The Art of Magpie Goose Hunting: Tips, Tricks, and Cultural Insights

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
What are they coming for Food?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I really don't know why they come.
The flood plains where thehunting reserve is on, they are
time of year as well, butthey'll come and feed on water
chestnuts.
I think an early one is stillthe screamers.
I'm not too sure of the.
I think Americans are morefamiliar with the type of bird,

(00:35):
the screamers.
I don't think we have many ofthat species or that family in
Australia.
So, yeah, I reckon the averagethat's my average is around 150
birds.
So that, yeah, I reckon theaverage that's my average is
around 150 birds.
So that would be a lot.
Most people are just shootingon weekends.
I probably shoot maybe three,four times a week.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Welcome back to another episode.
Accurate Hunts A Life Outdoors,and tonight, or today, I should
say, we have David Roberts withus.
Thanks for joining us, Dave.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
It's a pleasure.
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
No, worries, and Dave comes from a little old town up
north called Darwin and he'sliving just outside of Darwin,
but he runs a group calledDarwin Goose Hunters.
Is that correct?
Yes, that's right, calledDarwin Goose Hunters Is that
correct?
Yes, that's right, Darwin GooseHunters yeah, and it's
something I I mean for us guysdown south.
Our bird hunting sort of seasonis under threat, and especially

(01:38):
those in Melbourne and what'shappening down there, and you
guys just seem to be having aball up there and it's about to
kick off again.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, that's right.
We've been really lucky in theNorthern Territory.
And look, darwin is a specialplace when it comes to hunting.
As you know, you spend a bit oftime up in the Northern
Territory.
Everybody hunts, everybodyhunts up here.
Everybody loves hunting.
We don't have those, I guess,the pressures from the

(02:07):
anti-groups, like you guys dodown south.
So, yeah, we're about to kickoff our Mad Pogoose season.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
And that's, is it 26, ?
I think you said.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Probably 26.
So they always started on aWednesday midweek.
I think that leaves a bit ofpressure because everybody wants
to start the season off, sothey started it on the weekend
with too many people, so theyalways started off on.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Wednesday Interesting choice because I mean they do
the same thing in Victoria andthat's something that comes up
regularly.
You know why is it theWednesday start, and I
personally thought it was alittle bit more to do with the
anti-hunters down there, but Ididn't realise you guys chose a
Wednesday as well.
But I'm pretty sure there's alot of people having that day
off work, is there?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
That's it.
It's probably so Parks andWildlife don't have to pay
overtime on the weekends as well.
I can imagine.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
That'd be yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
And a lot of people have the day off.
I've got five weeks off for thegoose season.
Start of the goose season.
I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
That's some dedication.
We'll get into the goosehunting and things in a lot of
detail, but I want to know aboutthe geese themselves.
So they're called a magpiegeese, but are they like?
What are they doing year roundand why are they so many of them
in Darwin right now?

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, no, it's really interesting.
They're not in Darwin all thetime.
They don't sit in Darwin allyear round, so they move around,
go out to the nesting sites.
And there's nesting sites overto the east of Darwin near the
Adelaide River, going over toKakadu and places like that.

(03:53):
That's a large nesting siteover there and there's also a
nesting site over to the westover near the Daly River, over
near the Daly.
River yeah, around the Finnisharea there's a big nest inside
over there.
You don't see any magpie geesein Darwin for the whole dry
season and it's a real change ofthe seasons and you can mark

(04:18):
when the dry season, the wetseason, is coming and you see
the cycle of Darwin and one ofthose cycles, going from the dry
season to the build-up, are themagpie geese arriving in Darwin
.
There's none whatsoever.
Next week there'll be hundreds,hundreds everywhere, in the

(04:40):
parks, in the local footy fields, in the local orchards.
They just seem to just come inone big dump.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
And what are they coming for food?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
No, I really don't know why.
They come the floodplains wherethe hunting reserve's on.
They are good floodplains aswell, and depending on the time
of year as well, but they'llcome and feed on water chestnuts
and they have a big problem ofmagpie geese going into the

(05:13):
mango orchards as well.
There's a big cull program aswell to get rid of them out of
the mango orchards.
It did quite a bit of damage soI'm not a great fan of it.
I haven't really participatedin any of the cull hunts up
there in the mangoes farms.
I prefer to chase the birds andunderstand the bird and move

(05:33):
around.
You know how many.
It would be good fun.
Don't get me wrong.
You would probably get a lot ofbirds for the freezer, but I
prefer chasing them aroundDarwin area, around around their
local hunting reserves.
We're really lucky.
We have hunting reserves quiteclose to Darwin City itself.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Are they a native or are they migratory coming?

Speaker 2 (06:01):
No, they do.
They can migrate from Papua NewGuinea, but it's not a massive
influx from Papua New Guinea.
But it's not a massive influxfrom Papua New Guinea.
They do meet up in Papua NewGuinea as well, but the main
flock would be from Australia.
They've got a broad range andyou'll notice that sometimes you
get reports of them down in NewSouth Wales, on the east coast,

(06:25):
down the east coast ofQueensland, but also there was
originally a flock down inVictoria when white settlement
first came, and then they werejust easy to catch so they got
wiped out.
But now they've re-establishedthem down there in Victoria as
well.

(06:45):
So I can imagine that they justfollow from the northern parts
of Australia down the GreatRiver systems like the Darling
River system.
You know they move around andso many of them.
There's estimated to be aroundabout 2.5 million in the
population up here and thatfluctuates depending on weather

(07:06):
conditions, water conditions,all those types of things.
So it fluctuates and that'swhat sets our bag limits as well
and they do a survey each yearand then they'll set a bag limit
from there.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
And what has that bag limit been in previous years
and what is it this year?

Speaker 2 (07:24):
This year seven, seven, and we're allowed 10
ducks, depending on what speciesyou get, but seven.
We used to have a bag limit of10, which is really good like 10
is a good number.
But then we had some really badwet seasons and there wasn't
much water around.

(07:44):
They did the survey and I don'tknow the survey's a little bit
questionable about how they didit, but anyway, that's a bit
political.
But then we went down to athree bird bag limit and that's
if you get out of bed at fouro'clock in the morning for three
bird bag limit, it's a struggle.
And then you end up shootingthe bag limit at five minutes a

(08:11):
three birds and you're off home.
Uh, there I mean, there aresome benefits because you know
if somebody was already in yourspot when you got there, you
knew he's going to be finishedin five minutes.
You could just get straightinto his spot.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
So there was one benefit out of that there.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
There was a big protest in Darwin when they
pushed the limit down to three,because goose hunting is a
massive cultural thing up herein the Northern Territory.
You don't be messing with ourbirds.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
Besides, you know your culture and things.
Obviously, there's traditionalAboriginal culture related to
geese hunting.
What's the history there?

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Obviously, we've been doing it forever oh, they've
been doing it forever.
Well, magpie geese, it's anunusual bird.
It's the last one remaining ofits species.
It goes back millions of years,the species itself and on the
evolutionary chain or tree.

(09:07):
It was the first branch off.
Everything went underneath it.
There were ducks, swans, othergeese, but magpie geese was the
first branch.
The magpie geese that we haveup here is one of the only
remaining type of its specieshere in the Northern Territory
or in in the world in theNorthern Territory.

(09:28):
So a really unique bird.
We call it a goose, but is itreally a goose?
I think it probably got thatgoose sort of label from its
honking noise.
It's very similar to whatAmericans and other people
expect from geese, but itdoesn't have webbed feet.
It actually has like a clawedfoot and it can roost.

(09:49):
Sorry, it doesn't nest in trees, it can roost in trees at night
, which is neither geese doesthat.
So it's really unusual.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
If it wasn't a goose, what would you call it?

Speaker 2 (10:03):
I don't know.
I think an early one is pivotscreamers.
If it wasn't a goose, whatwould you call it?
I don't know.
I think an early one is calleda screamer.
I'm not too sure of the.
I think Americans are morefamiliar with the type of bird
the screamer.
I don't think we have many ofthat species or that family in
Australia, but it's totally inits own branch.
It's totally different.

(10:24):
There's no other bird like it.
There's no two types.
There's no regional variationsfrom country to country.
That's it.
That's what it is.
So it's a very unusual bird andAboriginal.
I mean the local Larrakiapeople here in Darwin love the

(10:44):
magpie geese and love the magpiegeese.
They're allowed to shoot themall year round.
But, like I was saying, theyonly come into Darwin this time
of year, so they will only comeinto the hunting reserve or
these parts of Darwin now.
So yeah, they don't shoot themall year round, so they'll

(11:07):
really only shoot them the localguys when they come into the
Darwin area.
Guys out in Cafferty willprobably be shooting them all
year round, but when you've gota population of about 2.5
million it's all right.
I think they can deal with alittle bit of pressure.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Circling back to your bag limit conversation.
That's a per person per day.
Yeah, yeah.
So do we know rough estimateson how many are harvested?

Speaker 2 (11:33):
per year.
There's around about 2,500registered waterfowl hunters in
the Northern Territory or in theDarwin area.
You are supposed to fill out aharvest return at the end of the
year For me.
I go hunting a lot and I wouldprobably shoot maybe 150 birds a

(12:01):
year, so I can imagine I'm nota great shot.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
I'm never proclaimed to be a great shot.
Do you think that's sort of theaverage for guys that you know
hunt the whole season, or do youthink that's above average?

