June 11, 2024 • 69 mins
Join Kyle and Dodge as they take a nostalgic journey back to a memorable family hunting trip at Canyonleigh in Nsw , where the challenges of navigating rough terrain with young children led to unforgettable and often hilarious adventures. We reminisce about the joy of living without social media and the simple pleasures of nature, wildlife, and revisiting old articles and books. These stories highlight the deep connections between family, nature, and the thrill of the hunt.
We cover dodges new favorite question, what defines a successful hunt for you? In our conversation, we explore this multifaceted question, sharing experiences from varying terrains and recounting the heartwarming tale of shooting a first deer with family. We delve into the balance between personal satisfaction and practical outcomes, discussing ethical motivations, culinary delights of game meat, and the lessons learned from persistence during rut season. From bagging unique trophies to crafting delicious recipes, this episode celebrates the hunting journey in all its forms.
For the latest information, news, giveaways and anything mentioned on the show head over to our Facebook, Instagram or website.
If you have a question, comment, topic, gear review suggestion or a guest that you'd like to hear on the show, shoot an email to accuratehunts@gmail.com or via our socials.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I took a shot at it and it ran away and missed and
then I saw it.
I assume it was the same fox.
I saw it again over the ridgeand it did not want a bar of the
whistle.
It ran the other way at thesound of the whistle.
You know, for the last couple ofmonths these goats have been in
the same spot every time I'vebeen there and I was like I'll
come back with a couple of matesand we'll just clean them up
(00:29):
because the property owner wantsthem gone.
And you know Murphy's law ofhunting.
When we went there they weren'tthere, so that was kind of like
well, you don't get his handsin the gut cavity.
I don't know why that's fair.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You gotta take them out when it's cold enough, I
think, cause then it's not warmin there.
Get your hands in there, mate,warm up.
I don't think nighttime's agood time to do it.
I think it's gotta be a morningstuff, so that you've got the
day.
Yeah, first time testing outthe new glassing chairs.
(01:12):
Sorry for the camera, just gota good arsing of my glassing Bit
down here.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Unconventional fox whistling while we're talking,
full audio yeah, so when they'rerunning in they don't seem to
mind too much about like noiseor movement, but once they like,
stop and look.
If you move, yeah, you'rebusted.
(02:12):
So I tried this one.
This is one from the UK.
It's like Best Fox Call UK orsomething.
You should Google that.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
It's a big call.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And it's like a reed caller, and it's good, because
it's like I don't like to go tooloud too soon.
Could we just close?
Could we just close?
Probably not now.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Give it a go.
Whistling Is that weaned riderback?
Yeah, I like that.
You can use that one hands freethere.
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Definitely an appeal to that.
I'll sort of do that to see ifthere's anything close, because
then this is pretty loud.
I start hearing birds calling,foxes running back and forth.
(04:24):
Yeah, sometimes it's anindication.
Sometimes they're reacting tothe whistle.
If you sort of know your birdspecies, you can sort of pick
the difference between this sortof alarm call and just the
shatter.
It's not the best time of yearto be whistling them because
(05:06):
they're starting to get into themating season, so they're more
interested in each other than infood.
But it's also sort of dependenton how much food is around.
I found out west.
It didn't matter what time ofyear, it was just always hungry.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I can manage when I'm good.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, but around home I think they're pretty well fed
.
I've seen that moths and stuffaround at the moment, yeah, and
like it's been so wet, like theamount of frogs and all that
sort of stuff that they'reeating.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
You can hear all those frogs in the creek down
there, crickets.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, I went out a few weeks ago and saw a fox.
It saw me, Took a shot at itand it ran away and I missed.
And then I saw it.
I assume it was the same fox.
I saw it again over the ridgeand it did not want a bar of the
whistle.
It ran the other way at thesound of the whistle.
(06:11):
Maybe that's because it wasspooked by the shot.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I usually flick an ear and pull up and have a think
about it.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, I normally sort of get a bit inquisitive, but I
think they're very well fed.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I've been hunting, like, how do you deal with your
misses?
Misses as in missing shots, not, mrs misses, you've had a few,
I've had a few, I remember.
Why don't you blame one of themon me because I had to shoot?
I remember one.
Don't you blame one of them onme because I had the shooting
(06:48):
sticks.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I remember one morning I went out and I missed
three out of three foxes at likechip shot distances like 20
meters and then I called in pastthe property owner how'd you go
?
Carl yep three clean misses,which is always weird.
It's a shame.
How'd you go, carl yep threeclean misses, mate?
Which is always a bit.
A bit of a shame when you haveto tell the property owner that,
(07:10):
especially on the foxes onfoxes, yeah, and that was a
sheep station too, so you knowit's money coming out of their
pocket.
He was baiting pretty hardanyway.
He'd always say to me he's likeoh, I baited pretty hard.
Lately I don't know if you'veseen anything you always end up
whistling something in.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Baits don't get everything.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
They don't get them all.
No, but yeah, the misses it's.
I think you said to me afterthe last time that I missed that
buck in February that I wasdirty about because it was like.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
When I was dirty about because it was like the
best part when I was trying tomake you feel better because I
had you shoot the sticks.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, pretty much, pretty much trying to give me
some consolation.
And he basically said if you'renot missing, you're not
shooting enough.
I mean, the more you shoot, thebetter you get at it.
But the more it hurts when youmiss yeah, especially when it's
an easy shot or something.
(08:07):
Or you know, just the the weekbefore I missed that bark, I'd
shot a fox at about 120 metres.
No sticks, no bipod, justshooting.
That was with Alex yeah, offhandyeah, not quite offhand, but
like this, like elbows on kneessort of thing, which, like I'm
(08:29):
not I don't claim to be anamazing shot, so I was pretty
happy with that.
I think I'd range find it laterand it's like 120 meters or
something.
It kind of hurts.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, that's it.
Like you said.
If you're not Sorry about that,well, we'll take that camera
reset as an opportunity tointroduce you to the 2% of
listeners who don't know whoyour voice is.
It's the velvet voice, kylehimself, as Unton called you,
was it?
Yeah, it was Unton, kyle Usher.
(09:13):
Welcome to the show.
Bit of a different introduction.
We're sitting here on the sideof a hill.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Trying a hand at some late season fox whistling.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
How good is it?
It's great.
Lucky the wind died down too.
Yeah, it was pretty windy thismorning.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
And some rain.
We haven't had any rain lastweek, yeah, even by the creek
crossing.
We just crossed.
Yeah, very wet.
We're just here to have achinwag.
Cole and I have been friendsfor a fair few years now.
Pretty kids, just on kids.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, about the time the kids were born Five years or
so.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, friend of a friend introduced us Another
Carl Young Carl, congratulations.
He's had his second.
Yeah, congratulations.
Sorry to hear it.
Doesn't know what he's in for.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I'm on my third.
Two's, all right, two.
I am crossing that bridge intothree.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
well, I'm on the other side and I think someone
ripped the ridge down like youcan't go back, there's not much
going back on the other side ofthe bridge.
But no, I'll just add again inthe chat got the 243 ready.
It's not?
I was just saying it's a littlebit noisy with us talking.
To be really productive, yeah,it's not.
(10:27):
We'll give it a bit here andthen we'll move on to another
little spot.
If you're watching, you'll seethe camera move, not like it did
when it just fell over becauseof the $2 tripod I'm using.
But no, kyle's been well.
We were co-hosts originallybefore we both got shafted for
different reasons at differenttimes.
I bailed out.
(10:47):
Yeah, you pled girthly early.
You took the early guilty pleaand I got stuck fighting the
charge for a while.
Nah, good times, nah goodmemories.
The first three episodes wewere in for a little while, yeah
, yeah we did a few.
there was a hashtag going aroundfor a while.
Yeah, yeah, we did a few.
There was a hashtag goingaround for a while who killed
Carl?
Yeah, Carl's disappeared.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
No, I'm just living like it's the early 2000s again.
I've got a mobile phone, but nosocial media.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yes, it's very hard to send you funny memes.
I got a screenshot of them andI'm just reading old Nick Harvey
articles and I bought his book.
The other day the one, you theone, yeah, it was good.
And some familiar faces therein the photos.
There were some familiar facesyeah, yes, yeah, it's good.
But uh, yeah, we're inmates fora few years now and done a few
little things together huntingwise not too many.
(11:35):
Yeah, one big mission with thechildren early on?
Yeah, talk about that soon thatwas good.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I still bring that up sometimes with my eldest.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, I don't.
No, the grace can remember it.
No, I don't think.
I don't think they can rememberit.
If I showed her a photo, she'dremember it.
Yeah, or just relive the story.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, I was out with the kids the other day and and
we were doing like a rockcrossing, he was like, oh, these
rocks are a bit wobbly.
And I was like, mate, this isnothing.
I crossed a river twice as wide.
Dead goat, two children, yeah,and yeah, like they were like
(12:16):
two years old or something.
Yeah, they were young.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, but old enough that we didn't want to carry
them on our shoulders.
Yeah, and that was a hell of ahike in Cracking property.
It's the only time I ever gotthe opportunity to go there too.
Yeah, it's sold.
Ah, down at Canyon Lee.
I was thinking about that theother day.
I was like what happened tothat property?
It was a great spot.
There was a heap of red deersign down there, big footprints
Before I really know what printwise, yeah heap of goats as
(12:43):
evidence by that morning anyway,I remember I was talking about
it now that you're post-podingit.
It was a hey, you want to takethe kids for a stroll?
Yeah, no worries, and you canlook at a property that I hadn't
looked at other than on maps,and the farmer sort of gave us
an indication of where to go, orthe manager.
We parked up the vehicles atthe furthest point we could on
(13:07):
the track because it was prettywashed out from there.
Yeah, it was a fair drive injust to get.
Yeah, he said he could get hisbuggy past, but, like I want to
be a tracked machine, yeah, weparked up and loaded the kids in
our backpacks.
I think they walked down mostof it, most.
So yeah it, yeah I had like the.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Did you have like a kid?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
carrier yeah, yeah, the Asprey yeah, yeah, osprey
Poco or something like that.
Definitely highly recommendthose things For the good 18
months of each kid's life.
Yeah, very handy for that.
As soon as they can hold theirneck up, they're in the backpack
.
Yeah, and yeah, it was a prettyrough, it was a track, but she
was pretty washed out and I tookthe gun.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
We were just going down the bottom for a picnic
really yeah, like let's go for abush walk with the kids, take
the gun just in case, causethat's the Murphy's law, right,
you don't take a gun.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
See a giant 16 point red state yeah, imagine hiking
out with that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Who would have done it?
Kids, it's time to you know.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Start pulling weight no kids start a fire.
We're back after one trip.
You've got to take theimportant stuff first, all the
meat out, and then come back forthe trophy the kids in the head
.
We had a good lunch down thebottom, drew the nice little
creek down the Walden River andthen I was like there's some
goats over there just on theother side of the creek on the
(14:25):
face.
So you took the kids, you tookGrace and Maith, moved 50 metres
away or so and covered ears.
They had ear muffs, or fingersat least, and I had the 223, I
think, and I plugged two, two ofthem on the side of the two or
three on the side of the hill,and they tumbled down.
No worries, jobs on, we wentacross.
(14:50):
We left a bit of gear.
I left the gun.
I think I left the gun on myside, on the side we were on.
Yeah, and backpack one backpack, and I think we took the two
kids and one backpack across.
We didn't even take a backpack,we just took the two kids and
one backpack across.
We didn't even take a backpack,we just took the two kids.
That's right, cause we end upwith sticks.
Yeah, there's a photo somewhereof like the kids were the
backpacks.
Yeah, yeah, and a beautiful day, cracking day, yeah, got across
(15:15):
the other side and the cloudsrolled in, yeah, and it rained.
We'd like rock hopped across.
Yes, it was a pretty heavyriver, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And then the rocks got real slick.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Hold on Bombat.
This property is laced withbombat and it got heavier and
heavier, and then the rocks werenot so grippy.
It was already sketchy goingacross.
I think we took back straps andfour back legs.
We had two each Something like.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I think we at least took two back legs, cause
there's a photo somewhere ofLeif on my hip and a stick over
my shoulder with two legs likebalancing on the stick.
I think we had that each.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
It's hard to find a solid stick.
You look like a little pink can.
Yeah, I saw that earlier showsup like a sore thumb, yeah,
anyway, the walk back across thecreek was rough.
It was at some point we justdecided we're getting wet.
Getting it wasn't worth therisk.
It was slipping off.
It wasn't waist deep, but itwould have been above knee thigh
(16:21):
deep.
Yeah, pretty nippy.
I don't remember what time ofyear it was, but it was January.
It was warm enough because wesaw a red snake.
It was a red bird, yeah, yeah,in the creek.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
We just, yeah, we were almost to the other side
and it was like back up blacksnake there.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah and it was passing the kids from rock to
rock.
Yeah, get your foot.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Pass the meat first.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, important stuff , yeah, yeah we don't wanna get
that wet.
From memory, I froze it andthen I jumped on the head now,
but I froze it and then I ran itthrough the bandsaw with full
frozen legs here on, yeah, anddid round snake steaks for the
dogs, yeah.
And man, that lasted ages causethey had frozen meat in summer
and then a ring of leather andthey played with that and chewed
(17:04):
that for days With their bit ofhair on it, had a mess of the
bandsaw cut through the hair.
We got across and regrouped andall the kids worried about was
snacks.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Oh yeah, I think I remember them, that's the number
one tip for taking kids huntingQuiet snacks, quiet snacks,
quiet packaging.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Mandarins are better.
They're in their own littlepackage.
Oranges are a bit messy, applesare even a bit crunchy.
Anything in a packet, no go.
Yeah, if you've got to take apacket, put it in a ziploc.
They're quieter.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, no chips hunting dad hacks yeah hunting
day 101 yeah, but I don't thinkI really remember that Like
every now and then, like theyremembered it afterwards, I
remember they both bring it up.
Yeah, my oldest would be likefeeding the goats down the road
from my parents' place and he'dbe like dodge come shoot the
goats and my dad's like no mate,not these ones.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Not these ones.
That was a great memory from us.
Yeah, these ones, that was agreat memory from us.
Yeah, it's a great memory forme.
Yeah, we should redo it, not onthat hill, not on that hill
I've got a property in mind.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
We can go and do some gentleman hunting.
