[hairbear1]

The son's mate had not long bought a new Savage .223 and we went out to his parent's place to sight it in for him and try a few handloads to see what it liked.Well we spent a few hours last Saturday sighting in and doing a few other rifles and had the son's mate's rifle shooting fairly tight and it seemed to like the BT's in Hornady and Nosler in 55gn pills with 25gns of BM2 behind it.
A couple of days later my son gets a call off his mate that he'd accidently dropped the rifle off his quad bike and it seemed to be missing what he was shooting at namely rabbits,foxes and a few 'roos so could we come out and get it shooting right as he was going up to northern New South Wales the following weekend chasing pigs and 'roos.

We set up and the 1st 2 shots hit the paint tin at 25 yards so we moved the targets out to 100 yards and after about 10 shots found that the rifle was shooting a bit high and to the left and adjusted the rifle to be about 1" high at 100 yards.

By this stage we were starting to pack up when I flashed the EDI-T torch around and low and behold a pair of green eyes flashed back at us from under a Willow tree at 180 yards away(ranged),"FOX!" I said and there was panic as the son's mate had just put the .223 away and rushed to unpack it and set it up on the bench we were using to sight in on.
During this I was doing my best to imitate a fox whistle's call using my mouth and also using a squeeker thingy out of a dog's toy as it also sounds like a mouse. The green eyes disappeared for a minute or so and then to our immediate right my son who had by this stage set up the spotlight said that the green eyes were coming in.
I told the young fella to get ready and wait for the shot as the owner of the green eyes turned out to be a greyish black cat. The apprentice Panther sat near the 100 yard target we were using and I told the young fella to let go at the cat and he hit it in the neck with a 55gn Federal factory load SP. He was ecstatic with the result and himself,regards

 

[orangello]

Soooooooo, you spotlighted a non-game species and managed to put it down with one shot from an overpowered .22 centerfire?

The last time i used a spotlight for hunting, i was maybe ten old, and the intended targets were rabbits (not legal method here). During a break, I saw one within a yard or two and fired too quickly with my shotgun (safer for poaching at night, less range); i realized pretty quickly that rabbit was actually a skunk, and that his spray and innards had just coated me thoroughly. I haven't used a spotlight to hunt since. I offer you the same CONGRATULATIONS i was offered by the others in my "hunting" party as they hurriedly backed away from the enduring stench.

 

[W. C. Quantrill]

Bernie from Perth, says, if its feral, its in peril.

 

[hairbear1]

Soooooooo, you spotlighted a non-game species and managed to put it down with one shot from an overpowered .22 centerfire?

The last time i used a spotlight for hunting, i was maybe ten old, and the intended targets were rabbits (not legal method here). During a break, I saw one within a yard or two and fired too quickly with my shotgun (safer for poaching at night, less range); i realized pretty quickly that rabbit was actually a skunk, and that his spray and innards had just coated me thoroughly. I haven't used a spotlight to hunt since. I offer you the same CONGRATULATIONS i was offered by the others in my "hunting" party as they hurriedly backed away from the enduring stench.

"Overpowered .22 centrefire" ............hmmmm and the difference to this compared to shooting PD's and gophers with anything from a .204 to 22/250+ is what?

Feral cats here in Australia are a real threat to our native bird species and are shot on sight by just about everybody.
Spotlighting is legal here and is actually a very effective way of removing feral foxes and cats.
Some of these cats get as big as a small dog and are voracious predators on our native birds and smaller animals like Bettongs,Marsupial mice,possums.

A lot of the time blokes whistling for foxes will actually get a feral cat coming in to the whistle and these are shot without a second thought.
Most of these cats started out as pets and then got dumped in the bush because people were to stupid to either have it put down or sell it so let it go in the bush to fend for itself and they soon revert back to their wild origins very quickly 1 of the most adaptive predators around.

Most of the animals here in Australia are introduced such as rabbits,foxes, feral cats,dogs,goats,pigs,donkeys,horses,deer,camels,buffalo(Asiatic),Banteng cattle and scrub cattle.
All these are shot and some like buffalo,scrub cattle and Banteng,deer are managed to a point with the buffalo and Banteng living in the North of our country and costing a fair bit to hunt but deer have seasons put on them.
It's been estimated that there is something like 23 million feral pigs in Australia,almost 1 pig per person and there's a big camel cull coming up in our North West in Western Australia and Northern Territory because these have reached pest proportions and something like 6000-7000 camels will have to culled a year to try and control them.