Speaker 2 (12:14):
I would say it's above average.
I think I'd probably go huntinga little bit more than the
average guy.
I'm definitely an averageshooter.
I'm no great shooter um.
I'm definitely an averageshooter.
I'm no great shooter um.
So I reckon yeah, I reckon theaverage.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
That's my average is around 150 birds.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
So that would be a lot I I would.
I most people are just shootingon weekends.
I probably shoot maybe three,uh four times a week.
I'm lucky and I can do itbefore work.
Um, and that's what's goodabout that, when you can get
down and do a hunt and make itinto work and do a full day's
work as well.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
I just did a quick Google check while we were
talking, but it said you weretalking about it before.
The magpie goose is the soleliving representative species of
the family and I'm going tobutcher this.
I'm horrible.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
That's the reason I didn't say it.
I read up on it as well, but Ididn't want to try to know.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Answer and today.
Answer and todayA-N-S-E-R-A-N-A-T-I-D-A-E.
Now don't ask me to spell itever again and I'll just do a
quick Google at some point abouthow many do we think are
harvested each year.
But it's refreshing to hearthat you guys are really getting

(13:33):
into it and as a city it hasthis real culture around it.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
It really is and you know we talk about places in
Europe and other places whichhave a food culture and it
really is.
It's a food culture up here andit's a wild harvest food
culture.
And when goose season is comingit's the first.
You have the dry season wherefishing is okay.
You can still get a little bitof fishing, but goose season is

(14:01):
the first step from dry seasongoing into the buildup and
people start to talk about goosehunting.
Um, you, everybody goose huntsup here.
It's amazing the diversity ofpeople.
On my page you can get fromevery nationality.
Darwin is a very multiculturalum place.

(14:21):
You know we have a very bigGreek population up here.
They love hunting.
Obviously we have an Aboriginalpopulation, one of the biggest
in Australia up here.
We have English or Anglo-Saxon.
We love their hunting up here.
You have a very bigChinese-Asian population up here
.
They're all into it and and youget whole diverse range of ages

(14:45):
as well and you might moretypically think well, you know
hunting people, men between 18to 45 or something, but I did
see I get young girls on my page.
I get families on my page.
It's a real people stop you inthe street.
They know you're a goose hunterand one of your friends.
I'll stop you in the street.
They know you're a goose hunterand one of your friends.

(15:06):
They'll stop you in the streetand ask you do you have any
goose?
Or what are you doing in thegoose season?
You're a goose hunter.
They're like well, what'shappening?
Are you going to get some goose?
Have you got any spare stuff?
Because you can't buy it.
There's one company that sellsit, the Motlot family, the ASL
football players, but anywaythey've got a license.

(15:28):
The Aboriginal family up hereand they've got a license to
sell it.
It's a bit expensive.
It's like $50 a bird andnormally they run it through
like a wild harvest place inSouth Australia.
$50 a bird is a lot.
But other than that, you haveto go get it yourself.
You can't barter, you can't ityourself.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
You can't barter, you can't buy it, you can't sell it
.
There's not many foods likethat left in the world.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
No, and look, it's a real, like I said.
I think, like I said, we talkabout Europe and their food
culture.
I think it's probably one ofthe only real food cultures left
in Australia where you know, atime of year comes, a harvest
comes, birds come in, people gettheir freezers full and eat it

(16:12):
for the rest of the year.
You know, I love it, I love it.
That's one of the main things Ilove about the magpie geese
harvest.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
I definitely love my food as well and I'll get into
that here in a little bit.
I just was Googling while wewere talking and it's saying
that up to 18% of totalpopulation is taken annually by
hunters, with an estimate of 130to 360, it's very vague birds

(16:42):
per year, with many of thosebeing taken by Aboriginal people
.
It's considered sustainable.
The estimated take by huntersduring the hunting season is
around 60,000.
Well, that's a bit low.
Yeah, that's 2009.
That might have been whenyou're at low.
You know, three per person.

(17:04):
And then it's saying anotherestimate here is 50 to 150 per
year.
So and contributingapproximately 1.2 million to 2
million to the NorthernTerritory's economy each season.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah, and I think you could do more.
And really that's one of thethings I try and push on the
page is people coming up toshoot up here in the Territory
and I've had a lot of messagesand people asking from down
south come over to the NorthernTerritory if they want to shoot,
because I think they get thatpressure from the lobby groups

(17:39):
and the activists down there inthe south and they want to come
up to a place where they'reunharassed and and they can
enjoy their hunting and um.
So northern territory offersthat and I think that you know
it's a very big um fishingculture up here.
But I think that hunting couldtake not overtake it, but
complement be on par.

(18:01):
Yeah, we'll be the season, thedifferent season.
You know barramundi season, youhad the waterfowl season and
that, you know, just links upand it'll be great for tourism
and, as you know, hunters spendmoney not to spend money.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
That's true.
There's a, there's a meme thatgoes around.
It's um.
It said the average personspends x amount on their hobby
per year.
And there's a picture of ahunter in the corner like are
you kidding?
Like don't tell my wife.
It's not a cheap sport, that'sfor sure.
You said earlier aboutregistered hunters.
What's required to become?

(18:35):
Is there a you know?
Bird identification like ourwit test we have down here or
not?

Speaker 2 (18:42):
No, we don't have any of that, you just need to apply
online.
They do have, I mean, enoughliterature for bird
identification, but there's notest like you guys have down
south, and you can apply onlineas well and you can get a permit
for, I think, five years, sixyears or something.

(19:04):
It used to be back in the dayyou used to have to get your
permit every year, right?

Speaker 1 (19:10):
Does it cost much?

Speaker 2 (19:12):
No, no, I think it's like about maybe $25 a year or
something it's not expensive?

Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah yeah, and you said you could shoot ducks as
well.
What sort of ducks are youharvesting?

Speaker 2 (19:29):
and my ducks up here.
I'm not much of a duck hunterum a lot of my friends I'm a
zero duck hunter.
So yeah, okay.
Well, let's see.
We always meet and then andsometimes I think I'm a goose
because they're slower, but butthey're surprisingly fast.
But a lot of my friends getinto duck hunting and if there's
ducks around I'll have a go.

(19:50):
And our main species that weget up here would be the
wish-wing duck, and there's twotypes of wish-wing ducks the
plumed and the wandering.
Most of the ones that I wouldsee would be the wandering
whistling duck.
They're really small, smallfast birds.
You can't call them in becausethey've got a whistle, so you

(20:14):
can't really call them in.
We do get black ducks up here.
That would probably be the nextmain bird that you would see.
We also get hardheads as well,but I've shot a few of those,
but I don't see a lot of them.
There is pink ear up here aswell, but I don't see very many

(20:34):
of those.
Apparently there's a biggerpopulation down near Catherine
Way, which is maybe 200, 300.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Do you just see?
The duck hunting is interferingwith your goose hunting, like
scaring the geese A little bit.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
No, no, no.
They normally run really fast,really early and they'll have a
go, because they come over inhundreds.
Sometimes, if you're in theright spot, they'll come over in
waves and waves and waves andyou're like, oh, I'll have a go.
But one of the main reasons Idon't really like getting them
sometimes is we've got a lot oflong grass up here and so if you

(21:12):
drop them in the long grass,sometimes they can be hard to
find and I don't sort of likechasing them in there.
And if you drop them in thewater and we've got a bit of a
crocodile problem up here aswell so yeah, I'm not a great
fan, but I'll have a go.
I'll have a go, but we'll seethis year.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
Are the crocs tuned in to the hunters?
Do they know that huntingcreates dead things for them to
eat, whether it be carcasses andframes?

Speaker 2 (21:42):
It's a big topic up here and I think a lot of people
and a lot of people from downsouth and around Australia talk
about that's the first thing ontheir mind when they think about
the Northern Territory.
There's crops up here and oneof our main hunting is a
parakeet dam.
The dam opened, the floodplainwhich is around about maybe 800

(22:03):
metres long, and then the damopen, the floodplain which is
around about maybe 800 meterslong, and then the river behind
the flood uh floodplain isadelaide river and that's where
they do the jumping crocodileand so that river, exactly right
there where the hunting reserveis, is four meter, sometimes
five meter crocodiles in thatriver system and we have

(22:27):
harrison dam and runs off downto a place called beatrice
lagoon.
That beatrice lagoon it sort ofruns into um into the adelaide
river.
So you've got to be wary ofsome places like that, the
beatrice lagoon.
I like shooting there therebecause there's less people down
there.
But there is a croc trap inHarrison Dam.

(22:51):
I've tried to get the numbersof how many crocs actually
pulled out of there and I'd loveto get it on my page how many
crocs have been pulled out ofthere or when was the last one
out of that trap.
I've seen one croc in therebefore but, that was way
pre-season.
So the rangers actively try andget rid of crops because that

(23:13):
floodplain will come up high andbe easy enough for a crocodile
to drop in there.
But you've got other placeslike Shoal Bay, which is back
straight onto an open estuary,straight into the saltwater,
near Darwin.
So that has massive potentialof crocodiles in there as well.
And you've got Lambert's Lagoon.

