THE ACCURATERELOADING.COM DOWN UNDER FORUM


Moderators: Bakes
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Croc and buff NT--Last Picts 15 Nov
 Login/Join
 
One of Us
Picture of SGraves155
posted
Just returned from vacation to NZ, Aus, and Kauai. Managed to get in a hunt at Carmor Plains next to Kakadu with Matt Kelman. Besides buffalo, we were able to trap a large cattle-catching croc out of a small billabong on Mount Keppler station. Matt has depredation permits for several crocs, but he must do the shooting after the croc is trapped.
The first afternoon at Carmor, we went barramundi fishing on Sampan Creek. Didn't catch any fish, but must have seen more than 100 large crocs in a mile and a half. One big croc had killed a grown buffalo and was guarding the carcass.
With Matt's help, I got a nice buffalo, probably score about 98 points, but drowned my camera during the chase and couldn't get pictures. Did get pictures of other buffalo.
The croc we trapped was 4.47 meters (14 ft 8 inches) but had a very wide head.
On the way home, we stopped for a few days in Kauai. On a 4 hour trip out of Nawiliwili harbor, we caught two Marlin, both about 150 lbs, and one of which was foul-hooked thru the eye socket, so the captain boated it for eating.

Croc in Sampan Creek


Big Cattle-killer. I'm 6'5" in shoes.






Sampan croc with buff


Big Croc


Nice bull buff


Marlin


Steve
"He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan
"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin
Tanzania 06
Argentina08
Argentina
Australia06
Argentina 07
Namibia
Arnhemland10
Belize2011
Moz04
Moz 09
 
Posts: 8100 | Location: NW Arkansas | Registered: 09 July 2005Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of TOP_PREDATOR
posted Hide Post
What a great trip cheers

Can you tell us more about your buffalo?? what did you shoot it with??


"Never in the field of human conflict
was so much owed by so many to so few." Sir Winston Churchill

 
Posts: 1870 | Location: Throughout the British Empire | Registered: 08 October 2004Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of SGraves155
posted Hide Post
TP, I borrowed Matt's 375 H&H Brno, he used a 458 win. Unfortunately, our ammunition choice was slim (no real premium softs, no solids), which led to a wild chase after a wounded buff thru a big swamp. When we finally got the buff, we were 600 yard out into the swamp, with only one round of ammo remaining, and I had drowned my camera. We didn't encounter any crocs wading in or out, thank goodness.


Steve
"He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan
"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin
Tanzania 06
Argentina08
Argentina
Australia06
Argentina 07
Namibia
Arnhemland10
Belize2011
Moz04
Moz 09
 
Posts: 8100 | Location: NW Arkansas | Registered: 09 July 2005Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of Rusty
posted Hide Post
WOW, talk about your mixed bag! Great report! Congrats on your hunt!


Rusty
We Band of Brothers!
DRSS, NRA & SCI Life Member

"I am rejoiced at my fate. Do not be uneasy about me, for I am with my friends."
----- David Crockett in his last letter (to his children), January 9th, 1836
"I will never forsake Texas and her cause. I am her son." ----- Jose Antonio Navarro, from Mexican Prison in 1841
"for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Arbroath April 6, 1320-“. . .It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
 
Posts: 9797 | Location: Missouri City, Texas | Registered: 21 June 2000Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of retreever
posted Hide Post
Steve, welcome home...Very nice trophies...Lots of memories...

Mike thumb


Michael Podwika... DRSS bigbores and hunting www.pvt.co.za " MAKE THE SHOT " 450#2 Famars
 
Posts: 6767 | Location: Wyoming, Pa. USA | Registered: 17 April 2003Reply With Quote
One Of Us
posted Hide Post
Excellent pictures! thumb
 
Posts: 2662 | Location: Oslo, in the naive land of socialist nepotism and corruption... | Registered: 10 May 2002Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of NitroX
posted Hide Post
Nice sized croc. Looks like lots of fun.


__________________________

John H.

..
NitroExpress.com - the net's double rifle forum
 
Posts: 10138 | Location: Wine Country, Barossa Valley, Australia | Registered: 06 March 2002Reply With Quote
One of Us
posted Hide Post
Congrats Steve,
You have seen and done many things the vast majority of Australians will never realise we have in own own backyard.
 