This is gentlemanly hunting,this is gentlemanly hunting too.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yes, that's good fun.
Getting out with the kids yeah,I don't do it as often as I
should.
I'm a little bit too productiveminded knowing that there's a
lower chance always when youtake children I'm getting to the
stage now.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I don't think I'm going to be able to go without
my oldest in tow right and theyounger one he's almost three he
, um, he kicks up a stink whenwe go.
So it's getting to the pointthat's like he kicks up a stink
when we go.
So it's getting to the pointthat it's like I think it's just
gonna become a family thing Allof us go All in or none in?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, something like that.
But you've been hunting longerthan I have.
You got family memories,haven't you?
When you were a kid?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, like a bit Like just, I think I shot my first
rabbit when I was 12 with my dadand say, my uncle, but it was
his mate, um, on the property ofMerriwa, you know, under
spotlight 22 pretty classic sortof introduction to shooting.
(19:21):
You know, like they hand you a22 and you've never shot there.
You go, mate, shoot that rabbitout there.
You're like doing the wobble,doing the wobble, and then you
kind of like I'm just gonna haveto have a crack here and bang
and I headshot it.
They're like, yeah, headshotmate, killing it.
And I'm like, yeah, yep, that'swhat I meant.
(19:42):
Yep, that's exactly right, hitit.
Um.
And then more so like my, so myother uncle, so dad's brother,
um Jeff, he took me out a fewtimes um chasing rabbits with a,
yeah, like an old single barrelshotgun and um did a bit with
him.
Uh, so yeah, like someintroduction.
(20:06):
And then you know you startplaying sport and then you start
working and that sort of stuffand other stuff gets in the way.
So then I came back to it in myearly 20s.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Is it when you moved out west?
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, broken Hill, wasn't it?
Yeah, broken Hill hill.
But I'd wanted to for a whilebecause I had this idea that,
like I'm not comfortable eatingmeat that's, you know, may or
may not have been farmed underideal conditions and slaughtered
by somebody else.
Now, like I was interested inthe ethical and environmental
sort of aspects of it.
(20:42):
So I was like I'm gonna, I'mgonna get back into hunting and
that's going to be my thing.
And then I moved out west wherechances of hunting for meat
aren't great.
At that time goats were worthmoney, so you couldn't shoot
goats.
You don't really want to eatthe pigs out there after you've
seen what they've been eating.
No a dragon used to.
(21:04):
Yeah, yeah, I used to shoot theodd rabbit and eat that.
That's pretty good, um, butthen it was when I come back
home to the coast in theholidays and I chased deer,
started chasing deer centralwest central west oh, I wasn't
stuck, wasn't it?
yeah it, yeah, I was reallylucky.
One of Dad's mates had a coupleof hundred acres not too far
(21:31):
from home and introduced me andgave us access and shot my first
deer there, which was a prettycool experience for my old man.
He was next to you, he was withme, he spotted it actually, and
it was right on last light.
Right on last light and likelaying down in a patch of stink.
Was it this gun?
It was this gun.
It was this gun.
(21:51):
Yeah, two, four, three.
And you know, you're like Idon't even know if it's a thing
or if it's your brain tellingyou that you saw it, but when
you see it go down in the muzzle, flash.
But but when you see it go downin the muzzle, flash but yeah,
that's what I felt like, yeah,and then carried it out from
there.
That was a big carry out, likeit was only a like small size
(22:15):
block, but it was a big carryout back up the hill.
So that was, that was like acool introduction to hunting.
You know, it's always like thatwhen you introduce somebody to
hunting and you're like I don'twant it to be too easy, like you
don't want to just drive in apaddock and be like oh, there's
a stag there, smoke it.
It's like you got to earn it.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Like we didn't start with your red stag.
Yeah, yeah.
But I think on that topic, Ithink the personality of people
these days is the opposite.
If they don't get it easy andfast, yep, they drop off, yeah,
they lose interest.
I don't think I've got a bit ofthat on that personality, and
if I came at hunting from thestate forest point of view, I
(23:01):
don't think it would have lasted.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
You might not be dodged accurate.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
No, if you dodge it, I don't know, super cheap order
or something.
I don't know what I'd be doing.
Still be riding horses probably?
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, well, leading to thisquestion, I started asking I
don't know, they didn't ask itthe last one because he didn't
hunt but what do you?
What do you clarify as asuccessful I?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
know, like you and I've talked about those the
stages of hunting, and, like you, get to a stage you know people
I saw references to it theother day it's like it was a
study in the us and people getto a stage where it's the
experience, it's the being outin nature and stuff that they
class as a successful hunt.
(23:52):
But for me I can appreciatecoming out here this afternoon.
If we don't shoot anything,I'll be like this was still
awesome, sit on the side of thishill just having a chat,
looking for animals and that.
But you know, the hunts that Iremember are the ones where you
(24:16):
still drop something and itdepends too like it's all in
relation to your objective too.
You know, I was telling youbefore we started rolling.
I went out recently to cull somegoats with a couple of mates of
(24:38):
ours and for the last couple ofmonths these goats have been in
the same spot every time I'vebeen there and I was like I'll
come back with a couple of matesand we'll just clean them up
because the property owner wantsthem gone.
And you know Murphy's law ofhunting.
When we went there they weren'tthere.
So that was kind of like well,we didn't achieve what we set
(25:00):
out to achieve.
But you know, talking aboutstate forest hunting and stuff,
you can't set yourself likereally, especially if you're
just getting into it.
You can't set the objective ofa state forest hunt as I want to
kill something, I want to dropa deer, because chances are it's
(25:24):
not going to happen.
And if that's what yourcriteria is, you're going to be
easily discouraged as where ifyou kind of say I want to go out
and have a great experience andlearn, then that's going to
happen every time.
So yeah, I'm still at thatstage where you know I want to
(25:46):
go hunting, I want to getsomething, but I can still enjoy
it when I don't.
What about?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
you oh, death is success.
Death is success, yeah.
Yeah, I don't do many personaltrips anymore, just like me, by
myself, so those ones are.
I don't do many personal tripsanymore Just like me, by myself,
so those ones are deemed onsuccess.
Because I spend enough time inthe bush to enjoy that.
Yeah, when I go by myself, if Idon't shoot something, I'm
(26:21):
cranky.
Yeah, out there to dropsomething, I'm pretty lucky with
this block.
I have close to homeopportunity to harvest meat
pretty readily if I really wantto flick a spotlight around.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, or I can hunt it traditionally yeah, well,
that see, that's where I'm attoo, like I still enjoy the hunt
.
You know I'm not like I can goand do a bit of like walk around
spotlighting and stuff, butit's not really my preference
should do with your kid in thecar on your way home from school
(26:53):
, when you're packing the houseor something.
Yeah, yeah told that story inthe old potty.
But yeah, had the car fullypacked or something just drove.
You were moving from.
I've been staying in this placewhile doing renos, that's right
, and you're moving.
So I had like stuff back andforth and I'd been hunting in
that as well.
So I had like guns in dad'ssafe and then was taking them
(27:15):
back home and just swung by theproperty where the owner had
been seeing some deer and wentpast and said g'day to him and
like was driving out and waslike oh, there's two deer, two
deer there, and I was like whathappens if I get out?
What happens if I get a gun out?
And they're still standingthere.
I ended up smoking two fallowin the paddock with like my
(27:36):
youngest one asleep in the carand the other one in the car as
well, and then had to ring myvery understanding, very patient
wife and explain the situationto her and test that patience
and understanding.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
How do you deal with the misses?
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, how do?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I deal with the misses.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Circle back around Different misses and yeah, ended
up because the car was likefully packed with all our stuff
so had to drop the guts out ofthe two animals and it was like
this time of year it was prettycold.
You left them.
Them didn't you left them andthen came back that night after
settled back in and put the kidsto bed and stuff, and then went
(28:15):
back and grabbed them.
I think it put them in yourquarry.
It was like a big, big roundtrip.
My wife was not happy but sheunderstood.
It was a good opportunity tostock the freezer.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
But they don't come around all the time.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
No, no, that's the thing too like you talk about.
Like what's your criteria forsuccess?
Like sometimes I'll go out tomy local block and be like I
just want to go for like just afox whistle.
And this happened the other day.
I took my eldest huntingBecause he even asked me.
(28:53):
He said year dad, can we goshoot a fox?
I was like, yeah, yeah, we'llgo, we'll go before it gets too
cold.
We'll go, try and shoot a fox.
So I picked him up from school,rushed home, got changed,
grabbed the rifle, went up,didn't see a fox, spooked a deer
, went down the hill a littlebit more and then found this mob
of goats that we'd been tryingto find two weeks before.
(29:14):
And, um, I'm real like hesitantwith like taking kids hunting to
be like to like take them on acull.
It's like it's pretty, prettybrutal, yeah, really in their
face.
And especially if you'reculling and you're dealing with,
you know, young at foot oranything like that, it's pretty
confronting.
(29:34):
I don't know if I want to sortof subject my five, six-year-old
to that just yet, but I sort ofhad to turn around and be like
mate, put your earmuffs on, andhe had a big grin on his face
Every time I told him to put hisearmuffs on.
He knows that we're close toshooting something and he stands
there kind of like a gundog,shaking a little bit big smile
(29:56):
on his face.
And, yeah, I shot about fivegoats, but they were all pretty
good shots, so it wasn't likeNot too horrific, it wasn't too
horrific or anything, and Ialways sort of just like check
in with him.
He's like you alright.
He's like yeah, I'm likealright, I'm going to start
cutting some meat.
He's like okay, and he sits onthe side of the track eating
(30:19):
snacks, eating snacks and killerpythons, killer pythons jeez,
they've gotten smaller thesedays.
Yeah, they're not so killer.
I remember they were like adollar and they were like, yeah,
I remember going, yeah, likecorner shot and you're cute, and
they're like, yeah, long asyou're on.
Anyway, I want to segue there.
What's next?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Hashtag solo eater.
Been a while since that's comearound.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
So he sits there and watches, Sits there and watches
oh he his first Can I give you,can't hear the knife.
Yet His first deer that we shottogether, like I shot it just to
clarify like he was reallyinterested and there was a lot
of discussion around like why isthere so much blood?
(31:01):
Like how does the?
You know and you're explainingthis is how the heart works and
this is how your blood works andthis is what these bits are and
stuff like that.
He's very interested and youknow he was like holding a leg
for me while I was doing thecutting.
I think some of the cutting Igot him to do it like hand on
(31:23):
hand to do it, which was a goodexperience.
He didn't want to get his handsin the gut cavity.
I don't know why.
That's fair.
You've got to take them outwhen it's cold enough.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
I think it's not warm in there get your hands in
there, mate, warm up.
I don't think night time is agood time to do it.
I think it's got to be amorning stuff, so that you've
got the day Just to like.
You do need to take that time.
Yeah, you can do it.
It's much easier in day time.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah, but then it's also like the early wake up,
depending on what your kids arelike.
That's where I find likeafternoon good, just like this
time of afternoon.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I'm pretty lucky now with that block close to home.
Yeah, very lucky, you're verylucky how that came about.
Yeah, I remember you're verylucky how that came about.
I remember you.
I remember you messaged me orrang me.
When we're talking about thefirst, oh, it's an opportunity.
It was leather work related,wasn't?
Speaker 1 (32:11):
it yeah, yeah, like I kind of knew, yeah, and reached
out for some leather work andstarted talking oh, you still
got that family property outthere and that snowballed into
multiple property access yeah,and I and I said to him many
deer out there.
He's like oh, the bloody deer.
And I'm like tell me more, mate, tell me more about your woes
(32:33):
we've seen that meme.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
I can't remember what movie it's from, but you know
hearing the farmer across theroom mentioned he's got a deer
problem, yeah, and he's likeignoring the 10 out of 10 hot
chicken.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Looking at the farmer that's the feeling, that's
right and yeah, and then, likehis family's, got a property up
north as well northern New SouthWales that now I've got access
to and yeah, it just justdevelops from there, so it's
been awesome.
I went up to that northernproperty about a month ago now
(33:06):
with Kyle, our mutual mutualfriend, kyle, mutual Kyle Mutual
Kyle Because he loves shootingpigs.
He's missing deer he's got adeer, he's got a little one.
He was going to get you to tellit.
Well, no, you can't tell it,he'll tell it, he'll have to
tell it.
Same before about, like whenyou take somebody hunting for
the first time Not that it washis first time, but because he
(33:31):
kind of actually like helped meget into it as an adult but like
first year you don't want it tojust be like roll in the
paddock and shoot it, like hedefinitely had to earn that
first year.
But yeah, that's a story forhim.
It's taken a few years, taken afew years.
A few years and a few closeopportunities and a few misses
and stuff.
But yeah, few years and fewclose opportunities and few
misses and stuff.
But yeah, you went north.
You know I went north and gotstuck in some pigs and some
(33:52):
goats and stuff.
So that was, that was a goodtrip.
That was right before hissecond job came, so it was like
the last hurrah before.
Um, I might as well come andjoin the podcast at this point
(34:19):
give it a whistle.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
I don't know what we've done with no hornets mate.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
I've had fallow.
You come into the whistle, I'msorry.
How'd you go up north?
How'd we go?
(35:22):
Good, you got on some pigs.
Yeah, that was the.
That was the.
That was the second time beingon that property.
Went up there just afterChristmas with Bo and Josh so
friends of the show and we gotonto some.
Oh well, I got onto a good pigand a good mob of goats and a
(35:46):
few foxes and stuff.
We had a really good first day.
We went up at Christmas, drovein.
I got him to a good pig, gothim a good mob of goats and a
few foxes and stuff.
We had a really good first day.
Like.
We went up at Christmas like,drove in, had two deer no, three
deer like run across the track,had shot this mob of billies
that first afternoon.
That evening sitting there atcamp with the property owner and
just finished dinner and theywere kind of like this and then
(36:09):
looked across on theneighbouring hillside and I'm
like that's a pig and I washeading towards his property.
I was literally just taking mylast mouthful of steak.
Talk it Run.
Joys of summer, long days.
Yeah, ran grabbed the gun andran across the paddock and sort
of worked out where he was goingto cross and headed this boar
(36:33):
off.
He was a pretty good boar,because I haven't done heaps of
pig shooting so I haven't shotany massive boars yet, so that
was a pretty good one.
And then when I went up withKyle recently, a good one.