(23:34):
There's always crocodileseverywhere in the Northern
Territory, in any waterway, butprobably less chance of one
being up there in the land ofthe same area.
The point you're asking about,do they associate it with
animals and dead things.

(23:55):
Okay, the way I look at it, I'mno croc-hoster.
Don't take my.
What I say is any advice onwhat you should do with
crocodiles.
So don't take my.
What I say is any advice onwhat you should do with
crocodiles.
But what I've observed and theway I look at it, is that okay,
start of the year before there'sany shooters, the crocodiles

(24:17):
are pretty skittish as well.
They get a few gunshots going,they're going oh, this is not
cool, I'm not going to hangaround with all these gunshots
going on, so they'll move out ofthe area pretty fast, I think.
And then once, once thathappens, um, then I think they
will move in this personal areaand it's a constant, like you

(24:37):
know, every morning, everyafternoon bang, bang, bang, bang
, bang bang.
I think that I'm not reallykeen on this spot, so I'm going
to move on.
In all the years I've beenshooting, I've seen one
crocodile outside of the seasonand I've been all.
I don't know how many have seenme probably a lot more have

(24:58):
seen me but I haven't had anytrouble with crocodiles.
But I take a few precautions.
You know you try and avoidareas that they like, the
launching areas, deep water.
Going into those types of areas, I take some risks I shouldn't

(25:20):
take as well.
I know I'll get a lot ofcriticism out of it some of the
things I'll say, but I'm tellingyou plain and simple what I do.
I try and take in a poll as wellto try, and if I'm shooting up
near the water I'll sort of pokearound the water in front of me

(25:41):
just in case one is gettingthere.
It's not foolproof, but atleast it's something.
We also run dogs as well,retrieving dogs, and I'll
probably get a lot of criticismof this as well, and one of the
main reasons is because of thecrocodiles.
Look in my Labrador.
It's a working dog and I lovehim, but I also love my legs at

(26:06):
the end of the day.
So I won't put him into anyundue extra risk.
I'll only send him into areaswhich I think there's no
crocodile, but there'll be anopportunity for him to get a
bird safely.
But it's also nice to not go inthe water.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I understand what you'resaying there, without being too
blunt about it.
But the reason I ask so there'ssome places in the States where
the hunting happens for elk andthings like that.
The bears are that attuned toit that as soon as they hear a
gunshot they come runningbecause they know that's a
dinner bell.
The other thing is community.

(26:49):
A lot of the hunting I did overthere was two or three ridges
away from community, like atwo-day horse ride.
So those bears weren'tassociating our scent with food
or you know opportunity at least.
So eat food or you you knowrubbish or extra snacks.
But obviously they could beopportunistic and come across a

(27:11):
tent and smell something and gofor it.
But that hasn't been myexperience.
My experience with that was intowns and close to towns and
that's where a lot of theproblems happen.
Where you know these heavilyhunted areas, there's always
gunshots and dead elk gunshot,another dead elk and they just
put two and two together.
I wasn't sure if the crocodileshad done similar, but hopefully
not.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
No, no, and look, one of the things I look for as I
am in the water.
I'll go up into the waterBecause I try as hard as I can
to retrieve every single bird.
Yes, and so I will go up in thewater sometimes and grab a
goose if it's close to the edge.
There hasn't been that Iremember, except one a crocodile

(27:57):
attack on a waterfowl hunter uphere in the Northern Territory.
I've only been living up herefor 17 years, so I don't have
the full range.
There was one about maybe aboutthree, maybe four years ago,
but that was out on anAboriginal community and down
south, it wasn't in the Darwinarea and the guy stepped on top

(28:17):
of it and I think that'sprobably the biggest danger is
stepping on one, not it's comingfor you Sure, and it grabbed
him, or he got away prettysafely and it was funny because
he was in the local news that hesaid it was a bit sore.
So they went and grabbed asix-pack of beer and then went
to the hospital or somethinglike that.
He's a local Aboriginal guy, sodown south.

(28:41):
But I've never heard of anyother interactions with
waterfowl hunters and crocodiles.
But when I'm in the water and Isee a dead bird sitting there.
I know there's a crocodile inthe water because it's not
coming after me.
It's going after an easy snack.
An easy snack is a dead bird inthe water and I'm sure a
crocodile is like sitting theregoing.

(29:01):
There's a dead bird there butI'm going to wait for a human to
come.
There's an easy feed just there.
We're going to grab that andpiss off.
That's the way I look at it,and so I've had maybe one
incident where I thought like Iput some birds down, I shot two
birds and then I was tipped onshooting, but I moved around.

(29:21):
I knew the birds were sittingover there and for the life of
me I reckon I looked for thosebirds for another hour in the
same spot and then somehow Idon't know where they went.
So that's the only time.
I've sort of possibly Other thanthat, nothing.
It's a big topic though up here, big topic, massive topic.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
What's the conditions this season?
I know you and I have beentalking now for a few weeks and
you've been sending me updatesand you're excited because the
first birds come into Darwin andthat's the start.
What are the sort of numberslooking like heading into this
season?
It's been a very wet season,hasn't it last year?

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, it was.
We've had about four years ofreally good wet.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
The last four years have been fantastic.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Prior to that, we had about three to four years of
really bad wet, and that's whenwe went down to about three very
bad units.
But then the last four yearswe've had heaps of water, a lot
of water.
But then the last four yearswe've had heaps of water, a lot
of water, and, as you'reprobably aware, we don't have

(30:30):
rain for three to four months ayear.
Not a drop, not a single drop.
Actually, we had the first rainof the season today.
Last night and today was thefirst rain of the season.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
I'll tell you a story about that before you go on.
I do know that it's like thatup there, so I'm just looking at
my about that before you go on.
I do know that it's like thatup there, but so I'm just
looking at my calendar.
When I was up there, I was upthere on the 16th of July
through to the 25th of July andit was on the 23rd of maybe the
24th, 23rd or 24th of July andobviously we're in the dry

(31:00):
season in Verticomps.
Never rains up here.
No, it never rains up here, andwe were offshore fishing and we
got rained on.
And we even said to the guideand you'd probably know of him
or who he is but he said no,that's not a rain cloud that
won't make it over here.
No, no, that'll, no, no, no.
You know what I'm talking about.
We got rained on on the boat.
It wasn't terrible because itwas warm anyway, but then we got

(31:21):
back to we were fishing out ofoh, you said it earlier, where
does the inner start.
What's?

Speaker 2 (31:29):
that little town there.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Dundee River, no, the big fishing town with the big
pub on the beach, oh, dundee,dundee Beach, that's right, and
that's where we were fishing outof.
Anyway, we got back to Dundeeand then the whole road, mostly
all the way to Darwin, was wet.
They actually had a bit of astorm, so that's an anomaly.
But yes, I understand what youmean.
It is a dry time of year whichis great and reliable for

(31:53):
hunting, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah, it's good Like I prefer hunting when it's wet
for people and stuff.
But we got our first big rainin Darwin today and we normally
get it around September.
People say, oh, it's a wetseason early, but then it sort
of stays around for about a weekor so.
But we've got enough water inour billabongs, in our swamp

(32:18):
systems from the last four yearsto cover us across.
It wouldn't have to rain foranother two months and we'd
still have plenty of water.
It doesn't really affect thebirds that much at the start.
They'll come in no matter what.
So there's water here.
It affects them as the buildupstarts and the wet buildup

(32:44):
starts and there's more wateraround.
Then they spread out a lot more.
So it's actually a bit moredifficult to shoot them when
there's a lot of water around.
So, and that they will changetheir habits as well um, I do,
yeah, yeah, so the water?
Uh, yeah, so the water affectsthem, but it's not the rain
yesterday or the rain last week,it's two years ago that affects

(33:08):
them.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Not the current storms.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
No, no, no.
That affects the tracks,because the tracks up here you
can get on that mud plane, onthat black mud that you get on
the floodplains, and it doesn'tmatter what car you've got on.
It doesn't matter what caryou've got, that's your bombs
and it's a hazard, Probably abigger hazard than more than

(33:33):
anything up here I see that inyour updates when you were
telling people how to accesssome of these.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
you know spots of land and you were saying that
track's good, but you know, stayon the high side or gets pretty
rutted.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
No, it's really important.
It's one of the main reasons Istarted my Facebook page,
because I remember lying in bed,going I wonder what that
track's like when it's raining,because you can hear the rain
coming and you're like I wonderwhat it's like.
You go on the bomb and you cansee it go over the hunting
reserves and you're like Ihaven't been for a week.
I wonder what it's like, andyou go on the bomb and you can
see it go over the huntingreserves and you're like I
haven't been in for a week.
I wonder what that track's like.
It's one of the main reasons Istarted that Facebook page is so

(34:10):
people could, you know, be more, because you can be 40 minutes
out of Darwin on a track and youwon't see anybody for days.
You could be bombed and it'sthe heat up here and you get
heat stroke and you're bombed.
Yeah, it's dangerous and you'renot that far out of darwin, so
it's really.
You have to be self-reliant uphere.