Posts: 109 | Location: Jabiru NT | Registered: 24 February 2006Reply With Quote
Moderator
Picture of Bakes
posted Hide Post
Well done Steve sounds like an interesting trip. cheers


------------------------------
A mate of mine has just told me he's shagging his girlfriend and her twin. I said "How can you tell them apart?" He said "Her brother's got a moustache!"
 
Posts: 7963 | Location: Bloody Queensland where every thing is 20 years behind the rest of Australia! | Registered: 25 January 2001Reply With Quote
Moderator
posted Hide Post
I think I would have enjoyed this particular agenda very much, indeed. Good for you! thumb
 
Posts: 11017 | Registered: 14 December 2000Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of DennisHP
posted Hide Post
Congrats Steve! Nice croc.

BTW, I gave Dean and Delil the knives you sent me for delivery. They liked them very much. Dean didn't remember what your Leopard skull measured however.
 
Posts: 3931 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 27 September 2002Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of SGraves155
posted Hide Post
Dennis, Thank you. I enjoyed your TZ hunting trip report.


Steve
"He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan
"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin
Tanzania 06
Argentina08
Argentina
Australia06
Argentina 07
Namibia
Arnhemland10
Belize2011
Moz04
Moz 09
 
Posts: 8100 | Location: NW Arkansas | Registered: 09 July 2005Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of SGraves155
posted Hide Post
A few more picts--





Steve
"He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan
"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin
Tanzania 06
Argentina08
Argentina
Australia06
Argentina 07
Namibia
Arnhemland10
Belize2011
Moz04
Moz 09
 
Posts: 8100 | Location: NW Arkansas | Registered: 09 July 2005Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of 30ott6
posted Hide Post
GREAT trip Steve! Thanks for sharing with us!

John
 
Posts: 1143 | Location: Cody, WY | Registered: 06 December 2002Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of DennisHP
posted Hide Post
Those things sure have a weird wanger. Looks like something that poped out of a chest in a sci-fi movie. Eeker
 
Posts: 3931 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 27 September 2002Reply With Quote
<Hunter Formerly Known As Texas Hunter>
posted
Are there outfitters in Australia offering saltwater croc hunts?
 
Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of SGraves155
posted Hide Post
Hunter, croc hunting is not yet legal in Australia. There are depredation permits available for certain areas to residents only, with many restrictions. The croc must be trapped before it is shot, and only the permit holder may then do the killing. Their government is horribly bureocratic and apparently very anti-gun. Big crocs are extremely numerous and present in surprisingly small holes of water. The rules will have to change within a year or two IMO. If you help trap the croc, Matt can sell you the hide and/or skull. It is my understanding that he is the only person who has legally and successfully exported these products to the US.


Steve
"He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan
"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin
Tanzania 06
Argentina08
Argentina
Australia06
Argentina 07
Namibia
Arnhemland10
Belize2011
Moz04
Moz 09
 
Posts: 8100 | Location: NW Arkansas | Registered: 09 July 2005Reply With Quote
<Hunter Formerly Known As Texas Hunter>
posted
Thanks Steve. Maybe in a couple of years it will be legal and I'll be able to travel Downunder and hunt crocs. I would really enjoy that.
 
Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of SGraves155
posted Hide Post
4 Nov, Matt sent picts of buffalo skull retreival. It took about 4 weeks for the water to go down enough to get the 4-wheeler into the carcass. The horns had good mass and I am told were 47 inches wide.







Steve
"He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan
"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin
Tanzania 06
Argentina08
Argentina
Australia06
Argentina 07
Namibia
Arnhemland10
Belize2011
Moz04
Moz 09
 
Posts: 8100 | Location: NW Arkansas | Registered: 09 July 2005Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of NitroX
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by SGraves155:
It took about 4 weeks for the water to go down enough to get the 4-wheeler into the carcass.


Why didn't you just take off the head and carry it back while you were there? bewildered


__________________________

John H.

