This is an active online article that I have been working on....

Eventually it will (hopefully) end-up being several slightly different articles - targeted at different readers (hunter/conservationists, legislator/bureaucrats)....


Banteng – Australia’s Unique Opportunity - Matt Graham

Australia’s big game hunting scene is dominated by, or more correctly totally comprised of introduced non-native species. While some local hunters may lament the lack of indigenous antlered and horned game – and something of a lack of recreational access to Australia’s own herbivorous niche-fillers; the kangaroo and other macropods, most of us relish the fabulous hunting that we do have. This includes some very special and in many ways unique wild species that have found their ‘home away from home’ - in the land ‘down-under’.

Among those ten wild and free-ranging game species, including six deer species, we find the banteng, an introduced bovine. Banteng are a unique and truly dangerous game animal and coupled with the other two dangerous big-game species in Australia; the ‘scrub bull’ (wild ox) and the Asiatic buffalo make a formidable dangerous game trio, all located in the same province of the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory (NT) is in Australia’s far northern tropics and interestingly the coastal area where the wild banteng are found, the Cobourg Peninsula, is actually closer geographically to their native Asian homelands than they are to the greater human populations in the south east and south-west of Australia.

But while international sportsmen may celebrate the banteng – the rarest bovine in the world that is still hunted – together with the aboriginal traditional owners of the land where the wild banteng live, who appreciate and respect the animals – the Australian (Federal) Government does not necessarily share those sentiments. Unfortunately banteng are listed right alongside other mammal pest species, which makes for an interesting contradiction when trying to bridge the divides between sporting hunters and true conservationists, landowners and the government authorities.

Management on the peninsula is something of an ad-hoc affair, where sometime overpopulation of the herd is countered by aerial culling, when funding permits or mass die-back during tough seasons. Hopefully, one day the full value of the banteng and other desirable introduced species will be realised and serious co-adaptive management systems put in place, so that destructive depopulation does not have to occur. Banteng were bought to Australia and specifically the coast of what is now the Northern Territory by the early British colonists, along with Asiatic buffalo and domesticated pigs, as meat animals and beasts of burden. A settlement was established on Port Essington through the 1830’s but by 1849 the venture was abandoned and these animals soon formed wild populations that have thrived on the Cobourg Peninsular - now Garig Gunak Barlu National Park since. The banteng remained largely unknown until they were ‘rediscovered’ by biologists after WWII – and the conservation and hunting potential was quickly realised.

These days the 4,500 square kilometre National Park, ‘Cobourg’ boasts a very large herd of more than 8000 banteng and the local authority – the NT Parks & Wildlife Service offers limited numbers of hunting tags per season, available to a maximum of three safari concession holders. Hunting in the National Park is restricted to around forty five tags per
season at the moment, making it one of the most prized permits and hunts in the world; but at a comparatively reasonable price.

Banteng (Bos javanicus) are a unique bovine species, wild and native to the Indonesian archipelago and parts of south-east Asia. They are an endangered species in their homelands as is their closest relative, the gaur or seladang (Bos gaurus). These bovine generally live in small family groups of around 3-10 cows and calves, plus a herd bull or two, depending on the time of year.

Banteng display sexual dimorphism – the bulls’ colouration turning from the juvenile's reddish-brown to near jet black on maturity and then fading again to grey/brown when they regress past their breeding prime. Cows are always a caramel colour and both sexes have white socks and white rump patches - similar to many deer species. Similarities to deer do not end there; banteng, while active at night and early and late in the daylight, are mainly reclusive during the heat of the day and retreat to the verdant creek-lines and monsoon forest by mid-morning.

Banteng – Conservation Potential

In the 1980’s and early 1990’s the Northern Territory Government waged war on the wandering bovines in the NT, with widespread aerial shooting of wild cattle and buffalo; a bid to rid the NT wilderness and the domestic cattle herds of tuberculosis and brucellosis.

