10 July 2018, 03:48
MARK H. YOUNGFISHING AND HUNTING IN OZ Report and Pix UP
Folks,Just returned from Australia. We had quite an adventure and when I get the pix sorted I'll do a full report. DONE Fishing and hunting in Australia should be on all of our bucket lists. This was big fun!
Mark
As most agents do I'm always looking for a good opportunity for a new and exciting adventure. I had been reluctant to get into offering Australian buffalo hunts because I had heard so much about them being really rough affairs with the emphasis on volume shoots as opposed to trophies. On the recommendation of AR's Adam Christo who guides for Graham Williams/Australian Buffalo Hunters I contacted Graham. The more I corresponded with Graham the more I became convinced that he offered what I was interested in promoting.
Graham and I made a plan and Sadie and I left Las Vegas on June 20 for LA-Brisbane-Darwin-Arnhemland. The trip was really long but we had booked Economy Plus on Qantas so it was not really uncomfortable. Actually all the travel was very simple and customs, TSA etc. was no issue except when we initially checked on to AK Air for the Las Vegas-LA leg. Here I blame myself for no pressing the point. We were entering Australia through Brisbane and I knew we would need to retrieve our luggage and recheck it to Darwin but the AK AIR ticket agent was very insistent that we would not have to gather our luggage in Brisbane. Wrong! We had kind of goat rope getting that straightened out upon arrival in Brisbane but we had plenty of time and all worked out fine.
We on purpose allowed 3 days in Darwin to get over the jetlag and just look around as neither of us knew much about Australia let alone Darwin. There are actually quite a few interesting things to do in Darwin and some excellent eateries. I recommend the Big Bus Tour, The Mantra on the Esplanade for a hotel and CHAR and the Pearl for upscale restaurants.
My partner of 37 years on the waterfront in Darwin
Graham picked us up at the Mantra for the 15 hour drive to camp on the 25th. Here I should say Graham does not offer a road transfer but has everyone charter as the road trip kills 2 days in each direction with an overnight in Katherine on the way. It just so happened that Graham did not have a client directly before or after our hunt and needed to do a supply run so we got to see a lot of the country.
As soon as we entered Arnhemland we started seeing buffalo. Graham's area is wilderness and we didn't see one person or vehicle on the road once in the hunting area. We found buffalo throughout the area but unlike Africa you do not see large herds but small family groups and lone bulls which of course is what we were looking for.
On day one I'm sure Graham wanted to see if we could walk and we did walk all day. The country actually is quite gentle and the only issue is the ground often is covered with loose golf ball size OR larger rocks that could turn an ankle pretty easily. I only found one nasty plant that would rip your skin and that was a big palm with shark teeth. I wore shorts throughout the trip which I never do and suffered no real scrapes or scratches. All in all not too physical a hunt.
That first day we did get up on a couple of nice bulls but determined they were just too young even though wide of horns. These buffalo are not harassed by lions or poachers so approaching them with a little caution and using the available cover can get you in pretty close.
day two we walked quite bit also and in the afternoon we walked into a wallow and Sadie spotted a pig. I'm not a pig hunter and honestly don't care about shooting them but even I knew this porker was a monster. We all thought I should shoot it and as it crossed our front at about 100 yards I put a 300 TSX through his shoulders. Interestingly there was no exit exhibiting how tough those gristle plates are on a big old boar. Graham said this boar was largest pig any of his clients had ever taken. Here I need to say that we had Tony Black along with us who was helping Graham for the season and was excellent company on the safari. Both Sadie and I really enjoyed him. Tony is NE 450 NO 2 on AR and an old hand at pig shooting in Texas. Tony actually weighs the pigs he shoots and estimated my boar at just shy of 300 pounds.
Day three we drove to one of Graham's other camp sites. Graham's area is huge so he can move his camp around resting some areas and hunting a fresh one. This area was far more open allowing us to see 500 yards or more off the road in almost any direction. That day we saw at least 150 buffalo and several good bulls one of which we shot. We could see my bull coming toward the road so we drove down the road and hustled back to set up an ambush. I got set up in a sitting position and at about 60 yards shot him. At the shot he took off running. These buffalo do not run as fast as Cape buffalo so I led him a little too much and broke his neck on the third shot after killing a tree on the second shot and that was that. Man those things are big. These buffalo have to be 25% bigger than a Cape buffalo.