 

[W. C. Quantrill]

I have been dreaming and saving to come to your country to get in on some of that, to hunt .with my friend Bernie from Perth. He is a frequent visitor to quite a few forums....AHN and others here stateside...

What does it cost you for a permit to shoot a buffalo? Is a non resident much higher? You have some Huge pigs in the north part of WA.

 

[hairbear1]

I have been dreaming and saving to come to your country to get in on some of that, to hunt .with my friend Bernie from Perth. He is a frequent visitor to quite a few forums....AHN and others here stateside...

What does it cost you for a permit to shoot a buffalo? Is a non resident much higher? You have some Huge pigs in the north part of WA.

AHN is the forum I'm also a member of over here .

Mate to get yourself a decent bragging rights buff it's going to cost a fair bit but things like pigs,goats,deer are a bit easier and cheaper to get into as most of the critters I mentioned are nearly Australia wide. I can give you the name of a reputible Outfitter if you ever want to go that far who can also get you onto some decent pigs,deer,Banteng and scrub cattle but as I said it's going to cost.
But if you just want to get into some goats and pigs and probably say Sambar Deer or Fallow Deer then this outfitter can put you in the right direction as well.He also goes to the big show every year over there in Texas I think to promote his business,regards

 

[orangello]

"Overpowered .22 centrefire" ............hmmmm and the difference to this compared to shooting PD's and gophers with anything from a .204 to 22/250+ is what?

Most of these cats started out as pets and then got dumped in the bush because people were to stupid to either have it put down or sell it so let it go in the bush to fend for itself and they soon revert back to their wild origins very quickly 1 of the most adaptive predators around.

Understood. I'm not much of a varmint hunter myself and have a particular dislike of the .223 due to it being foisted on my elder relatives fighting in Vietnam. I suppose the feds just underestimated the size of those fellows in Vietnam or something. I do use .22LR on some tree squirrels when i occasionally am forced to "manage their local population".

Feral pets are a problem in some areas of the U.S. as well; i am saddened by the number of Burmese Pythons living without a loving owner in the swamps of Florida. When my own BP lost its place in my household, i made sure it went to a good home with no children or small pets. Personally, i wouldn't be overly offended if all those caught dumping pets in the wilderness were stripped, beaten, and dumped with the pets and without transport back to or a place in their home towns.

I have a particular admiration for the purity of cats as predators, even when living under a human's care. I have owned a few and been happy with all of them. Birds i have never liked and have no use for other than as portals to my breakfast table for delicious eggs.

 

[rjd3282]

The only good cat is a dead cat.

 

[JonM]

just a note to those that may not understand the laws regarding feral animals are much different in aussieland and new zealand than they are in the united states.

they have much more leeway dispatching pest animals than we do.

 

[hairbear1]

Understood. I'm not much of a varmint hunter myself and have a particular dislike of the .223 due to it being foisted on my elder relatives fighting in Vietnam. I suppose the feds just underestimated the size of those fellows in Vietnam or something. I do use .22LR on some tree squirrels when i occasionally am forced to "manage their local population".

Feral pets are a problem in some areas of the U.S. as well; i am saddened by the number of Burmese Pythons living without a loving owner in the swamps of Florida. When my own BP lost its place in my household, i made sure it went to a good home with no children or small pets. Personally, i wouldn't be overly offended if all those caught dumping pets in the wilderness were stripped, beaten, and dumped with the pets and without transport back to or a place in their home towns.

Hey no worries. I hunt rabbits with a .22 or .22 Magnum or smack them with either my REM 788 .222 or my young fella belts them with his Stevens .223 at long range. I also hunt pigs and goats with my .270 CMC Howa,30/06AI or hopefully soon my Mk3 No.1 .303.

The .223 is used a lot by the Pro Kangaroo shooters here as it's cheap to load for and does the job as good as what the .222 does.
Mate ask away about our game over here as we have plenty to hunt and if I can I can give you info on what we use on them,regards

 

[W. C. Quantrill]

game permits here run from $25 to $500 for a permit to shoot an animal on the average, looking at deer to Elk across the various states. I pay $15 for a deer permit, but a non resident would have to pay around $350. To get a guided hunt, you would have to pay up to $4000 depending on who you hired.

In dollars, what would you reckon that it would cost to hunt in Oz?

 

[mountainman13]

just a note to those that may not understand the laws regarding feral animals are much different in aussieland and new zealand than they are in the united states.

they have much more leeway dispatching pest animals than we do.

Thanks Jon. I think alot of people were questioning the legality of the kill before there was further context. Even I assumed it was in the US. Glad we got that cleared up. Obviously ftf doesn't condone poaching or killing of domestic animals.