..
NitroExpress.com - the net's double rifle forum
 
Posts: 10138 | Location: Wine Country, Barossa Valley, Australia | Registered: 06 March 2002Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of SGraves155
posted Hide Post
John H.--Good Question.
This buff crossed the trail in front of the Landrover about 500yds after we had given up on a long morning's tracking. He saw the vehicle and took off; we stopped, grabbed the rifles and gave chase--without Matt's kit-bag with our knives in it.
Once we had the buff down ( a couple of miles later), I think Matt thought we could get one of the 4-wheelers in to the swamp to get it, but we decided on the way out that the water was too deep for the 4-wheelers. He usually has an airboat, but it was somewhere else.
I did have a leatherman tool on my belt, but am glad we didn't try to use it for the job-- the "duck-lice"--"swimmer's itch" cercariae that had already drilled into our legs made for more itching and scratching than I usually enjoy over the next 2 weeks.

I saw your buff pict in Nickudu's photo gallery--looks like your's was in a similiar situation. Was that a recent hunt? In NT?


Steve
"He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan
"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin
Tanzania 06
Argentina08
Argentina
Australia06
Argentina 07
Namibia
Arnhemland10
Belize2011
Moz04
Moz 09
 
Posts: 8100 | Location: NW Arkansas | Registered: 09 July 2005Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of NitroX
posted Hide Post
My buffalo was shot maybe a couple hundred metres out into the wetlands, but we were only twenty metres or less away in the paperbacks when we shot him.

Matt Graham caped out the shoulders and head which Steve and I carried back to shore, before doing this we removed the head itself. Matt G managed to carry this out most of the way, but then Steve and I came back to carry it between us the rest of the way.

Steve's buffalo was many hundreds of metres out when shot.

Caping out the head of the head skin lightens the load, and we found removing a shoulder helps turn the animal in the water to get at the other side. We were doing shoulder mounts however.


__________________________

John H.

..
NitroExpress.com - the net's double rifle forum
 
Posts: 10138 | Location: Wine Country, Barossa Valley, Australia | Registered: 06 March 2002Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of SGraves155
posted Hide Post
Last few Picts

14 foot Sampan Croc


Lots of Sampan Crocs



Checking entrance Wound



Close-Up of buffalo Killer


?Albinos?



Steve
"He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan
"Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin
Tanzania 06
Argentina08
Argentina
Australia06
Argentina 07
Namibia
Arnhemland10
Belize2011
Moz04
Moz 09
 
Posts: 8100 | Location: NW Arkansas | Registered: 09 July 2005Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of bwanamrm
posted Hide Post
Wow, neat hunt report and nice trophy bull even if recovered a few months later! Those saltwater crocs are HUGE. Couldn't imagine the tussle between the buff and the croc that killed him. Must have been epic.


On the plains of hesitation lie the bleached bones of ten thousand, who on the dawn of victory lay down their weary heads resting, and there resting, died.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch...
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
- Rudyard Kipling

Life grows grim without senseless indulgence.
 
Posts: 7507 | Location: Victoria, Texas | Registered: 30 March 2003Reply With Quote
One of Us
posted Hide Post
Great bunch of pictures, thanks for sharing with us. Glad you had a great trip.
With that many of those big lizards it's hard to believe they don't have a legal system for NR's
to hunt or shoot 'em.

George


"Gun Control is NOT about Guns'
"It's about Control!!"
Join the NRA today!"

LM: NRA, DAV,

George L. Dwight
 
Posts: 5934 | Location: Pueblo, CO | Registered: 31 January 2006Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of muzza
posted Hide Post
George - that post is from 12 years ago mate


________________________

Old enough to know better
 
Posts: 4454 | Location: Eltham , New Zealand | Registered: 13 May 2002Reply With Quote
One of Us
posted Hide Post
Still NEW to me, as I just saw it the first time.
Thanks for the info though.
Still big lizards!

George


"Gun Control is NOT about Guns'
"It's about Control!!"
Join the NRA today!"

LM: NRA, DAV,

George L. Dwight
 
Posts: 5934 | Location: Pueblo, CO | Registered: 31 January 2006Reply With Quote
One of Us
posted Hide Post
I enjoyed seeing this! I’m glad it resurfaced for me to see.
 
Posts: 1077 | Location: NT, Australia | Registered: 10 February 2011Reply With Quote
  Powered by Social Strata  
 


Copyright December 1997-2023 Accuratereloading.com


Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia