Client- Larry Shores

PH- Karl Goodhand

Dates- August 2018

Gun- Rifles,Inc 416 with Factory 400 grain A Frames

Airlines- Delta and Virgin Australia

Well, I finally made it to Australia which is something I have wanted to do for a long time. It was worth it.

Let me comment first on the flights. Everything was fine . However, when coming from the east coast it is a LONG way. While nothing was really problematic in Sydney, it was absolute pandamonium in the airport. Long lines. People everywhere. Fortunately, a young man from Menzies helped me. My wife is traveling today. She has some medical issues. Before she left, she found a service to help her. She breezed through .

I will break this up into two parts.

PART ONE

We drove to the Wildman Wilderness Lodge which is about an hour and a half out of Darwin. I think we stayed 3 nights. It is VERY nice. Great food.

We flew by chopper to one of Karl’s areas. We stopped to check the zero on the rifle. All was good. This area was about 200 square miles. Karl explained that this was a cattle station and the owners wanted the hogs eliminated. They had the right person. I love shooting hogs!

The plan was to fly around until we spotted a “mob.” We would be dropped off. The chopper would run them back our way. To be clear, this is pest eradication NOT hunting. From the air, everything on the ground looked smooth. Looks can be deceiving. Upon dropping me off I quickly learned that I could hardly walk. The hogs have totally wrecked this place . Now I see the problem.

This was a hell of a lot of fun. All shots were running. I was on fire that day. To be clear, I am completely capable of being the polar opposite. At the end, I counted 18 hogs. Karl thinks there may be more as I hit multiple hogs with one shot on a few occasions. Nothing spectacular in terms of size.

We left to go catch mud crabs which are damn good to eat! Ate them we did.

The next day we choppered to Karl’s area on the Coburg peninsula for banteng. The wind was blowing like hell and we were getting beat to death . I did not enjoy the ride.

We got there and made a stop to drop off some things then took off again. We flew a short distance and landed. We got out and started walking. After a while, we saw our first banteng. While I knew it was a banteng, beyond that I was not qualified to judge it. Frankly, it’s body was smaller than I thought they would be. The horns seemed large to me compared to what I recall from mounts I have seen. However, it had a broken leg. I decided to shoot because of the leg. Karl wanted me to shoot it.

I hammered it perfectly from about 90 yards. He was mortally wounded but I shot again. He went down. When we got up to him, Karl’s jaw about hit the ground. He was pretty excited. Preliminary indications are that this will beat the existing #1.

PART TWO

The next day we drove to another of Karl’s camps. It is a long way, over 6 hours. The camp is nice but not quite like the lodge. The food was outstanding.

We leave the next morning to go check out an area where Karl has seen a massive old bull. We never make it as we see a large bull along the way. We get out and follow him. We are maybe 110 yards away. The bull has made us and he is standing there looking at us. Karl tells me to shoot. I HATE a frontal shot. I take it anyway. The bull is clearly hit but he runs . I shoot again and hit him.

I figure he is not going far. Neither does Karl. Well,never listen to me. Off to the races we go. Most blood I see is large frothy drops. It has to be lungs. We have tracked him a long way when I spotted him. Karl is trying to put up the sticks. I should have shot off hand. The bull runs. Damnit! I shot while he was running and hit him.

We continue to follow. The bull stops in a short distance. He is clearly sick. I shoot him again. He runs. I shoot again and hit him while he is running. Now I am sure we are getting him. We follow and he stops. I hammer him again. The damn thing starts to walk off, clearly in a bad way.

It is now that I discover that I have a single round left. I have lost several while running after the bull. We close to about 50 yards. I shoot my last round square through the shoulders. I could not make a more perfect shot. The bull just stood there for about a minute then he fell.

Karl and I inspected the bull . I hit him every time. Yet, he had gone about 1.5 miles. Not a single round exited. Unbelievable. These animals are tough. A lot tougher than I ever thought possible.

I was extremely proud of the tracking job that we did.

OTHER COMMENTS

Karl runs a great outfit . I definitely recommend it.

Australia is a vast country. The distances involved are insane.

The bird life is incredible.

I saw a lot of feral donkeys and horses which I did not expect to see.

There are some enormous crocs is that country.

I’m glad to hear you had a great time in the NT, and with Karl. Pete was my guide in 2016 and we managed to take an old Banteng bull. Thanks for sharing the adventure on AR.

Thanks for your report .
Good to hear all went smoothly and you had an enjoyable hunt.

Sounds like you had a great trip Larry. You've taken some bloody top trophies

And yep...mud crabs are good eating.

I had dinner tonight with Karl, Larry, and his lovely wife. Had a great time. Larry is perhaps the most generous person I have ever met, at least in the hunting world.

