Table of contents for Edition 91 in Australian Hunter

This year has flown by in the blink of an eye, yet so much has unfolded along the way. One highlight was the triumphant return of the SSAA Shot Expo. For those of us deeply invested in the hunting and shooting community, it was both invigorating and reassuring to see such strong turnout and enthusiasm. SSAA Victoria did an outstanding job running the successful event and it was a joy to reconnect with old friends and meet fresh faces who share our passion. On the SSAA Publications front, we’ve had another stellar 12 months, and our team has worked tirelessly to bring you the best content, including the packed fifth edition of Great Australian Outdoors. A heartfelt thanks to our resolute Australian Hunter writers who’ve travelled far and wide -…

There has always been a common set of principles guiding the way to think about ‘why things are seen’. Granted that different disciplines approach the topic with their own unique twist, the core tenets remain the same. They all relate to the visual senses and can be summarised as ‘5 x S’ and an ‘M’: • Shape• Shadow• Silhouette• Surface/shine• Spacing• Movement. With the rapid expansion of thermal imaging technology, radiation is a nonvisual factor that has been added to this ‘age-old’ list. Given that hunters have always known that some animals seem to have a sixth sense, perhaps radiation is it. Standing out Although the meaning of all these words may seem intuitive, it’s worth discussing their specific relevance to the challenge of hunting game. That’s because they represent…

Magie goose gastronomy from Chris Wardrop with this quickfire Chinese stir-fry This versatile stir-fry recipe is suitable for entertaining friends and for a quick mid-week family meal. Here I use magpie goose, but this meal would work just as well with venison, or even lean beef. The first steps in this recipe employ a Chinese technique called ‘velveting’ where strips of meat are marinated in egg white and corn starch. This results in tender meat with a slightly crispy outside, the texture of which holds the sauce wonderfully. You can of course omit this step entirely, but the results won’t be nearly as good. Ingredients • 3-4 magpie goose breasts, sliced into strips• Garlic powder• Ground paprika• 1 egg white• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce• ¾ cup cornflour• 1 cup…

Now, here is a rich dish – Sicilian chocolate hare with pasta. I am not 100 per cent sure where this recipe originates from, but an old Sicilian mate passed it on to me, claiming Sicilian heritage. Over the years I have distilled the original, more complex, recipe down to a simple technique that still works well. Hare are meaty little creatures that yield a lot more than a bunny. Hare flesh is red meat, much like venison. For this meal I prefer to use young, three-quarter grown hares. A full-grown hare will produce a stronger flavoured meal, if that is to your liking. Note that the cooking process evaporates the alcohol, leaving only the flavours behind, so there should be no concern there. The finished dish is best served…

I had been hunting this area of private property for the last couple of hours of daylight and although I had come across the occasional patch of fresh sambar sign, I was yet to run into a sambar. Nothing unusual for me, it looked as though it was going to be just another walk in the bush with the rifle. With very little shooting light left I remembered a promising spot at the end of a watercourse, not too far from where I was, so figured I’d head that way. I wasn’t holding out much hope of success as the final 50m was through shoulder high Bathurst burr, fallen timber, you name it. So, you can imagine my surprise when, finally clear of the mess, I was looking at a…

I was only eight or nine years old when my grandfather, ‘Pop Sam Jaffe’, asked me if I wanted to see a lion claw. My curiosity and excitement were all over my face so Pop Sam went to his room and came back with a small, worn wooden box. He removed the claw from the box and put it in my hand. I remember feeling the sharp tip of it in glee, while running my finger over the entire claw. I asked Pop Sam how he obtained the claw, and he told me that he was in East Africa during World War One as a British soldier. He was based in Kenya, Tanzania and then Egypt in North Africa. When in Tanzania, he had to shoot a lion that was…

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Merry Christmas everyone! 1 EARMOR M20T WIRELESS EARBUDS protactical.com.au Protect your ears and improve situational awareness with these in-ear hearing protectors. We love the Bluetooth function and multiple sound modes. RRP $189 2 4K RIDGELINE TRAIL CAMERA osaaustralia.com.au See what’s out there with this Ridgeline trail camera. It has 0.4s trigger time, extended nighttime range and high-quality image and video. It’s activated by a PIR sensor and uses a low-glow flash, a great combination of stealth and distance at night. RRP $199.95 3 ICOTEC HELLION+ gfpa.com.au A gamechanger for any serious hunter. With professional-level sound clarity and more than 165 sounds, you can call in predators. Packed with features, the ICOtec unit will up your game. RRP $499 4 SPIKA 3000LM TRIGGER SPOTLIGHT spika.com.au Brighter than the Bat signal, this…

John Browning’s B25 shotgun is an icon. Consult the internet on topics such as ‘best shotguns ever made’ and the B25 will almost certainly make any list. Similarly, glance at firearm auction house catalogues and it’s apparent that B25s in good condition, especially highergrade and engraved, are in demand. Although no longer in regular production, the B25 still has a lot going for it. It was not only John Browning’s last firearm design but also the first mass-production over-and-under gun, with the first examples sold only a few years before World War Two. Although manufactured from machine-made components, it was assembled and finished by hand by skilled workers in the Fabrique Nationale factory in Liège, Belgium, with whom Browning contracted to manufacture the B25. The B25 has a reputation as…