And then, uh, yeah, when I wentup with with kyle recently, um,
didn't see anything the firstday and then started the um the
(36:57):
next day and I've been rainingall night.
The ground was really soft andstarted the next day and uh, saw
a fox within a couple hundredmeters and whistled that in and
shot it.
And then we just like took somepictures and stuff and then
turned around and I was like man, pigs and pigs trotting across
the paddock right towards us and, yeah, we lined those up and
(37:23):
got a few of those.
And then, yeah, I'm talkingabout the Christmas trip like
we'd had a really good first dayand then the next day shot
nothing and I think Josh and Bowere a bit dejected.
I said, right, let's go for afox whistle and it's a real good
(37:43):
property, like it's a longproperty and it's kind of like
we drove up to one rise, got out, had a whistle and when we,
we'd gone to jump in the car,but I would said I've never seen
it done successfully.
I was like what, fox whistling?
Yeah, it's like you're on mate,the pressure's on.
Challenge accepted, knowingthat, like january, like
december, january is a prettygood time to whistle them
(38:05):
because a lot of young onescoming out of the den they're
very young and dumb will come tothe whistle.
So we went for a bit of a driveand shot a couple of foxes.
So that was cool.
Kind of livened things up,perks up the mood does does Only
so much because I shot both, soyou didn't get the opportunity.
(38:28):
No, I had the shotgun.
So One of those things, yeah,and then.
So it's not a bad property upthere, it's just a bit of a
drive, but trying to get back upthere as much as possible.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
You referenced Nick Harvey earlier.
Yeah, talking about riders.
Yeah, sitting here with apublished author.
The current issue of SportingShooter magazine yeah, june 2024
, there's an article that MrAsher has penned a bit of a
(39:06):
nostalgic one.
Yeah, he can.
There used to be a saying thatI can read, but I don't.
This guy can write and read.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
I don't do either yeah, I mentioned earlier my, my
uncle.
That took me hunting a bitchasing rabbits with his old
single barrel.
And then when I moved out westfor work, that took me hunting a
bit chasing rabbits with hisold single barrel.
And then when I moved out westfor work and got my gun licence
and that he was getting to theage that he didn't really have
much use for a gun anymore, sohe signed the shotgun over to me
(39:41):
and I started using it out westand shot a few rabbits and
stuff and then didn't use it fora while.
There I've got a under overmorocco as well, which is pretty
good shotgun, um, so use that abit.
And then, just like last year, Iwas starting to see a few
(40:02):
rabbits around on the localproperty and I just had this
sort of sense of like, speakingof nostalgia, like this sense of
man I just want to go for a bitof a walk and just knock out a
few rabbits with the old singlebarrel.
And then I was like we talked abit before about riding
something, like we had MickMatheson, the editor, sporting
(40:23):
shooter, on the old potty andhad a real good chat with him
and Ben Unten, who's also awriter for the SSAA magazine and
I was always kind of like Ishould have a go at writing
something.
And so when I started knockingover a few rabbits and foxes and
that with the old single barrel, I was like, oh, there's a bit
(40:43):
of a theme here.
There's a bit of a theme here,you know, and almost a way, uh,
to sort of like do something tohonor my uncle.
He's still with us.
I'm not talking like past tensesort of thing, but um, but just
thanks, like, and I thinkthat's one of those things,
right, like you know, there'sall the nice things that you say
about people after they're goneand stuff, but like you should
(41:06):
go and say those things to themtoo when they're with you.
So I thought, you know, um, Imight as well write it now and
so that he can read it and sortof know what it means to me.
Because like that was all thatwas, like me getting my start in
hunting, like with that oldsingle barrel, um, and now it's
like it's, it's my passion, it'slike you know, it's sort of
(41:31):
what I, what I live for.
Like you know nothing I'drather be doing on the weekend
get out hunting, um.
So yeah, I wrote that articleand sent it to mick and a few
pictures and stuff and and he,he liked it and was happy to run
it.
And then, yeah, it's come outthis month and you know they're
(41:55):
always looking for contributors.
So someone out there with agood story and, very importantly
, the good pictures to go withthe story, as they say, got to
be good pictures.
Yeah, a picture paints athousand words.
So if you've got a good storyand and some good pictures to go
with it, write something up andsend it to Mick, so yeah,
(42:16):
that's, that's been good.
It's kind of like another sortof avenue where hunting is
taking me something you can doat home when you're not hunting.
Yeah, yeah, it's so.
You sit down after kids go tobed and a couple of pages, like
a couple hundred words.
Trouble with me is like I'mreal, like I'll procrastinate,
procrastinate, but then, once Istart next minute, it's like
(42:39):
midnight and I've written athousand words.
I'll be up for work in themorning um, math is like wind it
back, mate.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
It's not a book.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah, yeah, probably that's.
That's always my thing.
I send it to him and I'm likejust like tell me if there's
things I need to cut out orcondense or something have you
read the version he put out?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
because?
Speaker 1 (42:57):
they usually tweak it a little.
Yeah, it's pretty, pretty closeas far as I know, like there
wasn't anything that I read andI was like, oh, hang on, I
didn't like you've cut a bit out.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
They don't yeah they don't ad lib.
No, I know Anton's always saidthey, you know, he'll throw 10
jokes and then they'll removefive, not jokes, so much.
But anecdotes.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
He's a funny guy, not as funny as Ben, yeah, so I was
saying yesterday to somebody,because some of the boys were
talking about motorbikes andstuff, and they said, when are
you going to get a motorbike?
Speaker 2 (43:35):
and I'm like I don't need another hobby, that you
know I feel like that's arecurring conversation those
boys have with you at every kidsbirthday party.
Oh yeah, 100% wasn't this goosejust trying to sell his.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, he just sold his.
But then the other ones have,you know, planted troops and
stuff.
Yeah, right, but what I wassaying is like I like all my
hobbies to be connected.
So, unless I'm going to getlike a, a dirt bike with the
rock on the front, yeah, Iprobably wouldn't be getting a
motorbike.
But yeah, like doing the riding, doing a bit of leather work,
(44:09):
starting to get into reloading,like everything's sort of
connected.
That's a rabbit hole.
That is a rabbit hole.
It's a rabbit one.
Yep, yep.
And I'm like, like I saidbefore, like I procrastinate a
lot and I kind of suffer fromparalysis by analysis.
It's kind of like, fromparalysis by analysis.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
It's kind of like it's the opposite to that,
because I think that's me Likeall the gear, no idea, probably.
Just jump it in and Nah flyaround the scene, reload Nah,
just find a mate.
That's good enough to do that.
Shout out to Tom.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Tom's been helping me out.
We just have ongoing messengerthreads about this reloading
gear and do I need to do thisand do I need to buy that?
Speaker 2 (44:54):
Whereas I have a short messenger thread.
Tom got a 260.
He goes what do you got Nothing.
Okay, I'll buy it.
You pay for it.
Okay, here's 100 rounds, Thankyou.
He's telling me some details.
I'm like I don't need to know,as long as it shoots yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
No, I don't have enough mental capacity.
The good thing about talking tohim is he's got the like real
world experience yes, it's notpaper knowledge Like I read an
article and I'll be like, oh,I've got to.
Like I read that I've got toand do this like resize and this
(45:37):
and that.
And he's like, oh, you can dothis, but you can get away with
not doing that and, you know,just for hunting mode.
So it's been um, been goodhaving him as a sounding board
for some direction I'm going in.
So I'm gonna start reloadingfor the 243 soon and then my
3006 as well.
But you start getting into likerabbit holes and then that's
like, maybe I need a 28 nozzle.
I know a guy Maybe I need a 28nozzle so I can Test my
long-distance capability.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
I haven't really found out why I need one yet,
but I've got one.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
But you've got one, I've got one.
You know what they say betterto have it than not need it,
better to need it than not haveit.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
You know, I've got a few that I probably don't need
but have.
Yeah, I think I had someone inthe gun room the other day and
Grace comes in same age as youknow, she's five and she says,
oh, that's my gun.
And she's five.
And she says, oh, that's my gun.
I'm like, ah, just to clarify,it'll be yours when you're old
enough.
It'll be yours when you're oldenough, but there's a couple in
(46:33):
there that I blame on the kidsyeah, one for each kid.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yep, the 270.
Is that?
Bought it for the boys?
Speaker 2 (46:39):
yeah right yeah, so you can show me how to use it.
Yeah, my 270 I bought for thefarm and I haven't even put a
scope on it yet.
You got a scope for it?
No, no, I had the money at thetime for the gun.
Yeah, I'm like I'll get thescope when I get to it.
I haven't had the money since.
I've got extra money hangingaround.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Yeah, but, you know, what, as long as you keep them
well oiled and that they're not.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
They not depreciating value.
No, I've seen that happen inthe last five years everything
going up in value.
Yep, on the writing and thebook topic, as a non-book reader
myself and knowing that you'vegot a few, what's your favourite
?
I know you like some of yourold African stuff.
Yeah, I like the African stuff.
(47:27):
What's the nostalgic point ofview, peter Hathaway?
Speaker 1 (47:29):
capstick he's.
I know you like some of yourold African stuff.
Yeah, I like the African stuff.
What's the nostalgic point ofview?
Peter Hathaway capstick, he'sgood.
I always liked we mentionedNick Harvey before.
I always liked his articles Interms of books.
I like the Kiwi stuff as well.
There's a bloke a lot of peoplewould know of him Paul Paul,
(47:52):
john Michaels.
Paul Michaels, your podcast,the Deer Point.
Yeah, he's the, the blueprintguy.
He wrote a book about hisexperiences.
I think it's called HuntingLucky.
I think that's his book aboutlike possum trapping and deer
hunting and stuff for months onend with his dog.
(48:13):
I think that's sort of wherehis whole blueprint system came
from.
That was a really good read.
But yeah, I think my interestin Africa came from reading
Wilbur Smith, which is fiction,but he was a big game hunter and
an author and so when he wroteabout big game hunting he was
(48:37):
writing about pretty muchpersonal experience.
So that's sort of somethingthat I'd like to do one day in
Africa, next year, next year, Ireckon.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Good show, mate.
I got Anton talking to it.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
Oh yeah, That'll be his third trip.
Oh yeah, he might get his kuduthis time.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
That's what you want, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (48:58):
That's what I want.
I want a kudu.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
It'll tie a few good ones up.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
That's the thing about, especially like south
africa, like it's all game farm.
I know a lot of them are huge,but it's like they're all fenced
in some regards I think prettymuch all of them but without
sort of experiencing it youdon't know sort of what
comfortable with, I guess andand there's no guarantees
(49:31):
talking about Anton he's heprobably said it on the other
podcast.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
He said it a thousand times that he shot just as many
kudu as my grandma just none.
And he's been.
He's been to Africa twice andchased kudu significantly.
Yeah, seen some just.
And he's been to Africa twiceand chased kudu significantly.
Yeah, seen some just missedopportunities or juvenile or
whatever People think Africa'sslam dunk To slam dunk, you'll
(50:00):
shoot something.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yeah, and there are places where you know it's like
very small paddocks and stufflike that, like there's those
places that you can go to, butyeah, that's not what these guys
are after.
Yeah, that's not the norm.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
What's the time?
We move around the corner.
Yeah, it's five o'clock.
I'm going to take a pause,pause the video.
I'm going to move around thecorner and set up and try
another spot.
I need to walk before my legschatter off.
I'm gonna take a pause, pausethe video.
I'm gonna move around thecorner and set up and try
another spot.
I need to walk, for my legschatter off.
Yeah, put another layer on.
I don't have a layer to put on.
Stand up and scare a fox away.
(50:39):
Yeah, probably that walmart'sstill there, I don't know.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,
(51:10):
beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
So we move spots, we just movespots.
(51:49):
I had a Russell from Carl'spocket Turned out he bought a
couple spare killer pythons leftover from the heat hunt.
You thought it was too cold forsnakes, too cold for proper
snakes.
Yeah, never too cold for akiller python.
We just threw the whistle out.
We actually saw a fox start offin this spot when we pulled up
(52:12):
in the car, so bit of a lastlight chance before we call it.
Yeah, how'd you go this year onthe rut?
Now we're really running out oflight, yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
That's all right.
Now I want to see our faceanyway Nah.
That's why I just go start.
Speaker 2 (52:30):
Face for radio.
I'd see it, me, not you.
Both of us mate.
Anyway, it's happened twice now.
Yeah, camera just fell over.
I'm going to delete that part.
What happened in that downtimewas Carl, supplied with killer
pythons, very much appreciatedAsked him where his rut was
going, then he talked me throughthat story and now he's going
to start again.
Yep, so that was a rut for you,carl.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
Yeah it was good.
Um, I didn't shoot a monster oranything, um, but in terms of
like that sort of criteria ofsuccess we talked about earlier,
it was successful.
It was, um.
This is the third year I'vehunted this local property I've
got access to, and, um, Ihaven't shot a buck on there yet
(53:14):
until this year.
And I shot a nice chocolatebuck, uh, that was.
It felt a bit like I wasstarting to um, you know, play,
play the game with him, playthat cat and mouse.
Um, I was picking him up on thetrail cameras, um, and he
seemed like a pretty aggressivebuck too.
He was like terrible antlers,like you'd call him a cull.
(53:37):
For sure, no palms kind offorky looking things.
Apparently, there's a fair bitof like mesogenetics in that
area.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
What's that out of interest?
Not out of interest because Idon't have the answer For the
listeners.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
Mesopotamian, or what do they call them?
Uh, persian, persian fellow umwhich they were sort of
introduced.
The genetics were introduced insome places because they're a
bigger bodied animal worseantlers, depending on how you
look at it, like like, comparedto a traditional classical
fallow, like antlers aren't asgood.
(54:16):
But bigger body size, so bettercarcass weight for deer farming,
but they make a mess of fallowgenetics when they cross yeah
yeah, so, but then the one thatI ended up shooting was a
chocolate buck, which is notnecessarily like a meso, but
maybe had mesogenetics in there,or or maybe it's just poor
(54:36):
genetics and that's why theantlers are like that, but they
were far, pretty close to therethough, yeah yeah, it's.
yeah, it would make sense.
And there were ones that I goton camera that you looked at me
like yeah, definite may so, butthat was early in the run and
then that like that full looking, that meso looking one
disappeared as I think thebigger boys moved in, even like
later in the rut.
