First post on this forum. A friend said to join here and ask about the hunting. My 11 year old daughter and I will be coming down to OZ to hunt in the NT with a friend next May. We will be there two weeks. The hunting we have set up in 3-4 days. Looking to see if there is any good places to get some deer hunting in? We will have a rental car but will be flying around some. Not a big budget. If we were not hunting with a friend up north we could never afford to go and get a guide. Any advice or ideas would be great. She wants to bring her bow down as well. Great at shooting her bow. She has shot deer and we are going for a bear towards the end of the month here in the states with her bow. Looking to see the country down there and enjoy some fun hunting adventures

Thanks for any ideas.

Welcome to AR.
May is a bit late for the Red and Fallow rut and too early for the Rusa but deer are about and you should be able to get in some hunting.
Are you planning on being around Brisbane during your trip ?

Would be good to have mor info like where are you going (Aus is a big place) where are you from est

Guess more info would be a big help huh? We live in Arkansas. Up and to the right of Texas. We will be flying into Brisbane. We have 4 days tell we have to be just south of Darwin. We will be flying to Darwin. Then we will have another 4 days on the back side of the hunt up there. We can also fly in and out of Sydney. If we don't do more hunting we will be going to some of the parks and camping. Maybe Fraser Island and kakadou (sp?) the big park outside of Darwin. But the more hunting the better. Open to all kinds of hunting. Wife really wants a camel skull. She traps some and keeps the furs and skulls of different things we come across. She will be home with our 5th little one.

Stuck

I'll try to answer some of your questions Stuck

Deer- There is Red deer around Brisbane, in the Brisbane valley and Mary river valley etc. They are on private property and as we don't have hunting on public land, unless you know a farmer or do a guided hunt you may be out of luck. In NSW they have hunting on public land but you have to get the appropriate licences, do a course and then book an area. I think it would be impossible for an overseas hunter.

Fraser Island- About an 3-4 hour drive from Brisbane to Rainbow beach which gets you to the bottom of Fraser, you they take a vehicle barge across. That way is 4x4 only in fact all driving on Fraser is on sand so its only 4x4. I think you can get to the island via passenger ferry if you get to Harvey Bay (5 hours from Brisbane depending on traffic) but that only goes to one of the resorts, then without a 4x4 your stuck in that area except for guided tours.

Camels- Its about 1500km or 13 hour drive from Darwin to Alice Springs where the camels are. Once you move off the main roads you will need a 4x4 again no hunting on public land so you have to find a property owner. Some of these property's are HUGE and with out local knowledge you'll have a hard time of it.

Where about's is your mate at? Is he Darwin based?

Can't remember the name of the town. I know we fly into Darwin and it's about an hour and half drive from there. Would like to see the big park up out of Darwin. So much to see and do there. Wish we had more time. Hard to get two weeks off work here. Wanted to bring a rifle or two but just way to hard to get one into Australia. I lived in NZ for a year 14 years ago. Was easy to get a firearms licenses.

It isn't hard to get firearms/ammo into Australia if you get an O/S visitors permit for the NT. Import permit comes with that.

Just remember that the permit laws are a little tougher still in those states where you might go deer hunting, particularly QLD, NSW & Vic.

Deer hunting in Vic is the easiest to access for self-guided, public land and the permits aren't that hard to get if you follow how it works. You do have to be wary of age restrictions too. Victoria accepts the NT firearm permit that you should get (as above).

Everything I have read and everyone I have talked to says it's a pain. Have some friends that hunted down there three times. They said they will never bring guns down there again. I have looked into it and with us not hunting with a guide there it's to much of a pain. Just hoping to find some deer to hunt.

We're within about 50 mins of the Hervey Bay - Fraser Island barge (River Heads) if you get this far.

There's camels at Cloncurry but that's still 18hrs away by car.

Mary Valley and Brisbane valleys have Red Deer, predominantly, but as they say you need access to private land.

If you got off the plane in Brisbane got a guided red deer hunt in the Brisbane/Mary Valleys and then went onto Fraser Island. You'd then have to get back to the plane in Brisbane/Sunshine Coast/Hervey Bay to get to Darwin for your "northern leg".

quote:

Originally posted by Stuck:
Everything I have read and everyone I have talked to says it's a pain. Have some friends that hunted down there three times. They said they will never bring guns down there again. I have looked into it and with us not hunting with a guide there it's to much of a pain. Just hoping to find some deer to hunt.

It's only a pain if you get shit advice.

Be sure and get a firearm permit for those southern deer states. Don't accept that you can hunt on someone else's licence.

I don't want to talk this down but an 11 yo will have trouble shooting with a firearm, right?

We have some wonderful hunting opportunities but with such a short time frame and such a large country it may be difficult to organise...

Cheers,
Mark.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark R:
I don't want to talk this down but an 11 yo will have trouble shooting with a firearm, right?

In the NT it's no problem, if accompanied by an adult with a licence - not so for QLD/NSW/Vic.

I had licenses for Victoria and NSW, took me months and I lived there for 3 years. Hell it took 9 months to get to the point where I could touch, let alone own a firearm.

Australia can not be hunted on the cheap by a foreigner unless they are hunting with a friend on their land, and that land is not in NSW.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Graham:

quote:

Originally posted by Stuck:
Everything I have read and everyone I have talked to says it's a pain. Have some friends that hunted down there three times. They said they will never bring guns down there again. I have looked into it and with us not hunting with a guide there it's to much of a pain. Just hoping to find some deer to hunt.

It's only a pain if you get shit advice.

Be sure and get a firearm permit for those southern deer states. Don't accept that you can hunt on someone else's licence.

Well summed up Matt. The paperwork may seem a problem if you come from somewhere where not much is needed, BUT simply find out from RELIABLE sources what is needed, and get it.

Not hard, just needs a little thought and a little patience. The reported problems almost inavariably arise from people failing to do this, or as Matt said "shit advice"

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
I had licenses for Victoria and NSW, took me months and I lived there for 3 years. Hell it took 9 months to get to the point where I could touch, let alone own a firearm.

Australia can not be hunted on the cheap by a foreigner unless they are hunting with a friend on their land, and that land is not in NSW.

And yet I recently got a Mexican client a firearms permit on the day he landed ... go figure. He only bought his plane ticket 3 days before (he was waiting for a visa).

Hunting on the cheap? You can drop into Victoria (with a pre-arranged visitors permit and game licence), rent a car and be hunting sambar and fallow deer on the same day, self-guided, 2 hours from Melbourne.