(34:32):
Do you have reception out there?
Um, most places we do, but itdoesn't matter.
Uh, the closest place here isshoal bay, um, and I would say
half of it would have a phonereception.
Harrison Dam is pretty good.
The tracks are a little bitdodgy but Shoal Bay is the

(34:55):
dodgiest place.
It's the tracks over there.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
In one of our conversations you spoke about
some of the gear you've got.
I just want to run through.
You were talking about decoysand the field and game was.
It Bought a pallet load and youended up with some of them, but
they're hard to come by ornon-existent.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Yeah, they're really hard to come by.
I'm thinking it's like eightyears ago, maybe even a bit
longer, and they're calledFUDSudge fold-up decoys.
They're from America, they'repretty good and it's really just
like a photograph of the birdand they fold up.
They're easy to carry around,easy to deploy, they're pretty
durable as well.
But I think you know, I got afew when they first came out,

(35:46):
but now it's getting harder andharder, because I rang up the
company or emailed them and saidoh, you know, can I get a few
more of these and tell them onmy facebook page?
And they said I have to buy apallet and I couldn't move a
pallet.
But the thing is with decoys, Idon't know, like I'm not, I'm
not overly excited.
I've got them and I'll use them.
I think they're more for methan the birds.
And do they come down?

(36:08):
Maybe, maybe.
But the way we hunt for magpiegeese up here, we look for
flight paths.
That's probably our mostimportant way of locating them
and trying to bring them or toharvest them is to look at their
flight path.
So it means you need a lot oflegwork.

(36:30):
You've got to find wherethey're going and it changes
from year to year.
It changes from different partsof the season as well.
Looking for that perfect flightpath.
There are some sort of mainflight paths that you can sort
of guarantee in, and HarrisonDam is one of them.
It's one of the most popularplaces to hunt.

(36:51):
Yeah, so decoys are my soullimit.
I guess so, because I bought awhole heap of them and when they
come up on Marketplace I jumpstraight on them.
Are you shooting?

Speaker 1 (37:07):
them as they're passing over you or coming to
land.
I know there's a bit of a andfeel free to talk to this or
poo-poo it, but and this isanecdotal because I'm not a duck
hunter there's a bit of agentlemanly rule where you don't
shoot them on the water.
You've got to shoot them eitherwhen they're coming in or like
is that a?

Speaker 2 (37:25):
law or is it just a?
No, it's not a law.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Like I said, it's more of a Just a fair chase type
thing.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
It's a fair chase.
I'll get a lot of criticism forthis.
I will.
But look, I'm out to get, I'mout to harvest birds, okay, and
if they're shooting on the waterwith no hunters around, like
you know, there's no huntersaround I will shoot them.
I'll shoot them on the water.

(37:52):
Am I going to wait for them toget on the wind?
I'm not an aristocrat who sitsaround.
It's not a sport.
It's not a sport for me.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah it's protein shopping.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
It's a harvest and I try and do it with as little
fast as possible, burning up asless fuel as possible with, uh,
with most respect to the animalas possible.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
um, so you're right, and a lot of people do only
shoot on the wing and good goodon them but I I hear you're
there- from a hunting point ofpoint of view it's a similar
conversation, especially in thetrophy hunting side of things.
But bedded animals.
So I 10 times, 10 out of 10times, shoot a bedded animal if

(38:38):
the opportunity presented,because they're calm, they're
generally facing away from youbecause you've come in from
behind.
You need to understand anatomyand how things get squished up
and where to aim.
But at least if you shoot themand it's not the amazing shot
you wanted it to be, whichhappens again the same with on
the water.
They then try and fly and youget another shot, whereas a

(39:01):
bedded animal and that stirssome people up that they will
wait until the animal stands upto shoot it.
You could be waiting hours oryou could make noise.
I know a lot of the pig huntingguys will shoot.
You know they always shootboars that are in a wallow or
bedded on the side of a creekand there's no issue with that.
But from a deer hunting pointof view it's definitely a little
bit of a frowned upon thing.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
I think it's even more like you know, a lot of
duck hunting, yeah, that'll.
Like I said, I'll get a lot ofcriticism.
Um, I thought you know that's.
I'm telling you how I do it andgood luck to other people who
do it their way.
I do it my way well for thosepeople.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
We are interviewing david roberts, not them.
So we're hearing about yourstory, that's it that's exactly
right so you also put up on thepage today and we'll tell people
at the end what the page iscalled.
They can jump across, but youput up some blinds that you'd
made.
Uh, what's the?
Is that something new for youor you're just trying a
different?

Speaker 2 (39:54):
option.
Well, last year, last year, Igot caught out in the open too
many times.
Um, there's some great placesto shoot where they get a cover,
but I found like I think I wasprobably missing 50% of the
birds I could have been shooting.
So this year I really, you know, and I love how the Americans

(40:14):
do their blinds, you know, andthey've got, you know.
You see their portable hides.
They've got cookers, they'vegot lounges, they've got beds.
They of a hive, they've gotcookers, they've got lounges,
they've got beds, they've gottvs.
They jump up and shoot.
It might not like that they'regonna be wrong, but I just love
the dedication and the effortthat americans go to in this is
duck hunting in their sports.
Well, the sports that they do,they really go to it and I think

(40:37):
that we sometimes we get a bitlazy up here in the territory.
Um, people don't wear camo whenthey go down.
They just rock up in a pair ofrugby shorts and whatever shirt
that they've just been wearingto work in the afternoon and
with a pair of thongs on andjust rock up and have a go.
You know we're still shootingbirds, but I really enjoy that
part of it and going the extramile and getting the extra birds

(41:00):
.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
I liken it to shooting versus hunting and like
those guys are shooting andyou're hunting.
Obviously the same outcomeshoot birds, but different
approach.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah, yeah, I will probably get more birds at the
end of the day and that will goon the morning out.
Well, I'll hopefully get my bagon this year I just brought to
myself.
Actually, I'm going to do it,I'm going to do it, I'm going to
do it and I did and it was abit of a rush actually, I did it
last night and today just doingstuff from Bunnings, but I got

(41:34):
some.
You know, the Baloney styleroofs, the old grass sort of
stuff.
I got some off Marketplace theother day, man, it looked unreal
.
Did you have a Facebook page,man?
I'm so proud of it.
My daughter calls it my cubbyhouse.
Now I can't wait to get itripped.
I really can't.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
The problem.
I don't know if they have itover there in their swamps, but
if you set that up over here, itwould just be full of snakes
and spiders by next season.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
No, this is portable.
I've made it portable.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah, so you'll bring it home each season, those guys
over there, I mean they'll makea pond with a built-in, you
know, they'll drop a 40-footcontainer and bury it and just
leave it just above and thenthey'll flood it every season
and plant the rice and stuff orwhatever it is to bring in ducks
.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
That's amazing.
Dedication I plant the rice andstuff or whatever it is to
bring in ducks.
That's amazing Dedication.
I really appreciate the effortthat Americans go to their duck
hunting.
They're fanatical about it.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
Do you have many Americans, or have you seen many
Americans or heard of them?
Come across and have a go, ordo they just not know about it.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
No, no, what I was saying about the magpies.
It's such an unusual bird andyou know there's some Americans
who are really dedicated to thissport and they will travel the
world shooting birds and, like Isaid, the Magpies, this is only
one of its species and the lastone.
It's a very unique bird and Ithink it was last year or the

(42:59):
year before they had a reallyfamous duck hunter called Randy
Russell come in.
He's massive.
He's massive in the States.
He's got something like 500,000followers or something like
that, and so he came and shot afew birds here and ever since
then I get messages fromAmericans now wanting to come

(43:20):
over to Australia.
And it comes back to the pointwhere I really think that
Northern Territory couldcapitalise on tourism and
getting that American market.
As you know, it's a high-valuedmarket as well and they like
spending money and they gather.
A lot of effort.
I've had, I think, even justalone this season, maybe, I

(43:42):
would say about maybe sixinquiries of people.
Where can I do this?
What can I do?
See, they're disappointedbecause we don't have outfitters
for waterfowl.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
That was my next question.
Yeah, Is there no one guidingthat?

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Nobody guiding, because I don't think you're
allowed to guide on the publichunting reserve, so you'd have
to do it.
You can shoot magpie geese onpublic or private land, so
that's the only way you could doit.
So I think if they did it outof the arm land or some buff
hunters put it together.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
The tricky part is it's still buff season now.
So I mean, yeah, it's sort ofthe buff hunters and the guides
are out buff hunting.
Yeah.
So there would be an option forthis late season buffalo stuff
to add it on and then do a jointthing, because we always come
back that way on the way throughto Darwin to fly out.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Yeah, so it would be a good option to add on.
Oh, it would be fantastic, butreally the laws don't allow it.
I really think we're missingout on an opportunity,
especially even, you know, inthe local.
You know people could get a,you know they could get their
outfitting and guiding togetherand it's another.

(44:58):
It could be another part oftheir culture that they could
share with overseas tourists.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
I know who I'd be employing as a guide.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
Yeah right.
Yeah yeah, I'm too busy at work, mate.
I'm too busy at work every dayjust to do this on my time off
and it would be, I think, areally interesting concept and a
real bonus for ATt tourismabsolutely great bonus talking
about the americans andobviously envying.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
You know their setup and that they've also got a lot
of funding going intoconservation and you know
preserving the legacy and theheritage of what they're doing.
Is that something you see upthere?
I mean, with it being freeaccess, basically, and open
slather and not a lot of financecoming from it.
Is there any you know financesgoing into conservation, or is

(45:52):
it even necessary?