So, yeah, I shot this nicechocolate buck that I'd seen on
(54:58):
trail camera like chasing otherbucks away and stuff like he was
very aggressive.
And when I shot him I sort ofcame down the hill and, um, sort
of heard something move off inthe scrub, sound like maybe
antler brushing timber, and hekind of popped out of the scrub
and was looking at me like hewanted to staunch me because I
(55:20):
had like rifle over the shoulder, shooting sticks in front of me
, because I had my shootingsticks.
This time, don't you?
That's what you didn't miss.
I did, yeah, and he was lookingright at me and I was watching
my thermals go towards him.
I could see my breath goingtowards him with the thermals.
I was like he's going to spookand then I'll see if I can get a
chance.
And he started running and Igave him a few meh, meh, meh
(55:44):
sort of doe calls to try andpull him up and in that time I
swung the gun up onto the sticksand chambered one and got him
to look back and put one in theboiler room and then he ran a
bit more and went down and, likeI said, like the head, you know
, you talk about trophies andlike we had a conversation a
(56:06):
while ago about the trophies inthe eye of the hunter, really
like what you class as a trophy,and for me, like I was stoked
because that was the first buckon that property, it was taken
in the rut, like it was a coolbuild up, it was a just a crack
in the morning, like it was.
It was very cool.
And then I shot another buck onthat property.
(56:26):
Uh, similarly, like he wasquite aggressive and I just
checked the trail camera andseen two really good, mature,
like good racks on them, um,bucks on the on the camera.
And I was coming back up thehill.
I did this full, you know bigwalk around the property coming
back up the hill and I just sawthis like flash of antler coming
(56:48):
through the, the scrub and Ijust plonked myself down the
middle of the track and then Igot eyes on him and realized
that he had one good antler andone like nub, and I was like, ah
, you know he's not one of theones on the camera, but he was
still cool and he was comingtowards me.
And when he saw me, same thingwhen he saw me in the track, he
like came towards me Cause he Iguess he figured I was another
(57:09):
buck and, um, shot him Cause youI guess he figured I was
another bark and shot him.
Was he 6'3"?
I was kneeling down in the backof a truck, 6'1".
I plumbed my back down andknelt behind that.
So, yeah, got him, which I did,the like half head sort of
mount, like cut the Euro mountright down the middle.
(57:30):
So I'm going to mount it to abit of timber and and put that
on the wall, which is sort ofinteresting, yeah, so like, yeah
, successful, right, um, and youknow I didn't catch up with the
, the bigger boys, there was onereal cracking buck.
I got on camera and uh, but hewas only coming through like
middle of the night.
So and for reference.
Speaker 2 (57:50):
It's a pretty small block, yeah, and not that far
from a lot of houses.
Speaker 1 (57:55):
Yeah it's in a rural area, yeah we're not talking
farmland, yeah thousands ofacres.
Yeah, exactly.
So the bucks are sort of onlythere for the rut and then they
disappear into a larger propertythat I don't think is hunted.
So I'm kind of like, oh well, Ididn't catch up with them this
year, but high chance I'll seethem.
Yeah, at least they were theones spreading their genetics
and maybe I'll catch up with himnext year, I feel like that
(58:16):
here too, yeah, if I miss oneprior to someone moving in here.
Speaker 2 (58:22):
But there was an opportunity that I'd see him
again and I did.
I saw particular bucks severaltimes over several years, yeah,
and that just builds to thestory of them.
I don't run cameras, yeah, butbe cool to see that guy again
next year.
Yeah, and you can judge, youknow, is he going forward or is
he coming backwards, or yeah.
Speaker 1 (58:43):
Yeah, there was another really nice chocolate
buck on the camera that had areal nice shape rack, and I
think he'll only get better, soit'd be good to catch up with
him.
Speaker 2 (58:51):
The other tricky part about that block is you're
essentially there to get rid ofeverything.
Yeah, it's a biobank block orsomething, isn't it?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (58:57):
yeah.
Speaker 2 (58:58):
So the owner's like shoot everything, you see, you
know.
But If they're two standingnext to each other, you're like,
oh, just miss one, just shootone.
Hey, it's hard, whereas here,yeah, you can be selective yeah,
because the owner likes the, weleave them here.
Speaker 1 (59:12):
But you know what?
The bucks are only on thatproperty for the rut.
So it's like I'm out there tohunt them during the rut.
If they're there, I'll shootthem, um, you know, and then
through the year I'll try andcull a few does, which is
basically what you want to bedoing for population management
anyway, so that it works and atthe end of the day, you're just
happy to have access, happy tohave access, access close to
home.
Speaker 2 (59:32):
What are you doing with them when you shoot them?
What's your favorite?
I know you're a recipe man, youknow.
Speaker 1 (59:36):
Yeah, well, I know you and I, our favorite cutter
is the shoulder Shoulder.
I know we've joked that like ifyou come through the bush.
You know, sometimes you comethrough the bush and you'll find
a car of deer with just theshoulders.
Speaker 2 (59:53):
That can you know yeah, sure, been out for a while
when I had the.
Uh, when I first set up thecool room, the cost was a
shoulder.
Yeah, everyone's like oh, youknow, whatever, you can have one
.
Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Yeah, I'm like yeah, you guys are wasting it on the
back legs, yeah, and that's whyI'm like a big fan of the behind
the shoulder shot.
Yes, like I know there's achance they might run a bit
further because you're notbreaking the shoulder.
Just in front on the neck, yeah, or just in front of the neck.
Neck shot's good at closerrange.
Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
I've been doing a fair bit of high neck stuff,
especially on goats, and Italked Alex into it and he's
been doing it quite successfullyand enjoying it.
He'd never really considered it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Yeah, that was me the other day when I culled those
goats with the young bloke, likethey were very close.
Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
The 243 with a like SST projectile.
Do yourself a favour next time.
Next time you shoot something,no matter where you shoot it.
When it's dead on the ground,lay it on its side and work out
where you should aim for a highneck shot.
Look at where the vertebraecome into the neck cause.
It's not high, like I call it ahigh neck shot, but it's not
close to the back line.
It's a little bit lower becauseit drops down in through the
chest cavity a bit.
Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
You're talking about a high shoulder shot, yeah I'm
talking about a high neck shot,no, just in front of the
shoulders, where the neck yeahjoins the shoulders, when I'm
doing like a neck shot I'm oftenaiming for, like behind the
base of the yeah basis.
Yeah, right now I'm backfurther than that, like if I'm
going to take a chance with thatshot.
Yeah, that's where I'm going.
(01:01:16):
Do yourself a favour, though,and skin it out, bone it out lay
it on its side and think, ohyeah, that's where I'd have to
aim.
So what are you saying?
Like the vertebrae runs.
Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
Because it comes off the back of the head and it's,
you know, in the centre part ofthe neck.
But as the neck sort of fansout, it doesn't stay in the
center, it drops down closer asit.
It's closer to the bottom thirdof the neck because there's a
bit of meat above and there isbone in there, but it's that
vertical bone that comes upwhich, if you hit them, they do
(01:01:45):
drop, but they often hop up andrun away you have to be prepared
.
Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
It's not fatal again it's only a wounded sort of just
like flicks that vertebrae andit's it's like a concussion.
Yeah, um, but speaking ofrecipes like that, that
choccybuck I shot um, you hadmentioned um on here a few
episodes ago about neck meatyeah and um, just boning out
that neck and I've.
You know I don't even have alot of meat animals.
(01:02:10):
So you're shooting likeyearlings and does and stuff.
There's not a lot of meat onthere.
So you're shooting likeyearlings and does and stuff.
There's not a lot of meat onthere.
But when you shoot a buck and arat, that's a good bunch of meat
that you get off there.
So I did a lot of because, likeI say, in shoulders, I like the
pulled meat, I like doingragout.
That's a staple in my household.
Once my wife started eating theragout and the kids started
(01:02:32):
eating the ragu and the kidsstarted eating the ragu, I was
like we're on here, got thegreen light to go hunting more
often keep taking shouldersdefinitely helps when you can
feed it with the slow cook neck.
Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
I don't even bone it out, so I'll just with that red
stag that I shot up in Nundle.
I cut it off in front of theshoulders and then at the base
of the skull, I took my wholething as is, dropped it in the
slow cooker luckily it fittedtook the esophagus out and
things and then, as it'sfinished cooking, you just pull
the bones out and it leaves afair bit of flavor coming from
(01:03:04):
the you know the bone.
It's like cooking anything.
Bone gives a bit more residualflavor.
Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
So two takeaways from that um time you're talking.
Talking about the neck meat onthat episode you also talked
about cooking a bunch of pulledmeat and like portioning it up,
and that's what I did with theneck and then did some as like
barbecue pulled venison on rolls.
Because once it's slow cookedand pulled, you can use it
(01:03:28):
however you want to use it, yeah, and I kind of kept the stock
from it too, and the amount oflike gelatinous, fatty sort of
material tissue in there givesyou a real good idea about how
much like collagen and stuff isin the neck, which is that stuff
that cooks down and gives youthat real nice, silky, beautiful
(01:03:50):
pull.
Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
It's the lamb shank kind of.
Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
Yeah yeah, the tendons turn to jelly, and when
I run out of shoulders becauseyou know you only get two per
animal and sometimes theshoulders got a bullet in it um,
I'll bone out the shanks anduse them in a ragu, because if
you get that acts the same.
Um, sorry, it acts the same.
Yeah, yeah, it's the same.
It's full of all that likecollagen and stuff that cooks
down.
(01:04:12):
Um, so it's, it's good too.
Um, what else have I beencooking?
The?
Um jagger schnitzel, yourfavorite yeah, that's a big
favorite of mine, which is youcan do it either as like a
crumbed, like traditional sortof schnitzel, you can do it as
just like a fillet.
Often I use backstrap and cutlike butterfly medallions, so
(01:04:36):
you sort of like cut through andthen cut almost all the way
through, and then cut throughand then lay them down and
hammer them out.
I like to crumb them and thenyou make a sauce that is bacon,
mushrooms, onions.
You make like a red wine, whichis you make like a red wine,
which is interesting, like a redwine gravy, and then add cream
(01:04:56):
to it as well and it's just.
Yeah, that's phenomenal, thatsauce.
Just do a Google on that recipe.
Jager schnitzel with a J it's aGerman, as in Jager Meister.
As in Jager Meister, as in,yeah, jager meaning hunter.
So I think traditionally theydo it with wild boar.
I've got I've now got a bit ofwild boar backstrap in the
(01:05:17):
freezer.
Pork schnitzel's a thing Porkschnitzel is a fantastic thing I
have to borrow my.
Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
I recently invested in the and I will say I bought
it for the jerky slicer.
Yeah, the Carnivore Collectivejerky slicer.
Yeah, you sort of have you seenit.
You feed, you cut yourself asteak 25 mil thick and you put
it in the top and you crank theshaft and it pulls it through in
five mil slices and slices itAh right, but it has set of
(01:05:42):
blades that if you take thoseout and you put them in and it's
just fingers so they go in andtenderise so you can put your,
you do a bunch of schnitzels,schnitties through and a free
tender like it just goes in andchops up a heap of fibres.
Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
And that's the thing too, like I know you and I spoke
about this recently too like alot of people going like, oh you
know, ruddy bucks, take theirhead, don't even bother taking
the meat.
And I found, you know, from youand a few other people like
Rick saying as well, like agingback straps and stuff.
So you know, a few days to acouple of weeks, either wet
(01:06:19):
aging in the vac seal or you cando the sort of dry aging in the
fridge at home.
Oh, the meat's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
Anton proved a point to me and feel free to argue
with him.
We were up chittle hunting andwe shot something that day and
we took the backstrap off and Isaid let's eat it and he goes no
, I said let's eat it, he saidit'll be chewy.
And we did an AB comparison.
Like we did it that night andwe did it three nights later.
(01:06:48):
Huge difference, hugedifference.
Not rested at all.
Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Very chewy Because you've got to let it go through
your mortars and come out theother side.
Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Yeah, and it just didn't happen.
And you see people, it's a bitdifferent if you're living off
the land and whatnot and youjust want to throw something on
the grill.
But if you see meat eater, doit, it's the ribs.
Yes, like they're not doing amuscle or something.
Yes, like they're not doing amuscle or something.
They're cooking something onthe fire.
That's the organs or the ribsthat don't really need to do
(01:07:17):
that.
Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Generalization progress yeah, the organs are
definitely a lot of people'sgo-to first aid consumption
liver or heart because, yeah,same thing, it doesn't have to
go through that musclerelaxation.
But I'm, like, I'm not a hugeheart fan.
I know a lot of people talkabout it and I sometimes wonder
how much of it is a bit of thatlike march up, like yeah hook
into the heart, mate.
Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
It's the best beer you know.
My general comment is nah justeat the real meat.
I agree with that.
Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
The best way I've had it.
I shot a yearling out in astate forest with a mate one
time and I took the heart.
And that night I was sitting onthe hillside watching the moon
rise and it was on a yearlingheart, quite small, and we
sliced it and battered it withegg and we didn't have any
breadcrumbs, we had likePringles or Doritos or something
(01:08:07):
, and crushed them up andcrumbed them in that and fried
them in butter and just satthere on the hillside eating it.
That was like if all heart waslike that, I'd be a heart
convert.
Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
Do you think, though, that I think things taste
different depending on thesituation?
100%, we're in the bush, we'veshot it.
Yeah, we're having some greatmemories.
Yeah, it's doused in Pringles.
Yeah, but if you did that athome on a Saturday night with
your wife, you're probably notgonna get the same level of yeah
, you're insane.
Yeah, speaking of insane,pretty late and cold.
(01:08:40):
It is getting pretty late andcold.
It's actually not as cold hereas it was when we sat on the
other's face.
It's definitely dark.
If you're watching, you'veprobably seen us dwindle into
the darkness.
We haven't moved.
I can see your illuminatedready.
I can see you've turned it off.
Anyway, thanks for coming out.
Tonight.
Didn't shoot anything.
(01:09:02):
Saw 3000 wombats, giantkangaroo.
Saw a fox.
Some deer on the drive in saw afox.
It was admittedly as soon as wepulled up and pulled the
handbrake on.
Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
Yeah, he was a good size one too, he was a big boy.
Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
I haven't shot many out here.
I'd like to get a full wintercoat one and do a full body
mount.
Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
That's the challenging thing, right?
