Innehållsförteckning för Edition 84 från Australian Hunter

194 pages - our biggest issue yet • Fishing for Murray cod & jungle perch • Terrific NSW treks • Our amazing southern night sky • Outback travelling basics • Tasty bush tucker made easy • 4WD-only territory • Location snapshots • Back roads to Birdsville • Farming across the land • Alice Springs to WA through the desert • SSAA projects protecting the country… AND MUCH MORE ORDER now at your special member-only price onlineshop.ssaa.org.au Member price $ 12.95 posted in Australia…

Trail cameras are a wonderful asset for wildlife enthusiasts, hunters, farmers and even urban security interests. With a batch of well used trail cams nearing 10 years old, it was time to upgrade to some new technology. Bushnell trail cams are proven to be excellent, so I settled on the Bushnell Core and Bushnell Prime trail cams from NIOA, the Australian distributor. Having recently relocated to a farm in prime deer country, I was much in need of some trail cams to suss out what the local deer were up to, as well as to monitor and manage farm pests like foxes and wild dogs. A number of elements stood out in comparison to my old trail cams and fore most among those was a greatly improved trigger time. All…

I must have died and gone to heaven. That was the conclusion I had reached. It could not have just been a dream, as I had all these empty 6.8 SPC cases and the photos on my camera. There were pigs, pigs and more pigs. This is how it all came about. The wet summer caused by La Niña coupled with the decreased hunting activity due to restrictions and lockdowns because of COVID-19 has seen an explosion in pig numbers in parts of New South Wales and Queensland. Several weeks earlier I noticed a significant increase in pig sign on one of the properties in northern NSW that I hunt on. So, I headed back there for a few days of pig hunting. I decided to take my Sako S491…

Training a puppy to be a hunting dog can be a demanding task. Some 17 years ago an attempt to instruct a German shorthaired pointer named Ruger was a hopeless failure. I had more luck after I fortuitously met Danny and Cathy Hayes, of Adligjager Kennels in Burpengary, Queensland. Danny and Cathy discussed many things about choosing the right breeder and dog and we settled on taking Purdey. Not everything was straightforward as Purdey had to survive a life and death struggle after a paralysis tick bite. But about seven months from her birth, Purdey finally found her way to our home, where she slotted in as though she had been with us all her life, immediately bonding with me. During her time with Danny and Cathy, Purdey had been…

The .410 shotgun cartridge is commonly available, and the lever-action has a cult following with Marlin a popular and trusted brand. Combined, you would think they would make a good match. They do, so why haven’t you heard of it? John Marlin founded Marlin Firearms in the 1870s. From the late 1880s onwards, the company produced lever-action rifles and pump-action shotguns in competition with Winchester and Browning. During both World War One and World War Two, Marlin delivered machine guns and submachine guns for the war effort, but always returned to make sporting arms. In the 1990s Marlin finally overtook Winchester as the most prominent lever-action rifle producer, a position the company has held ever since. Changing hands a few times over its history, Marlin was acquired by Remington Arms…

I had a rather ‘different’ introduction to deer hunting. My first experience with them was in the upper NSW region and I was there purely to cull deer. They were like kangaroos in nearly plague proportions and farmers in the area needed them thinned out. They were dangerous on the bitumen roads at night and we shot them purely to reduce the numbers. Their stocks were apparently bolstered by deer farms in the area that had been abandoned and the animals had escaped. There was no challenge involved as they didn’t seem particularly smart and I came away from the dealings thinking that deer were just ‘kangaroos with antlers’. That was a joke that I use to wind my deer hunting friends up with on a regular basis. I am…