Funny that Larry commented on the distances...I told Tony the flight from BNE to DRW today took forever.

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
I had dinner tonight with Karl, Larry, and his lovely wife. Had a great time. Larry is perhaps the most generous person I have ever met , at least in the hunting world.

Funny that Larry commented on the distances...I told Tony the flight from BNE to DRW today took forever.

I'll second that!

Larry,

Nice report! Great trophies and I agree those buffalo can be very tough.

Congrats!

Mark

Nice report Larry - thanks for sharing !


Morten

Thanks all.

Miscellaneous other comments:

Darwin is a damn nice little town.

I ate barramundi several times. Loved it. I want to fish for them.

The Aussie gun laws are a pain in the ass.

We did some sightseeing after the fact. Had a great time. Saw some fantastic things. I would
Warn that the distances are vast. One day we covered 500 miles, literally.

Beware of the crocs. We saw some monsters. Some of the croc stories are pretty scary.

Some of the history and/or culture is fascinating. For example, the number of dialects in the aboriginal languages is mind boggling. The bombing of Darwin by the Japanese is another.

Definitely a trip worth taking.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Larry,

Nice report! Great trophies and I agree those buffalo can be very tough.

Congrats!

Mark

Glad you had a great hunt, Larry.

Pictures! Pictures!

I cannot see anything!

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
I had dinner tonight with Karl, Larry, and his lovely wife. Had a great time. Larry is perhaps the most generous person I have ever met , at least in the hunting world.

Funny that Larry commented on the distances...I told Tony the flight from BNE to DRW today took forever.

I'll second that!

+1

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Thanks all.

Miscellaneous other comments:

Darwin is a damn nice little town.

I ate barramundi several times. Loved it. I want to fish for them.

The Aussie gun laws are a pain in the ass.

We did some sightseeing after the fact. Had a great time. Saw some fantastic things. I would
Warn that the distances are vast. One day we covered 500 miles, literally.

Beware of the crocs. We saw some monsters. Some of the croc stories are pretty scary.

Some of the history and/or culture is fascinating. For example, the number of dialects in the aboriginal languages is mind boggling. The bombing of Darwin by the Japanese is another.

Definitely a trip worth taking.

Fishing is work and for better men than me.

I plan to go to a barramundi fish farm in Thailand and catch 50in a afternoon

I want to go hunt banteng.

Mike

Yes great report, thanks for posting!

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Thanks all.

Miscellaneous other comments:

Darwin is a damn nice little town.

I ate barramundi several times. Loved it. I want to fish for them.

The Aussie gun laws are a pain in the ass.

We did some sightseeing after the fact. Had a great time. Saw some fantastic things. I would
Warn that the distances are vast. One day we covered 500 miles, literally.

Beware of the crocs. We saw some monsters. Some of the croc stories are pretty scary.

Some of the history and/or culture is fascinating. For example, the number of dialects in the aboriginal languages is mind boggling. The bombing of Darwin by the Japanese is another.

Definitely a trip worth taking.

Fishing is work and for better men than me.

I plan to go to a barramundi fish farm in Thailand and catch 50in a afternoon

I want to go hunt banteng.

Mike

Mike:

Did you know there is a place in Kissimmee where one can fish for barramundi?

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Thanks all.

Miscellaneous other comments:

Darwin is a damn nice little town.

I ate barramundi several times. Loved it. I want to fish for them.

The Aussie gun laws are a pain in the ass.

We did some sightseeing after the fact. Had a great time. Saw some fantastic things. I would
Warn that the distances are vast. One day we covered 500 miles, literally.

Beware of the crocs. We saw some monsters. Some of the croc stories are pretty scary.

Some of the history and/or culture is fascinating. For example, the number of dialects in the aboriginal languages is mind boggling. The bombing of Darwin by the Japanese is another.

Definitely a trip worth taking.

Fishing is work and for better men than me.

I plan to go to a barramundi fish farm in Thailand and catch 50in a afternoon

I want to go hunt banteng.

Mike

Mike:

Did you know there is a place in Kissimmee where one can fish for barramundi?

Larry

Used to be. A freeze a few years back killed all the barramundi.

Mike

Pictures from Larry to share.....

Larry you old rocker...standing there with your ACDC shirt on

quote:

Originally posted by Bakes:
Larry you old rocker...standing there with your ACDC shirt on

My all time favorites!

Do those crabs taste the same as blue crabs from the Chesapeake.

To me they were similar.

Great report Larry, glad you came through safe and sound on your chopper trip, too many of those damn Robbies go down from mast bumping for me, I'll stick to the Hughy 500's.

I guess you will be working on a real fat belly magazine next time you tackle those buffalo in Oz

Larry. Good stuff mate. Beautiful bulls.