The worst time to whistle themis middle of winter, when they
look the best and when they'relooking the spotlight run with
the thermal?
Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
Yeah, maybe.
Yeah, I'd have a thermal, butJack's borrowed it and he's not
home yet.
So if he makes it home, anyway,thanks for coming on.
Thanks for having me.
Welcome back again.
It's been a long round trip.
Yeah, now it's good to get onand have a chat again.
Yeah, we chat all the time, butthese sorts of chats are a bit
(01:09:50):
different.
Until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening.
Yeah, thanks a lot.
I took a shot at it and it ran away and missed and
then I saw it.
I assume it was the same fox.
I saw it again over the ridgeand it did not want a bar of the
whistle.
It ran the other way at thesound of the whistle.
You know, for the last couple ofmonths these goats have been in
the same spot every time I'vebeen there and I was like I'll
come back with a couple of matesand we'll just clean them up
(00:29):
because the property owner wantsthem gone.
And you know Murphy's law ofhunting.
When we went there they weren'tthere, so that was kind of like
well, you don't get his handsin the gut cavity.
I don't know why that's fair.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You gotta take them out when it's cold enough, I
think, cause then it's not warmin there.
Get your hands in there, mate,warm up.
I don't think nighttime's agood time to do it.
I think it's gotta be a morningstuff, so that you've got the
day.
Yeah, first time testing outthe new glassing chairs.
(01:12):
Sorry for the camera, just gota good arsing of my glassing Bit
down here.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Unconventional fox whistling while we're talking,
full audio yeah, so when they'rerunning in they don't seem to
mind too much about like noiseor movement, but once they like,
stop and look.
If you move, yeah, you'rebusted.
(02:12):
So I tried this one.
This is one from the UK.
It's like Best Fox Call UK orsomething.
You should Google that.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
It's a big call.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And it's like a reed caller, and it's good, because
it's like I don't like to go tooloud too soon.
Could we just close?
Could we just close?
Probably not now.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Give it a go.
Whistling Is that weaned riderback?
Yeah, I like that.
You can use that one hands freethere.
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Definitely an appeal to that.
I'll sort of do that to see ifthere's anything close, because
then this is pretty loud.
I start hearing birds calling,foxes running back and forth.
(04:24):
Yeah, sometimes it's anindication.
Sometimes they're reacting tothe whistle.
If you sort of know your birdspecies, you can sort of pick
the difference between this sortof alarm call and just the
shatter.
It's not the best time of yearto be whistling them because
(05:06):
they're starting to get into themating season, so they're more
interested in each other than infood.
But it's also sort of dependenton how much food is around.
I found out west.
It didn't matter what time ofyear, it was just always hungry.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I can manage when I'm good.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, but around home I think they're pretty well fed
.
I've seen that moths and stuffaround at the moment, yeah, and
like it's been so wet, like theamount of frogs and all that
sort of stuff that they'reeating.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
You can hear all those frogs in the creek down
there, crickets.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, I went out a few weeks ago and saw a fox.
It saw me, Took a shot at itand it ran away and I missed.
And then I saw it.
I assume it was the same fox.
I saw it again over the ridgeand it did not want a bar of the
whistle.
It ran the other way at thesound of the whistle.
(06:11):
Maybe that's because it wasspooked by the shot.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I usually flick an ear and pull up and have a think
about it.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, I normally sort of get a bit inquisitive, but I
think they're very well fed.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I've been hunting, like, how do you deal with your
misses?
Misses as in missing shots, not, mrs misses, you've had a few,
I've had a few, I remember.
Why don't you blame one of themon me because I had to shoot?
I remember one.
Don't you blame one of them onme because I had the shooting
(06:48):
sticks.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I remember one morning I went out and I missed
three out of three foxes at likechip shot distances like 20
meters and then I called in pastthe property owner how'd you go
?
Carl yep three clean misses,which is always weird.
It's a shame.
How'd you go, carl yep threeclean misses, mate?
Which is always a bit.
A bit of a shame when you haveto tell the property owner that,
(07:10):
especially on the foxes onfoxes, yeah, and that was a
sheep station too, so you knowit's money coming out of their
pocket.
He was baiting pretty hardanyway.
He'd always say to me he's likeoh, I baited pretty hard.
Lately I don't know if you'veseen anything you always end up
whistling something in.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Baits don't get everything.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
They don't get them all.
No, but yeah, the misses it's.
I think you said to me afterthe last time that I missed that
buck in February that I wasdirty about because it was like.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
When I was dirty about because it was like the
best part when I was trying tomake you feel better because I
had you shoot the sticks.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, pretty much, pretty much trying to give me
some consolation.
And he basically said if you'renot missing, you're not
shooting enough.
I mean, the more you shoot, thebetter you get at it.
But the more it hurts when youmiss yeah, especially when it's
an easy shot or something.
(08:07):
Or you know, just the the weekbefore I missed that bark, I'd
shot a fox at about 120 metres.
No sticks, no bipod, justshooting.
That was with Alex yeah, offhandyeah, not quite offhand, but
like this, like elbows on kneessort of thing, which, like I'm
(08:29):
not I don't claim to be anamazing shot, so I was pretty
happy with that.
I think I'd range find it laterand it's like 120 meters or
something.
It kind of hurts.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, that's it.
Like you said.
If you're not Sorry about that,well, we'll take that camera
reset as an opportunity tointroduce you to the 2% of
listeners who don't know whoyour voice is.
It's the velvet voice, kylehimself, as Unton called you,
was it?
Yeah, it was Unton, kyle Usher.
(09:13):
Welcome to the show.
Bit of a different introduction.
We're sitting here on the sideof a hill.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Trying a hand at some late season fox whistling.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
How good is it?
It's great.
Lucky the wind died down too.
Yeah, it was pretty windy thismorning.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
And some rain.
We haven't had any rain lastweek, yeah, even by the creek
crossing.
We just crossed.
Yeah, very wet.
We're just here to have achinwag.
Cole and I have been friendsfor a fair few years now.
Pretty kids, just on kids.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, about the time the kids were born Five years or
so.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, friend of a friend introduced us Another
Carl Young Carl, congratulations.
He's had his second.
Yeah, congratulations.
Sorry to hear it.
Doesn't know what he's in for.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I'm on my third.
Two's, all right, two.
I am crossing that bridge intothree.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
well, I'm on the other side and I think someone
ripped the ridge down like youcan't go back, there's not much
going back on the other side ofthe bridge.
But no, I'll just add again inthe chat got the 243 ready.
It's not?
I was just saying it's a littlebit noisy with us talking.
To be really productive, yeah,it's not.
(10:27):
We'll give it a bit here andthen we'll move on to another
little spot.
If you're watching, you'll seethe camera move, not like it did
when it just fell over becauseof the $2 tripod I'm using.
But no, kyle's been well.
We were co-hosts originallybefore we both got shafted for
different reasons at differenttimes.
I bailed out.
(10:47):
Yeah, you pled girthly early.
You took the early guilty pleaand I got stuck fighting the
charge for a while.
Nah, good times, nah goodmemories.
The first three episodes wewere in for a little while, yeah
, yeah we did a few.
there was a hashtag going aroundfor a while.
Yeah, yeah, we did a few.
There was a hashtag goingaround for a while who killed
Carl?
Yeah, Carl's disappeared.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
No, I'm just living like it's the early 2000s again.
I've got a mobile phone, but nosocial media.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yes, it's very hard to send you funny memes.
I got a screenshot of them andI'm just reading old Nick Harvey
articles and I bought his book.
The other day the one, you theone, yeah, it was good.
And some familiar faces therein the photos.
There were some familiar facesyeah, yes, yeah, it's good.
But uh, yeah, we're inmates fora few years now and done a few
little things together huntingwise not too many.
(11:35):
Yeah, one big mission with thechildren early on?
Yeah, talk about that soon thatwas good.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I still bring that up sometimes with my eldest.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, I don't.
No, the grace can remember it.
No, I don't think.
I don't think they can rememberit.
If I showed her a photo, she'dremember it.
Yeah, or just relive the story.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, I was out with the kids the other day and and
we were doing like a rockcrossing, he was like, oh, these
rocks are a bit wobbly.
And I was like, mate, this isnothing.
I crossed a river twice as wide.
Dead goat, two children, yeah,and yeah, like they were like
(12:16):
two years old or something.
Yeah, they were young.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, but old enough that we didn't want to carry
them on our shoulders.
Yeah, and that was a hell of ahike in Cracking property.
It's the only time I ever gotthe opportunity to go there too.
Yeah, it's sold.
Ah, down at Canyon Lee.
I was thinking about that theother day.
I was like what happened tothat property?
It was a great spot.
There was a heap of red deersign down there, big footprints
Before I really know what printwise, yeah heap of goats as
(12:43):
evidence by that morning anyway,I remember I was talking about
it now that you're post-podingit.
It was a hey, you want to takethe kids for a stroll?
Yeah, no worries, and you canlook at a property that I hadn't
looked at other than on maps,and the farmer sort of gave us
an indication of where to go, orthe manager.
We parked up the vehicles atthe furthest point we could on
(13:07):
the track because it was prettywashed out from there.
Yeah, it was a fair drive injust to get.
Yeah, he said he could get hisbuggy past, but, like I want to
be a tracked machine, yeah, weparked up and loaded the kids in
our backpacks.
I think they walked down mostof it, most.
So yeah it, yeah I had like the.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Did you have like a kid?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
carrier yeah, yeah, the Asprey yeah, yeah, osprey
Poco or something like that.
Definitely highly recommendthose things For the good 18
months of each kid's life.
Yeah, very handy for that.
As soon as they can hold theirneck up, they're in the backpack
.
Yeah, and yeah, it was a prettyrough, it was a track, but she
was pretty washed out and I tookthe gun.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
We were just going down the bottom for a picnic
really yeah, like let's go for abush walk with the kids, take
the gun just in case, causethat's the Murphy's law, right,
you don't take a gun.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
See a giant 16 point red state yeah, imagine hiking
out with that.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Who would have done it?
Kids, it's time to you know.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Start pulling weight no kids start a fire.
We're back after one trip.
You've got to take theimportant stuff first, all the
meat out, and then come back forthe trophy the kids in the head
.
We had a good lunch down thebottom, drew the nice little
creek down the Walden River andthen I was like there's some
goats over there just on theother side of the creek on the
(14:25):
face.
So you took the kids, you tookGrace and Maith, moved 50 metres
away or so and covered ears.
They had ear muffs, or fingersat least, and I had the 223, I
think, and I plugged two, two ofthem on the side of the two or
three on the side of the hill,and they tumbled down.
No worries, jobs on, we wentacross.
(14:50):
We left a bit of gear.
I left the gun.
I think I left the gun on myside, on the side we were on.
Yeah, and backpack one backpack, and I think we took the two
kids and one backpack across.
We didn't even take a backpack,we just took the two kids and
one backpack across.
We didn't even take a backpack,we just took the two kids.
That's right, cause we end upwith sticks.
Yeah, there's a photo somewhereof like the kids were the
backpacks.
Yeah, yeah, and a beautiful day, cracking day, yeah, got across
(15:15):
the other side and the cloudsrolled in, yeah, and it rained.
We'd like rock hopped across.
Yes, it was a pretty heavyriver, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And then the rocks got real slick.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Hold on Bombat.
This property is laced withbombat and it got heavier and
heavier, and then the rocks werenot so grippy.
It was already sketchy goingacross.
I think we took back straps andfour back legs.
We had two each Something like.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I think we at least took two back legs, cause
there's a photo somewhere ofLeif on my hip and a stick over
my shoulder with two legs likebalancing on the stick.
I think we had that each.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
It's hard to find a solid stick.
You look like a little pink can.
Yeah, I saw that earlier showsup like a sore thumb, yeah,
anyway, the walk back across thecreek was rough.
It was at some point we justdecided we're getting wet.
Getting it wasn't worth therisk.
It was slipping off.
It wasn't waist deep, but itwould have been above knee thigh
(16:21):
deep.
Yeah, pretty nippy.
I don't remember what time ofyear it was, but it was January.
It was warm enough because wesaw a red snake.
It was a red bird, yeah, yeah,in the creek.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
We just, yeah, we were almost to the other side
and it was like back up blacksnake there.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah and it was passing the kids from rock to
rock.
Yeah, get your foot.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Pass the meat first.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, important stuff , yeah, yeah we don't wanna get
that wet.
From memory, I froze it andthen I jumped on the head now,
but I froze it and then I ran itthrough the bandsaw with full
frozen legs here on, yeah, anddid round snake steaks for the
dogs, yeah.
And man, that lasted ages causethey had frozen meat in summer
and then a ring of leather andthey played with that and chewed
(17:04):
that for days With their bit ofhair on it, had a mess of the
bandsaw cut through the hair.
We got across and regrouped andall the kids worried about was
snacks.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Oh yeah, I think I remember them, that's the number
one tip for taking kids huntingQuiet snacks, quiet snacks,
quiet packaging.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Mandarins are better.
They're in their own littlepackage.
Oranges are a bit messy, applesare even a bit crunchy.
Anything in a packet, no go.
Yeah, if you've got to take apacket, put it in a ziploc.
They're quieter.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, no chips hunting dad hacks yeah hunting
day 101 yeah, but I don't thinkI really remember that Like
every now and then, like theyremembered it afterwards, I
remember they both bring it up.
Yeah, my oldest would be likefeeding the goats down the road
from my parents' place and he'dbe like dodge come shoot the
goats and my dad's like no mate,not these ones.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Not these ones.
That was a great memory from us.
Yeah, these ones, that was agreat memory from us.
Yeah, it's a great memory forme.
Yeah, we should redo it, not onthat hill, not on that hill
I've got a property in mind.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
We can go and do some gentleman hunting.
This is gentlemanly hunting,this is gentlemanly hunting too.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yes, that's good fun.
Getting out with the kids yeah,I don't do it as often as I
should.
I'm a little bit too productiveminded knowing that there's a
lower chance always when youtake children I'm getting to the
stage now.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I don't think I'm going to be able to go without
my oldest in tow right and theyounger one he's almost three he
, um, he kicks up a stink whenwe go.
So it's getting to the pointthat's like he kicks up a stink
when we go.
So it's getting to the pointthat it's like I think it's just
gonna become a family thing Allof us go All in or none in?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, something like that.
