Table of contents for Edition 94 in Australian Hunter

As the last of winter’s chill fades and the days begin to lengthen, there’s a renewed energy in the air - and no better time to head back into the bush. This spring edition of Australia’s favourite hunting magazine is here to fuel that momentum, with stories, gear reviews, expert advice and international coverage to inspire your next adventure. We’re proud to introduce a new regular column: ‘Christie on call’, written by paramedic and outdoor safety specialist Christie Pisani. Her journey into emergency care began with a high school hiking trip gone wrong and a helicopter evacuation - a pivotal experience that sparked a career in paramedicine. Since earning her degree, Christie has worked across Western Queensland and built a reputation as a trusted educator and outdoorswoman. An avid hunter…

I am on a constant journey to minimise the gear I carry when hunting. I have just taken another step along that path. My meat processing backpack kit has just been significantly reduced with the acquisition of a Gerber Vital Pocket Folder EAB. The two knives and sharpening tools I formerly carried will now reside in the vehicle for when I can get the car to a carcass. When on foot and faced with butchering a kill in rough terrain and packing out the meat, I will now rely on the Gerber Vital. My small bag of meat processing gear simply holds the Gerber, a pack of spare blades, hanging hook, ziplock bag of disposable gloves and another zip-lock bag of plastic meat bags. Over the past couple of decades,…

I loaded up a couple of hundred .30-30 Win shells and went hunting, only to find that some would not chamber. That was unusual, until I remembered that someone had given me 30 shells that I had not checked for length. I always full-length resize my shells but the ‘gifts’ were a tad longer than the seating die was set for, which bulged the neck during crimping. I crimp all hunting rounds after having a bullet jammed in the throat of the chamber, like when I unloaded my .308 Win Sako rifle. I load bullets close to the lands, but this one had worked itself up, probably when it was in the magazine and under recoil. Afterwards I roll crimp bullets on the cannelure if they have one - just…

I muttered “I need a break from this deer hunting” to my brother as I cleaned my skinning knife after breaking down the third sambar for the night. “It’s starting to look like hard work - I might head up north and do a bit of rabbit hunting for a few days.” Rest and recreation were in order. “It’s the wrong time of year,” my brother countered. He was partially right, July is not the best time of year to encounter rabbits in sizeable numbers, but I knew I would get enough to make me happy. Besides, the cold weather would mean the grasses on the sandy ground around the pine trees would be short, sparing us the trauma of blowing tyres after hitting tree stumps. In addition, the colder…

It was 2024, and my wife asked me what I wanted for my 40th birthday. I’d already bought myself a Beretta shotgun (see issue 92) so cheekily said I wouldn’t mind a buffalo and banteng hunt. Her response was, “okay.” I looked up to see if she was joking. Nope! I quickly picked up my phone and messaged my mate Todd and asked who he used as an outfitter in 2023. I started doing the math and working out the logistics before I even had a reply from Todd. I was potentially jumping the gun. A few hours later I got the text message and within days was discussing the important details with the outfitter. It all sounded good to me. I paid the deposit and locked in dates. I…

Chamois are an alpine goat that live in rugged terrain and can traverse shear vertical rock faces effortlessly. Humans have not evolved to go where they can live, this challenge is what draws hunters from around the world to chase these gorgeous creatures. The South Island of New Zealand is home to a reasonably steady population of chamois after less than a dozen animals were liberated in the Mount Cook area in 1907. This initial release is responsible for the current population free ranging the wilderness today. How different the world is now compared to 116 years ago; strict biosecurity measures and laws would make it almost impossible to replicate a liberation like this today. Arriving in Christchurch, early in the morning after the 18:55 Air New Zealand flight from…

The Brisbane Valley in March is a hunter’s paradise, where rolling hills and rugged valleys cradle red deer in their prime. My passion for the excitement of hunting red stags during the roar runs deep, forged through years of chasing deer in Queensland’s wild heart. This roar, I returned to a familiar property, a mix of native bushland and open forest, aiming for a trophy stag worthy of mounting - a treasure to crown my dedication to the stalk. The property we hunt is prime cattle country, its terrain a patchwork of steep, scrub-filled gullies and open-top ridges. Red deer thrive here, slipping through the dense cover of jungle-like valleys or sneaking out into the stretching shadows of cleared paddocks. Native birds chattered, going about their business, their calls mingling…

I have always enjoyed cooking for my family, and there’s rarely any pressure associated with it. At our place, the fact that someone’s stepped-up and offered to cook is enough to win appreciation for any culinary efforts. I learnt to cook as a teen and from there it’s been easy to pull together some hot protein and vegetables at dinner time. These days, my husband Scott and I take turns - he cooks most nights during the week, and is always in charge of steaks, meanwhile camping meals are my sole domain. So, it was unusual for me to approach the kitchen with a degree of trepidation after a hunt. I’ve cooked plenty of goat, venison and rabbit over the years. But something was different this time around. Specifically, I…

I had just spent a few days chasing wild dogs in rough country. That involved pushing through thick scrub on steep rocky slopes and crawling over grassy ridge lines. A recurring frustration was my slung rifle slipping about and being a general nuisance while negotiating that rough terrain. I was dwelling on that as I rested at home, flicking through social media. An advertisement on Instagram caught my eye. It was for a variation on the traditional rifle sling, made by Hellomaterials in London, England. I watched a few of the promotional videos and tried to find an Aussie retail outlet. That drew a blank, so I went to the UK website. The website was informative and well presented, plus they had a good background story to the development of…

