Thread: Odd, unexpected and interesting things you have seen out hunting

Autumn 2011, outback Western Australia. We'd driven east along the Trans Access railway road for a full day, deep into the Nullarbor, looking for camels. Once we hit the station boundary, we took off north along the fenceline heading for a spot we knew, to set up camp, cook some wors in a firepit and drink a few cold ones.

Was sitting on top of the truck glassing with the binos about an hour before dusk. I could see something springing up and down in the long grass, couple of hundred away. Set up the spotting scope on the roof... it was a large feral cat. It would spring high up in the air, and land, disappearing from view in the grass. Knowing we would never get close to, we set up the T3 Super Varmint .223 on the roof rack, with an uncomfortable but do-able prone position thanks to a self inflating mattress and a few pillows. After all this effort the cat had disappeared.

After a frustrating wait, suddenly... spring! It was back in business, now only 150m away. Steve, who is much shorter and better "padded" than me, fitted into the roof rack prone position far more comfortably. He set up on the cat's position, tracking it on 24x mag, as it slowly moved in the grass. I had it in the spotting scope on high magnification, clear as day, could see the tip of its tail twitching in the evening light. After an age of tense waiting, the cat stopped, paused... wait for it... spring! Just as it reached the top of its jump, Steve let one go, aiming just above the top of the grass. The 75gr A-Max hit the cat amidships in midair, red misting it in a halo of goop against the orange sky.

Cue mirth and celebration and big smiles all round.

We never did see any camels on that trip.