Speaker 2 (45:55):
The biggest threat is not the hunters to the magpie
population.
Actually the threat is to saltwater incursion into their
nesting site.
This is the biggest problem.
So it's a land management thingand mostly out near that
Kakabee area and buffaloes havea problem.

(46:15):
Part of that problem soconservation itself.
Like hunters and it's a verysmall hunting population up here
when you consider around abouttwo and a half thousand hunters,
not very big You're not goingto get that much money out of
them for major projects andnational parks up here.

(46:36):
Anti-national parks do thecompliance and the maintenance
of the hunting reserves there isif you come up, just like any
park, national park up here, ifyou're outside of the Northern
Territory resident you have topay a fee as well.

(46:57):
It's just like going to Kakaduyou have to pay a fee if you're
a non-resident.
So that's only started in thelast, I reckon maybe the last
two years I've noticed thathappening.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
Do you have to be with as an interstater on that
topic?
Do you have to be with?
So correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm pretty sure that if youwant to hunt Litchfield, which
is public land, access forbuffalo hunting and pigs through
that program.
You need to be with a resident,that's right.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
So is that a safety issue?
No, I just think it's got to dowith you know, like if you
finally got the ability to shootbuffalo because you can't get a
permit to shoot buffalo up hereas just a regular person I know
you can, you know your ownproperty but that's not issued

(47:51):
by the government that permit.
So back country hunting was afirst opportunity for, I guess,
your regular Darwinite or NT guyto actually shoot a buffalo on
public land and it also helpedout Litchfield National Park in
the culling process.
But what I think it was wasthere wasn't a big influx of

(48:13):
people down south coming up andshooting the buffalo or maxing
out the renting or doing thelease on the land the booking, I
think that, and so they didn'twant all southerners coming up
maximising their bookings andthen it wouldn't be an
opportunity for NorthernTerritory to go and shoot

(48:36):
buffalo, and I think that wasthe only reason you don't have
to be with a resident up here.
It's always good to go with aresident because it maximises
your choices and chances andknowing the tracks like I said,
the tracks are a bit dodgy uphere.
I'm always happy to help peopleout up here and that's one of

(48:58):
the things I focused on thisyear was pointing out hunting
spots on my page and justidentifying each reserve where
the flight paths are and just tohelp people out you know, just
to give them an opportunity tocome up here if you're from
Victoria or South Australia andjust go.
oh, you know, I can hire afour-wheel drive, I can go in

(49:22):
this place.
It's nice and easy, you know.
As you know, hunting's aboutgoing and have a look at a
little sniff around, and thencome back the next year and go
yeah, I'll go here, yeah, I'llgo there.
You know that's what hunting'sall about just having a little
bit of a push in, having a lookaround, and I think that would
be a great opportunity for, likeI said, the Northern Territory
to really develop something likethat up here.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Has there been any pushback from the traditional
hunters about your opennessabout that?
I feel like there's a couple offellas in mind that I'm
picturing who, on the StateForest pages and things like
that, are starting to shoot deersuccessfully and say, hey, I
shot this deer there and that'sstirring people up because, oh,

(50:05):
you can't give away their spots.
And just one example um, oneperson I'm talking about and
he's listening, he'll know howI'm talking about, but he said I
can give you the gpscoordinates that I shot that
deer in and you will never shoota deer there and, and I asked
him why and he said because I'm,he said I'm chasing.
He said you may, I shouldn't saynever.
And he said because I'm, hesaid I'm chasing.

(50:25):
He said you may, I shouldn'tsay never.
But he said the GPS coordinatesis 5% of the situation.
It's the moon, the weather, thewind, the temperature, the camo
, the approach, the time he'sput into it, all these other
things play into it, and thenluck, they've got to be there.
The deer's a little bitdifferent because we're not
chasing migration like you guysare, but there's definitely a

(50:45):
lot of blowback from peoplebeing annoyed about him giving
out spots.
And yeah, obviously are you.
Are you copying some of thattoo?

Speaker 2 (50:52):
look, I 100% agree.
What, what he, what he, the wayhe thinks, because people are
lazy.
You can give them the best spotand they, they don't go.
They like, oh yeah, we'll gothere, we'll do this, and they
never go.
They never go.
You know, like I'm out having ago and the birds will move.
Look, I can give them one spot.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
It's going to change next season yeah, it has worked
in the past, but it might notwork this season it's going to
change.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Next week it'll change.
You have to move around.
Birds aren't there.
You have to move around.
I've been to places wherehundreds coming over the top,
two weeks later, not a singlebird there.
Go back to the same spot at thesame time of the year next year
not a bird there.
Two years later, not a birdthere.
But then they're back again andyou've really got to move

(51:40):
around.
You've got to do your work andwhat I did was I gave people
starting points on where to go,but the legwork is up to them.
They really have to do theirwork.
And I get more pushback from theguys I hunt with because every
time we go out they're like makesure you don't put it on your
page, make sure you don't put iton your page.
I'm like, well, I sort sort ofI'm not stupid, I normally put

(52:05):
it.
I've got a two week delay and Iput it on the spot or I try not
to put.
I put a general area where theymight be moving around.
Um, but my page is not reallyfor like really experienced
people, because they're justdoing their own thing.
They don't need my help.
It's more, for I really lovehelping people get a an

(52:27):
understanding of the birds uphere, because I love it.
I love it, I love showing peoplehow good it is up here and new
people coming into the territoryand giving them that little bit
of knowledge and a little bitof a taste and and then moving
on and not, you know, givingthem, and then they can be a
success and keep on going.
They're the people I target andit's the old local guys.

(52:48):
So what, I don't care.
I've never listened to anybodyon it Criticizing them.
It's criticizing them anyway.
So I'm hardly going to listento those guys.
But they're doing their ownthing, you know, and I've put
most of my site spots in there,most of them.
I left out the little hiddengems here and there which I

(53:11):
enjoy shooting, yeah, and youreally have to know what's
happening to know where they areas well.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Keep those honey holes up your sleeve.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Exactly, but most of them are there.
I've put every single sight.
All the reserves, all the goodflight paths were expected, so
yeah on.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
Uh, on the topic of, you know, helping new people out
, we I was thinking about itearlier when you were saying you
just had your first rain.
I had some friends just gohunting on the weekend from our
local club and they got snowedon.
They had five inches of snow,which is late in the year for
snow, and they were down in theyou know um maragal area.
But you know it's notparticularly, it's not the high

(53:51):
country, and but a topic thatcame up from that hunt was a bit
about hunter etiquette.
They had some beginners thereand hunter etiquette around camp
and just around the huntingside of it, have you?
You know it's something I tryand instil in people.
The hunting is only a fractionof it, but what you do during,
before and after, is alsoimportant.
What are some things that youknow is important when you're?

Speaker 2 (54:13):
in these wetlands.
Yeah, look, and bird hunting isdifficult than deer hunting
because you're more shoulder toshoulder, especially on public
land, you know you can beshooting because you're looking
for a flight path as well, soand there are premium spots and
you can be standing shoulder toshoulder.

(54:34):
But all the years I've beenshooting like I probably had one
bad incident where you knowsomebody had been there in the
morning.
They rocked up late and satright in front of me, but really
it's not that common.
So that would be one etiquetteis to be, you know, give the
next hunter enough space.

(54:54):
We don't have that.
We have some shooting.
It's busy, but really if you'regoing shooting during the week,
like, you can have Harrisondown, there might be maybe six
cars down there so you can shootyour spot.
You want to shoot most of thetime.
Weekends, like, just likeeverywhere, can be a little bit
crowded.
So I mean, one of the I guessthe biggest issues of etiquette

(55:17):
is picking up shells and pickingup rubbish and stuff going
along.
That's probably one of my thingsI want to try and focus on this
year.
Look, I don't understand whypeople do it, you know, but it
happens and I guess changing,look, I understand for young
guys, you know, getting new intoit, just learning sort of how

(55:39):
to hunt and maybe dropping a fewshells here and there, but
there's some which you know.
So I sort of try and focus onthose guys, new guys coming in.
Like I said, my page is sort ofpeople, sort of like learning a
little bit, and I try and focuson.
You know, like I don'tcriticise people, I thank people
for picking shells up.

(55:59):
Hopefully, you know.
I think if you start yelling atpeople, there's just going just
taking one in their approach um, yeah another etiquette.
Yeah go, sorry, there you goanother etiquette thing up here
is disposing of birds as well.
Um, you have to.
Uh, look the the mancogus is abig bird, okay, so you will.

(56:22):
Um, some people will breast itand leg it, and then you've got
a bit of carcass left.
The reason they do that isbecause there's hardly any fat
on water fowl.
It's not like a chicken thatyou get from a shop, where
there's meat everywhere.
The breast and the legs is themain source and there's not much
meat left over from that.

(56:42):
So you're left over with acarcass after that.
And so one of the rules are thatyou are dispersed of the birds.
You're supposed to dispersethem, okay, and so you would do
it.
You know, that's up to you howyou consider disperseing them.
You know, 10 metres over thereback into the bushes, 10 metres
over there back into the bushes,and you spread your birds

(57:04):
around and move them around abit.
There have been some timeswhere people haven't done that
very effectively.
But you know, when I'm scoutingout new areas, I look for dead
birds and those lazy guys whodon't carry their birds away.
I go oh yeah, OK, if I've neverbeen to a spot.
Oh, there's a dead bird there.

