Northern Territory Cull Hunt
Six months ago I decided to organize a hunting trip to the Northern Territory. I asked a few people if they wanted to come along but no takers, most had work commitments or not enough brownie points so in the end I went by myself. It was a little difficult for them to fit us in as most hunting party’s had anywhere between 2 – 4 people but they managed to team me up with a lone Aussie guy on their last week of their cull season before the big wet arrives.
Early on I was keen to take my own shooting stick, even applied and got granted a NT license but in the end thought it was too much hassle and borrowed one over there.
Departed NZ Monday a couple of weeks ago & arrived in Katherine lunchtime Wednesday, big difference in temperature leaving Auckland with 16 deg and Katherine in the high 30s. We were picked up in Katherine for a couple hundred ks trip into the wop wops to our camp on a 250,000 acre cattle farm.
Arrived mid afternoon to our camp which was a pretty good setup, we mucked around camp for a couple hours sorting stuff out and then drove down the road to put a few sighters in, all good then back to camp for a few liquid refreshments and an evening meal etc.
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After a good nights rest we were up at 5am, quick breakfast and into it. I paired off with Steve (I like Guns) Lee my guide/driver and Nathan (Aussie pig hunter) paired up with Matt. It started off with a hair raising experience, as we were barreling along 100kph + along the main gravel road the front left wheel decided to part company with the Landcruiser, shit I thought we were goners, very close to rolling over. It was dark and didn’t know where the wheel had gone so after a quick look we thru the spare on by robbing 1 nut from each of the other wheels, luckily the studs were OK otherwise we would have been in the poo.
We headed to a place where Steve had shot a Buffalo the day before, on the way I picked off 3 pigs out in the open. Got to the Buff, slung a wire rope round it’s back legs and towed it to a nearby bait station, once that was done we went looking for some more animals, wasn’t long before we spotted 2 wild dogs, while I was lining up one Steve head shot his on the run at over 100 meters with his 308, shit I have never seen any shooting like that before, needless to say my one headed for the scrub at a great rate of knots without firing a shot.
We headed back to the place where we had lost the wheel, after 10 minutes of searching we came across it in dry creek bed, picked it up and headed back to camp for lunch. Over lunch we discussed where to head too next, he decided to head to an area where he hadn’t been before, miles away from anywhere, stinking hot and dusty.
Driving along one of the boundary fences we sighted a mob of Horse’s but they weren’t hanging around when they spotted us, we tracked them for about an hour and then lost them. Not long after giving up hope we came across a mob of Donkeys, let loose with the Sako 30-06, shot eight off them, marked the spot on the GPS and went looking for more, didn’t have far to go when we came across another mob of Donkeys, shot another seven. Winched six donkeys onto the back of the cruiser and dropped a couple of them off at some pig bait stations. While walking into one bait station to check it out we came across a big sow having a snooze in the shade next to the creek, one shot in the boiler room and she fell into the creek (Crocodile Creek) Steve didn’t tell me until I pulled her out, after that I treated every creek as if it was a death trap, later on we would see why. So Day one tally was 15 Donkeys, 4 Pigs and a Dog.
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They were long days as we would go out spot lighting pigs and wild dogs at night, hit the sack around midnight only to repeat the second day.
Day two – This was a cracker, got onto and snotted 3 Horse’s, but man they soaked up some lead, shot placement was crucial to get it over humanely as possible, I was using factory ammo 150 grains but way to light for my liking, distance usually 150 – 200 yds.
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Winched them on board and dropped them off at other bait stations. Other than that she was lean pickings until late in the afternoon. We crept up to a bait station we had dropped off some donkeys the day before, well bugger me if a dirty great boar was pigging out old Mr Donkey and was unaware of us 30m away, he copped some lead for his efforts and dropped on the spot, got a good set of tusks out of him, from there we went to another bait station probably 10km away and this was a real productive site, crept up over a rocky hill and bugger me days if there weren’t 20 odd pigs ripping into some carcasses Steve had left there several days before, had a field day here, dropped 11 pigs, not bad considering the Sako had a 5 shot mag. Pigs going in all directions and managed to get a few on the run.
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Matt wrestling with a 2m Python that had taken up residence under the freezer in the camp kitchen, saw 2 snakes on the trip and was paranoid walking thru the long grass at night.
On the way back to camp we had to cross a few fords, did a bit of spotlighting and come across a few crocs ranging in size from 1m to 2m in length so needless to say having a dip was out of the question. By the end of the night we were buggered, after a shower feed and a few cold ones it was into bed.
Day Three - Was very productive, up early and nailed 3 more pigs, went to a new area of the station and nailed 4 horse’s, shit we were challenged by the stallion, he came running straight at us. Steve reckoned if I knocked him over first the other three would be easy pickings, lined him up front on and smacked him in the chest, he dropped on the spot. I dropped the other three from about 150yds.
Nice looking animals but wild, we needed them as bait so loaded up the cruiser with 3 on the back and towed one behind. Reason being that if we left them were we shot them it would make it hard to get Trophy boars, they had to be enticed to the bait stations which were strategically placed on the property.
After dropping off the Horse’s at a few bait stations we came across a mob of Donkeys, dropped all 8 of them, hard work with plenty of lead flying. They are one silly animal to shoot but the odd one tests your skills. The later part of the trip we were trying for head shots –more accuracy but sometimes they weren’t willing to stand still.
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Day Four – Repeat of the previous days but for some reason slim pickings, only managed 5 Donkeys but covered a heap of country, that night we went spot lighting a bait station which entailed parking the truck about a km away and walking thru long grass which I wasn’t a fan of, it was hard going as Steve was doing it by GPS and a very small flashlight. His GPS said we were 70m away from the bait site, we could smell the stench of rotting carcasses and we could here noises bloody close so we both turned on our headlamps and bugger me if we were standing 20m from the site with a whopping great boar pigging out not knowing we were there, one shot in the head, dead on the spot with a nice set of tusks to boot. Back to camp for a clean up, meal and refreshments.
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Day Five – Last full days hunting and another big day, went back to where we shot the 4 horses, found another mob of 8 Donkeys, dropped the lot with 2 keeling over with one shot. By this time I started to get the knack of shot placement. Being the last day of hunting on this station retrieval of culled animals wasn’t important as they weren’t needed for bait and they wouldn’t last long. It was back to camp for lunch.
Mid afternoon we went back to an area we had hunted a few days before, wasn’t long before we came across another bunch of Donkeys, dropped all 6 of them then parked next to a partially dry creek bed. We walked up the creek bed, heaps of pig sign but nothing sighted, walked back to the truck we decided to check out some Donkey carcasses we left behind a few days before. On the way there Steve dropped another wild dog. Just before sunset we parked up about 300m and walked up to with 100m and spotted over 12 pigs pigging out, we stalked in to about 50m and let rip knocking off 5 pigs, the others scattering in all directions.
Back to the truck and about a 20km trip to another bait station we hadn’t been to since the beginning of the trip. We walked into it by GPS and could here plenty of animal noise, turned headlamps on and drilled a wild dog from 20m.
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It was back to camp for late dinner and a few cold ones and was toying with the idea of going back out spotlight around midnight but decided we had had enough action for the trip. In total I had accounted for 79 culled animals in 5 days, Nathan had bagged 27 but he was more into the trophy pig hunting. So in total a couple of amatuers culled 106 pests, with what I know now 2 people could easily double that amount with a semi and 20 shot mags
We managed to sleep in a little the next morning, helped pack up the camp and begin 5 – 6 hour the drive back to Darwin and then flight back home.
I've booked again next year but will take along my own rifle, none of the shooting is long range, 250 yds max and in the end I could see it wasn't much hassle travelling with a firearm.
Cheers,
300winmag
Re: Northern Territory Cull Hunt
Cheers for sharing bro. One of my " trips of.a lifetime" allways.wanted to shoot the N.T.
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Re: Northern Territory Cull Hunt
Do you mind lettin us know what sorta cost were lookin at just for the hunting.
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