What are the laws regarding gun ownership for resident hunters in Australia?

Are you able to have rifles at your home?

Or must they be kept in a lock up somewhere else?

Finally If you guys want or go hunt say buffalo or scrub bull or say hogs. Are there public lands which you can hunt for free. Or is all of the hunting conducted on Private land with either permission and or a fee basis?

Thanks

Pull up a chair, get a brew. This could take a while.
In short, yes firearms a kept in residences, with differing degrees of security, depending on the state in question.
Public lands are available for hunting, once again different states have different rules.
The best way to get useful answers would be to decide which state you will be residing in, and then try again.

Hope it all works out for you.

Thanks, I figured it wasn't going to be too simple.

surestrike,
Here in the state of New South Wales we can keep our rifles at home in a lockup gun safe and recently the NSW game licence was introduced for the hunting of introduced game species such as Deer, Wild Pig, Wild Goat, foxes, Rabits and Hare.
You can now gain permission to hunt State land with this licence.
ozhunter

ozhunter,

Is it required to have a license or some sort of approval for each firearm you own?

Every firearm must be registered and there is a cool off period before you can take one home {I am waiting for my permit for my 400 from Searcy}.

How long does that whole process take?

If you have a NSW licence it takes around 3 to 4 weeks to recive permit from Firearms Registry for memory.

When I see these great pictures of you guys with your Scrub bulls like GG375 posted on the double gun forum and nitrox with piles of dead water buffalo.

Are you guys able to do those hunts self guided or are they all with a guide? Is it possible to get access to hunt those critters on your own?

G'day surestrike. In Victoria, it will take 28 days for an approval for your first longarm. Your licence will take around 2 months to be approved.
Yes, it is possible to get self guided hunts for scrub bull, usually up along Cape York. I have found it is better to take one of the guided hunts, as this way your $60,000 4WD doesn't get trashed by the roads up there, and you don't have to worry about access, food, etc.
Buff? the only ones I know of you will need a guide to get access.
Matt Graham should be able to help you there, I have hunted with him in the past, he is a good hand.

Guys,



Thanks for the info.

quote:

Originally posted by surestrike:
When I see these great pictures of you guys with your Scrub bulls like GG375 posted on the double gun forum and nitrox with piles of dead water buffalo.

Are you guys able to do those hunts self guided or are they all with a guide? Is it possible to get access to hunt those critters on your own?

Sometimes on your own, sometimes with a guide. The buffalo I culled were with the son of the owner of the property. It was fairly cheap.

A lot of hunting is 'self-guided' which traditionally most Aussies only ever did. But areas are closing off to this free free-for-all more and more these days. Which is a pity. However the vast amount of Australians hunting would be without any guide.

Thanks Nitrox,
'
I also vastly prefer non guided hunts.

Hi Surestrike

Are you thinking of moving here?

As others have suggested the buffalo,scrub bull and in fact most northern hunting these days is far better in a guided situation, unless you happen to be living close to the action where you can meet local landowners and even then it may be very difficult to get access to good hunting ground, given the isolation of such places. Even Cape York (Far North Queensland)these days is getting more and more difficult and it is even quite hard to find good guiding operations up there, even though there are a few. The NT is a different story as there are many outfitters and much to chose from - from budget to 5-star.

There is very little public land in Northern Australia where you can just go and hunt unfortunately.

In the south, especially Victoria and NSW there is lots of public land and established systems to hunt public land. This is however for deer sp. goats, pigs, small game mainly.

Licencing issues in Australia are really not such a problem - it is a small bit of pain initially but once you are in the 'system' it is quite manageable. Certainly much easier than the problems getting hunting licences and tags in other countries, including parts of the USA.

Hope this helps
Matt Graham

Matt,

I am not planing on moving to Australia. Tough it sounds like a very nice place to live. I am just curios as to how you guys do it over there.

Thanks for the information and the quote you sent me today.

I am very keen on hunting and seeing Australia. I've never been to your great country but the place has always held a keen interest for me.

I have been to New Zealand on several occasions but unfortunately I was working and only able to stay in the city for a day or so.

I did pick up on the fact that New Zealand and Australia have a bit of a grudge in progress when it comes to sports..

Greg Allyn

There is hunting on crown land in the NT. Mainly goose/Duck hunting in season and some pig hunting as well. These all need a permit ($15 or so)Most of the crown land near Darwin gets smashed by the local pig hunters (legal or other wise)Finding a place to hunt on here and keeping it can be difficult. Unfortunatly there are a lot of poachers in the NT, both local and interstate, who can stuff up access. Also property owners change and the new owners may not let you on.