Aussie_hunter_JD
Well-known member
G'day,
I thought about putting up a big post about Australia and I may yet one day but I thought for the meantime I'd do a quick rundown of Australia and what there is to hunt. This is by no means 100% complete, I'm mostly a southern hunter.
Australia, formerly the worlds largest island and now the worlds smallest continent is a very archaic land. It's the size of the contiguous lower 48 but has a population of only 25 million. 95% of which are located in major cities along the coast. It is in fact the worlds driest inhabited continent with much of the country dessert but many are surprised to know we also have rainforests, vast mountain ranges, and even snow!
It's broken up into 5 states and 2 territories. The smallest Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is around the size of delaware, the largest Western Australia (WA) is almost 4 times larger than Texas.
Being the opposite hemisphete to USA, northern Australia is our tropics and south gets cold and snow.
A brief summary for each state/territory is below. I'll list names, anything in brackets is the aussie way of saying things or my personal note. We do often get told Australian english is hard to understand because we use so much slang. If you've only visited the cities you probably haven't noticed- they aren't proper aussies anyway!
Western Australia (WA)
When you hear about tough gun laws in Australia, you're generally hearing about WA. It's an incredibly large place with a low population and for the most part is covered in desert. The coast line provides great fishing though.
Biggest city: Perth (pop 2 million)
Huntable species: pigs, goats, camels, wild horse, wild donkey, wild dogs, feral cats, foxes and some deer.
Public land hunting: No. (I haven't hunted here so there may be exceptions but from information I've always found it's a hard no)
Northern Territory (NT)
This is really the big game part of Australia, ranging from desert to tropical it's also renowned for it's fishing. The land of crocodiles (along with queensland) this is where you can be eaten in Australia! Very laid back along with the people, it is said to be as Australia was 30 years ago. Buffalo hunting which is NT's drawcard is done by outfitters charging around $10k on average, bearing in mind the govt pays to have them culled en masse and quite often left to rot at the same time. If you're lucky (like Remi Warren) you may get invited to private for free. Very odd setup really.
Biggest city: Darwin
Huntable game: banteng (our most expensive big game, largest population in the world), buffalo, scrub bull, wild horse, wild donkey, pig, sambar and moluccan rusa. Ducks and geese
Public land: only for NT residents
South Australia (SA)
Australia's driest state, much is desert but nice along the coast. I lived in Adelaide for a few years while studying, my favourite Australian city so far. Has a big country town feel.
Biggest city: Adelaide (1 million)
Huntable species: fallow and red deer, goats, foxes, ducks and quail.
Public land: No
Queensland
Tropical rainforest state, crocodiles, great barrier reef, sunshine coast, theme parks etc. It's a land of extremes, remote places with great wildlife and adventure and the worst of human encroachment and urbanisation.
Biggest city: Brisbane (pronounced more like Bris-ben) 2.5 million
Huntable species: really the home of red deer in Australia, also fallow, chital/axis, javan rusa, scrub bull, pig, dingo, goat.
Public land: No, there was a petition that gained a lot of support last year to open it up but the govt knocked it back stating "there's ample private land available".
New South Wales (New South)
Australia's most populous state, desert (see my recent outback boar trip) across to snow capped mountains. Has benefited from many deliberate and accidental releases of deer in the past 50 years.
Biggest city: Sydney (5 million)
Huntable species: red deer, fallow deer, sambar, rusa, chital, pigs, goats, fox, quail.
Public land: yes but depending on where, you may need to book access. R-license required to hunt public which is the NSW version of a hunter safety. Also need a gps equipped with public land hunting chip.
Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
Home to Australia's capital city Canberra, not a great hunting destination.
Biggest city: Canberra (400k)
Huntable species: sambar, fallow
Public land: not that I'm aware of.
Victoria (Vic - my home state)
Sambar country, regarded by many as Australia's premier game. The eastern part of the state is covered in millions of acres of mountain ranges which is home to sambar. Vic is also home to the highest self sustaining popluation of hog deer in the world (my favourite deer). We have desert, temperate rainforest and ski resorts all in the one state. Summer time in the mountains can be 40 deg C or like last year while sambar hunting Blizzards!
Biggest city: Melbourne (pronounced Mel-ben) pushing 5 million
Huntable species: red deer, fallow deer, sambar, hog deer, fox, duck and quail. Good inland fishing for natives and trout. Great yabbying (our version of crawfish)
Public hunting: 22 million acres across the state. Costs around $50 for a 2 week non resident license (non res is a non australian res). Hog deer have a one month season and one stag and one hind tag per year. All other deer species are 12 month no tag or season.
Tasmania (Tassie)
Australia's island state, known for the tasmanian devil (strongest bite force for size in the world of any animal) and tasmanian tiger (extinct). Undoubtedly Australia's trout capital and known for great fallow.
Biggest city: Hobart (250k)
Huntable species: fallow, duck, quail. Mutton bird. Good fishing inland and at sea.
Public land: yes but not a lot.
Hope this gives you an idea of Australia, any specific questions please fire away!
