Hunt Diary Australia

[Kapow]

Howdy all, I'd like to think I am not unfamiliar to a lot of you and I am aware that you are mostly sitting around waiting for your deer seasons to come back. Well on the other side of the world we are busy at it, this being the best time for a few of our deer species to be hunted. Which is what I am up to right now.

I thought I might do a bit of a day by day hunt diary to keep you entertained, given that many of you aren't hunting this time of the year and also given that I am likely to score on more than a few critters if last year was anything to go by. I promise I won't overdo it and write a novel. Just a daily update to keep your appetites whet. It's not often you have the luxury of a laptop and internet in a hunting camp.

Please let me know your thoughts. If it isn't wanted or appreciated please tell me that too.

 

[Nifeman]

Hunting stories are NEVER a bad thing. Type away my friend :thumbsup: ...

 

[Lonegun1894]

Count me as another vote for you toplease do this. And even if this does turn into a novel, what else do we have to do before the next hunting season comes around anyway? In fact, if you have a camera handy also, it wouldn't hurt my feelings any to see pictures along with the stories. Happy hunting! :thumbsup:

 

[Silex]

Yup, another one here :thumbsup: .

Bring on the stories and pics...
Although our roe deer season starts 1rst of May


Silex

 

[buford87]

If people don't like it they don't have to read it. Looking forward to your adventures.....................watch yer top knot..............

 

[Carl Fowler III]

If people don't like it they don't have to read it. Looking forward to your adventures.....................watch yer top knot..............[/quote


Buford, I could not agree with you more...Kapow, as far as relaying to us your day to day exploits please do so and pictures would be nice too! :thumbsup: How in the world are you getting wifi back in the bush, or are you using passenger kangaroos to send out your story? :rotf:

 

[lonehunter]

We need pictures or it never happened! :wink:

 

[larry wv]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[Lonegun1894]

I thought passenger kangaroos were endangered, kinda like passenger pidgeons, or am I getting my aminals confused again?

 

[Kapow]

What do you think the pouch is for? Sort of like pony express onloy more shaken! Okay will take plenty of pics. 1st installment coming soon...

 

[bigbore442001]

I would relish any lengthy writ on hunting in your nation with a muzzleloader.

I have always been intrigued by your country since a young adult who was exposed to Bush Tucker man on cable tv.

 

[Kapow]

Well deer hunting was never meant to be easy. Otherwise everyone would be doing it and there would be no deer left. I have had a few days of scouting and spent some time fulfilling social obligations which included having the landowners two young kids camp with me for a night. What a riot that was. I have hunted this property for the better part of ten years and just when I thought I had the deer here worked out they have gone and changed their habits. I think it is bcuase of a bit of a dry period they have been going through.

I saw one quite nice stag but unfortunately he also saw me. For some reason he was out in the open and I could have got a shot but I really want to get everything I do on video and hopefully put together a very amateur but exciting traditional blackpowder hunting dvd. Anyone who has tried to film themselves stalking and taking the shot would know that it makes the whole exercise twice as hard. Nevermind though as it has given me a bit of new purpose.

This morning I went to a favourite old haunt where I shot a nice white stag last year. I could hear a couple of stags grunting up on top of a big hill so put my head down and went up there. I sat on top and glassed the opposite hillside. I saw a nice stag sneaking along his scrape/rub line. I turned on the video camera and commenced doe calling (a squeaking kitten sound) He made a beeline down the hill towards me so I snuck down to intercept him. He was grunting like crazy looking for me and was spurred on by other stags grunting back at him.


When he entered the gully I lost sight of him. I assumed the swirling breeze had got to him so I cut around the side of the hill and walked all the way up to the top again only to be caught with my pants down out in the open. The sneaky old boy had circled around me to get my wind. He went up the valley and I gave him a half hour to let the bush settle.

As I sat in the rising sun thawing out and half dozing I was entertained by hundreds of the most beautifully coloured bush parrots such as Eastern Rosellas, Crimson Rosellas and Scaly Parrots. DaVinchi would've struggle to capture their colour and brilliance.

I was awoken from my snooze by the sound of a new stag grunting and saw him sneaking downhill through the scrub probably looking to bash the first stag I had pushed through his territory. Amazing how you can glass a whole hillside seeing nothing and then out steps a stag.

I made my way along the ridgeline to where he was grunting and started to sweet talk him. He went ballistic grunting and smashing trees with his antlers. I slid down on my backside hind calling him the whole way to cover my noise on the dry leaves. I set up near the bottom of the gully and after about 1/2 hour of teasing him he couldn't take it any more and came steaming down the hill, all caution gone out the window. I had him in the video viewfinder and rifle at the ready. He was a beautiful nutmeg coloured spotted mature stag with perfectly palmated antlers. Except one of them was missing! Something bigger and better had kicked his butt and broken off his right antler. No point shooting a breeder like that. I enjoyed the moment and let him walk before I did the same - back to the car.

