hope to acquire and I found him to be exceptionally generous with his time. He very quickly became my hunting mentor. Unfortunately career commitments have drawn my family and I…

It was mid-March and once again the red deer rutting season, or ‘the roar’, was about to begin. It was time to prepare for our annual deer hunt. This year I was hoping to bag a trophy stag. Eight points or better was my goal. As usual, my dad Peter and I had gone through our pre-roar routine. About six weeks prior, we had set our trail cameras in locations we hoped would be frequented by deer to gauge what animals might be about. Towards the end of March, we had gone to our property to both sight-in our rifles and check the cameras. We recheck the zero of our rifles regularly throughout the year to ensure that they are shooting true. This year it was especially necessary as I…

At a young age when scouting in the hills of a friend’s farm on the outskirts of Melbourne and before I could carry any sort of firearm, I can recall my first trophy. At least to me at the time it was a trophy worthy of collecting and mounting, a set of average but shiny cow horns from a sun parched, dried-up skull. They were taken home, disinfected and mounted on a crude shield crafted in my father’s shed. I was already interested in hunting and in awe of trophies ranging from pig tusks, deer antlers, scrub bull and buffalo horns to shoulder and full body mounts and skins. While it would still be some years before I was eligible to hunt game with a firearm, to me it was…

SPIKA HAVE RECENTLY expanded their options of hunting knives, with the addition of the Spika Pack-Lite selection. These are built for the hunter who packs by the gram, weighing in at just 37g, making the Pack-Lite knife one of the lightest on the market. Loss of durability is not traded for weight reduction here. Cut from a single piece of 440 steel, these ultralight knives are built to be tough, competing in function with others boasting a much higher price tag and scale reading. The Pack-Lite also features six defined grooves on the spine, providing the wielder with optimal grip for precision cuts while reducing the chance of blade slip. Each Spika Pack-Lite knife comes with its own durable plastic sheath and is available in black, orange or stainless steel.…

Ingredients: 3 chevapi (skinless) sausages (or just slit regular sausages lengthways and peel the skin off)3 puff pastry sheets1 egg Grated cheeseSun-dried tomatoes (optional)Ground parsley (optional) The quantities are for three, large sausage rolls but adjust to fit in your camp oven. This one is so simple. The only thing slightly out of the norm is that you’ll need to throw some puff pastry in your Engel fridge (which actually travels frozen better than you’d think). You can make these as basic or as involved as you like. For the kids you can just roll the snags in the pastry. For adults I like to add some sun-dried tomatoes, ground parsley and grated cheese. Method: Remove the puff pastry sheets from the wrapping and place on a chopping board or…

The Steiner Optik Ranger line of hunting riflescopes were launched in 2015 and have become one of the most successful series in the demanding European marketplace. The 1-4x24 and 4-16x56 are superb examples of what constitutes a great hunting riflescope. Steiner Optik’s Ranger line includes two models with the Ballistic Control (BC) turrets for elevation adjustments in the 3-12x56 and the 4-16x56 specifications. The Ballistic Control turrets are available with these two models and can also be purchased separately and retro-fitted to earlier Ranger models if required. Ballistic Control (BC) turrets in more detail The 3-12x56 model with the Ballistic Control turrets features all the refinements which have made it a market leader in Europe – 30mm one-piece main tube, high-contrast optics, side parallax adjustment, illuminated 4A-I reticle with six…

Keen fox hunters these days are inundated with various callers, whistles and electronic sound devices. In the Australian outdoors you can hear any number of torturous tunes being squawked, chirped and whistled to the confused ears and puzzled eyes of foxes. Like others, I too have been tempted into parting with hundreds of dollars for that electronic caller which emits amplified sound that will crack a glass. At times you may have that caller cranked up to full volume. On other occasions you’ll have that redcoat coming into range and the caller falls silent (low battery) causing him to pause, unsure. What makes things worse is when that fox has spotted your movement and is on its way to the next shire. Only a hunter can know the frustration that…

It should come as no surprise to most shooters as to just how popular the .223 Remington cartridge is in Australia. It’s a relatively small centre fire cartridge by hunting standards, that started life in the late 1950s and early 1960s as the .222 Special, developed from its parent cartridge, the well-liked but less powerful .222 Remington. It ultimately became the military round we now know as the 5.56x45mm NATO, in self-loading rifles. I first saw it offered as a commercial varmint and small game cartridge in Australia, back in the early 1970s. The .222 was probably one of the most widespread centre fire cartridges in Australia at that time and had gained a large following among target shooters, varmint and small game hunters. Being inherently accurate, cheap to reload…

As hunters and shooters we all face a responsibility for safe firearms handling and use. Any firearm has the potential to produce injury to you or someone else if not handled properly, but with a little commonsense we can all enjoy our shooting and hunting sports safely and without the possibility of an accident occurring. Problems unique to shotguns Within the shotgun world one of the common dangers involves what has become known as the 12/20 burst. This problem exists when a 20-gauge shell is unintentionally fed into a 12-gauge. In this case the 20-gauge round becomes lodged inside the barrel. The shooter being unaware of the blockage then loads a 12-gauge shell and fires the shotgun. Down through the years many shooters have been seriously injured in this manner…

There’s been very few times during my hunting, fishing, camping and hiking adventures throughout the last 30-odd years where a small, light knife hasn’t been an asset. Something which is handy, portable and compact. Something which is easy to sharpen, clean and maintain. The Gerber Paraframe model would be a great entry level knife for the beginner or the ‘toe-dipper’ who isn’t really a knife person and just wishes to test the waters before perhaps graduating to something more specialised. Gerber was founded in 1939 in Portland, Oregon and is a maker of knives and multitools and is one of the largest suppliers of knives to the US Army. This folding knife operates on a simple frame lock design and features a blade length of just on 3". The frame…