Most recreational hunters daydream occasionally about becoming a professional full-time hunter. Very few ever make that move. Adam Neilson is one who has. He established himself as a professional venison hunter in South East Queensland, trading as Australian Wild Game Harvesters. Adam is a qualified butcher and ran his own shop for some years, before moving onto other things. A keen recreational bow and rifle hunter, he saw an opportunity to take advantage of the area’s burgeoning deer population and develop a sustainable resource in what would otherwise be wasted in culling activities. Coming from a butchering background, Adam had a good starting knowledge of the red tape and rules to be encountered. Nevertheless, it was a slow grind to satisfy the various regulations, objections and more then set up…

The senior doe stood alert, her sensitive nostrils questing the air. The rest of the does and one stag continued to eat the fresh clover that had sprung up after recent rain. But for the sentinel doe there was to be little rest. A faint scent was on the gentle breeze that barely ruffled the leaves of the ironbark she stood under. It wasn’t much, but for an animal classed as prey for most carnivores, it took very little to grab her attention. The deer were just on the outside edge of the timber that grew in wild confusion behind them. If startled, they could melt back into that scrub, vanishing as if they were never there. To hunt deer like this requires time, patience and experience. Some of us…

We are fortunate to have such a diverse range of game animals to hunt, from rabbits, foxes, feral goats, pigs and deer to large and dangerous game like the banteng and Asiatic water buffalo in a free range environment. It all started around 200 years ago. Before the colonisation of Australia and aside from the native fauna, there was no traditional game to hunt as we know it today. Initially and for some time until live stock was introduced and their numbers established, many struggling settlers on the mainland and Tasmania relied on native animals and birds like possums, wallabies, kangaroos, emus and swans for meat. The 1800s were a pretty active period all around with regards to the introduction of livestock. Poultry, sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and horses were…

Continuing our smoking adventures with the Kamado Joe, we were keen to try the reverse sear method with a whole venison rump from a young buck taken on a recent hunt. This technique can be a challenge given that venison is prone to over-cooking so the precise temperatures possible with the KJ is certainly put to the test. Ingredients • One whole venison rump• Kosher salt• Black peppercorns• Home prepared seasoned salt• ⅓ cup fine salt• 3½ teaspoons superfine sugar• 1½ teaspoons cornflour• 1½ teaspoons celery salt• 1 tablespoon paprika• 1½ teaspoons onion powder• 1 teaspoon garlic powder• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper Method Trim any excess tissue and small pieces of meat from the rump. Combine two tablespoons of the seasoned salt with one tablespoon of…

These days many hunters use only limited ammo and rarely employ their rifles for much else but hunting, so handloading is out for them, especially when just annual hunts and limited opportunities are available. Still, people like myself have the reloading gear on hand and even completing a few rounds for sparse hunting opportunities is on the charts and it has little to do with saving money, but all to do with enjoying a rewarding hobby. In line with many shooters, I generally buy 100 rounds of factory ammunition, sight-in the rifle and use them up for hunting or plinking. When they are gone, I reload the cases. I purchased 100 rounds of Federal ammunition for a Baikal side-by-side double rifle in .45-70 Government calibre sometime back during a period…

In the Kenya colony of the early 1900s, a favourite pastime was shooting lions by ‘galloping’ them from horseback. Lions were considered vermin in those days and, as abhorrent as it may seem today, shot on sight. One man who participated in this dangerous pastime was George Grey, an Englishman of aristocratic birth who happened to be the brother of Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary of the time. On the morning of January 29, 1911, George wounded a big lion with his .280 Ross. The .280 Ross was then a red-hot cartridge, firing a 145-grain bullet at almost 2900fps, roughly the equivalent of a .270 Winchester in today’s context. Grey wounded the lion from long range and, as the cat charged him, dismounted to face the approach. A first…

