Heres a bit of stuff about Australia, its a hunt I did two years ago before I had a serious accident. Been back again this year and still had a ball. Anyway hope it comes out alright when I post. You may have to click on some photos to see them
Cheers 35Cal
OK you asked for it, i was going to write a lot more but there's a story in its self here already. Sorry it's so long and pic heavy but I cut back as much as I could.
Well, as I said before, Were back.
Ted & Todd
The trip was a great success with a lot of great people and country to see and heaps of game to hunt. Our first stop was on the river just outside Longreach where we made a rough camp, cooked a frugal meal and washed it down with copious amounts of alcohol.
Slept in the next morning and two bleary eyed people played dodge the kangaroo for a few miles first up then finally we made it to a great property near Cloncurry where Todd�s sister worked as a governess and sometimes jillaroo and her boyfriend John was a jackeroo.
Camp outside Longreach
Trying the Triton out
The next couple of days were spent in luxury as our quarters were five star. The property was just a small one of 5000hectares, yeah over a million acres. It was a very well managed property and the yards, gardens and buildings were immaculate. A full time cook supplied us with beautiful meals and a bar supplied us with plenty of drinks.
Unfortunately we could only get a couple of hours hunting in each day as we had to be escorted around the property, but Ricki and John looked after us well in that regard and we ended up shooting around 16pigs, so that kept us happy and gave us a nice break from driving.
Ricki with a pig she shot at 150yds
John has access to a place with camels where he would have taken us had we had the time to be there on a weekend, but unfortunately we had prior commitments so went on our way to the NT. Along the way we passed what we thought was the property as there were a few camels there which we took some pics of before they buggered off.
Two days later, taking a leisurly drive we arrived at the Hall�s and were met by the Legend (Almost) himself. He is a legend at the local hospital though, as he has the thickest medical sheet there and all accidents from coming off quad bikes mainly.
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The rest of that day was spent having a few drinks and getting some gear together for a couple of nights in the scrub. Met up with Matt Graham as we were perving on a slashing looking sort in the supermarket, hope you got your ice cream back without melting Matt. Amazing who you meet in Katherine eh? The following day we did a bit of fishing with Gary, Gina and Ryan but without much luck. But we did have a lovely day followed by an excellent meal of magpie geese that Gina cooked up :-* for Gina
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The Halls fishing
Next morning we set off early for an excellent few days with Gary and Matt. FMD that Matt thinks his Hilux is a bulldozer and where he drove that thing still amazes me, it sure says a lot for the tyres he was running as there were no punctures. Goodyear Wrangler A/T with Kevlar side walls, bloody great tyres and that�s what will be going on the Triton next. To cut a long story short, Todd scored on his first bull buffalo and was wrapped, he snuck in and gave him a 300grn Hydro I think or 270grn not sure from his .375H&H. It was a good shot but the bull took off like he was not hit and Todd whacked a couple more right through him and he went nowhere. He would have died from the first shot as it was a good one. I think those hydros are good but don�t seem to drop things on the spot much, although I drilled a pig at Todd�s sisters place with one and it dropped it on the spot with a 6inch wide entry hole and went the full length of its body mashing the spine the whole way. We should call it the Strongbow bull as he had to buy a carton of that for Gary if he got him a bull. Todd spent a fair amount of time on the back of Gary�s quad and still has the bruises to prove it and the few times I was on the back I could hardly wait to get off and back into the cab with young Matt.
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4000yarder
Gary tried hard to tip himself arse over head while dragging a donkey to a good spot to use as a bait for pigs. FMD that bloke thinks he can ride down a near vertical track two feet wide on a four feet wide quad. Lucky the weight of the donkey stopped his quad from tipping AoverT, Matt isn�t much better as he thinks he can drive his Hilux down the same places as Gary rides his quad.
We ended up with a nice bull buff for Todd and a heap of pigs, not sure how many now but around 14 or so.
Next day we headed back to Gary and Gina�s and spent a leisurly day before waking next morning to an awful smell coming from my Triton's roof where Todds buff head sat, there was a pile of maggots on my roof two foot square and an inch deep and boy it honked.
