Leupold RX-1000 TBR Compact Digital Laser Rangefi nder.
but decided the shipping costs might be prohibitive. Each day we continued cruising both grasslands and timber. A few times we found hogs and usually got one or two or three. One day right at dusk I shot a large red ’roo, as large as any Marc had ever seen, and another day right at dusk I got an excellent gray. One day near dusk L.P. got a fi ne wal- laroo.
Once we stopped for a lunch break
in a park on the banks of a small river and Marc got out two spinning rods. He tied a lure onto each and handed one to L.P. and one to me, so for a while we turned from hunting to fi shing. Sud- denly my lure stopped moving and I felt a heavy tug on the line. After several minutes I brought the fi sh into the bank and Marc landed it. It was a Murray cod, which Marc estimated at about 6 pounds, a very good one for this small river. Then L.P. caught a turtle. Nothing like variety on a hunting trip! Every now and then we spotted
fallow deer, and on two or three occa- sions there was a good stag in the bunch. But seeing antlers and getting a decent shot at the guy wearing the headgear are two different things. Once we saw a rather large number of fallow deer near the edge of a patch of timber so Marc suggested making a big loop on foot so we could approach the herd with the wind in our faces. The grass and brush was about four feet tall so I put on my Snake Chapz … just in case. They
Page 106 October — December 2011
worked. I never saw a snake. Never saw an antlered fallow deer, either. (With Australia having more than its share of poisonous snakes, before the trip I or- dered the Snake Chapz from Crackshot Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. www.
crackshotcorp.com) Even though kangaroos are agri-
cultural pests, we shot only large ones, the ‘roos most likely to be males. We avoided females and young. Hogs were much more diffi cult to distinguish, and farmers don’t like them one bit, so we weren’t fussy about the hogs we shot. Actually, we didn’t see a lot of hogs because heavy rains had resulted in lots of high grass and brush which hid lots of pigs. But we still got several apiece. The hunt was a lot of fun and very
interesting, but was not a pressure-fi lled event. We didn’t have a gazillion dol- lars tied up in a tag for something like an African elephant license or an exotic Asian sheep of the Himalayas, and we didn’t have to pay a fee each time we pulled the trigger on a ‘roo or hog. Airline tickets and lodging at the ranch were our major expenses. All in all, the entire hunt was quite reasonable … a lot of bang for the buck. And the fun factor was very high! I would recommend this trip with no hesitation to anyone want- ing lots of trigger time on targets much larger than prairie dogs. GETTING YOUR GUNS INTO AUSTRALIA The paperwork involved in taking your fi rearms into Australia is detailed
Leupold Golden Ring 10x42mm HD binocular.
and extensive, and even worse is the fact that each Australian state has its own forms. If you plan to hunt in two or more states, you will need forms for each of them. I suggest getting the help of some- one who knows the ropes. In my case, I dealt with Ted Shogren who operates The Sporting Trader, Worldwide Safaris in the Minneapolis area. He books hunts and arranges airline tickets around the world for hunters and was exceedingly helpful to me. I can recommend him highly. (See contact information below.) Assuming all your paperwork is
correct, getting your fi rearms through the inspection process when you land at Sydney is not a problem. L.P. and I found the offi cials we dealt with were very polite and friendly. They simply have their job to do and it’s your respon- sibility to be sure your paperwork is in order. If it is, the inspection does not take long and soon you are on your way.
CONTACTS Ted Shogren
The Sporting Trader, Worldwide Safaris Phone: 612-203-7799
Email:
bigshooterproducts@gmail.com Web:
www.sporting-trader.com Marc McDonnell, Outfi tter Big Shooter Hunting, Australia Email:
marc.mectronllc@
hotmail.com U.S. booking agent:
www.sporting-trader.com
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