But you've been hunting longerthan I have.
You got family memories,haven't you?
When you were a kid?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, like a bit Like just, I think I shot my first
rabbit when I was 12 with my dadand say, my uncle, but it was
his mate, um, on the property ofMerriwa, you know, under
spotlight 22 pretty classic sortof introduction to shooting.
(19:21):
You know, like they hand you a22 and you've never shot there.
You go, mate, shoot that rabbitout there.
You're like doing the wobble,doing the wobble, and then you
kind of like I'm just gonna haveto have a crack here and bang
and I headshot it.
They're like, yeah, headshotmate, killing it.
And I'm like, yeah, yep, that'swhat I meant.
(19:42):
Yep, that's exactly right, hitit.
Um.
And then more so like my, so myother uncle, so dad's brother,
um Jeff, he took me out a fewtimes um chasing rabbits with a,
yeah, like an old single barrelshotgun and um did a bit with
him.
Uh, so yeah, like someintroduction.
(20:06):
And then you know you startplaying sport and then you start
working and that sort of stuffand other stuff gets in the way.
So then I came back to it in myearly 20s.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Is it when you moved out west?
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, broken Hill, wasn't it?
Yeah, broken Hill hill.
But I'd wanted to for a whilebecause I had this idea that,
like I'm not comfortable eatingmeat that's, you know, may or
may not have been farmed underideal conditions and slaughtered
by somebody else.
Now, like I was interested inthe ethical and environmental
sort of aspects of it.
(20:42):
So I was like I'm gonna, I'mgonna get back into hunting and
that's going to be my thing.
And then I moved out west wherechances of hunting for meat
aren't great.
At that time goats were worthmoney, so you couldn't shoot
goats.
You don't really want to eatthe pigs out there after you've
seen what they've been eating.
No a dragon used to.
(21:04):
Yeah, yeah, I used to shoot theodd rabbit and eat that.
That's pretty good, um, butthen it was when I come back
home to the coast in theholidays and I chased deer,
started chasing deer centralwest central west oh, I wasn't
stuck, wasn't it?
yeah it, yeah, I was reallylucky.
One of Dad's mates had a coupleof hundred acres not too far
(21:31):
from home and introduced me andgave us access and shot my first
deer there, which was a prettycool experience for my old man.
He was next to you, he was withme, he spotted it actually, and
it was right on last light.
Right on last light and likelaying down in a patch of stink.
Was it this gun?
It was this gun.
It was this gun.
(21:51):
Yeah, two, four, three.
And you know, you're like Idon't even know if it's a thing
or if it's your brain tellingyou that you saw it, but when
you see it go down in the muzzle, flash.
But but when you see it go downin the muzzle, flash but yeah,
that's what I felt like, yeah,and then carried it out from
there.
That was a big carry out, likeit was only a like small size
(22:15):
block, but it was a big carryout back up the hill.
So that was, that was like acool introduction to hunting.
You know, it's always like thatwhen you introduce somebody to
hunting and you're like I don'twant it to be too easy, like you
don't want to just drive in apaddock and be like oh, there's
a stag there, smoke it.
It's like you got to earn it.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Like we didn't start with your red stag.
Yeah, yeah.
But I think on that topic, Ithink the personality of people
these days is the opposite.
If they don't get it easy andfast, yep, they drop off, yeah,
they lose interest.
I don't think I've got a bit ofthat on that personality, and
if I came at hunting from thestate forest point of view, I
(23:01):
don't think it would have lasted.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
You might not be dodged accurate.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
No, if you dodge it, I don't know, super cheap order
or something.
I don't know what I'd be doing.
Still be riding horses probably?
Yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, well, leading to thisquestion, I started asking I
don't know, they didn't ask itthe last one because he didn't
hunt but what do you?
What do you clarify as asuccessful I?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
know, like you and I've talked about those the
stages of hunting, and, like you, get to a stage you know people
I saw references to it theother day it's like it was a
study in the us and people getto a stage where it's the
experience, it's the being outin nature and stuff that they
class as a successful hunt.
(23:52):
But for me I can appreciatecoming out here this afternoon.
If we don't shoot anything,I'll be like this was still
awesome, sit on the side of thishill just having a chat,
looking for animals and that.
But you know, the hunts that Iremember are the ones where you
(24:16):
still drop something and itdepends too like it's all in
relation to your objective too.
You know, I was telling youbefore we started rolling.
I went out recently to cull somegoats with a couple of mates of
(24:38):
ours and for the last couple ofmonths these goats have been in
the same spot every time I'vebeen there and I was like I'll
come back with a couple of matesand we'll just clean them up
because the property owner wantsthem gone.
And you know Murphy's law ofhunting.
When we went there they weren'tthere.
So that was kind of like well,we didn't achieve what we set
(25:00):
out to achieve.
But you know, talking aboutstate forest hunting and stuff,
you can't set yourself likereally, especially if you're
just getting into it.
You can't set the objective ofa state forest hunt as I want to
kill something, I want to dropa deer, because chances are it's
(25:24):
not going to happen.
And if that's what yourcriteria is, you're going to be
easily discouraged as where ifyou kind of say I want to go out
and have a great experience andlearn, then that's going to
happen every time.
So yeah, I'm still at thatstage where you know I want to
(25:46):
go hunting, I want to getsomething, but I can still enjoy
it when I don't.
What about?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
you oh, death is success.
Death is success, yeah.
Yeah, I don't do many personaltrips anymore, just like me, by
myself, so those ones are.
I don't do many personal tripsanymore Just like me, by myself,
so those ones are deemed onsuccess.
Because I spend enough time inthe bush to enjoy that.
Yeah, when I go by myself, if Idon't shoot something, I'm
(26:21):
cranky.
Yeah, out there to dropsomething, I'm pretty lucky with
this block.
I have close to homeopportunity to harvest meat
pretty readily if I really wantto flick a spotlight around.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, or I can hunt it traditionally yeah, well,
that see, that's where I'm attoo, like I still enjoy the hunt
.
You know I'm not like I can goand do a bit of like walk around
spotlighting and stuff, butit's not really my preference
should do with your kid in thecar on your way home from school
(26:53):
, when you're packing the houseor something.
Yeah, yeah told that story inthe old potty.
But yeah, had the car fullypacked or something just drove.
You were moving from.
I've been staying in this placewhile doing renos, that's right
, and you're moving.
So I had like stuff back andforth and I'd been hunting in
that as well.
So I had like guns in dad'ssafe and then was taking them
(27:15):
back home and just swung by theproperty where the owner had
been seeing some deer and wentpast and said g'day to him and
like was driving out and waslike oh, there's two deer, two
deer there, and I was like whathappens if I get out?
What happens if I get a gun out?
And they're still standingthere.
I ended up smoking two fallowin the paddock with like my
(27:36):
youngest one asleep in the carand the other one in the car as
well, and then had to ring myvery understanding, very patient
wife and explain the situationto her and test that patience
and understanding.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
How do you deal with the misses?
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, how do?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I deal with the misses.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Circle back around Different misses and yeah, ended
up because the car was likefully packed with all our stuff
so had to drop the guts out ofthe two animals and it was like
this time of year it was prettycold.
You left them.
Them didn't you left them andthen came back that night after
settled back in and put the kidsto bed and stuff, and then went
(28:15):
back and grabbed them.
I think it put them in yourquarry.
It was like a big, big roundtrip.
My wife was not happy but sheunderstood.
It was a good opportunity tostock the freezer.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
But they don't come around all the time.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
No, no, that's the thing too like you talk about.
Like what's your criteria forsuccess?
Like sometimes I'll go out tomy local block and be like I
just want to go for like just afox whistle.
And this happened the other day.
I took my eldest huntingBecause he even asked me.
(28:53):
He said year dad, can we goshoot a fox?
I was like, yeah, yeah, we'llgo, we'll go before it gets too
cold.
We'll go, try and shoot a fox.
So I picked him up from school,rushed home, got changed,
grabbed the rifle, went up,didn't see a fox, spooked a deer
, went down the hill a littlebit more and then found this mob
of goats that we'd been tryingto find two weeks before.
(29:14):
And, um, I'm real like hesitantwith like taking kids hunting to
be like to like take them on acull.
It's like it's pretty, prettybrutal, yeah, really in their
face.
And especially if you'reculling and you're dealing with,
you know, young at foot oranything like that, it's pretty
confronting.
(29:34):
I don't know if I want to sortof subject my five, six-year-old
to that just yet, but I sort ofhad to turn around and be like
mate, put your earmuffs on, andhe had a big grin on his face
Every time I told him to put hisearmuffs on.
He knows that we're close toshooting something and he stands
there kind of like a gundog,shaking a little bit big smile
(29:56):
on his face.
And, yeah, I shot about fivegoats, but they were all pretty
good shots, so it wasn't likeNot too horrific, it wasn't too
horrific or anything, and Ialways sort of just like check
in with him.
He's like you alright.
He's like yeah, I'm likealright, I'm going to start
cutting some meat.
He's like okay, and he sits onthe side of the track eating
(30:19):
snacks, eating snacks and killerpythons, killer pythons jeez,
they've gotten smaller thesedays.
Yeah, they're not so killer.
I remember they were like adollar and they were like, yeah,
I remember going, yeah, likecorner shot and you're cute, and
they're like, yeah, long asyou're on.
Anyway, I want to segue there.
What's next?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Hashtag solo eater.
Been a while since that's comearound.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
So he sits there and watches, Sits there and watches
oh he his first Can I give you,can't hear the knife.
Yet His first deer that we shottogether, like I shot it just to
clarify like he was reallyinterested and there was a lot
of discussion around like why isthere so much blood?
(31:01):
Like how does the?
You know and you're explainingthis is how the heart works and
this is how your blood works andthis is what these bits are and
stuff like that.
He's very interested and youknow he was like holding a leg
for me while I was doing thecutting.
I think some of the cutting Igot him to do it like hand on
(31:23):
hand to do it, which was a goodexperience.
He didn't want to get his handsin the gut cavity.
I don't know why.
That's fair.
You've got to take them outwhen it's cold enough.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
I think it's not warm in there get your hands in
there, mate, warm up.
I don't think night time is agood time to do it.
I think it's got to be amorning stuff, so that you've
got the day Just to like.
You do need to take that time.
Yeah, you can do it.
It's much easier in day time.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Yeah, but then it's also like the early wake up,
depending on what your kids arelike.
That's where I find likeafternoon good, just like this
time of afternoon.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I'm pretty lucky now with that block close to home.
Yeah, very lucky, you're verylucky how that came about.
Yeah, I remember you're verylucky how that came about.
I remember you.
I remember you messaged me orrang me.
When we're talking about thefirst, oh, it's an opportunity.
It was leather work related,wasn't?
Speaker 1 (32:11):
it yeah, yeah, like I kind of knew, yeah, and reached
out for some leather work andstarted talking oh, you still
got that family property outthere and that snowballed into
multiple property access yeah,and I and I said to him many
deer out there.
He's like oh, the bloody deer.
And I'm like tell me more, mate, tell me more about your woes
(32:33):
we've seen that meme.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
I can't remember what movie it's from, but you know
hearing the farmer across theroom mentioned he's got a deer
problem, yeah, and he's likeignoring the 10 out of 10 hot
chicken.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Looking at the farmer that's the feeling, that's
right and yeah, and then, likehis family's, got a property up
north as well northern New SouthWales that now I've got access
to and yeah, it just justdevelops from there, so it's
been awesome.
I went up to that northernproperty about a month ago now
(33:06):
with Kyle, our mutual mutualfriend, kyle, mutual Kyle Mutual
Kyle Because he loves shootingpigs.
He's missing deer he's got adeer, he's got a little one.
He was going to get you to tellit.
Well, no, you can't tell it,he'll tell it, he'll have to
tell it.
Same before about, like whenyou take somebody hunting for
the first time Not that it washis first time, but because he
(33:31):
kind of actually like helped meget into it as an adult but like
first year you don't want it tojust be like roll in the
paddock and shoot it, like hedefinitely had to earn that
first year.
But yeah, that's a story forhim.
It's taken a few years, taken afew years.
A few years and a few closeopportunities and a few misses
and stuff.
But yeah, few years and fewclose opportunities and few
misses and stuff.
But yeah, you went north.
You know I went north and gotstuck in some pigs and some
(33:52):
goats and stuff.
So that was, that was a goodtrip.
That was right before hissecond job came, so it was like
the last hurrah before.
Um, I might as well come andjoin the podcast at this point
(34:19):
give it a whistle.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
I don't know what we've done with no hornets mate.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
I've had fallow.
You come into the whistle, I'msorry.
How'd you go up north?
How'd we go?
(35:22):
Good, you got on some pigs.
Yeah, that was the.
That was the.
That was the second time beingon that property.
Went up there just afterChristmas with Bo and Josh so
friends of the show and we gotonto some.
Oh well, I got onto a good pigand a good mob of goats and a
(35:46):
few foxes and stuff.
We had a really good first day.
We went up at Christmas, drovein.
I got him to a good pig, gothim a good mob of goats and a
few foxes and stuff.
We had a really good first day.
Like.
We went up at Christmas like,drove in, had two deer no, three
deer like run across the track,had shot this mob of billies
that first afternoon.
That evening sitting there atcamp with the property owner and
just finished dinner and theywere kind of like this and then
(36:09):
looked across on theneighbouring hillside and I'm
like that's a pig and I washeading towards his property.
I was literally just taking mylast mouthful of steak.
Talk it Run.
Joys of summer, long days.
Yeah, ran grabbed the gun andran across the paddock and sort
of worked out where he was goingto cross and headed this boar
(36:33):
off.
He was a pretty good boar,because I haven't done heaps of
pig shooting so I haven't shotany massive boars yet, so that
was a pretty good one.
And then when I went up withKyle recently, a good one.
And then, uh, yeah, when I wentup with with kyle recently, um,
didn't see anything the firstday and then started the um the
(36:57):
next day and I've been rainingall night.
The ground was really soft andstarted the next day and uh, saw
a fox within a couple hundredmeters and whistled that in and
shot it.
And then we just like took somepictures and stuff and then
turned around and I was like man, pigs and pigs trotting across
the paddock right towards us and, yeah, we lined those up and
(37:23):
got a few of those.
And then, yeah, I'm talkingabout the Christmas trip like
we'd had a really good first dayand then the next day shot
nothing and I think Josh and Bowere a bit dejected.