# 1. • 1400g minced venison• 600g minced pork fat• 100g minced bacon• 300g beef mince• 2 tablespoons BBQ Lovers spice• 1 tablespoon paprika• 2 tablespoons salt• 1 tablespoon onion flakes # 2. • 1700g minced venison• 500g lamb mince• 600g minced pork fat• 100g minced bacon• 2 tablespoons fennel• 2 tablespoons salt• 2 tablespoons garlic flakes # 3. • 2000g minced venison• 500g lamb mince• 700g minced lamb fat• 4 tablespoons Tuscan spice• 1 tablespoon black pepper• 2 tablespoons garlic flakes # 4. • 2000g minced venison• 420g beef minc• 300g minced pork fat• 300g minced lamb fat• 5 tablespoons Italian herbs• 2 tablespoons garlic salt• ¾ tablespoon black pepper• 2 tablespoons onion flakes # 5. • 2000g minced venison• 500g minced lamb fat• 400g minced pork fat• 1…

Paul Labry had done a lot of target shooting, but no hunting, when he moved to country NSW about 10 years ago. There, he and his wife set up a poultry breeding program. They soon had a fox problem, losing a lot of chickens and turkeys to these predators. Paul decided that the best option was to try and call in the foxes and shoot them. He made a Tenterfield fox whistle from a piece of scrap sheet metal and, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and .22LR, began to deal with the foxes. By trial and error, he discovered which variation of calls delivered the better results and became intrigued by the concept of predator calling. Soon, he was experimenting with callers of his own design. Spending a lot of…

If you are searching for a pair of light weight boots to wear during warmer weather, the La Sportiva range is well worth a look. The design of them takes more parentage from running shoes than hiking boots, and in fact the company does make trail runners. These boots sprang from that original design. Now, we all hate boots that let water in, especially when it’s only from long, dewy grass. These boots I’m happy to say, score well here. The construction is all synthetic and leans heavily towards the use of Gore-Tex, a proven product in outdoor clothing. They will handle a water splash as well, provided of course that you don’t venture over the boot tops. Mid height boots, ankle boots, or whatever you want to call them,…

Ballistics may be defined as the science which deals with the motion of projectiles, and that of course includes bullets delivered from a firearm. At one end of the scale, we may have a round ball as an example of an early projectile and at the other end perhaps a very-low-drag projectile capable of extended range when fired out of a suitable long-range cartridge/rifle combination. In between there are a veritable host of projectiles designed to be discharged out of many different types of firearms, all with a specific purpose in mind. The projectile designed to be used for target shooting may be totally unsuitable for live game, after all the paper is soft and yielding whereas the projectile for live game may have to penetrate much muscle and bone…

We have all heard the phrase ‘cleanliness is next to godliness.’ It reminds us that it’s important to keep ourselves, and our personal space, clean. It’s often used to admonish, or to give friendly encouragement, to someone to tidy up after themselves. When it comes to personal hygiene, we’ve been told from a young age to maintain high standards; to stop us becoming sick, from infecting others, and to help mitigate all the nasty flow-on effects. But the importance of cleanliness isn’t all about epidemiology. We practise cleanliness and care at all sorts of levels. For example, to keep our vehicles on the road, we routinely replace our oil filters, fuel filters and oil to ensure we have an efficient burn. And around the house, we clear our gutters for…

Simply write your full name, address and contact number on a piece of paper and place it inside an envelope and send to: …or enter online at ssaa.org.au/win (Name of competition) Australian Hunter 84 PO Box 2520, Unley, SA 5061 Competitions close May 31, 2023. Check out ssaa.org.au/win for competition winners. Winchester Prize Pack Winchester Rifle Gunslip 52" Decibullz Custom Molded Earplugs Warthog V-Sharp Extreme Edge Black with Carry Case Winchester Lunch Bag Winchester 94 Mobuc Cap RRP $284.80 Kindly donated by Winchester Australia winchesteraustralia.com.au Traser Red Combat Watch RRP $799 Kindly donated by SSAA National ssaa.org.au Beretta Prize Pack Beretta Cap Navy Beretta Australia Shooters Towel Beretta Flag Beretta Australia Leather Toe Tag Mini Head Set Ear Tips RRP $ 208.80 Kindly donated by Beretta Australia berettaaustralia.com.au…