With extra baby wipes, child seat (fitted), a six pack (of disposable nappies) packed, the other stuff like shotguns, a hard hitting .300, plenty of ammo and honed butchering knives found a place in the vehicle. With an icebox full of drinks, milk and tucker, we had everything covered for a successful day out bush. My good mate Neil was behind the wheel, I was next to him and in the back seat we had my daughter-in-law Sally and young grandson Cooper to keep us out of trouble. Later, once the bailers were collared and ready for action, we followed the property’s main track to a likely pig haunt. Just short of our intended destination, a rough looking, seen better days threelegged pig made a slow-motioned escape from the well-trodden,…

Having bought a new Rugermade Marlin 1895 for a black bear hunt in Virginia, I set about thoroughly testing it at the SSAA range. The factory ghost ring rear sight and tritium fibre optic front sight are fast to acquire and generally a marked improvement over V-notch sights. Nevertheless, I personally could not achieve the accuracy I had read the rifle was capable of at 100m. Striving to wring the maximum accuracy out of the .45-70 Govt round, and with the likelihood of needing to shoot in failing light playing on my mind, I went in search of a suitable scope. My initial preference was for a scout style, or long eye relief, scope that I could mount in front of the rear ghost ring, with a set of quick…

Hunters spend a lot of time on the range and in the bush under the direct sun. While many wear sunglasses to protect their eyes, others think they are immune from eye damage. Back in the mid-1970s I discovered that wearing the then ‘new-fangled’ polarized sunglasses made it easy to spot fish in shallow water and about snags. I also found they helped my eyes when driving long distances on the open road. I have worn sunnies ever since when outdoors. On that first occasion, I was fishing with an old mate. I had imported a set of Action polarized sunglasses from the US after reading glowing reports on how one could see fish in the water and more. At the time they weren’t available here. We were on the…

Joseph Nugent has the appetising answer for shanks with this slow-cooked classic meal This venison shank recipe is a terrific way to utilise a cut of meat often tossed away or run through a mincer. Deer shanks are typically seen as a tough cut of meat, with a high amount of ‘silver skin’ or collagen found throughout. If cooked in a typical fashion, this cut would indeed be tough and unappetising. However, when cooked ‘low and slow’, the abundance of collagen melts away, leaving behind succulent and tender meat. Ingredients (serves 2) • 2 venison shanks• 2 brown onions• 2 carrots• 200g mushrooms• 4 cups beef stock• 4 tablespoons brown gravy mix• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce• 2 tablespoons soy sauce• 1 teaspoon minced garlic• 1 teaspoon paprika• ¾ teaspoon salt• ¾…

On a three-week trip through the centre of Australia and touring the Northern Territory with my partner Emma, I managed to gain access to a patch of land holding buffaloes and pigs. We were on a tight schedule, so I didn’t have a heap of time to explore the property, but things were looking promising for the future. My best mate Corey later moved to Jabiru, forming the perfect excuse for a hunting trip and to catch up with him. A six-week touring/hunting trip was organised and come mid-August we were off touring the Kimberley, conquering Gibb River Road and exploring some of Australia’s most remote areas in the Top End. I then had seven days of hunting up my sleeve and couldn’t wait to get behind a rifle in…

It was 5.10am and I had been using the moonlight, with my headlamp switched off, to walk towards where I saw fresh deer sign the previous day. Hopefully, I would be in the vicinity of any feeding deer by the time there was sufficient light to shoot. I was carrying my lightweight Kimber SuperAmerica chambered in 6SLR, which is a .243 with a 30-degree shoulder. This rifle is a dual-purpose outfit for use on both varmints and game such as pigs, goats or the occasional deer. The loaded 90gr Sierra TGKs provide a flat-enough trajectory for varmints yet are stout enough to adequately handle medium-sized deer with good shot placement. My headlamp was then switched on to negotiate a creek crossing, with protruding rocks used as steppingstones. The water level…

There is no doubt that responsible hunters make a significant contribution to the control of feral animals within Australia, at no cost to landowners. However, the problem of access is a complicated one. For every farm/station that allows hunters onto their property, there is an untold number that do not. This is not a criticism of farmers or station owners, put yourself in their situation, would you let a group of unknown hunters have access? The real problem with controlling feral animals is that normally they live far away from civilisation. It is nothing new, as far back as 1985, I was offered unlimited hunting on a property north of Alice Springs overrun with feral donkeys. There were so many that my contact didn’t think that I could carry sufficient…

Since the early years of edgeware making, Spain has been prominent as a maker of quality cutlery. The days of swords and other fighting blades may be no longer with us, but the tradition remains, and while the knives of today are considered more in the light of quality tools, they still adhere to the traditions founded by the ancestral making of fine steel swords and knives. Hardly surprising then to find hunting knives built there that live up to the legend. While the Joker company is comparably more recent than those craftsmen of old, they still make great knives. Founded in 1987, the term ‘craftsman’ still applies to those who work there. They come from a Spanish region known as Albacete, a place well known for its skilled craftsmen…

Living in Australia and being a hunter allows us to harvest top quality meat all year round. For that, we are bloody lucky. So, why not fill the freezer when you can? While it may seem straightforward to a seasoned hunter, if you're new to the world of harvesting meat you may not be certain of some of the processes involved. Now, I'm sure the majority of hunters know that venison is flavoursome and healthy, but what about the various ways of processing the meat and cooking it? Most will, like I did, initially stick with the basics of making schnitzels, sausages and jerky. But venison is versatile, and your bounty can be turned into a fantastic range of tasty meals. Let’s get to it… you have just taken down…