I said, right, let's go for afox whistle and it's a real good
(37:43):
property, like it's a longproperty and it's kind of like
we drove up to one rise, got out, had a whistle and when we,
we'd gone to jump in the car,but I would said I've never seen
it done successfully.
I was like what, fox whistling?
Yeah, it's like you're on mate,the pressure's on.
Challenge accepted, knowingthat, like january, like
december, january is a prettygood time to whistle them
(38:05):
because a lot of young onescoming out of the den they're
very young and dumb will come tothe whistle.
So we went for a bit of a driveand shot a couple of foxes.
So that was cool.
Kind of livened things up,perks up the mood does does Only
so much because I shot both, soyou didn't get the opportunity.
(38:28):
No, I had the shotgun.
So One of those things, yeah,and then.
So it's not a bad property upthere, it's just a bit of a
drive, but trying to get back upthere as much as possible.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
You referenced Nick Harvey earlier.
Yeah, talking about riders.
Yeah, sitting here with apublished author.
The current issue of SportingShooter magazine yeah, june 2024
, there's an article that MrAsher has penned a bit of a
(39:06):
nostalgic one.
Yeah, he can.
There used to be a saying thatI can read, but I don't.
This guy can write and read.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
I don't do either yeah, I mentioned earlier my, my
uncle.
That took me hunting a bitchasing rabbits with his old
single barrel.
And then when I moved out westfor work, that took me hunting a
bit chasing rabbits with hisold single barrel.
And then when I moved out westfor work and got my gun licence
and that he was getting to theage that he didn't really have
much use for a gun anymore, sohe signed the shotgun over to me
(39:41):
and I started using it out westand shot a few rabbits and
stuff and then didn't use it fora while.
There I've got a under overmorocco as well, which is pretty
good shotgun, um, so use that abit.
And then, just like last year, Iwas starting to see a few
(40:02):
rabbits around on the localproperty and I just had this
sort of sense of like, speakingof nostalgia, like this sense of
man I just want to go for a bitof a walk and just knock out a
few rabbits with the old singlebarrel.
And then I was like we talked abit before about riding
something, like we had MickMatheson, the editor, sporting
(40:23):
shooter, on the old potty andhad a real good chat with him
and Ben Unten, who's also awriter for the SSAA magazine and
I was always kind of like Ishould have a go at writing
something.
And so when I started knockingover a few rabbits and foxes and
that with the old single barrel, I was like, oh, there's a bit
(40:43):
of a theme here.
There's a bit of a theme here,you know, and almost a way, uh,
to sort of like do something tohonor my uncle.
He's still with us.
I'm not talking like past tensesort of thing, but um, but just
thanks, like, and I thinkthat's one of those things,
right, like you know, there'sall the nice things that you say
about people after they're goneand stuff, but like you should
(41:06):
go and say those things to themtoo when they're with you.
So I thought, you know, um, Imight as well write it now and
so that he can read it and sortof know what it means to me.
Because like that was all thatwas, like me getting my start in
hunting, like with that oldsingle barrel, um, and now it's
like it's, it's my passion, it'slike you know, it's sort of
(41:31):
what I, what I live for.
Like you know nothing I'drather be doing on the weekend
get out hunting, um.
So yeah, I wrote that articleand sent it to mick and a few
pictures and stuff and and he,he liked it and was happy to run
it.
And then, yeah, it's come outthis month and you know they're
(41:55):
always looking for contributors.
So someone out there with agood story and, very importantly
, the good pictures to go withthe story, as they say, got to
be good pictures.
Yeah, a picture paints athousand words.
So if you've got a good storyand and some good pictures to go
with it, write something up andsend it to Mick, so yeah,
(42:16):
that's, that's been good.
It's kind of like another sortof avenue where hunting is
taking me something you can doat home when you're not hunting.
Yeah, yeah, it's so.
You sit down after kids go tobed and a couple of pages, like
a couple hundred words.
Trouble with me is like I'mreal, like I'll procrastinate,
procrastinate, but then, once Istart next minute, it's like
(42:39):
midnight and I've written athousand words.
I'll be up for work in themorning um, math is like wind it
back, mate.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
It's not a book.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah, yeah, probably that's.
That's always my thing.
I send it to him and I'm likejust like tell me if there's
things I need to cut out orcondense or something have you
read the version he put out?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
because?
Speaker 1 (42:57):
they usually tweak it a little.
Yeah, it's pretty, pretty closeas far as I know, like there
wasn't anything that I read andI was like, oh, hang on, I
didn't like you've cut a bit out.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
They don't yeah they don't ad lib.
No, I know Anton's always saidthey, you know, he'll throw 10
jokes and then they'll removefive, not jokes, so much.
But anecdotes.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
He's a funny guy, not as funny as Ben, yeah, so I was
saying yesterday to somebody,because some of the boys were
talking about motorbikes andstuff, and they said, when are
you going to get a motorbike?
Speaker 2 (43:35):
and I'm like I don't need another hobby, that you
know I feel like that's arecurring conversation those
boys have with you at every kidsbirthday party.
Oh yeah, 100% wasn't this goosejust trying to sell his.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, he just sold his.
But then the other ones have,you know, planted troops and
stuff.
Yeah, right, but what I wassaying is like I like all my
hobbies to be connected.
So, unless I'm going to getlike a, a dirt bike with the
rock on the front, yeah, Iprobably wouldn't be getting a
motorbike.
But yeah, like doing the riding, doing a bit of leather work,
(44:09):
starting to get into reloading,like everything's sort of
connected.
That's a rabbit hole.
That is a rabbit hole.
It's a rabbit one.
Yep, yep.
And I'm like, like I saidbefore, like I procrastinate a
lot and I kind of suffer fromparalysis by analysis.
It's kind of like, fromparalysis by analysis.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
It's kind of like it's the opposite to that,
because I think that's me Likeall the gear, no idea, probably.
Just jump it in and Nah flyaround the scene, reload Nah,
just find a mate.
That's good enough to do that.
Shout out to Tom.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Tom's been helping me out.
We just have ongoing messengerthreads about this reloading
gear and do I need to do thisand do I need to buy that?
Speaker 2 (44:54):
Whereas I have a short messenger thread.
Tom got a 260.
He goes what do you got Nothing.
Okay, I'll buy it.
You pay for it.
Okay, here's 100 rounds, Thankyou.
He's telling me some details.
I'm like I don't need to know,as long as it shoots yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
No, I don't have enough mental capacity.
The good thing about talking tohim is he's got the like real
world experience yes, it's notpaper knowledge Like I read an
article and I'll be like, oh,I've got to.
Like I read that I've got toand do this like resize and this
(45:37):
and that.
And he's like, oh, you can dothis, but you can get away with
not doing that and, you know,just for hunting mode.
So it's been um, been goodhaving him as a sounding board
for some direction I'm going in.
So I'm gonna start reloadingfor the 243 soon and then my
3006 as well.
But you start getting into likerabbit holes and then that's
like, maybe I need a 28 nozzle.
I know a guy Maybe I need a 28nozzle so I can Test my
long-distance capability.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
I haven't really found out why I need one yet,
but I've got one.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
But you've got one, I've got one.
You know what they say betterto have it than not need it,
better to need it than not haveit.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
You know, I've got a few that I probably don't need
but have.
Yeah, I think I had someone inthe gun room the other day and
Grace comes in same age as youknow, she's five and she says,
oh, that's my gun.
And she's five.
And she says, oh, that's my gun.
I'm like, ah, just to clarify,it'll be yours when you're old
enough.
It'll be yours when you're oldenough, but there's a couple in
(46:33):
there that I blame on the kidsyeah, one for each kid.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yep, the 270.
Is that?
Bought it for the boys?
Speaker 2 (46:39):
yeah right yeah, so you can show me how to use it.
Yeah, my 270 I bought for thefarm and I haven't even put a
scope on it yet.
You got a scope for it?
No, no, I had the money at thetime for the gun.
Yeah, I'm like I'll get thescope when I get to it.
I haven't had the money since.
I've got extra money hangingaround.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Yeah, but, you know, what, as long as you keep them
well oiled and that they're not.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
They not depreciating value.
No, I've seen that happen inthe last five years everything
going up in value.
Yep, on the writing and thebook topic, as a non-book reader
myself and knowing that you'vegot a few, what's your favourite
?
I know you like some of yourold African stuff.
Yeah, I like the African stuff.
(47:27):
What's the nostalgic point ofview, peter Hathaway?
Speaker 1 (47:29):
capstick he's.
I know you like some of yourold African stuff.
Yeah, I like the African stuff.
What's the nostalgic point ofview?
Peter Hathaway capstick, he'sgood.
I always liked we mentionedNick Harvey before.
I always liked his articles Interms of books.
I like the Kiwi stuff as well.
There's a bloke a lot of peoplewould know of him Paul Paul,
(47:52):
john Michaels.
Paul Michaels, your podcast,the Deer Point.
Yeah, he's the, the blueprintguy.
He wrote a book about hisexperiences.
I think it's called HuntingLucky.
I think that's his book aboutlike possum trapping and deer
hunting and stuff for months onend with his dog.
(48:13):
I think that's sort of wherehis whole blueprint system came
from.
That was a really good read.
But yeah, I think my interestin Africa came from reading
Wilbur Smith, which is fiction,but he was a big game hunter and
an author and so when he wroteabout big game hunting he was
(48:37):
writing about pretty muchpersonal experience.
So that's sort of somethingthat I'd like to do one day in
Africa, next year, next year, Ireckon.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Good show, mate.
I got Anton talking to it.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
Oh yeah, That'll be his third trip.
Oh yeah, he might get his kuduthis time.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
That's what you want, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (48:58):
That's what I want.
I want a kudu.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
It'll tie a few good ones up.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
That's the thing about, especially like south
africa, like it's all game farm.
I know a lot of them are huge,but it's like they're all fenced
in some regards I think prettymuch all of them but without
sort of experiencing it youdon't know sort of what
comfortable with, I guess andand there's no guarantees
(49:31):
talking about Anton he's heprobably said it on the other
podcast.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
He said it a thousand times that he shot just as many
kudu as my grandma just none.
And he's been.
He's been to Africa twice andchased kudu significantly.
Yeah, seen some just.
And he's been to Africa twiceand chased kudu significantly.
Yeah, seen some just missedopportunities or juvenile or
whatever People think Africa'sslam dunk To slam dunk, you'll
(50:00):
shoot something.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yeah, and there are places where you know it's like
very small paddocks and stufflike that, like there's those
places that you can go to, butyeah, that's not what these guys
are after.
Yeah, that's not the norm.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
What's the time?
We move around the corner.
Yeah, it's five o'clock.
I'm going to take a pause,pause the video.
I'm going to move around thecorner and set up and try
another spot.
I need to walk before my legschatter off.
I'm gonna take a pause, pausethe video.
I'm gonna move around thecorner and set up and try
another spot.
I need to walk, for my legschatter off.
Yeah, put another layer on.
I don't have a layer to put on.
Stand up and scare a fox away.
(50:39):
Yeah, probably that walmart'sstill there, I don't know.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,
(51:10):
beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
So we move spots, we just movespots.
(51:49):
I had a Russell from Carl'spocket Turned out he bought a
couple spare killer pythons leftover from the heat hunt.
You thought it was too cold forsnakes, too cold for proper
snakes.
Yeah, never too cold for akiller python.
We just threw the whistle out.
We actually saw a fox start offin this spot when we pulled up
(52:12):
in the car, so bit of a lastlight chance before we call it.
Yeah, how'd you go this year onthe rut?
Now we're really running out oflight, yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
That's all right.
Now I want to see our faceanyway Nah.
That's why I just go start.
Speaker 2 (52:30):
Face for radio.
I'd see it, me, not you.
Both of us mate.
Anyway, it's happened twice now.
Yeah, camera just fell over.
I'm going to delete that part.
What happened in that downtimewas Carl, supplied with killer
pythons, very much appreciatedAsked him where his rut was
going, then he talked me throughthat story and now he's going
to start again.
Yep, so that was a rut for you,carl.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
Yeah it was good.
Um, I didn't shoot a monster oranything, um, but in terms of
like that sort of criteria ofsuccess we talked about earlier,
it was successful.
It was, um.
This is the third year I'vehunted this local property I've
got access to, and, um, Ihaven't shot a buck on there yet
(53:14):
until this year.
And I shot a nice chocolatebuck, uh, that was.
It felt a bit like I wasstarting to um, you know, play,
play the game with him, playthat cat and mouse.
Um, I was picking him up on thetrail cameras, um, and he
seemed like a pretty aggressivebuck too.
He was like terrible antlers,like you'd call him a cull.
(53:37):
For sure, no palms kind offorky looking things.
Apparently, there's a fair bitof like mesogenetics in that
area.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
What's that out of interest?
Not out of interest because Idon't have the answer For the
listeners.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
Mesopotamian, or what do they call them?
Uh, persian, persian fellow umwhich they were sort of
introduced.
The genetics were introduced insome places because they're a
bigger bodied animal worseantlers, depending on how you
look at it, like like, comparedto a traditional classical
fallow, like antlers aren't asgood.
(54:16):
But bigger body size, so bettercarcass weight for deer farming,
but they make a mess of fallowgenetics when they cross yeah
yeah, so, but then the one thatI ended up shooting was a
chocolate buck, which is notnecessarily like a meso, but
maybe had mesogenetics in there,or or maybe it's just poor
(54:36):
genetics and that's why theantlers are like that, but they
were far, pretty close to therethough, yeah yeah, it's.
yeah, it would make sense.
And there were ones that I goton camera that you looked at me
like yeah, definite may so, butthat was early in the run and
then that like that full looking, that meso looking one
disappeared as I think thebigger boys moved in, even like
later in the rut.
So, yeah, I shot this nicechocolate buck that I'd seen on
(54:58):
trail camera like chasing otherbucks away and stuff like he was
very aggressive.
And when I shot him I sort ofcame down the hill and, um, sort
of heard something move off inthe scrub, sound like maybe
antler brushing timber, and hekind of popped out of the scrub
and was looking at me like hewanted to staunch me because I
(55:20):
had like rifle over the shoulder, shooting sticks in front of me
, because I had my shootingsticks.
This time, don't you?
That's what you didn't miss.
