Hunting

Australia is lucky to have some great hunting. Small vermin like rabbit, fox and feral cats to large game like feral pigs, goats, donkeys and buffalo can all be targeted. As long as you are careful and obey the laws you can generally find the game you are after.

I am at a property in outback western New South Wales. I am standing in front of the shearer's quarters where my cousin and I slept. We went up to the property to do some goat hunting. We got a few goat. I am holding my Ruger 22 semi-automatic. I no longer own it as I had to hand it in to the authorities as it was outlawed. Pity as it was a very accurate, well made firearm. On one evening we went out with a roo shooter and helped him cull some roos. As the photo suggests it fairly unforgiving country and you must be prepared. If it's not dry and hot it can be wet and flooded. Tough country for tough people. Glad I only visit.
This goat was bought down on the property in western New South Wales. After a day of doing "recon" in the vehicle and getting a feel for where the goats would be we were ready for some action. As the property was some 70,000 acres we decided to drive rather than walk the next day. We were driving around the property when we came across 3 goats sunning themselves some 100 metres in front of us. We got out of the car and stalked them to within about 30 metres and I managed to put one down with a chest shot. The others got away but this fellow was great eating. I think fresh goat is one of the tastiest meals one can have. It's also good to be doing a little to help the environment by culling the goats seeing as they are feral introduced animals that do alot of damage to the flora.
This is my cousin Peter. He is relaxing at our campsite by the Murray River at Barmah forest. Barmah forest is a good hunting spot. It has rabbits and some feral pigs. I haven't seen any pigs but I have come across pig diggings and nests and I have been told by a bloke he has shot some in the forest. Wild horses also roam the forest. Once while hunting for rabbit I was lucky enough to see an albino kangaroo. You need to be careful when hunting in the Barmah forest as a portion of it is a State Park and all hunting is prohibited. Also the forest is prone to flooding and you can easily get bogged as I unfortunately discovered on one trip. Most importantly the forest in a popular spot and you must make sure you look out for people as one stray shot could be disasterous.
When one goes hunting one must make sure one has enough ammunition. As you can see I made sure I had more than enough ammunition for a few days hunting. On this occasion I had gone hunting up near Swan Hill with my mate Damien. He had been there before and had some success targeting rabbits and foxes. He did not lead me astray as we did quite well. Plenty of rabbits and Damo also took out a huge fox with a fine spotlight shot from distance. Quite impressive. Oddly enough the next time we went there we came back empty handed. Still that's hunting. You take the good with the bad and enjoy the outdoors and the company.
This picture is of my close mates Danny from Alice Springs and Eric from USA. It was taken outside of Alice Springs one night while Danny and I had taken Eric out to experience some hunting Aussie style. No, Eric isn't pointing the gun at Danny's head. The lads got on like a house on fire. We are just about to grill up some kangaroo steaks so Eric can taste some real Aussie tucker. Roo is one of the healthiest meats one can eat. It is very low in fat. You need to be careful not to overcook it as it can get tough. Cooked just right it is delicious.
Eric's Aussie style hunting adventure didn't just end the night before with the grilled roo. We managed to pick off another roo the next day and decided to give Eric a rare treat. As Danny is Aboriginal we thought we would cook some roo up traditonal style. So we dug a pit and cooked the roo in the pit. Here we are covering up the roo with hot sand and coals to allow it to cook slowly keeping all the juices inside the meat. Delicious. What we couldn't eat we dropped off at one of the local communities who loved it.