Fishing and hunting in Australian gorge country

Joined
Feb 8, 2017
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690
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Australia
Hi everyone,

I'm new here and thought I should contribute a story and some pictures.

I found this website through the recommendation of a few people I talk to here in Australia, as I'm looking at getting into backpack hunting/camping. The pictures in this story are from a property that my family has hunted/fished for many years. I've never backpacked into the river itself, but I regularly hike in and out in the same day. Camping on the river would make it easier to fish and find game in peak times, so I'm looking forward to it. The river itself is not privately owned but all of the land surrounding it is and this is what we use to access the river. While it's a working farm, the country is very rugged and definitely a 'backcountry' experience, in my opinion.

The following is a collection of pictures from some trips I've made to this spots over the last few months.

I rolled out of my swag one morning and went for a quick walk to the top of the mountain before breakfast. I normally find plenty of feral goats up here, but I like to try and find pigs because they're more of a menace to the property owner. As I walked up to the top of the mountain, I saw some pigs moving around in the clearing I like to sit at and watch. I used my phone to quickly snap a picture.


I held out for the biggest boar to present a shot and let him have it. He wasn't a massive pig by any means but he was the biggest I've taken off this property. He was nice and healthy and impressive to see moving around in the mountain country.


I carried my 9.3x62 a few times over the last few months. I took it out on the property I live after pigs and missed a very easy shot at a sow, so I wanted to get more confident with it. It's a beautiful rifle, but it's also definitely not a mountain rifle.

I dropped into the gorge to go fishing and found some goats. I watched them for a while before deciding to take one.




Feral goats are everywhere on this property. They are good eating and provide a lot of fun hunting opportunities.

This billy was shot at the same spot I got the boar that I posted earlier. Again, not the biggest billy, but a good, fun stalk and more trigger time for my 9.3x62.


This billy was enormous in the body, but his horns weren't that big. My brother shot him with my .308. This was a nice way to end a long day walking the river with rifles and fishing rods.
 
OP
W
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Feb 8, 2017
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Australia
Some of the wildlife from where I spent my time.




Some of the scenery.






Goat meat is always delicious.


Some of the native murray cod that we fish for.
 

SLDMTN

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Always cool to see how the other side of the world gets it done. Thanks for posting! I'm assuming that frog is nothing to mess with but that's some cool color.
 
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Australia is on my bucket list. It looks like you have a sweet spot there. Thanks for sharing.
 
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Front Range, Colorado
Awesome man, love seeing what you guys are up to over there. Australia and NZ are top on my bucket list, every new post like this gives me new ideas!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
OP
W
Joined
Feb 8, 2017
Messages
690
Location
Australia
Always cool to see how the other side of the world gets it done. Thanks for posting! I'm assuming that frog is nothing to mess with but that's some cool color.
I have no idea about the frog, mate. I have tried to google to find out more about it but I can't find much. I'm sure it's harmless, though.
The black snake I snapped is venomous but they're fairly docile and nothing to really worry about.
Thanks for the kind words.
 
OP
W
Joined
Feb 8, 2017
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690
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Australia
Bubblehide and Pathfinder - There are lots of amazing opportunities here in Australia. Some of it is the typical 'big game safari' stuff, like in our Northern Territory where people like chasing buffalo. Besides this however, there are lots of great fishing and hunting opportunities that are probably more accessible than some people might imagine. The public land we have here is underrated, in my opinion. You just need to know where to look, do some research, and organise to maybe have some people you trust take you out.

My next hunt won't be for a couple of weeks so I might fill in the time by posting more older photos for this forum. :)
 

Lockster

Lil-Rokslider
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Jan 10, 2014
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276
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Sydney, Australia
Amazing looking gorges mate, nothing like hunting through that kind of rugged terrain to make you appreciate the value of your kills.

I've only recently got my authorization to hunt in state forests and did my first hunt in Roseberg state forest near Blaney in NSW I but didn't see any pigs and spotted a all group of very flighty deer.

I'm not giving up but I think I need to find some new forests to check out as there wasn't much sign of any pigs there.

I'm starting to think further north west.
 
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elkguide

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Jan 26, 2016
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Vermont
Thanks for posting those pictures.
I've been to NZ but Australia is next on my list of "to do items."
 
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