Passed on this one
Day four saw us in a different area way back off the road. BTW there are VERY few roads. We walked some and rode some in the open areas. Tony's deal was that he would get to shoot a couple buffalo in lieu of work and we ran into an enormous cow all by itself. We all made a stalk and Tony got to 12 yards without the cow sensing him and shot her three time before she got 40 yards. That old man can run a Blazer. once we dealt with Tony's buffalo we moved on and just a little further on we found another cow with an enormous spread. I was going to take a non-trophy buffalo as well as a trophy bull and that could have been a bull that would never attain trophy quality or an old cow. I could tell this cow was nothing like what we had seen so we made a stalk. The cow was with 3-4 other buffalo and was in the process of being harassed by Dingos so the little group was constantly moving and in fact one young bull ran right at us until the Dingo on his butt saw us. Finally the cow was clear for a second and I shot her. She ran with the group and so did we. In about a 100 yards the group stopped, milled around and I got in another shot where upon they ran again and we did too. I got a rest on a tree and put two 300 TSX's up her butt and finally she went down but not out. I've never been one to worry about holes in an animal so I put three raking shots in behind her rib cage and she finally expired. Her horns were a full 5 feet across and the second widest buffalo Graham has ever taken.
Pick up
Tony's buffalo
5 foot wide cow
Day five was going to be a relax and do a little fishing day but the weather looked ominous so we packed up late morning and head to Katherine where we overnighted continuing on to Darwin the next day.
Incredible
Enjoying some scotch
A delicious bird
Not too shabby!
The tools
I think this is just the hunt I want to promote. Graham is a good guy and really knows his business. His relationship is a good one with the Aboriginal owners of the land which is not always the case. His camps in my estimation are very good. I guess they would be on par with a top notch African fly camp. The tents are large with nice cots and foam mattresses. The shower is a bucket affair like all the African camps used to be. The toilet is a chemical one and adequate. Food was good but don't expect a gourmet breakfast. AND bring some Starbucks's instant coffee. Thank you Russell Marshall for that tip. Graham has 4 varieties of Nescafe instant!!!!!!! A very bright spot is the whiskey selection the likes of which I've never seen in any camp. I think there were 15 different kinds and most top shelf. Graham offers liquor and great wines as part of the flat fee price as he does a rifle and ammo if you choose to not bring your own. I used his 375 Whitworth and it was perfect with a great trigger and Leupold scope.
To be very clear this is a trophy hunt and not a cull hunt. Having said that I think it would be possible to shoot 3-4 buffalo in your five days and actually hunt each one. Clients have shot as many as 5-6 on their hunts.
Graham does offer Banteng and buffalo/Banteng combos. Maybe next time!
We spent two more days exploring Darwin and then went out to Dundee Beach for a couple days of fishing with Angler's Choice. The accommodations are comfy, very beachy and the food was excellent. The boats were immaculate, large and seaworthy plus Dan the guide was a great guy and understood the fish. The weather was perfect. Even an hour offshore it was very calm with a little chop in the afternoon. We caught 10 varieties of fish and the Queenies and Travalies fought like champs. We were late in the year for Baramundi up in the brackish water but Sadie did catch one and as usual she out fished me on all species.
A shark wanted this badly
Following the fishing we spent another day and a half in Darwin and left for Brisbane the next day. Because of the airline schedule we had to overnight in Brisbane on our way home which worked out fine as it allowed us to have dinner with my client Barry Bicknell and his lovely wife Joe.
Our return flight was very uneventful and even though we had to use coach the flight was not crowded and we both had empty seats on both sides of us making for a pretty comfortable flight.
All in all this was a great multi adventure trip and I highly recommend Graham Williams/Australian Buffalo Hunters and Angler Choice.
Mark