There was a time not so long ago when British gunmakers were at the top of the tree where fine firearm construction was concerned. Anyone who went hunting in the African continent, or India, seldom faced dangerous game without holding a British product. Those days have largely faded, now just a shadow of their former greatness. Names like Jeffery, Holland & Holland are little more than memories. Those guns remaining often find homes in the collections of people who have the money to acquire them. Holland & Holland still produce guns, Jeffery in their original form are all but gone. Rigby on the other hand are making a comeback. Or rather, they already have. The old association the company always enjoyed with Mauser has been resurrected, but these guns are…

It was the last week of November and there was a bushfire nearby that had been burning for several days. The farmer asked me: “Was it as bad as this last time you were here?” I responded: “No, it sure is dry.” He said: “It’s more than dry…” He asked me to come and have a look at a sheep. “I rescued this one yesterday. The crows have pecked its eye out and I’ve been giving it antibiotics.” I replied: “I’ll try to shoot some crows.” The crows on this property not only cause the slow and painful death of sheep but they are also clever. If they are in the field and you show yourself, they are gone. So you have to stalk out of sight to a shooting…

Minute of Angle, MOA, or even sub-MOA are phrases that are thrown around a lot, but the vast majority of people have This is because the MOA is usually referred to as an imperial measurement, which is one inch at 100 yards. This is the first mistake. It is not one inch. Secondly, people forget to calculate the difference between 100 yards and 100 metres. To quickly cover the science: The word ‘minute’ is a way of referring to 1/60th of something. For example, one second of one minute is 1/60th of that minute. One minute is 1/60th of one hour and so on. When we are talking (one) Minute of ‘Angle’, the size of the angle we are referring to is one degree. In other words, MOA = 1/60th…

Most hunters have a basic understanding of wearing clothes in layers but it is not until you hunt, camp out or live in chilly climates that you are able to experience and test your cold weather know-how. With the changes and improvements in technology, there are also new alternatives to the traditional layering clothing system. The principle behind layering is to have separate layers consisting of: base layer, insulation layer, outer layer, rain layer and accessories. Base layer The base layer is usually long pants and a long sleeve tee-shirt-style top, designed to be relatively close fitting to prevent air movement across the skin surface and to retain body heat. Traditionally wool was the choice for base layering, but cotton and synthetic materials such as nylon are also available. Cotton…

When I first saw Foxdog’s coloured torches and headlights, my first thought was ‘Oh no, not another red-light cover’. I’d been there, done that before, mostly without success. Although the red lens cover I had used on my spotlight seemed to spook the animals less than the plain halogen, the light with the lens cover on was comparatively feeble. However, I was told that my reaction was a common one and not warranted as Z-Vision utilises a completely different technology. This is not a lens cover at all but is actually a coloured light-emitting diode (LED). This made me intrigued and I eagerly anticipated the arrival of the products. The items supplied were the JP-303 torch and the HS-33 headlight. The accompanying instructions were simple, brief and easy to understand.…

Norway is a vast, mountainous land with an abundance of game. There are five different species of deer: moose, red deer, reindeer, roe deer and dahl. Birds, seals, wild pigs and hares are hunted for food. Wolves and bears are hunted, under strict controls, to manage their numbers and locations. Foxes, beavers, mink, lynx and wolverines are shot and trapped for their pelts and limit their impact on other game. For an Australian, hunting in Norway seems both completely alien and strangely familiar. While the fauna, flora and weather are wildly different, issues such as access to hunting lands, the management of introduced species and the loss of habitat through urban and industrial development are similar. Public access to state and private land is protected by law, but hunting rights…

I regularly hunt wild dogs. The farmlands that surround my home in Far North Queensland are nestled between huge areas of wet tropical rainforest national parks. These extensive, solid jungles are home to both wild dogs and feral pigs. My hunting is largely focused on the wild dogs that attack the breeding livestock on the farms. Pigs are terrible pests as well, especially how their feeding habits end anger the cassowaries and health of the rainforest. However, quite often I will pass up an opportunity on pigs if I think it may hinder my chances for a wild dog. Mostly my hunting is concentrated on the hour or two around first light and dusk. But, occasionally it pays to break with routine. I have noticed how the wild dogs will…

Only seconds were needed to reassess my opinion on hunting wild dogs. Approaching the levy bank surrounding the homestead, a ‘dingo’ appeared over the crest. The camera was grabbed and I leapt out of the Jeep. It could roll to a stop in its own time. The opportunity to photograph a live dingo couldn’t be missed. As the camera was raised, another appeared trotting along the top of the levy bank, then a third. Something wasn’t right. Dingoes should be running for cover after being sprung. These dogs didn’t run. The property had been de-stocked during the drought. Visitors had been few. Rain had fallen but 102mm over two days promotes some growth and causes flash floods that damages fencing. Without follow up rain it’s not a long-term solution to…

Ingredients 500g of goat meat on or off the bone. Off the bone, cut into 2.5cm cubes100ml of red wine vinegar½ teaspoon of salt or according to taste4 tablespoons olive oil5 cardamom pods5 cloves1 cinnamon stick1 onion, chopped fine1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds2 tablespoons ground garlic2 tablespoons ground ginger1 teaspoon tumeric2 teaspoons ground cumin½ teaspoon chilli powder1 can diced or chopped tomatoes150ml water1 tablespoon unsalted butter½ teaspoon garam masalaFresh coriander to garnish (a packet of semi-dried coriander may be easier for camping) This curry delivers north Indian flavours of fenugreek, chilli, aromatic cloves and the sweetness of cinnamon. The meat is cooked slowly and gently, allowing it to absorb the various flavours. Rice or mashed potato topped with fresh coriander will further soak up the sauce to add to the experience.…