Getting a double rifle to shoot straight can be a real battle for even the most experienced shooters and reloaders. Because of their unique construction and the way they were traditionally regulated, double rifles are well known for sometimes presenting unique challenges in the accuracy department. To have a guide that helps with sorting out these problems can oft-times be very handy, and that is exactly what Graeme Wright has achieved with the fourth edition of his well-known hand-loading and shooting manual, Shooting the British Double Rifle. The first edition of Shooting the British Double Rifle saw light of day back in 1996. The second and third editions added ever more material, and rather impressively the fourth edition gained an additional 150 pages or so of valuable data. This has…

Hunting involves activities that are exciting but also carry an increased risk of injury and illness. Contributing factors include poor judgement, navigational errors, environmental conditions, unstable terrain, proximity to wounded animals and weapon faults or misuse. The good news is, preparation and preventative measures can stop a mishap from ruining your trip, or help you cope if one does occur. The following points may seem obvious but are overlooked by many hunters in their trip preparation. Do your research Check the Bureau of Meteorology (bom.gov.au) for the destination’s temperature minimum and maximums, fire danger and severe weather warnings. Pack appropriately for forecast and un-forecast conditions. If you are exploring a new property, have the landowner point out the boundaries and lay of the land. Don’t be shy to ask for…

Legendary US author Bob Ruark always maintained that the shotgun is the more noble among firearms. If this be true, then surely the side-by side-must be royalty. There is something about owning a good side-by-side shotgun that conjures up all sorts of feelings when you take one into the field. Over the years, my shotgun hunting has been mainly foxes and rabbits, although there was a bit of duck hunting here and there, and an early excursion with a Winchester Model 12 pump chasing pigs in thick lignum. But there is something about the way a good side-by-side swings up to the shoulder that adds just that little bit extra to walking around the paddock. It had been a good many years since a side-by-side had graced my safe. But…

A tasty sauce can make a fine steak spectacular. There is no better starting point than steaks cut from the aged rib fillets of yearling venison. During the week we simply grill such steaks and consume them with steamed vegetables. Friday nights, however, we go to a bit more effort and it is always worthwhile and a memorable meal. Ingredients • Venison rib fillet steaks, 2.5cm thick• 30g + 60g butter• 1 shallot, finely chopped• 2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley• 1 teaspoon flour• 1 teaspoon French mustard• ¼ cup cream• 3 tablespoons water• 1 beef stock cube, crumbled• 1 tablespoon whisky• 1 teaspoon lemon juice• Thick slices of Turkish or homebaked bread cut to size of steaks. Method 1. Heat 30g butter in pan, add French mustard and blend well.…

Let’s begin with a few key statistics on population health. No judgment - just some perspective to frame the discussion. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, obesity is a major health issue in Australia. The state of Australians’ health is so dire that two in three (66 percent) adults are overweight or obese. That’s approximately 13 million adults. One in four (26 percent) children and adolescents aged 2-17 are also overweight or obese. That’s around 1.3 million kids. And if you think that’s concerning, many other countries fare worse than we do. Indeed, Australia ranks 36th in the world in the obesity stakes. And we are 10th out of 21 OECD (rich/developed) countries for the proportion of people aged 15 and over. Becoming overweight can happen for…

I am quite partial to modern folding knives. They are easy to carry and compact. As of late, I have been doing a lot of wing shooting of various game birds with my dog, which means I cover a fair amount of terrain. To make this as comfortable as possible, I minimise the weight of my gear. This means, I ‘sized down’ to a 28-gauge shotgun, leave the rain fly off my hammock if the weather is good and carry a single knife. Therefore, the knife not only needs to be compact, but also dependable. Of course, I can just take one of my trusted old knives but getting a new one means possibly finding something even better. My search turned up the ‘Civivi Mini Praxi’. After a lot of…

Simple things are easily taken for granted. Many tasks are performed without conscious effort, such as opening doors, finding a light switch at night or driving a car. We get away with it using muscle memory developed by repeating common tasks so often we barely think about it. On the drive into the usual property focused on carbon credits, cattle were observed feeding. A small herd had been introduced to supplement income. One of the calves seemed to have rather short legs. Perhaps it was standing in longer grass or in a shallow depression? The 10x25mm Leupold compact binoculars revealed a boar. A big one! Focus of the trip changed instantly. Guns and ammunition were in their cases with the keys close to hand. My thoughts must have been read…

It’s not a deer hunt, it’s a dog-only hunt. That’s what I told my wife. And, I believed it myself. The roar had already started some weeks prior. I avoid most of the roar, trying instead to pick up a fat stag right at the beginning. This year, wet weather and unexpected commitments had kept me home until mid-April. As a result, I had shelved my roar plans. The wild dog breeding season is not quite as clockwork as the red deer, but it normally kicks in around April. One of the properties I hunt called to report seeing a lot of dog activity and express concern for an imminent crop of new calves. It seemed like the dog breeding season was getting started. I needed some bush time, so…