Thankfully the banteng on Cobourg were largely spared, due to their known value to the traditional owners, as well as their relative isolation from the infected herds. Curiously banteng had not really spread very far from their initial release site – in spite of their steady breeding, herd vitality and lack of large predators. So too, some of the wild water (Asiatic) buffalo were spared the mass helicopter cull and have since repopulated much of their previous range, allowing the wonderful buffalo hunting we enjoy today. Banteng were further restricted in the movements during this time- by the construction and maintenance of a game fence across the peninsula’s narrow isthmus.

Banteng on Cobourg are readily blamed for environmental degradation and damage, although recent studies by Drs. Bradshaw & Bowman, et al through the Charles Darwin University in Darwin, have shown that while the banteng herd is large and growing, the actual impact on the ecosystem of the peninsula is minimal or at least ‘unclear’ [1]. Degradation by Asiatic buffalo, feral pigs and Timor ponies however has been shown to be significant in places in the Park but with proper adaptive management of all these species, those impacts could be minimised.

To the local aboriginal people of the area, the Iwadja clan, the traditional owners of the land; the banteng represent both a ready source of quality protein when needed, as well as a means of income from organised safari hunting. Since the banteng have been present in the area for many generations and more than 170 years, these animals have become integrated with the culture of those traditional owner groups and others living in the area. These relationships were recognised and quantified by Bradshaw and Brooke in 2007 [2].

Over the last thirty years public relations pressure has weighed heavily on the banteng and their future. Government authorities had traditionally shown the banteng little respect on the Cobourg, viewing them simply as just another introduced pest and possible infectious disease vector and it was really only their value to the traditional owners and hunters that stopped them being destroyed completely.

‘Bali Cattle’ was a commonly-used derogatory term given to the animals by locals and authorities. That term has only recently been rejected, especially since genetic studies have proven that the Cobourg banteng are synonymous with the wild banteng of south-east Asia and dissimilar to the domesticated varieties of Bali and Java [3]. This was a very important milestone in the conservation of the species. Unfortunately, Dr. Bradshaw’s extensive studies also indicated a genetic bottleneck in the wild Australian population [4].

All of this is important information if we are to move forward and change perceptions of the place and importance of the banteng in the north Australian environment - opinions and positions are already slowly changing. Just recently there have been discussions in the NT about exchanging genetics from live capture – selling live banteng back to south-east Asian countries, where banteng may be critically endangered. Perhaps receiving an influx of fresh genetics into Australia may help to solve the potential bottleneck issues here?

Banteng – Hunting Potential

To say banteng are exciting to hunt would be a gross understatement. Their habits, habitat, size and the hunting situation lends itself to serious close-quarters fun - I am excited just writing about them!! Banteng bulls are strong and tenacious, topping out at around 800kgs (1800 lbs) in their fighting prime. As with other big bovines they require a quality projectile of adequate calibre to put them on the ground in reasonable fashion, with safety for the hunting party and less chance losing the animal or having to follow-up in dense cover.f

375 calibre plus 300 grain projectile is a sensible minimum cartridge combination but I would suggest with modern dangerous game projectiles, a 338 calibre, in a quality bolt-gun, would do a fine job in a pinch. Solids are not really a necessity, especially given the quality of premium projectiles available these days, although some still use them of course. This hunting country lends itself to close-stalking – so the double-rifle is a perfect option on this hunt , while ‘alternative weapons’ like bows, muzzleloaders and handguns can be equally employed, with due caution.

On Cobourg the dry, sandy woodland, often burnt during the hunting season, is broken up by numerous springs and creeklines and these creeks invariably have dense tropical forest. The habits are more similar to deer than most other bovines as well - they retreat into the jungle creeks during the heat of day. They are extremely wary animals that spook and run at the first sight or smell of danger. Simply put this ‘spookiness’ translates to danger for the hunter, especially with bulls that are wounded, pursued or feel threatened or trapped by thick forest. Charges from wounded animals are relatively common; relative to other bovines that is. During the early morning and late afternoon the banteng can be found venturing out from the creek-lines and shade to graze, which is where you are most likely to take a trophy animal.