(57:24):
They must be shooting birdshere.
I'm going to come back heretomorrow morning and shoot their
spots.
So clean your birds up and thenpeople are going to take your
spot.
So that's one of the main waysI've found.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
Hide the evidence.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Yeah, I've found over the years, finding new spots
and looking for dead birds.
If you're lazy and you're notpicking your birds up or moving
them around, that's it.
I'm on your spot tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
And what are you shooting with Shotgun, obviously
, but still lead up there, is itno?

Speaker 2 (57:51):
no, you're not allowed to use lead shot just
for toxicity.
They're allowed to shoot leadshot in communities but not in
our local hunting reserves.
So, steel shot I'm a cheap asshunter in communities but not in
our local hunting reserves likefield shot.
I?
Um I'm a cheap ass hunter.
I'm not going for the big uh,you know, goose hunting um

(58:12):
shells which cost like 360, 300dollars um a packet.
I go for the cheapest one onthe market at the time, the one
on sale.
Um, you know, sometimes I mostof the time I prefer dds.
They've got a bit of a punch tothem um, and the magpie gets a
really coarse feathers and youcan nail a goose and it'll just

(58:34):
keep on flying and you go.
I know I hit it, I heard it hitit, but it just like ricochets
off their feathers, you know,and it's like.
So you need a bit of something,a little bit of power, a bit of
pack um but packs, a bit ofpunch but um, last year I shot
some uh number twos which alittle bit more like a little
bit more diversity, with ducksas well.

(58:56):
Like I said, I'm not much of aduck hunter, so I ain't chasing
it.
And the only reason I had these, because a friend was selling
and he had a whole heap of them.
Yeah, it'm like yeah, okay,it's cheap.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Are you trying to head and neck?
Is that your preference?
Or shot, or you just centermass?

Speaker 2 (59:11):
I try center mass because the down setters are a
lot easier to penetrate.
I've found for me yeah, if he'sgoing away from you, like if
you shoot him up the backsetters, no way you'll get them
down.
Some of those long shot, highshot that some waterfowl hunters
like to go for, it's almostimpossible to get those bigger

(59:34):
birds In that case you've got togo for a head shot.
They're tough birds, hardybirds, hard to bring down.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
You've really got gotta nail them when they're
flying flat, or you know, I meannot like upright, like they're
coming into land, is their headstationary, like I'm picturing
like a canadian goose in the.
There's a movie fly away homeand they're, all you know,
flying in formation and they'relike dead flat.
It's just the wings moving andthe torso and neck are just
straight.
Is that realistic, yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
No, that's how they.
It's the same.
They act in a very similar wayas the Canadian goose and the
snow goose and maybe likethey're not the numbers but the
bird itself, the way it flies.
It doesn't glide, it's alwaysflapping, so you can sort of
tell what's coming in and it'sgood because it's a larger bird.
We've got two main protectedspecies up here that we can't

(01:00:28):
shoot, which is the Burdekinduck, but it's pure white and it
knows it's protected.
It'll fly straight at you butit's a little bit smaller so you
can tell and it's got a squeakto it and it's white.
So the other one is the pygmygoose.
It's a lot smaller.

(01:00:49):
Faster than so it's hard to toobvious difference.
Yeah, yeah, so birdidentification is pretty easy up
here in that respect forprotected species to um the old
magpie goose, yeah so youalluded to it at the start.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
I want to heading to the end here.
I want to get to the excitingpart, which is the food.
What are we doing with it?
You're saying breasting andlegging.
What sort of how much meat areyou getting off?

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
I have to stop you there first, because all the
local guys Aboriginal local guysif I don't mention it, they'll
come for me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
They love the wings.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
No, you should be plucking it.
You should be plucking thewhole bird, kicking the whole
bird, splitting it down themiddle, popping it open and
putting it on the hot coal fire.
That's how they do it.
That's how they've done it forthousands of years.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
I've seen them do it with a.
What's the other one they get?
We can't shoot it, but thelocal fellas can.
It's a tall bird it's like a.
It's like a big curler, yeahyeah, so I've seen them do it
with that and they just throwthe whole thing on the fire
feathers and all that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
There you go.
They call it like a dinosaurbird for some reason, I don't
know.
I've got a funny story becausea friend of mine he said that
because he had a wife and theywere out in the floodplains
coming back from somewhere andthey shot this bird, put it in
the back of the car, and they'remassive birds.
They're like small eagles,they're like little, they're
massive Anyway.

(01:02:18):
And apparently they had knockedit out and it came back alive
in the back of the car.
I haven't eaten them, but geez,dude, that would have been an
event.
Let me tell you.
So have you plucked one.
I've plucked them.
They're a lot of work andreally caught feathers as well.
But I advocate that youshouldn't be plucking them so I

(01:02:41):
don't get a lot of slack off thelocal guys.
But you know, if you'reshooting in an aboriginal spot,
because you will see featherseverywhere.
So they're saying you know,when the locals have been
shooting in that spot, feathersthey will do it and they're
hardcore, they will pluck allday long.
The way I do it mostly isbreastfeeding.
You can do it.
It's like a waterfowl, it's aheavily worked meat so you

(01:03:07):
either got to flash it reallyfast, fry it really fast or cook
it for eight hours, nine hours.
So different parts of the gooseare better for some things.
The legs I would take off andput in the slow cooker for eight
hours and then even wait, letit sit overnight and then reheat
it again the next morning andjust the meat comes off, pulls

(01:03:29):
off the bone, um.
But the way I prefer to eat it,two ways.
One is with schnitzels, becauseyou can bash it out and
tenderize the breast.
That's right, it goes, and youtaste the bird.
You know you're not reallyoverpowering it with any other
flavor.
Bam, like that, um, and theother one I do is the hot smoke,

(01:03:50):
the breast.
But, like I'm saying, we've gota big greek community up here.
They love to do it and theyreckon it's the best way of
having it.
It's unreal.
They just sit it on thecharcoal, turn it around.
If you see a Greek guy up herein the Northern Territory
hunting geese, you know he'staking it home to people.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Is that full birds?
They just do the full bird.
They sort of cut it up, theychop it off and put it on a
sword and then over she goes,mate, they love it.
They love it.
And quantity-wise, I'mpicturing a large chicken breast
being similar to a goose breast, or do you think they're a bit?
Bigger.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
For a bird.
I reckon you're probablygetting around about.
It's a big breast.
It's a big breast.
I reckon you probably get aboutmaybe three and a half kilos,
maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Of meat.

Speaker 2 (01:04:42):
Yeah, wow, it's a big bird.
Maybe three, maybe two and ahalf kilos maybe, of meat.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
Yeah, wow, it's a big bird, considering just for
reference, because I like mycharcoal chicken.
Most charcoal chickens you getfrom charcoal chicken are 1.7 to
1.9, it's called so that's whatthey weigh 1.9 kilos as a
charcoal chicken.
So that's including the frame.
But yeah, bigger than that,right?

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
No, it would be bigger.
It would be bigger.
It's a really red meat as well,like you get the you know
waterfowl or getting waterfowl.
You know it's a heavily workedbreast, so there's a lot of
blood pumped through it.
When you get your chicken, it'swhite because it hasn't been
done anything.
So heavily worked breast, yeah,so heavily worked breast, yeah,
a little bit of fat on it.
You get a lot of orange fat andthe bird changes throughout the

(01:05:28):
year.
You'll get later, towards theend of the year, you'll get them
sitting on chestnuts waterchestnuts, native ones and so
the locals prefer that time ofthe year because it just adds to
the flavour.
But then you've got them up inthe mango farms as well and
people reckon they take on the.
You know animals take on whatthey eat, and so they might get

(01:05:50):
a little bit of a mango flavourto them as well.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
It'd be nice to get a bit of mango chutney on there.
I've been using a friend ofmine, a colleague of work, I
should say.
He's been making biltong for me, and when I was in Africa, I
should say he's been makingbiltong for me and when I was in
Africa I picked up thisflavouring.
I didn't buy it there, I pickedup a love for it and then I
bought some, since.
But it's a dried mango chutneypowder, and then, after you cut

(01:06:14):
the biltong up, you sprinkle iton like we would chicken salt,
you put it in a brown bag andyou shake it around after you've
sliced it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
That's good I love biltong.
Well, on the food, can youjerky the breast or anything, or
biltong is the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Yeah, it does jerky, you can do it other.
You can do pastrami.
I've seen a few recipes.
You can do it just like withkebabs as well, as long as it's
done fast, the breath easy, easy.
And see a lot of people.
It's like everything you say ohyeah, I've been catching eating
that.
Oh, it's too tough, they justhaven't cooked it.
They don't cook it properly.
Yeah, it's like you know that'sall it's gaining, is it really?

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
That was my other question.
What about flavor Tastes?

