well some of the shit that has been shot by some of the fella`s is only dog food class,a while back there were a lot of pics in one of the mags of heads shot through this group and most were pox to say the least though there was a blody nice head that just happened to be taken by a yank female.......go figure that one eh....all the boys got shit and she turns up and gets the best.....oh and some of those boys were members of my ADA branch with many years of Vic deer hunting exp.

Thanks for the info. At first glance it sounds like a good way to have access to deer.

Just whatched the ridge video, a guy on there mentioned $75 a day. Think they also said it was 2002. there is a web site listed on vid cover but does not work. email addy is the same as Stu posted. Clark McGhie, PO BOX 212, Imbil QLD 4570 ph 07 54 886103
They also have QDMA on the cover of the vid but they are not listed on the QDMA site but ADRF is, although the link for ADRF is wrong. QDMA is an USA orgainisation.

ADRF
QDMA

Bakes, that's exactly how I was looking at it. If you don't live anywhere near deer areas it's not easy to get unpaid access. And the properties I saw were in some nice country, even with the drought when I was there a couple of years ago.

purely from memory - I don't have any details on paper with me.

You pay your annual membership fee - can't remember how much but maybe around $100(?). Afterwards you go into a ballot for access to one of the properties for an April/May hunt, around the time of the roar but not guaranteed to be at the exact time. I remeber Clark telling me that just about anyone who wants to hunt will be chosen in the ballot but this would be one area you'd want to clarify for sure. The hunts are self guided, with an allocated camping spot and with Clark and maybe some other guys available to show you around when you arrive, boundaries, good areas etc. I think there is a per night camping fee and it would be bring your own tucker etc. Then the trophy fee was in the realm of $700-$800 for a good stag, down to a couple hundred for a cull or a hind.

Anyway, the last email address I have for Clark is clarkanddebbie@hotmail.com
He'd be the best one to ask about the exact details.
Hope this helps,
-stu

Bakes,

I've met and hunted with Clark McGhie. As far as I know he still runs the RIDGE group. Mine was a paid for hunt, but we weren't after a stag at that time. Saw plenty of deer but the stags had cast when I was there (October).

I think there's been a fairly recent article again in one of the shooting mags which you may have seen. The deer are wild, on mostly cattle properties. The philosophy behind the scheme is to manage the herd for better trophy potential. Of course this means taking cull stags out of the gene pool and leaving the good ones there until they're past their prime.

I don't know what kind of success RIDGE is getting. I saw some great racks in the shed behind Clark's place, and some pretty average specimens as well, comes with the philosophy of managing the deer herd. Can't really say more than that. I'm not a member because I couldn't see myself getting back for the deer hunting season. Otherwise for a fairly small investment you'd get a good chance at hunting in a known deer area.

Stu
Could you tell us how the hunts work? Prices/trophy fees etc?

Yes , I,m a member and will be going after Red Deer with them in April. I think the main aim of Clark McGhie is to improve the gene pool. If you saw any poor heads, it was probably the cull animals. He advocates not always going for the best heads while they are still young and havent had a chance to spred there superior genes. He stessed the aim of letting the animals with good genes to breed before being targeted. When you go on hunts with them, you can get cull animals ,which are animals which will never have good horns no matter how old they are. If you pay extra ,then you can go for the 14 pointers if they are old enough.When I go after Red Deer in April ,I will probably go for a cull animal first and then maybe go for a trophy animal. If an old 14 pointer happens to pop his head up then I will be putting him on a trophy wall.