AUSTRALIA: Northern Territory Cull Hunting With BIG COUNTRY SAFARIS AUSTRALIA - May 2025

[UpNorthMI]

Wednesday - May 28 - Morning - The Kill (Beef).

Wednesday morning started with a bit of excitement, apparently we were going to be involved in "a kill" the taking of a steer to be butchered for everyone at the cattle station to eat. As a guest I was given the honor of shooting a steer, little did I know what this would involve.

A convey of everyone, including children, women was gathered,(5 or 6 vehicles) the cattle station owner would select the steer to be taken, I rode with the lead cattle rancher, my .308 Blaser R8 rifle in hand. My instructions were very clear, the steer had to be head shot only, well things got interesting real fast, the steer was identified but took off at some speed in a group of cattle, we soon found ourselves driving over rough ground at a fair speed, I was given my instructions again with some urgency to shoot the steer in the head. We stopped aggressively , I had to be up with the rifle and swing through to take the shot, talk about pressure, I had a full audience. Luckily the shot worked out and the steer crumpled.

Alex led the team to field butcher the steer, a pickup truck was lined with leaves from broken tree branches to keep the meat clean, the meat was taken back to the cattle stations cold room to be washed and stored, we would all be enjoying a big BBQ that evening.

 

[UpNorthMI]

Wednesday - May 28 - Afternoon - Camel Hunting - Final Hunt

We loaded up the helicopter, the game plan was to get out on the cattle station and find camel, it's sure easier to find anything when you have a helicopter! It did not take long, I was proud to be the one who saw the camel first, we were dropped off about 400 yards away and set off to stalk camel. The helicopter pilot circuled around and the effect could not have been better we had 2 camel coming our way. I jad my .500/.416 NE double and my son his Blaser R8 .375.

We quickly made a plan, I told him to shoot the one on the right first and I would take the other one. Our plan worked out great, we both fired twice and both camels fell, we had 2 large bull camels down. My double rifle had certainly stopped my camel.

We decided to take some camel back strap for the BBQ as well as tking the skulls as a trophy, they were sort of very odd lucking, T-Rex ish.

It was back to the helicopter and on with the search for 7 more camel. The next group of camel involved a lot of shooting, I gave up my double rifle for a Sako .375 H&H that belonged to Alex, we knocked over another 4 animals at some 140 yards. Our final group of camel involved them running up and down a tree line at about 160 yards, we shot standing free hand, in some ways it was a little surreal as they would take 2-3 hits before falling. When the dust cleared we had shot maybe 1 more than our goal of 10 and Alex was still calling for us to shoot!

Our hunting was over, what a couple of weeks we had with Alex and his staff in Australia, Alex had provided all the animals we had booked for and more. Prior to the camel hunting we had shot a total of 50 animals for 121 shots, camel added another 11 animals but I'm sure we averaged 3 shots per animal, they were big, tough and heavy beasts. It was time to wash up, pack and get ready for beers and a good BBQ for the beef steer and the camel back straps, it was all delicious.

 

[UpNorthMI]

Thursday - May 29 - Back to Darwin

We left around 4am, it was a hard drive of nearly 12 hours back to Darwin, the rain made the first 200 miles of dirt road travel quite interesting, we had to cross many rivers in the muddy dark. Alex did a great job driving.

one of our short stops on the way back was to see Charlie the buffalo from the Crocodile Dundee Movie, he is located at a bar at the Adelaide River Inn.

Our first stop in Darwin was the local customs office to pick up our export paperwork needed in Sydney prior to checking in to leave Australia.

Our first flight left Darwin at just after 1am on Friday morning, we had 3 flights that totaled about 25 hours with 3 hour layovers in between, we arrived back in Michigan some 31 hours later and it was still Friday evening.

 

[UpNorthMI]

After Thoughts:

This was a trip of a lifetime, I feel lucky to have done it and to have shared that quality time with my son. Australia was an amazing place with great friendly people. Everyone we met was amazingly friendly and welcoming, thank you to you all.

Big Country Safaris - Alex Jagers

Alex is a smart, educated serious guy, he is running quite an operation, employing several other guides and a small team of staff. Alex is focused on providing quality experiences to his clients. Quality is not always cheap, there is no bull shit with Alex, if he promises he will do everything to deliver. Alex personally looked after us constantly, always making sure we were OK and had everything we needed. My son and I enjoyed his company as well as his guide Dylan who spent time with us.

Australia hunting is different to Africa hunting, it is more raw and basic in the most remote areas I have ever experienced in my life, it certainly makes me want to return and experience more. Alex has a phrase on his signs "Not Just a Hunt but a Holiday", it seemed a little strange to me at first but I realized at the end of our trip how much of a tourist guide Alex had been and how we had done everything from hunting, fishing, sight seeing, learning about life on cattle stations etc. Alex is quite the tourist guide for the Northern Territory of Australia.

Thank you Alex and team, hope to see you again.

Thanks to all that read my epic trip post, it was quite the epic adventure.

 

[gillettehunter]

Great trip and report.
Bruce

 

[TOBY458]

Now it’s time for a caliber/bullet report.

 

[CamoManJ]

Congrats on a stellar hunt!
What a helluva entertaining & well written hunt report!
I enjoyed it & it was very inspiring.
I’ll get there some day, work on it…
Thank you.

 

[Fordy]

Gday upnorthmi
As you experienced aussie is a special place & while not your “normal “ type of hunting compared to Africa or other parts of the world it’s one that you guys& gals should experience @least once imo

I personally don’t know Alex but heard a few things about him & his operation & only good things as written here

Thanks for taking the time in putting it all down & hopefully we get some more of you lot over here to experience a truly wonderful experience & some very cool critters


Cheers