Hunting out on Cobourg is dictated by the geography of the place and the fact that you are not allowed to hunt from a vehicle. The whole peninsular and National Park is divided into three separate peninsular, each with a single road running along its spine. From these roads you can walk down to the ocean in both directions (in some places to different oceans!). You cannot shoot from these public roads although you can spot and stalk a bull from the road or retrieve a downed animal anywhere by vehicle, after a walk-and-stalk hunt.

As it is a National Park you cannot drive off the established roads to hunt, as we often do in the buffalo areas), so it is essentially a foot hunt for the most part. You can drive to retrieve a trophy but many guides prefer to carry the trophies out. In recent years the Park has been devastated by cyclones (one almost flattened the place in March 2005), so there are still lots of fallen trees that make driving off-track difficult anyhow and even hiking through open forest a challenge at times.

As they are in a natural (wild) herd dynamic on Cobourg, you do see a lot of lone bulls and bachelor groups, many of the lone bulls being old bulls past their prime – just what the doctor ordered! Some bulls can be taken more easily than others, spotted from the roads as mentioned or from stalking around swamps close by but the vast majority of trophy bulls are taken by stalking along the springs and creek-lines. This involves a fair amount of hiking, often in the tropical heat, and a reasonable level of fitness is required. This is what I would call a ‘hunters hunt’!

In closing, few could say it better than the great man himself and our patron, Mr Craig Boddington:

“Cobourg is like no other area I have seen on any continent. From a hunting and conservation perspective, it is extremely important not only for its unspoilt natural beauty but because it holds the world’s only huntable population of free-ranging banteng, a distinct and extremely interesting species of the worlds wild oxen. The banteng of Cobourg are one of the Northern Territories’ and Australia’s natural treasures. As the most viable population of this animal remaining in the world, they are important from a conservation standpoint as well as to the international hunting community. It is essential that they be utilized widely on a carefully managed sustained-yield basis. In the vastness that is northern Australia the Cobourg is a very small area – but because of the banteng it is known and highly regarded by hunters and conservationists around the world” [5].

Matt Graham is proprietor of leading Australian outfitter Hunt Australia, a contributor to numerous Australian hunting and fishing publications and is a devoted political and conservation activist. www.HuntAust.com.au

References:
1. Bowman DMJS, Panton WJ (1991). ""Sign and habitat impact of Banteng (Bos javanicus) and pig (Sus scrofa) Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Australia"". Australian Journal of Ecology 16 (1): 15–17.
2. Bradshaw Corey J.A. and Brook Barry W. (2007) “Ecological-economic models of sustainable harvest for an endangered but exotic megaherbivore in northern Australia”, Natural Resource Modeling. Volume 20, Issue 1, , Pages: 129–156,
3. Bradshaw CJ, Isagi Y, Kaneko S, Bowman DM, Brook BW (August 2006). "Conservation value of non-native banteng in Northern Australia". Conserv. Biol. 20 (4): 1306–11.
4. Bradshaw CJ, Isagi Y, Kaneko S, Brook BW, Bowman DM, Frankham R (July 2007). "Low genetic diversity in the bottlenecked population of endangered non-native banteng in northern Australia". Mol. Ecol. 16 (14): 2998–3008
5. Boddington C.T (2010). Private Correspondence.

Image by Leith Graham

Good article Matt

Thanks Bakes

This document is going to be actively 'developed' over the next few years, to be used for various purposes - not just promotion.

Cheers all
Matt

Informative article, Matt

Very kool 'draft' article Matt.

plenty of opportunity to develop the canvassed specific issues for the aforesaid "various purposes".

Y'know, I didn't actually think much of Banteng (I mean look at them - they look like granddad's Jersey bull) ... but now I reckon I'd like to hunt one (or two, or ...)

Nice article, Matt.

Bren7x64, the bulls do turn blackish at maturity and quite distinctive from the cows. Although the cows do remind you of jerseys and about the same size but much better beef animals.

I would say they (pure wild banteng) turn jet-black at maturity rather than blackish. A lot of people use the jersey comparison but when you get the opportunity to be around the wild animals they are really nothing like any domestic species.