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Australia and Kiwi land are I. My bucket list of places to visit before I die. Thanks for the exciting glimpse at the wildlife Andy.
 
Wheat said:
Australia and Kiwi land are I. My bucket list of places to visit before I die. Thanks for the exciting glimpse at the wildlife Andy.
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Wheat.

To set foot on Australia is like being bewitched.... Your soul is doomed.... You'll never leave or forever wish to return;)

You'll never forget the richness in the colours of the bush. The air so sweet. You'd be surprised how beautiful the deserted and dry outback really is. I remember walking the valley of the winds ( outback not too far from Uluru) with a friend of mine who was making a round the world trip with his family. We stopped on a small hill and I asked him for his thoughts. Heart breakingly beautiful was his reply. He's a tough Canadian woodsman, that was saying a lot coming from one who had just done Europe, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Japan. Oz turned out to be his favorite "nature" experience.

Our Mate Andy is one lucky dude indeed. By the frequency of his visits to the bush, I'd wager he Damn well knows it!
 
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Great pics, as usual, and a great narrative to go with them. I always enjoy your posts Andy. :thumbup:
 
Andy the Aussie said:
Well just spent another wonderful week up in the mountains near where I grew up ... :) :)

I was chasing deer but the reality was that the rut is mostly over so it was only going to be for a couple of meat culls. There are always a good number of hogs around this area and this trip was no exception. The son of mate who was there at the time shot a really big well fanged boar !!!! I should have snapped a pic of the head he carried back to camp (he is doing a boiled skull/jaw piece out of it).

I actually took very few pics this trip as there was lots of walking (as opposed to riding my bike out and parking to walk the best areas as I normally do) involved thanks to lots of rain on and off all week so the big camera and tripod stayed at camp or where I left the bike.

Now May here is COLD...the rain kept the temps up a bit but I was certainly not out hunting in my Speedos either !! Took the chainsaw and chopped nearly two tonnes of wood in a couple of loads the first afternoon. Then had to split some (well I didn't have to but it is therapeutic)...




About the only pic I snapped out bush, just about to walk away from the bike as the clouds rolled in...



Now, this trip I decided to carry the .375H&H a little to make sure I was still comfortable with it and see how the loads worked (no pressure signs and shooting OK etc). I came off the mountain and got about 400 yds above a spot where I normally find hogs (down on the creek flats). So I walked down for a look around. Sure enough a lone boar was roaming around and after a bit of cat and mouse he lost...



.... that pic was taken in almost complete darkness (flashlight to allow the auto focus to catch and then ISO 640 and a long'ish exposure off the tripod, I only had the built in flash and this alone looked crappy).

There is lots of predation up here and if you fall and bump your head there is a good chance you will wake up partially eaten...!!! I rode back past this hog the following morning on the way back from another hunt....I have removed the hide from both sides but the rest was nature.
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So awesome one day I'll get a hog of my own
Andy the Aussie said:
At one point I was sitting over a gully and a small group of hogs appeared, I was actually hunting a doe but it was too good to pass up. In all there were 6 hogs and 8 rounds later they were all down. I could not be bothered dragging them all together but snapped three that were close enough... ;) The other guys back at camp made the comment about how the booming of the .375 carried down the valley :) :)



Now the down side of this, as I was snapping that pic I looked back down there gully and around 30yds away was a BIG boar that had just winded me...!!! I literally snatched up the rifle and ran (dropping the camera) but he got out of sight and into the tussocks too fast for me....!!

Got about 200yrds back from the bike and spotted some more hogs, they were a bit small but I have shot plenty of rabbits with the .375 and this was about practice right....right...!!! Had to negotiate the wind and that they were feeding along, i ended up almost back to the bike and around 30yds from them when I fired first, this one went down just there....



and right after this shot another black hog took off, I was swinging through and squeezing the shot and there right then BOOM....just as the crosshairs drew level with a tree !!!!!! A saw a great mark appear on the trunk and thought at least I can dig one of those big Woodleigh's out and see..... ummm.... no...



.... the arrow closest to the rifle is the entrance, the one to the left is the entrance on the bigger tree behind....!! I dug in as far as I could and could feel in the full depth of a finger and was unable to get to the projectile, it has passed through that one at the front (12-14 inches diameter) turned UP and smack that tree behind. Can't complain at all as that is just what these pills are supposed to do...!!

Lost a full day to rain.... heavy driving rain and wind along with some small hail (this all hit just as I was packing to head out bush thinking "it is only going to sprinkle")... there was 10cm of water in the bottom of the trailer when that storm eased.

I put the .375 away and took my Sako back out for the last couple of days....damn it is easy to carry by comparison !!!!

Weather was still not kind but on the last afternoon I took a walk just after a storm, plenty of deer coming out but they are very very shy at the moment (lots of hunting around the area at this time of year). Managed to take a couple of doe culls and then walked back along the creek flats toward home, it was cold and I was soaked through up to mid thigh from the wet tussocks. I took a rest on a log and was about to make off again and then this little boar walked out around 40yds away ...



Just as he dropped I saw a bigger black hog break cover on the oppose side of the creek and figured why not, so from about 60yds running....


... she is actually about twice the size of the little boar.

After this is was a cold wet walk home and to start to pack up. Left the following morning and had a 5hr drive home in some horrible weather. As I was unhooking the trailer I realised that one tyre was in the process of disintegrating, steel belt was evident and lots of unusual bulges, it was the smell of burnt rubber that made me look. Can't complain, they were old and only a stop gap set till I replaced all the tyres on my truck and moved the best of the old ones back to the spare and trailer.

All in all a good week away.
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Thanks all, I do realise how lucky I am to be able to get out as often as I do (not nearly as often as I like of course). And yes, Australia a wonderful and diverse country which, in the space of a day's drive can go from lush green to dry red dust. I do love all facets of the place.
 
Proud to see some 375 use this time. I guess you are still using the hydrostatically stabilized? I have experienced opening the side of a tree with a 270-grain slug when I was hunting deer once and surprisingly for both of us bumped a hog off its bed and snapshot clipped the tree it was standing beside. It's quite impressive.
 
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