Edition 88

Australian Hunter

Australia’s favorite hunting magazine

Australian Hunter1 min read
Australian Hunter
Editor Thomas Cook Production Coordinator & Graphic Designer Alex Heptinstall Webmaster Mark Fieldhouse Advertising & Promotions Karoline Wasiak Media and Politics Officer Rachael Oxborrow Editorial Team Allan Blane Jennifer Martens Matthew Godson Ad
Australian Hunter2 min read
From the Editor
A new year brings new beginnings. Our hunting memories live on as we experience and anticipate many more. Early in this edition we see the ultimate way a family ushered in 2024 along with some firsts for one of the newest little members of our huntin
Australian Hunter3 min read
Stalk In Style
In the infantry, footwear is a crucial bit of kit. A grunt can be loaded up with all the latest fighting technology but if their footwear isn’t top class, they won’t be able to function as required, be that a rapid advance or a hasty retreat. Similar
Australian Hunter3 min read
A Freezer Filler and a Family First
My lovely wife Gina was riding shotgun with my hunting mate Neil and I in the front of the mighty Honda 700 Pioneer as we headed out in search of a freezer filler buffalo or a pig or two. After circumnavigating a large expanse of wetlands that showed
Australian Hunter1 min read
Bountiful buffalo Pies
Ingredients: • Buffalo backstrap cut to fit in a 12V Travel Buddy oven• 1 pack low salt French onion soup mix• 2 punnets of Swiss brown mushrooms• Plain flour or gravy powder• Fresh garlic• 1 small onion• Salt and pepper• Red wine – optional Pie make
Australian Hunter7 min read
Working Brass
The availability of brass cartridge cases may no longer be a matter of simply going to your local gunshop and picking up what you want. For several years we have suffered a shortage of brass and other components. You often have to shop around to acce
Australian Hunter8 min read
MADE FOR WAR: Mauser’s amazing M98
War, as detestable a thing as it is, has always been a great inspiration for technical innovation and advancement. War gave us things like penicillin, radar and even computers, all inventions in daily use in modern society. Something else that also c
Australian Hunter5 min read
Target Eliminated
Hunters are always looking to streamline their kit and carry less gear. I don’t pack light but in terms of my actual in-the-field kit, I am always looking to reduce weight and find items with multiple uses. The concept behind the Eliminator range of
Australian Hunter6 min read
Dam Pigs!
Hunting feral pigs within Australia is controlled by water, or most of the time, a lack of it. Australia is the driest continent on Earth, with a feral pig population of between 10 and 23-million, depending on the season and whether a drought is pres
Australian Hunter3 min read
Gameplay
Unsurprisingly, hunters are introduced to the lifestyle in different ways. Most have probably been taught by family passing on the skill sets in which they were raised, others may have been introduced by friends on a camping trip. One way to attract
Australian Hunter2 min read
COLOUR-CODED ammo
Sometimes you need to carry different loadings for your hunting rifle. For decades I have used a Nikko pen to colour the bases of any ammo that I want to differentiate. If you are in a hurry to swap loadings, or needing to do so in the dark, the colo
Australian Hunter7 min read
New Year Goes Off With A BANG!
On New Year’s Eve, I was sitting around a campfire with my wife Emily on a friend’s property. Our three kids were finally sound asleep in the tent behind us. It had been a big day of driving around the area checking trail cameras. I was reminiscing a
Australian Hunter8 min read
Game & Wine
There’s an old saying that I learnt from a friend’s father – and it’s one I’ve adopted as my own. He said: “Regardless of cost, the best wine you will ever have is the one you have with friends, over a meal, enjoying a good time.” For me, I like to a
Australian Hunter1 min read
Encrusted Venison Backstrap
• 1 venison backstrap, trimmed.• Olive oil.• To taste: Your favourite herbs and spices. Conventionally you might choose sage, rosemary and thyme. For me it’s a little garlic, Murray River pink salt, dried Tasmanian pepper berries, a mix of native her
Australian Hunter6 min read
Thinking About change?
Sometimes it can be advantageous to modify the barrel on your hunting rifle to optimise certain characteristics. For example, you may have decided to run some very pointy high ballistic coefficient (BC) bullets in your hunting rifle. But the throatin
Australian Hunter8 min read
Hold Deer