 

[hairbear1]

game permits here run from $25 to $500 for a permit to shoot an animal on the average, looking at deer to Elk across the various states. I pay $15 for a deer permit, but a non resident would have to pay around $350. To get a guided hunt, you would have to pay up to $4000 depending on who you hired.

In dollars, what would you reckon that it would cost to hunt in Oz?

Ok different states here have different rules for some animals and where we can hunt.
I'll use my state of New South Wales as an example. To hunt in State Forests we hunters have to sit for a R-License which allows us into a few of our State Forests to hunt ferals animals but we can't shoot Kangaroos or any native animals which is not a real problem to everybody. These licenses once obtained cost something like $60 for a year and a bit more for 3 years and there are some strict conditions to be adhered to such as wearing a blaze Orange vest or cap to ID you to any other hunters in the selected areas. There are only so many hunters allowed into a State Forest on any given day so there's a booking system in place for that.

In Victoria there is a permit you pay for and you can hunt on most public lands down there at any time.

Guided hunts inAustralia vary a fair bit depending on what you want to hunt being things like Deer,Buffalo,Scrub Cattle and then pigs,goats etc and a this is for trophy quality stuff. In our Northern Territory a buff hunt can cost anything upto $Aus16,000 plus you have to get here 1st.
As I said I can supply at least the name of 1-2 good outfitters who'll get you what you want. For buffalo you'll need something with a least a 300gn pill minimum asthese critters can soak up a lot of lead and 2 years ago I was working for an outfitter in the Northern Territory and saw 1 buff soak up 4 .375 RUM 300 pills and still run off 50yds before it went down. It's horns went 103" and the 1st projectile was recovered under the skin on the opposite shoulder.It was shot from around 50yds initially.

 

[tellmaster207]

To many snakes for me. I wouldn't get out of the truck.

 

[W. C. Quantrill]

Once an animal leaves its farmstead and begins roaming, it is no longer domestic, it has become feral. Here, we shoot them with no remorse. I have one huge black feral cat that has been hanging around the ranch here, I am going to attempt to keep him and get some females hoping to have some black kittens from him. He is very large weighing probably 15 to 20 pounds,,,10 kilo's or so. Hes gonna make me some black kittens for my barn.

The tags are not bad, but the guide fees are a bit steep. $16,000 AD would be about $15,500 USD,,,,,at todays exchange rate,,,,that'd buy a lot of biltong, eh?

 

[tonydewar]

The only good cat is a dead cat.

amen had a hunt one time on a dary farm that the cat population had gotten out of hand.a bud and i set up in the hayloft looking out on the back fields he with a 22 hornet and myself with a 22lr. we thinned the population by 46 that day shots from 50 to 200 yds at the time i was attending collage and needed an arts credit took one big male and a taxadermy corse got that out of the way this was all in 1982 recently found that mount in a box up in the attic ragged as he!! took it to the range the ro said i was sick but he let me shoot it one more time 300 yds with a 300 mag this time it blew up real good (death to ferrel cats .org)

 

[tonydewar]

amen had a hunt one time on a dary farm that the cat population had gotten out of hand.a bud and i set up in the hayloft looking out on the back fields he with a 22 hornet and myself with a 22lr. we thinned the population by 46 that day shots from 50 to 200 yds at the time i was attending collage and needed an arts credit took one big male and a taxadermy corse got that out of the way this was all in 1982 recently found that mount in a box up in the attic ragged as he!! took it to the range the ro said i was sick but he let me shoot it one more time 300 yds with a 300 mag this time it blew up real good (death to ferrel cats .org)

p.s. this cat hunt was in ill.

 

[sdiver35]

To many snakes for me. I wouldn't get out of the truck.

You got that right and deadly at ones too!!!

 

[hairbear1]

You got that right and deadly at ones too!!!

We do have some deadly snakes here but they're not all over the place and the chances of getting bit are about the same as getting hit by a train.
I'd say the chances would be equal to what they are over there and if you go looking for them you'll find them but it's not as though they're waiting to ambush you as you walk out the door. Don't believe everything you hear or see in the media or tv.
I spend a bit of time out in the bush hunting and fishing and don't see that many snakes but during the warmer months I'm a little bit more careful about what sticks I pick up for the camp fire. Most snakes will get out of your way unless they're either stepped on,cornered or protecting their nest,regards

 

[tellmaster207]

The only way I'm hunting in Australia is if I'm warring one of these bad boys. Snake proof & helps with the Elephant trampling. 99% crocodile resistant to.