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
like magpies, I don't know, actually smell things
different rather than tastesomething different.
I can smell a magpug, justthat's how I recognize it um,
like a venison, or uh, I smellum.
It's.
It's not gamey, um, but there'salso ways around that.
You know soaking in milk, allthose types of things, and you

(01:07:19):
know it's just like um in theschnitzel.
I've never had anybody say I donot like that, that doesn't
taste good.
I've always had people say it'sa ripper.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Previous podcasts I've been putting this out there
, where you know people can sendin a question and I've had a
whole heap come in and basicallywe read them out on air two or
three and you answer them basedon your experience and then you
you pick the best question andthat person wins a hat.
And then all the questions thatget sent in over the year,
everyone goes in the draw to wina hunt with me, which you and I
need to talk about, becauseyou're interested in shooting

(01:07:53):
fallow.
I do and I'm interested inshooting geese.
I'm just going through my phonehere pulling up the list of
questions because I want to.
I know you're a hunter as welloutside of of just.
You're not just a goose, notjust a goose hunter.
And uh, I'll add hunter there,I won't just say goose yeah yeah

(01:08:13):
, I did it on purpose.
Um, I'm just trying to findthere.
Well, there's no duck specificones, that's for sure.
Or goose specific.
Um, that's a good question, butnot for this one.
Uh, no, that's a female relatedone, right?

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
here we go.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
This is from ian kelly.
Uh, what was the most importantthing you learnt in the first
year of hunting and what do youwish you had learnt in the first
year of hunting?
So what's your huntingbackground?
Where did you start as a kid?

Speaker 2 (01:08:57):
No, I actually come from a fishing background.
I was in the fishing industryfor quite some time and that led
off into like for wow how manyyears, maybe 10 years mostly out
at Lord Howe Island fishing,and then I got into I'm still in

(01:09:21):
the Northern Territory I sortof changed from fishing and then
I got introduced to waterfowlhunting that way and hunting
more into it.
But my wife's from Zealand andher father they come from the
Taupo area and her father loveshis hunting, loves it, loves it,

(01:09:41):
you know, and I've done a bitof deer hunting there, you know,
and so mostly I've done it inNew Zealand and they've
helicoptered into a few places.
I haven't done any in Australiaat all except up here in the
Orly Territory.
I mostly travel to New Zealand.
I love it going over there, soI've shot a few fellows.

(01:10:04):
But what we chase mostly overin Taupo are the seeker deer,
and I wish there were an easierdeer to hunt, but I'm sure it's
got to be the hardest.
Deer too are the seeker deer,and I wish there were an easier
deer to hunt, but I'm sure it'sgot to be the hardest deer to
hunt.
Is the seeker deer Right?
Yeah so that's probably myhunting background.
I've probably been doing waterto hunting for maybe 17 years
and you know, with that is pighunting up here as well on the

(01:10:28):
hunting reserve.
So I've chased a few pigs.
Do you want me to answer thequestion?

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
Yeah, if you remember what it was.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
Yeah, I remember.
Sorry, I could talk a bit.
I can remember what it is.
What would I like to the firstyear is putting in the time and
effort.
You've got to put the time andeffort in and you might get
lucky and nail something thefirst trip that you go on.

(01:10:56):
But it takes time.
It takes time learning an area,learning the animals as well,
its habits, knowing about yourconditions, knowing about
yourself as well what yourcapabilities are yeah, your
conditions.
Knowing about yourself as wellwhat your capabilities are yeah.
Knowing your animal is probablywhat I would have liked to have
known in my first year ofhunting.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
And then, with that in mind, what's something?
If you could just teach allyour beginners one question or
one thing to learn, what wouldthat be?
What would be the mostimportant thing?
The same thing again.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
The same thing again, but I think I would put a bit
more time in the on the range aswell.
Yes, um, getting to know guns.
I'm not a gun person like um.
I.
I use them to go and collectfood and come back, yeah, um,
but I, I know that, understandthe value of of them and

(01:11:50):
understanding a well-placed shotnow, and especially in long
range or in scrub as well.
Just, yeah, having awell-placed shot and the ability
to have a.
I would have spent more time inthe range earlier as I started.

Speaker 1 (01:12:13):
It's a good point and people that listen regularly
will probably get sick of medrumming on about this, but I
think with our current huntingsystem we have here in New South
Wales, the majority of peoplecoming into the sport as newbies
are heading towards the Rlicence system on public land
and they spend a lot of timelearning how to hunt, not as
much time learning how to hunt,not as much time learning how to
shoot and then when the timecomes to shoot something on

(01:12:35):
their hunting trip, somethinghappens.
They quite often they'll get itright and everything goes to
plan, but it's just because itactually you know,
coincidentally works, notbecause they had the right.
You know the breathing shootingmethods, standing offhand,
leaning up against a tree andthings like that.
So more range time.
It doesn't matter what level ofour sport you're at.

(01:12:57):
The more time you can spend atthe range, the better you are.
Before I go on a big trip whereI know shots are important, I
wouldn't call a buffalo trip animportant shot trip because
there's so many buffalo it's notan issue.
But if you're out out, you knowyou're going on a red deer hunt
or something and there's onlyone opportunity you're going to
get all week I'll go out theback paddock and shoot 100
rounds with a .22.

(01:13:17):
Yeah, it counts, it just counts.
It's just confidence justbefore.
So that was the first one, thatwas from Ian.
Second one from Dallas NewsomeFor Southern Australia.
He's excluding buffalo, I won'tknow why.
We'll get onto this in a secondFor Southern Australia.

(01:13:38):
What is your favourite calibreor cartridge for normal species
goats, pigs, deer In yourpersonal collection, rot Rifle
do you like the most and alwaysseem to pick up first.

Speaker 2 (01:13:55):
I've only got two guns.
That's it, which is prettyunusual for a hunter.
I'm sure you've probably got agood collection.
I'm sure everybody listeninghas got massive collections, but
I try and keep it to a minimumwhich the guns I only use or
need to use.

Speaker 1 (01:14:13):
How many fishing rods have you got, oh?

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
jeez, yeah, see, I've got 20.
I've got one for everything.
If I go on the boat by myself,I take eight rods on.

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
That's because I've got one for that, one for this,
two for that, one for that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:30):
Okay, so it's the same with us for shooting.
Yeah, that's because we've gotone for that, one for this, two
for that, one for that.
Okay, so it's the same with usfor shooting yeah look, I
totally understand what's yourrifle calibre.
You've got a 12 gauge.

Speaker 2 (01:14:37):
Yeah, that's 12 gauge and I've got a .308.
I shoot a Leetgoat .308.
Great gun, cheap, it was cheap.
Great Australian gun.
Pull pulled it out of the box,nailed animals left, right and
center with it.
Good, cheap, reliable gun forme.
And yeah, so that's the twocalibers and two rifles I have.

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
Oh, yeah, I'll answer the question, because I mean I
think.
I've met Dallas just recentlyand I think he was aiming this
at me specifically but myfavourite, which does get a fair
run, even though it's not thegreat things for the animals I'm
shooting.
But it's my 416 Ruger and it'sa big gun.

(01:15:26):
It's my guide gun, but I justlove it.
I love big calibres.
You know, I'm a big enough guyI can handle it.
It doesn't hurt that bad, itdoesn't hurt at all.
Really it's a push and I'veshot buffalo with it, pigs with
it, I've shot rabbit with it,I've shot deer with it, goats it
turns those smaller thingsinside out, but it's just.
The most fun thing to do withthat gun is to take it to the

(01:15:48):
range and let someone shoot it.
Who only shoots?

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
.308s.
Oh, right, right.
Well, that's a good question Iwould have for you.
Okay, so I've got my two guns,two workhorses.
What would you suggest to go tothe next to put in my gun safe,
like in AP, or with those twowhich are totally opposite?
Yep, no, that's a good startit's a good question.

Speaker 1 (01:16:13):
My my follow-up I?
I rarely answer a questionstraight away.
My follow-up question is whatdo you want to use it for?
Because, a bit like yourfishing situation, quite often
you go on a hunting trip to aproperty and you're like, all
right, well, there's, there'srabbits, there's goats, there's
deer and there.
Well, if I can only take onegun, a .308 is going to do all
of those things successfully.

(01:16:35):
You're going to turn yourrabbits into mist.
But if I'm going away for aweek and I'm on a property and
there's a bit of downtime, I'lltake a .22 to walk around, shoot
some rabbits, shoot some cans,shoot some targets, have
some fun.
But .223 is my favouritecalibre for small to medium game

(01:16:55):
Across the board, for plinking,shooting targets.
It has no recoil.
It's, you know, an effectivelycheap round to use.
I've got two, three, I think,.223s in the cabinet.
One's the wife and two of mineand it's that's one of my
favorites and that's followingon from his question here.

(01:17:16):
My favorite caliber would bethe 416, but my favorite gun
would be one of my two, two,threes.
It's just it's dead accurateevery time, out to three or four
hundred meters.
I know what it's doing.
I'll happily shoot deer withthat, and by deer I mean fallow.
I'm not talking sambar and reds, but the majority of my local
hunting is fallow.
So I'll take that because Iknow I can head and neck shot,

(01:17:40):
you know, all day, every day,out the window.
It's not a hunting rifle, it'spretty heavy, it's a uh, you
know my spotlighting regal.
You know I'll take it on a hunt, but it's, it's a heavier setup
.
So uh, that's my answer to yourquestion.
And, dallas's, I think 223should be at everyone's.
But in saying that, I love gunsand I really think everyone
should in the country should owna 22, uh just for that practice

(01:18:03):
, irrelevant whether it's youknow, you've got a 416, a 308 or
223 as well.
I think the yeah, the uh, the22 is a great caliber to get
your eye in now.
Last one is from luke mckinley.
Mckinley, mckinley, what areyour thoughts on anti-hunters
and the best way to approachwhen asked example, uh, avoid

(01:18:27):
them and give them no comments,or try and explain what we do
and why we do it, or try andshow them the benefits if it's
done properly.
What are your thoughts on thatand have you had any run-ins?