To my left, somewhere in the wall of dense scrub bordering the firebreak, came the call of a yearling red deer. I had already stopped in a patch of thick shade up against a protruding bush. I was on a long hike up kilometres of the eastern boundary o
Australian Hunter3 min read
Your Hunting Healthspan by Linden Loren
The links between hunters being able to enjoy a healthy lifestyle to maintain their ambitions in the great outdoors are expertly examined in the book Your Hunting Healthspan. Penned by US academic Linden Loren, the work dissects the relationship betw
Australian Hunter6 min read
Hornet Buzz
My hunting has changed over the past two years. Besides regular pest control, I increasingly enjoy going out with a shotgun to shoot various kinds of birds and small game. There has also been an increase in the deer population, which puts them in my
Australian Hunter7 min read
Outback Ferals
On the first afternoon at the property, I went out to explore and found a creek line worth looking at, which would actually turn into the most productive area for the trip. We only had a couple of hours of daylight left so we headed off. It was a kil
Australian Hunter8 min read
Wide World Of Wildcats
Wildcat cartridges are not in regular factory production. Most wildcats come about because a gunsmith or rifle enthusiast seeks to create a cartridge out of existing components to fill a niche that no commercial factory loaded cartridge quite accommo
Australian Hunter5 min read
Spine-tingling
You are absolutely sure to have double-checked your gear before embarking on the trip. Everything was there. However, you were not even at your favourite campsite in the bush before the proverbial disaster struck. You stopped to make yourself a snack
Australian Hunter2 min read
Survivors
The regional areas of Australia have spawned many stories of people who have triumphed over adversity. It seems as though it’s born into us Australians, impregnated from birth. The floods across the country, and the stories of the way those impacted
Australian Hunter6 min read
Home On The Range
Any day at the SSAA range with loads to test is preceded for me by much research involving both the powder and projectile to be used, normally for a specific purpose. In this modern age, while cases, powders and primers are more or less static, the c
Australian Hunter2 min read
Wildlife Snapshot
Photography is a major part of enjoying the outdoors. Photos support my hunting endeavours and I increasingly seek to photograph living, wild creatures in the bush. However, for a long time, I was wrestling with the problem of the noisy clickety-clac
Australian Hunter6 min read
Taking The BULL by The Horns
A few years ago, when I was working in a Melbourne gunshop on a part-time basis I met a fellow SSAA hunter and shooter, Michael, who was interested in purchasing a Verney-Carron big game double rifle. In discussions I recounted my memorable buffalo h
Australian Hunter4 min read
Skull & cross-tones
When hunting for food, our ancient ancestors ensured that it was not just the animal’s meat that was used in a meaningful way. Highly respected and treated as a wellspring of life, a harvest would have multi-purposes – whether as food, shelter, cloth
Australian Hunter9 min read
Green hunting in South Africa
It has always been my belief that no matter what business you are in, you need to offer superior service to your clients and if you can do something different or innovative, then all the better. When I was in the safari business in South Africa, I wa
Australian Hunter1 min read
Enter And Win
Simply write your full name, address and contact number on a piece of paper and place it inside an envelope and send to: …or enter online at ssaa.org.au/win (Name of competition) Australian Hunter 88 PO Box 2520, Unley, SA 5061 Competitions close May
Australian Hunter3 min read
SSAA CWM branches
SSAA WA has six individual branches that undertake Conservation & Wildlife Management activities throughout the state. All participants must be full members of SSAA WA. Prior to taking part in sanctioned field activities, members must complete accura
Australian Hunter2 min read
Onlineshop.ssaa.org.au
See the complete range of products in our Online Shop Step out in style with the SSAA Top Gun Leisure Jacket made from wind and water-resistant breathable material and lined with cozy microfleece. Featuring a three-layer softshell performance stretch
Australian Hunter4 min read
Around The Campfire
I’ve camped in all sorts of places over the years and considering the time I’ve spent sleeping either on the ground or at least not far off it, I suppose I can look back on the good and the not so good aspects of this. Camping has been classed by som

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