Weather has gone from blue skies to overcast and stormy so hopefully this will spur the rut on. This afternoon I will go and sit on a scrape line and give my swollen knee a break (hopefully not literally) and tomorrow I will get up extra early and get on a ridgeline that I saw a stag with 30 odd females 2 days ago. Hopefully I will make some smoke soon...

 

[pargent]

:thumbsup: good on you for letting him walk most around my parts will shoot anything

 

[Kapow]

I headed out this afternoon to sit on a scrape line but didn't get too far. I noticed a dark object or two off in the distance and stopped to glass them. They turned out to be a small mob of pigs so I stalked over to them. The wind was terrible. As I got closer I looked through the binos to check on them and saw that they were boars after a sow on heat. I got a bit excited but kept it together enough to get to about 150m.

Then I had to belly crawl 50m to a small rocky outcrop. There was no cover fo about 500m in any direction so thankfully the grass was long enough to help conceal me. The wind was very iffy so I set up the video camera and prepared for the shot.

A last look through the binos revealed that one of the boars dwarfed the others. I could see his tusks protruding out of his lips and he wasn't putting up with any nonsense from the others. He was a fair way off. At least 100m. They were initially making their way towards me and I was expecting some close quarter contact but, as pigs do they did a 180 and were now heading away. The big boy was side on and I took a bead on his shoulder with my faithful Lyman GPR. Then ne turned and walked away. BUGGER!

I kept on him and he briefly turned sideways. No need to tell me twice. I touched off the shot...
He bunched and then bolted with the rest of the mob. I was shaking. Did I get him? He was so far, probably 110m, a long shot but I had done it before. I had a good rest, the rifle is a dream with the Davis Deerslayer triggers (you got to get them). I turned off the video camera and reloaded.

I found a pretty good blood trail but the grass had red colouration all through it as well. I rang my farmer friend to tell him what had happened. I then got out the pink surveyors tape and began to mark his trail. As I was going along I saw a boar walk very slowly off a nearby dam. I couldn't see any blood on his side but that meant nothing.

I tracked the boar for about 250metres - right to the dam edge. Oh no, that must have been him walking away. This is going to end badly! I peaked over the dam edge ready to do battle & there he was not 5 metres in front of me dead in the water. Happy days.

I tried to drag him out of the water but it took all my strength to move him a few metres. He was a real old warrior. The shot was about two inches low and back from where I wouldve preferred but the 45gn Lyman great plains bullet did its job.

About then my mate arrived with a truck full of dogs & kids & they were all excited to see the big pig. I took some great pics and we weighed him on a set of scales he brought with him. A real good pig is about 100kg, this guy went 114kg and had a perfect set of tusks. He was a brute to skin, especially with the huge fighting pad on his shoulder, but he is going on the wall for sure. Best thing is I get to go do it all again tomorrow morning - maybe...

 

[Lonegun1894]

Congratulations on the hunt! Looks like that will be some great eating too. I hope you don't mind, but 114kg is 250.8 lbs (just to make it easier for us over here) and that is 50-75 pounds bigger than my last one, so a good size pig. Way to go. Since you said a normal good one for y'all is about 100kg, that sounds like the sizes of your pigs are about like the ones we have. I don't know why I was wondering, but kept thinking they might grow differenly due to diet or climate or something. And good shot!

 

[bigbore442001]

Excellent hunt. It almost sounds like the stags you hunt have some habits like our whitetailed deer. You were hunting rubs and using a call.

 

[Carl Fowler III]

B.E.A.U.TIFUL hog you got there mate....I see the sun is sitting low in the sky, so evening is aproaching...what you gonna do to keep some of that porker from spoiling? If you aint got any ice then throw them pork straps on the barbie! :thumbsup:

 

[Kapow]

You guys are sick! We don't eat those old porkers we get a nice 15 - 30kg model sow to eat if we want some pork. Nope he is just a trophy and a good one at that. Just about to do his ears and boil his tusks out now...

Put in a two hour stalk on a stag with 8 does this morning but no luck unfortunately. They have gone a bit quiet. I'm not sure if it was an early rut or the weather has got a bit warm for them. The plan is to keep on them until the end of the week then do some meat hunting before I leave.

 

[Lonegun1894]

I may be sick, but the last hog I got was somewhere between 175 and 200 lbs, and that meat was as tender as any I have had in a LONG time. I just baked a chunk about 4 lbs in weight in the oven, completely wrapped in foil so it wouldn't dry out, with some vegetables after seasoning it. I tend to leave it in there for about 3-3.5 hours, but at 250-275 degrees Farenheit, so it is kind of slow, but at somewhat low temps, and all the meat from that boar just fell apart with nothing but a fork being needed. My dogs and I ate very well while that meat lasted, so I need to go get another one--and you're not helping talk me out of this. Which I appreciate. BEst of luck with the stags, and congratulations on the trophy hog. Now go get another, and hope the meat is at least as good as the last one I got.

 

[jamesthomas]

That sure is a BIG hog! :thumbsup: Looks good. An that was a very fine story about how you got him too so keep the journal going an lets us know when or if you get a stag. I like these stories about the other side of the world. :thumbsup: