AUSTRALIA: Back Country Hunt - NT Australia

[BRICKBURN]

It does not get more real than that!

Well done Gents.

Thanks for sharing the tale.

 

[rifletuner]

Mick, that 500 Jeffrey is a ripper looking rifle

 

[Ridgewalker]

I’m exhausted just reading this grand adventure!

 

[Nyati]

Congrats, that was a great adventure, thanks for sharing !

 

[deewayne2003]

Gentlemen, Thank you for the kind words and encouragement.

While my hunt was not with a safari company, I did want to mention something brought to my attention by several people in Australia while I was there.

If you are looking to book a hunt with a Safari outfitter in OZ, be sure you know what you are getting into. As always there are some bad apples in the barrel and some of these outfitters are selling paddock raised bullocks as wild Water Buffalo.

Before booking a hunt, do your research and make sure you are not hunting a pen raised steer that's been released shortly before your arrival.

Also on the note of "budget buff hunts" - Considering the remote location of the areas, the amount of equipment needed to pull off a quality guided hunt and the cost of everything from fuel to insurance in Australia; I can now clearly see why some Safari companies charge what they do for hunts.

Use your better judgment and research accordingly.

 

[Ku-winda]

DW2003, Well done all the way around! A fantastic job of detailing the good, the bad and the ugly - in my book, the measure of a truly well written journal. The photos were a great visual of the narrative and integral to the story line. The only thing I found to be missing was any mention of hot tea with milk in the morning and evening - surely that was a daily ritual with Mick and Mitch, lol. Many thanks again for sharing and hope that knee is well on the way to being fully mended.

 

[Tim Blackwell]

Gentlemen, Thank you for the kind words and encouragement.

While my hunt was not with a safari company, I did want to mention something brought to my attention by several people in Australia while I was there.

If you are looking to book a hunt with a Safari outfitter in OZ, be sure you know what you are getting into. As always there are some bad apples in the barrel and some of these outfitters are selling paddock raised bullocks as wild Water Buffalo.

Before booking a hunt, do your research and make sure you are not hunting a pen raised steer that's been released shortly before your arrival.

Also on the note of "budget buff hunts" - Considering the remote location of the areas, the amount of equipment needed to pull off a quality guided hunt and the cost of everything from fuel to insurance in Australia; I can now clearly see why some Safari companies charge what they do for hunts.

Use your better judgment and research accordingly.

Very well said. Sadly, there are plenty of dodgy operators up there, and many clients wouldn't even know the difference.
Two questions to ask - Do they hold a Corporate Firearm Licence to be able to legally run Safaris? And do they have a section 19 or other relevant agreement to run safari hunting operations, from the Northern Land Council or other relevant body?

As mentioned above, if an outfitter is decking multiple 'SCI record trophies' on a single hunt, you can guarantee its a bullshit hunt

 

[PARA45]

@deewayne2003, beautiful trip, and wonderful pictures. Thank you for taking us along.

Question for you. Any encounters with venomous snakes? I know Australia is top when it comes to venomous snakes. Also, any issues with ticks, scorpions, etc. I'm a tick magnet. LOL!!!! Again, thanks for the wonderful report.

 

[deewayne2003]

@deewayne2003, beautiful trip, and wonderful pictures. Thank you for taking us along.

Question for you. Any encounters with venomous snakes? I know Australia is top when it comes to venomous snakes. Also, any issues with ticks, scorpions, etc. I'm a tick magnet. LOL!!!! Again, thanks for the wonderful report.

Saw several snakes but none were venomous nor even close enough for concern; and given the terrain and location I certainly kept an eye out for them but had no issues with snakes whatsoever.

I had one close encounter with a Huntsman spider crawling up my arm on the outside of my long sleeve shirt and simply brushed it off.

Ticks - I am also a tick magnet so I kept a close eye and had ZERO ticks on me throughout the entire trip which I found amazing since I did see a few of them on the game we shot but no massive infestations like I’ve seen in south/central Texas.

 

[PCC600]

here's a few more pics-
Win 338-06 160TTSX
View attachment 564410
404J 350 PPSN
View attachment 564407
Mitch with long running shot 300WM 180 TTSX
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top view of bower birds bower
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early morning boar
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London guns 500J 535 RNSP
View attachment 564408
didn't go far
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London Guns made some really nice bolt action rifles . Have seen some great 404 , 505 and 500J rifles . John Saunders and his team also made some great Gibbs Farquharson falling blocks in 577 and 600 NE . Sad they are not still around .

 

[DonPablo]

I just saw an article about the problems they are having with wild horses. Do you they hunt them too?

 

[rinehart0050]

What an adventure! Thanks for sharing your hunt gents. Well done

 

[deewayne2003]

What an adventure! Thanks for sharing your hunt gents. Well done

Thanks for the kind words, it was you posts about Dalton & York Safaris along with the YouTube videos that made me book my first trip to Africa scheduled with D&Y for July 2024.

 

[avon_7]

This hunt (Back Country NT) was 3 years in the making and I cannot do it justice with a few paragraphs; so to capture all the nuances of the experience, I'll be presenting in a format of the events that lead up to it, followed by the events of the hunt and what I've taken away from what has been a truly life changing experience.

Prologue: 2019 Wonnangatta Valley Victoria Australia - Sambar Hunt

In the Spring of 2019 I was dealing with the loss of the longest tenured job of my career and subsequent deaths of friends and family in the following weeks and I decided to clear my head by heading to Australia for a planned four week exploration that ultimately was extended to eight weeks.

One of the adventures I found myself in was a 10 day Sambar deer hunt in the Wonnangatta Valley with the crew from the AusHunt forum, and one evening by the campfire a young man named Ben asked me about my plans after the hunt ended; I had no answer or set plans other than seeing Ayers Rock(Uluru).

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Anangu welcome you to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, a living cultural landscape where earth and memories exist as one.

parksaustralia.gov.au

Ben told me I needed to get in contact with "Mick" @264 who lived in Darwin NT and who's favorite hobbies were big bore rifles, water buffalo hunting and spear fishing crocodile infested waters. Being a child of the 80's I thought this sounded like a Crocodile Dundee version of the "dropbear" myth and voiced my concerns as to the existence of Mick....

Drop bear - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I was quickly assured that Mick @264 was actually a real person and that I should be in contact with him, followed by several stories around the campfire shared by fellow forum members, so I attempted to contact Mick by PM and received no reply, so I continued about my travels to Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Cairns and back to Sydney before returning to the USA.

Shortly after returning to the USA I received a reply from Mick, he had been in New Zealand hunting Tahr while I was in Australia and hence his lack of contact; however he did have a request for locating a set of Winchester Super Grade swivels for this newly acquired pre war, Pre-64 Super Grade in 7X57..... You have to respect a man wanting to complete an all original rifle of that quality so the swivels were acquired and shipped to Darwin.

Several emails about water buffalo hunts and Pre 64 Winchesters later and Mick had both expressed interest in a Pre 64 .300H&H Super Grade that I had as well as invited me to join him in the NT for a hunt in 2020. Covid however had different ideas for my travel plans and this hunt would be delayed for 3 years; I did end up selling and shipping the .300H&H to Darwin via and import broker, complete with the original Super Grade swivels.
View attachment 563410

Fast forward to 2022 and the travel restrictions were lifted and the planning of this hunt resumed, which is no small task giving the permitting process and requirements which required me to obtain.....

1. Show membership in a USA hunting organization (DSC)
2. Join an Australian shooters club with liability insurance (SSAA)
3. Complete the online courses and tests for approval to apply for a Restricted R License.
4. Submit all paperwork for the R License and wait 40 days for approval and issuance of license.
5. Back Country access accreditation.

FYI - You are only allowed to bring a firearm into the NT if you are coming to hunt with a licensed Safari Outfitter who issues an invitation letter or if you are coming for a shooting competition which will require you to have an invitation letter from the shooting club hosting the event. So the NT police informed me my only option was to borrow a rifle from the hosting hunter on my license.

After paperwork and flights were handled the final details were figured out and a plan was launched.

During the 3 years from original invite until completion of planning, Mick and his wife had moved from Darwin to rural Victoria and subsequently Mick was faced with a 8,000+km round trip drive.
View attachment 563414

Mick asked me "Are you flying into Melbourne or am I going to pick you up at the airport in Darwin".... I cringed at the thought of such a drive, but I'll be damned if I'm invited on a hunt with the host providing everything from camping gear to the rifle I'll be using and then saddle my host with all the leg work of a 3 day drive, so Melbourne it was.

To be fair, i have had no issues flying into the NT with Firearms as a QLD resident and did it regularly before i settled in the NT. The airlines are only interested in the fact that you have a gun licence and and thats it. Sounds like a different scenario for overseas visitors

 

[deewayne2003]

To be fair, i have had no issues flying into the NT with Firearms as a QLD resident and did it regularly before i settled in the NT. The airlines are only interested in the fact that you have a gun licence and and thats it. Sounds like a different scenario for overseas visitors

For international visitors it’s a completely different kettle of fish; I tell people to borrow outfitters rifle instead of bringing their own.

If not having been in the supervision of a resident hunter and borrowed rifle I would never been able to do this hunt.