I did, yeah, and he was lookingright at me and I was watching
my thermals go towards him.
I could see my breath goingtowards him with the thermals.
I was like he's going to spookand then I'll see if I can get a
chance.
And he started running and Igave him a few meh, meh, meh
(55:44):
sort of doe calls to try andpull him up and in that time I
swung the gun up onto the sticksand chambered one and got him
to look back and put one in theboiler room and then he ran a
bit more and went down and, likeI said, like the head, you know
, you talk about trophies andlike we had a conversation a
(56:06):
while ago about the trophies inthe eye of the hunter, really
like what you class as a trophy,and for me, like I was stoked
because that was the first buckon that property, it was taken
in the rut, like it was a coolbuild up, it was a just a crack
in the morning, like it was.
It was very cool.
And then I shot another buck onthat property.
(56:26):
Uh, similarly, like he wasquite aggressive and I just
checked the trail camera andseen two really good, mature,
like good racks on them, um,bucks on the on the camera.
And I was coming back up thehill.
I did this full, you know bigwalk around the property coming
back up the hill and I just sawthis like flash of antler coming
(56:48):
through the, the scrub and Ijust plonked myself down the
middle of the track and then Igot eyes on him and realized
that he had one good antler andone like nub, and I was like, ah
, you know he's not one of theones on the camera, but he was
still cool and he was comingtowards me.
And when he saw me, same thingwhen he saw me in the track, he
like came towards me Cause he Iguess he figured I was another
(57:09):
buck and, um, shot him Cause youI guess he figured I was
another bark and shot him.
Was he 6'3"?
I was kneeling down in the backof a truck, 6'1".
I plumbed my back down andknelt behind that.
So, yeah, got him, which I did,the like half head sort of
mount, like cut the Euro mountright down the middle.
(57:30):
So I'm going to mount it to abit of timber and and put that
on the wall, which is sort ofinteresting, yeah, so like, yeah
, successful, right, um, and youknow I didn't catch up with the
, the bigger boys, there was onereal cracking buck.
I got on camera and uh, but hewas only coming through like
middle of the night.
So and for reference.
Speaker 2 (57:50):
It's a pretty small block, yeah, and not that far
from a lot of houses.
Speaker 1 (57:55):
Yeah it's in a rural area, yeah we're not talking
farmland, yeah thousands ofacres.
Yeah, exactly.
So the bucks are sort of onlythere for the rut and then they
disappear into a larger propertythat I don't think is hunted.
So I'm kind of like, oh well, Ididn't catch up with them this
year, but high chance I'll seethem.
Yeah, at least they were theones spreading their genetics
and maybe I'll catch up with himnext year, I feel like that
(58:16):
here too, yeah, if I miss oneprior to someone moving in here.
Speaker 2 (58:22):
But there was an opportunity that I'd see him
again and I did.
I saw particular bucks severaltimes over several years, yeah,
and that just builds to thestory of them.
I don't run cameras, yeah, butbe cool to see that guy again
next year.
Yeah, and you can judge, youknow, is he going forward or is
he coming backwards, or yeah.
Speaker 1 (58:43):
Yeah, there was another really nice chocolate
buck on the camera that had areal nice shape rack, and I
think he'll only get better, soit'd be good to catch up with
him.
Speaker 2 (58:51):
The other tricky part about that block is you're
essentially there to get rid ofeverything.
Yeah, it's a biobank block orsomething, isn't it?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (58:57):
yeah.
Speaker 2 (58:58):
So the owner's like shoot everything, you see, you
know.
But If they're two standingnext to each other, you're like,
oh, just miss one, just shootone.
Hey, it's hard, whereas here,yeah, you can be selective yeah,
because the owner likes the, weleave them here.
Speaker 1 (59:12):
But you know what?
The bucks are only on thatproperty for the rut.
So it's like I'm out there tohunt them during the rut.
If they're there, I'll shootthem, um, you know, and then
through the year I'll try andcull a few does, which is
basically what you want to bedoing for population management
anyway, so that it works and atthe end of the day, you're just
happy to have access, happy tohave access, access close to
home.
Speaker 2 (59:32):
What are you doing with them when you shoot them?
What's your favorite?
I know you're a recipe man, youknow.
Speaker 1 (59:36):
Yeah, well, I know you and I, our favorite cutter
is the shoulder Shoulder.
I know we've joked that like ifyou come through the bush.
You know, sometimes you comethrough the bush and you'll find
a car of deer with just theshoulders.
Speaker 2 (59:53):
That can you know yeah, sure, been out for a while
when I had the.
Uh, when I first set up thecool room, the cost was a
shoulder.
Yeah, everyone's like oh, youknow, whatever, you can have one
.
Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Yeah, I'm like yeah, you guys are wasting it on the
back legs, yeah, and that's whyI'm like a big fan of the behind
the shoulder shot.
Yes, like I know there's achance they might run a bit
further because you're notbreaking the shoulder.
Just in front on the neck, yeah, or just in front of the neck.
Neck shot's good at closerrange.
Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
I've been doing a fair bit of high neck stuff,
especially on goats, and Italked Alex into it and he's
been doing it quite successfullyand enjoying it.
He'd never really considered it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Yeah, that was me the other day when I culled those
goats with the young bloke, likethey were very close.
Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
The 243 with a like SST projectile.
Do yourself a favour next time.
Next time you shoot something,no matter where you shoot it.
When it's dead on the ground,lay it on its side and work out
where you should aim for a highneck shot.
Look at where the vertebraecome into the neck cause.
It's not high, like I call it ahigh neck shot, but it's not
close to the back line.
It's a little bit lower becauseit drops down in through the
chest cavity a bit.
Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
You're talking about a high shoulder shot, yeah I'm
talking about a high neck shot,no, just in front of the
shoulders, where the neck yeahjoins the shoulders, when I'm
doing like a neck shot I'm oftenaiming for, like behind the
base of the yeah basis.
Yeah, right now I'm backfurther than that, like if I'm
going to take a chance with thatshot.
Yeah, that's where I'm going.
(01:01:16):
Do yourself a favour, though,and skin it out, bone it out lay
it on its side and think, ohyeah, that's where I'd have to
aim.
So what are you saying?
Like the vertebrae runs.
Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
Because it comes off the back of the head and it's,
you know, in the centre part ofthe neck.
But as the neck sort of fansout, it doesn't stay in the
center, it drops down closer asit.
It's closer to the bottom thirdof the neck because there's a
bit of meat above and there isbone in there, but it's that
vertical bone that comes upwhich, if you hit them, they do
(01:01:45):
drop, but they often hop up andrun away you have to be prepared
.
Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
It's not fatal again it's only a wounded sort of just
like flicks that vertebrae andit's it's like a concussion.
Yeah, um, but speaking ofrecipes like that, that
choccybuck I shot um, you hadmentioned um on here a few
episodes ago about neck meatyeah and um, just boning out
that neck and I've.
You know I don't even have alot of meat animals.
(01:02:10):
So you're shooting likeyearlings and does and stuff.
There's not a lot of meat onthere.
So you're shooting likeyearlings and does and stuff.
There's not a lot of meat onthere.
But when you shoot a buck and arat, that's a good bunch of meat
that you get off there.
So I did a lot of because, likeI say, in shoulders, I like the
pulled meat, I like doingragout.
That's a staple in my household.
Once my wife started eating theragout and the kids started
(01:02:32):
eating the ragu and the kidsstarted eating the ragu, I was
like we're on here, got thegreen light to go hunting more
often keep taking shouldersdefinitely helps when you can
feed it with the slow cook neck.
Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
I don't even bone it out, so I'll just with that red
stag that I shot up in Nundle.
I cut it off in front of theshoulders and then at the base
of the skull, I took my wholething as is, dropped it in the
slow cooker luckily it fittedtook the esophagus out and
things and then, as it'sfinished cooking, you just pull
the bones out and it leaves afair bit of flavor coming from
(01:03:04):
the you know the bone.
It's like cooking anything.
Bone gives a bit more residualflavor.
Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
So two takeaways from that um time you're talking.
Talking about the neck meat onthat episode you also talked
about cooking a bunch of pulledmeat and like portioning it up,
and that's what I did with theneck and then did some as like
barbecue pulled venison on rolls.
Because once it's slow cookedand pulled, you can use it
(01:03:28):
however you want to use it, yeah, and I kind of kept the stock
from it too, and the amount oflike gelatinous, fatty sort of
material tissue in there givesyou a real good idea about how
much like collagen and stuff isin the neck, which is that stuff
that cooks down and gives youthat real nice, silky, beautiful
(01:03:50):
pull.
Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
It's the lamb shank kind of.
Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
Yeah yeah, the tendons turn to jelly, and when
I run out of shoulders becauseyou know you only get two per
animal and sometimes theshoulders got a bullet in it um,
I'll bone out the shanks anduse them in a ragu, because if
you get that acts the same.
Um, sorry, it acts the same.
Yeah, yeah, it's the same.
It's full of all that likecollagen and stuff that cooks
down.
(01:04:12):
Um, so it's, it's good too.
Um, what else have I beencooking?
The?
Um jagger schnitzel, yourfavorite yeah, that's a big
favorite of mine, which is youcan do it either as like a
crumbed, like traditional sortof schnitzel, you can do it as
just like a fillet.
Often I use backstrap and cutlike butterfly medallions, so
(01:04:36):
you sort of like cut through andthen cut almost all the way
through, and then cut throughand then lay them down and
hammer them out.
I like to crumb them and thenyou make a sauce that is bacon,
mushrooms, onions.
You make like a red wine, whichis you make like a red wine,
which is interesting, like a redwine gravy, and then add cream
(01:04:56):
to it as well and it's just.
Yeah, that's phenomenal, thatsauce.
Just do a Google on that recipe.
Jager schnitzel with a J it's aGerman, as in Jager Meister.
As in Jager Meister, as in,yeah, jager meaning hunter.
So I think traditionally theydo it with wild boar.
I've got I've now got a bit ofwild boar backstrap in the
(01:05:17):
freezer.
Pork schnitzel's a thing Porkschnitzel is a fantastic thing I
have to borrow my.
Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
I recently invested in the and I will say I bought
it for the jerky slicer.
Yeah, the Carnivore Collectivejerky slicer.
Yeah, you sort of have you seenit.
You feed, you cut yourself asteak 25 mil thick and you put
it in the top and you crank theshaft and it pulls it through in
five mil slices and slices itAh right, but it has set of
(01:05:42):
blades that if you take thoseout and you put them in and it's
just fingers so they go in andtenderise so you can put your,
you do a bunch of schnitzels,schnitties through and a free
tender like it just goes in andchops up a heap of fibres.
Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
And that's the thing too, like I know you and I spoke
about this recently too like alot of people going like, oh you
know, ruddy bucks, take theirhead, don't even bother taking
the meat.
And I found, you know, from youand a few other people like
Rick saying as well, like agingback straps and stuff.
So you know, a few days to acouple of weeks, either wet
(01:06:19):
aging in the vac seal or you cando the sort of dry aging in the
fridge at home.
Oh, the meat's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
Anton proved a point to me and feel free to argue
with him.
We were up chittle hunting andwe shot something that day and
we took the backstrap off and Isaid let's eat it and he goes no
, I said let's eat it, he saidit'll be chewy.
And we did an AB comparison.
Like we did it that night andwe did it three nights later.
(01:06:48):
Huge difference, hugedifference.
Not rested at all.
Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Very chewy Because you've got to let it go through
your mortars and come out theother side.
Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Yeah, and it just didn't happen.
And you see people, it's a bitdifferent if you're living off
the land and whatnot and youjust want to throw something on
the grill.
But if you see meat eater, doit, it's the ribs.
Yes, like they're not doing amuscle or something.
Yes, like they're not doing amuscle or something.
They're cooking something onthe fire.
That's the organs or the ribsthat don't really need to do
(01:07:17):
that.
Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Generalization progress yeah, the organs are
definitely a lot of people'sgo-to first aid consumption
liver or heart because, yeah,same thing, it doesn't have to
go through that musclerelaxation.
But I'm, like, I'm not a hugeheart fan.
I know a lot of people talkabout it and I sometimes wonder
how much of it is a bit of thatlike march up, like yeah hook
into the heart, mate.
Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
It's the best beer you know.
My general comment is nah justeat the real meat.
I agree with that.
Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
The best way I've had it.
I shot a yearling out in astate forest with a mate one
time and I took the heart.
And that night I was sitting onthe hillside watching the moon
rise and it was on a yearlingheart, quite small, and we
sliced it and battered it withegg and we didn't have any
breadcrumbs, we had likePringles or Doritos or something
(01:08:07):
, and crushed them up andcrumbed them in that and fried
them in butter and just satthere on the hillside eating it.
That was like if all heart waslike that, I'd be a heart
convert.
Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
Do you think, though, that I think things taste
different depending on thesituation?
100%, we're in the bush, we'veshot it.
Yeah, we're having some greatmemories.
Yeah, it's doused in Pringles.
Yeah, but if you did that athome on a Saturday night with
your wife, you're probably notgonna get the same level of yeah
, you're insane.
Yeah, speaking of insane,pretty late and cold.
(01:08:40):
It is getting pretty late andcold.
It's actually not as cold hereas it was when we sat on the
other's face.
It's definitely dark.
If you're watching, you'veprobably seen us dwindle into
the darkness.
We haven't moved.
I can see your illuminatedready.
I can see you've turned it off.
Anyway, thanks for coming out.
Tonight.
Didn't shoot anything.
(01:09:02):
Saw 3000 wombats, giantkangaroo.
Saw a fox.
Some deer on the drive in saw afox.
It was admittedly as soon as wepulled up and pulled the
handbrake on.
Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
Yeah, he was a good size one too, he was a big boy.
Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
I haven't shot many out here.
I'd like to get a full wintercoat one and do a full body
mount.
Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
That's the challenging thing, right?
The worst time to whistle themis middle of winter, when they
look the best and when they'relooking the spotlight run with
the thermal?
Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
Yeah, maybe.
Yeah, I'd have a thermal, butJack's borrowed it and he's not
home yet.
So if he makes it home, anyway,thanks for coming on.
Thanks for having me.
Welcome back again.
It's been a long round trip.
Yeah, now it's good to get onand have a chat again.
Yeah, we chat all the time, butthese sorts of chats are a bit
(01:09:50):
different.
Until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening.
Yeah, thanks a lot.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides.  Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer  Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.