Speaker 2 (01:18:40):
No, we don't have people wading in water.
I've never seen ananti-waterfowler, anti-gun
person up here in the NorthernTerritory so I really haven't
had to deal with it.
To deal with it on the on thepage a few times, but really not
that much at all.
So to explain it to them, Idon't think you're going to

(01:19:03):
change their mind like I reallydon't.
You know you better off.
They'll feed off you and justcriticize you're not off.
They'll feed off you and justyou're not going to change their
minds, you know you.
Just I like staying in my ownlane.
You know that's their choice,it's my choice, it's better.
Yeah, I don't try and changepeople's minds, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
It's what it is.
You know what about throughfood?
Have you introduced many peopleto game meats through Waterfowl
?
Or, you know, through venison?

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
My family, like my wife's family, have always been
hunters.
Like I was saying for NewZealand, my kids have always
grown up hunting up here in theNorthern Territory.
I don't really know people whodon't hunt or don't go fishing,
or I'm just trying to think,well, I don't know them very
well, anyway, maybe you don'twant to don't go fishing.
Or just trying to think, well,I don't know them very well
anyway, maybe you don't want tobe friends with them.

(01:19:55):
No, that's a good point.
No, no, no, I didn't come intothat realm.

Speaker 1 (01:19:57):
You know, I have a slightly different take on it.
I think it's our job asambassadors for the sport to
understand what we do and beable to vocalise what we do
confidently.
And you can obviously do that.
Understand what we do and beable to vocalize what we do
confidently and you canobviously do that.
I want to say I probably nearlygo out of my way to create the
conversation, sometimes onpurpose, because I like I don't

(01:20:20):
want to call it confrontation,but I like educational
discussion from both sides.
Some of my best discussionsabout hunting have been with
anti-hunters and what irks themthe most is when I inquire about
their beliefs and why.
Because they're happy to talkabout mine and why mine are
wrong.
But I just want to know, andthere's one in particular I

(01:20:41):
think about, and I mean he's apolitician in the anti-hunting
side of it and he refused tocome on air.
But we had a phone call and andI asked him I was like what, at
what point in your life did youdecide that every animal is
amazing and you must save everyanimal in the world?
And he had a.
You know he said I was six andmy dog got run over by a car and
it was traumatic and we triedto save it and it was nearly cut

(01:21:03):
in half and we didn't.
And at that point then I knewthat you know, I was going to
value every animal's life and Iwas like, okay, well, now I
understand where you're comingfrom.
I can then tailor myconversation to that.
And he really didn't know whatto talk about after that.

Speaker 2 (01:21:21):
But I, I've done it.
Yeah, it's interesting.
I've done a few interviews onABC radio which can be dangerous
, as you can imagine, around dueseason and stuff, and the
commentator did drop one on meone time like oh, how do you
feel when you shoot thismajestic animal?
And I'm like well, here we goand I said, look, I respect the

(01:21:45):
bird, I go out and collect it.
I sit around the table with mywhole family and talk about that
bird and how we hunted it andwe respect it.
Who does that with a chickenthey buy from the local
supermarket?
That's about all the argumentI've got.

Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
Yeah, no one does.
Everyone just eats their $10chicken.

Speaker 2 (01:22:08):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:22:09):
We know where it comes from.

Speaker 2 (01:22:10):
We know where it comes from.

Speaker 1 (01:22:11):
Ken, you know where it comes from I'll we'll tidy up
these three questions and thenI want to ask you one more
before we sort of head off.
But I see you had threequestions there.
First year of hunting, how doyou approach anti-hunters?
And caliber and gun choice youhave to pick one person out of
that.
Or one question that youthought was that you enjoyed, um
, and then they, they win a hatno, I enjoyed the, the first one

(01:22:33):
um first years first years.

Speaker 2 (01:22:36):
You know, because it's important there, like those
first years are important, thatyou either.
You know you start a lifetime,a lifetime of journey, um
experiences, and you know yeahit's amazing.
You would have been on a fewgood journeys in your life.

Speaker 1 (01:22:54):
Oh yeah, I've had some fun.
Well, that question came fromIan Kelly.
So, Ian, you win a hat.
I'll reach out to you and we'llorganise to send that over to
you I don't know if everyone cansee.
We had matching hats on.
I jumped on and Dave was in hisNT hat, so I went and got mine.
We're not going to say what itsays, but it's just a great
advertising slogan.
One other thing on the geesething can you get them

(01:23:17):
taxidermied?
Can you get them mounted?

Speaker 2 (01:23:20):
No, you can't no.
That bugs me it's not withinthe permit.
That's a sad bug.
They're an ugly-looking birdanyway.

Speaker 1 (01:23:30):
Yeah, but you're Americans that you were saying
that travel the world just toshoot.
You know that's important tothem.

Speaker 2 (01:23:36):
Yeah, because they will have it in their trophy
room as an Australian magpiegoose.
No, it's outside yourtournament.
You can't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:43):
That's silly, I don't understand that because once
it's dead, it's dead.
I have similar opinions withthe trophy import bans.
You can go to Africa and shootan elephant, a lion, a leopard,
but you can't bring it back.
It's already dead, it's done.

Speaker 2 (01:24:02):
Yeah, I don't know what the reasoning is behind it.
It's got to do with bartering.
I don't know.
It's an unusual subject.
You can't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:24:12):
Is there anything else you want to cover off mate?
Are you all talked?

Speaker 2 (01:24:14):
out.

Speaker 1 (01:24:15):
I know you can talk for hours on this stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:24:16):
No, it's good.
I thought we were only halfwaythere, mate.
I'm talking about Magpie Geese.
I reckon we've probably coveredhalf Half of that Magpie Geese.

Speaker 1 (01:24:24):
Well, let's do a wrap-up at the end of the season
the season Sounds good.

Speaker 2 (01:24:30):
Sounds good to me.
The season's about to startnext Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (01:24:35):
What's the date on?

Speaker 2 (01:24:36):
that 25th 25th sorry.
On the 25th.
It's a great time of year inthe Northern Territory.
Like I said, it's a great timefor Darwin and its people.
Yeah, and it's a great culturalevent magpie goose hunting
season in the Northern Territory.

(01:24:56):
So that's what.

Speaker 1 (01:24:58):
I can't wait for, and if people want to get in touch
with you and jump on the page,what is it again and how do they
find it?

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
Yeah, just jump on.
Darwin Goose Hunters Hunterswith a Z.
It's the most popular goosehunting page in the world.
Magpie goose hunting page inthe world it's the only one that
also makes it the worst as wellat the same time.
But if you Google magpie goosein Northern Territory, it'll
come up, just you know.

(01:25:26):
Message me if you're coming upfrom down south.
I'm happy to show people around.
I'm out hunting as well.
I'm more than happy to tagalong with good information on
my page.

Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
So yeah, jump on, have a look it's full of great
information and I really likethat about it.
You're very open about it andobviously you keep things up
your sleeve, but what you aregiving away is, you know,
valuable information.
I've learned a lot and I knownothing about it.
So I uh, I intend to, uh I havesome clients book for next year
.
I'm just trying to the datesdon't line up, but I'll see what
we can organise and try and getsome boys from down here to

(01:25:55):
come up and yeah, come on, it'seasy, mate.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
You know the hunting reserves are 40 minutes out of
Darwin, nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
So you just stay in a hotel in Darwin and breast all
your ducks in the main street.

Speaker 2 (01:26:07):
That's it.
No worries, don't worry aboutthat.
It's probably happened before,yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:26:12):
I don't doubt it, I've eaten a where was I?
I was in Seattle staying at ahostel on one of my journeys in
between and I went and bought amud crab big Dungeness crab,
sorry from the market and thisthing was amazing, delicious and
huge.
And I'm sitting in the hostelsmashing this cooked crab and
there's a guy in there didn'tspeak much english, just
pointing at the sign on the doorthat says no food, no food and

(01:26:35):
I'm there like covered in craband the room smells like crab.
But uh, I've done worse thingsin hotels it's better to ask for
forgiveness and permission whydidn't it?
You know?
I just say, mate, no english,no english thanks for joining me
, mate it's been a pleasure.
I've enjoyed learning.
I hope everyone has to jump onthe page and say hello to Dave
and look forward to catching upwith you in the future.

(01:26:57):
We need to talk about thatfallow hunt yeah, it sounds good
.

Speaker 2 (01:27:00):
I really appreciate your time today.

Speaker 1 (01:27:01):
It's been fun it has been well.
Everyone bye for now and we'lltalk soon.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Art of Magpie Goose Hunting: Tips, Tricks, and Cultural Insights

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Cold Case Files: Miami

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The Art of Magpie Goose Hunting: Tips, Tricks, and Cultural Insights

Cold Case Files: Miami