I thought about putting up a big post about Australia and I may yet one day but I thought for the meantime I'd do a quick rundown of Australia and what there is to hunt. This is by no means 100% complete, I'm mostly a southern hunter.
Australia, formerly the worlds largest island and now the worlds smallest continent is a very archaic land. It's the size of the contiguous lower 48 but has a population of only 25 million. 95% of which are located in major cities along the coast. It is in fact the worlds driest inhabited continent with much of the country dessert but many are surprised to know we also have rainforests, vast mountain ranges, and even snow!
It's broken up into 5 states and 2 territories. The smallest Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is around the size of delaware, the largest Western Australia (WA) is almost 4 times larger than Texas.
Being the opposite hemisphete to USA, northern Australia is our tropics and south gets cold and snow.
A brief summary for each state/territory is below. I'll list names, anything in brackets is the aussie way of saying things or my personal note. We do often get told Australian english is hard to understand because we use so much slang. If you've only visited the cities you probably haven't noticed- they aren't proper aussies anyway!
Western Australia (WA)
When you hear about tough gun laws in Australia, you're generally hearing about WA. It's an incredibly large place with a low population and for the most part is covered in desert. The coast line provides great fishing though.
Biggest city: Perth (pop 2 million)
Huntable species: pigs, goats, camels, wild horse, wild donkey, wild dogs, feral cats, foxes and some deer.
Public land hunting: No. (I haven't hunted here so there may be exceptions but from information I've always found it's a hard no)
Northern Territory (NT)
This is really the big game part of Australia, ranging from desert to tropical it's also renowned for it's fishing. The land of crocodiles (along with queensland) this is where you can be eaten in Australia! Very laid back along with the people, it is said to be as Australia was 30 years ago. Buffalo hunting which is NT's drawcard is done by outfitters charging around $10k on average, bearing in mind the govt pays to have them culled en masse and quite often left to rot at the same time. If you're lucky (like Remi Warren) you may get invited to private for free. Very odd setup really.
Biggest city: Darwin
Huntable game: banteng (our most expensive big game, largest population in the world), buffalo, scrub bull, wild horse, wild donkey, pig, sambar and moluccan rusa. Ducks and geese
Public land: only for NT residents
South Australia (SA)
Australia's driest state, much is desert but nice along the coast. I lived in Adelaide for a few years while studying, my favourite Australian city so far. Has a big country town feel.
Biggest city: Adelaide (1 million)
Huntable species: fallow and red deer, goats, foxes, ducks and quail.
Public land: No
Queensland
Tropical rainforest state, crocodiles, great barrier reef, sunshine coast, theme parks etc. It's a land of extremes, remote places with great wildlife and adventure and the worst of human encroachment and urbanisation.
Biggest city: Brisbane (pronounced more like Bris-ben) 2.5 million
Huntable species: really the home of red deer in Australia, also fallow, chital/axis, javan rusa, scrub bull, pig, dingo, goat.
Public land: No, there was a petition that gained a lot of support last year to open it up but the govt knocked it back stating "there's ample private land available".
New South Wales (New South)
Australia's most populous state, desert (see my recent outback boar trip) across to snow capped mountains. Has benefited from many deliberate and accidental releases of deer in the past 50 years.
Biggest city: Sydney (5 million)
Huntable species: red deer, fallow deer, sambar, rusa, chital, pigs, goats, fox, quail.
Public land: yes but depending on where, you may need to book access. R-license required to hunt public which is the NSW version of a hunter safety. Also need a gps equipped with public land hunting chip.
Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
Home to Australia's capital city Canberra, not a great hunting destination.
Biggest city: Canberra (400k)
Huntable species: sambar, fallow
Public land: not that I'm aware of.
Victoria (Vic - my home state)
Sambar country, regarded by many as Australia's premier game. The eastern part of the state is covered in millions of acres of mountain ranges which is home to sambar. Vic is also home to the highest self sustaining popluation of hog deer in the world (my favourite deer). We have desert, temperate rainforest and ski resorts all in the one state. Summer time in the mountains can be 40 deg C or like last year while sambar hunting Blizzards!
Biggest city: Melbourne (pronounced Mel-ben) pushing 5 million
Huntable species: red deer, fallow deer, sambar, hog deer, fox, duck and quail. Good inland fishing for natives and trout. Great yabbying (our version of crawfish)
Public hunting: 22 million acres across the state. Costs around $50 for a 2 week non resident license (non res is a non australian res). Hog deer have a one month season and one stag and one hind tag per year. All other deer species are 12 month no tag or season.
Tasmania (Tassie)
Australia's island state, known for the tasmanian devil (strongest bite force for size in the world of any animal) and tasmanian tiger (extinct). Undoubtedly Australia's trout capital and known for great fallow.
Biggest city: Hobart (250k)
Huntable species: fallow, duck, quail. Mutton bird. Good fishing inland and at sea.
Public land: yes but not a lot.
Hope this gives you an idea of Australia, any specific questions please fire away!
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