After hosing off we headed off to see Wiz. Meeting up with Wiz it was a shame that he couldn�t get off work as there was a pile of [bleep] for him to do, but like the great bloke he is, he had arranged permission for us to head deep into Ahrnemland for a few days hunting and fishing by ourselves. Setting off we negotiated a rough as guts track for several miles and a good bull was spotted in the distance. Sneaking in I shot him with the .358ME as he was walking, dropping him on the spot with a 225grn Barnes. It was a massive beast and the photos don�t do the horns justice as they look a heap smaller than they are. His neck was almost two feet thick and he must have weighed close to the tonne.
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We saw a couple more good bulls but one stood out and after a slow stalk, Todd shot him using my .358ME as he had dropped his .375 and the scope was possibly out. A Barnes and then a couple of hydro�s knocked him. One of the 225grn Hydros I had loaded went through both shoulders low down and through the heart and hit the ground a 100yards past him in a straight line. I reckon one of those would end for end a big bull. He only ran a few yards after that and turned as if to charge us, then fell dead.
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We did some great barra fishing catching some beauties we ate one and put the rest back, boy that was a good feed that night with fresh barra and Todd�s cheesy mourney sauce. Such a shame we were in native land and couldn�t take any grog with us as that would have made it that much better. We did have ice creams in the Engels though and it was just such a pristine spot we were loathe to leave but we had run out of drinks entirely and were drinking river water only.
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Where to now?
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One way to carry the heads back to camp
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eating ice creams in the middle of nowhere
After going back to see Wiz who was away fishing for the day, we headed off back to Cape York across the top of Aus. Three days later we arrived at the Bulls boars and barra camp and were met by my son Scott (Noddy) and three clients and the cook Gary. We spent a few days there with them and I helped by guiding the next lot of clients one day giving Scott a rest and he and Todd went out and got a few nice boars. The clients caught some barra and got a few pigs that day so all was good. Later Todd & I went right out deep into the bush and Todd scored on a nice scrub bull. I got the Triton hooked up on a stump and punctured the spare which we fixed that night. the Triton has a few scratches and dents now. :roll:
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Scott & Todd with a nice boar
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One of the clients I took fishing with her first barra
After a few great days it was time to head off again and we went too Coktown first, then down through Cape Tribulation to Daintree to meet up with a few more of my friends there, then we headed down towards Charters Towers.
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Cooktown on the hill
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A beach off Cape tribulation track
Meeting up with my old friend Jimmy Peterson from Niall station we spent a great few days there hunting and photographing chital, each getting a nice representative head. Then as all good things must end some time, seeing as four weeks had flown by we headed for home.
In all we did 10,200kilometers and the Triton ran like a clock. carried all those spares for nothing. Saw a few broken down Hilux and Nissans on our travels too
A bloody fast one in NT with Todd driving.
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Special Thanks must be given to those who made our time so great. Thanks to Ricki and John, we had a ball with you guys. Thanks heaps to Gary, Matt, Gina and Ryan for a great few days hunting and fishing. No matter what they all say about you Gary, I reckon your allright. :lol: Many thanks also to Wiz and Sandy for organizing a wonderful few days for us. Thanks to Scotty and Gary and Mark from Bulls Boars and Barra for making room for us and some excellent fishing and hunting. And thanks to Jim Peterson for hosting us for a few days after dropping in on him unannounced.
The only problems we had on the whole trip were; Todd� phone was knocked off at Musgrave, my phone sim card shat its self so we had no phone, my snorkel screws shook loose and had to put some larger ones in. We hit a roo and had to get a wheel alignment at Cooktown and ran over an echidna leaving about 50 spikes in my tyre, plus punctured the spare on a stump.
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Sorry this was so long as I tried to keep it short and sweet but four weeks was a long time and a heap of stuff was done.
Cheers
DM and Poobat
A few more pics;
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Nice Ghost Gum
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A river crossing in NT
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A rusa stag we saw
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Donkey
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A big barra
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Sunsets
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NT border
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Pooeys Chital
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My chital
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Outside the Lions den
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The Misty Mountains[/quote]