Hunting Wild Dogs in Australia. Another breeding pair of wild dogs removed last night with the 204 Ruger fitted with a thermal scope. These elusive evasive feral pests can be a huge challenge for the hunter to target. They are extremely in-tuned with their environment and super spooky to get within ethical shooting range of, even with passive night hunting equipment. Every wild dog that is reduced is a huge win for our agricultural industry and native animals. As you will see in the video these wild dogs were eating a native Australian Wombat which they would have killed.
I seem to get some strange questions around the hunting of these wild dogs. They are interbred over generations between escaped domestic animals and our Australian dingo. In Australia they are an animal that land owners loath due to the damage they do.
No - A mature wild dog cannot be domesticated (yes I have been asked that). It would be like capturing a wild lion and attempting to make it a house pet.
Hunting Wild Dogs in Australia. Another breeding pair of wild dogs removed last night with the 204 Ruger fitted with a thermal scope. These elusive evasive feral pests can be a huge challenge for the hunter to target. They are extremely in-tuned with their environment and super spooky to get within ethical shooting range of, even with passive night hunting equipment. Every wild dog that is reduced is a huge win for our agricultural industry and native animals. As you will see in the video these wild dogs were eating a native Australian Wombat which they would have killed.
I seem to get some strange questions around the hunting of these wild dogs. They are interbred over generations between escaped domestic animals and our Australian dingo. In Australia they are an animal that land owners loath due to the damage they do.
No - A mature wild dog cannot be domesticated (yes I have been asked that). It would be like capturing a wild lion and attempting to make it a house pet.
Great to get away hunting foxes with my new 204 Ruger thermal scope rifle build. Shooting 18 foxes had my cousin happy to reduce the numbers. Have had a few things in the pipeline for a while now to get a thermal scope on my Howa Mini Action 204 Ruger Varmint. Specifically for fox and wild dog hunting / shooting at night. This setup really needed a higher comb than the previous blue thumb-hole stock so I've mounted it in a MDT LSS Gen 2 Chassis system system. This set-up certainly proved a very efficient method for thinning out the foxes on this property. Running a red LED powerful thrower headlight I was quite surprised how many foxes and rabbits didn't show up in the light. Yet I'd look through the thermal hand scanner and sure enough there would be a fox snaking around in the paddock. Certainly nice to see a bit more feed in the paddocks in NSW Australia.
It's a yearly passion for me to go fallow buck hunting in the deer rut. For 2020 it's been limited to area's very close to home with the Covid-19 restrictions. What follows is a few afternoons and mornings chasing the bucks around.
I've been using this XEYE E3MAX thermal hunting monocular for a few months now. Here's my thoughts and a few insights of the practicalities of thermal hunting in Australia.
It should be noted that I paid full retail price for this thermal and in no way is this some type of biased or sponsored review.
I was completely surprised to end up shooting this Chital Stag on a local Fallow deer hunt. Have never heard a report of Axis Deer in the area and neither had the land owners. Nice little suprise to get I'll say that, freezer will be nice and full now.
A short wander on foot night hunting for foxes & rabbits with the thermal scanner and NV scope. No wild dogs about ATM, found two foxes and shot one. I ended up shooting a bunch of rats on a rubbish pile with the 17HMR from 40 meters. Good practice as the little buggers jump around a lot, Was an interesting little challenge to say the least.
On this little weekend ATV Hunting Trip in Australia we do a bit of quadbike shooting, a bit of pre-rut fallow deer scouting and a tonne of general ride around looking for feral pigs foxes hares and rabbits. It's so great to see the drought pretty much busted in this area with grass (and weeds) in abundance. The feral numbers were definitely lower that usual, but that's to be expected after the rough last few years.
My thoughts / review of the newer Kuiu Pro Binocular Harness and the Original Kuiu Binocular Harness.
Hunting Foxes NSW Australia 2020. Joint me on a Hunter Valley property hunting foxes and rabbits in January 2020. Of a nighttime on foot I'm using a thermal monocular and a night vision rifle scope. Hunting Foxes is a necessary control measure to reduce these invasive species. The are extremely damaging to our native animals and spread diseases.
Hunting Wild Dogs in Australia. Using thermal optics and a night vision scope - Another wild dog bites the dust. Plus a few bonus Foxes and Rabbits whilst I was out hunting. These feral pests (wild dogs) can be a huge challenge for the hunter to target. They are extremely in-tuned with their environment and super spooky to get within ethical shooting range of. Every wild dog that is reduced is a huge win for our agricultural industry and native animals.
This was also the maden run for my new XEYE E3Max thermal scanner, very impressed with it so far.
Hunting Gear Tips - I’ve shortlisted the Top 5 Items I take on EVERY SINGLE HUNT which help in the field.
Fortunately, I live in a location with hunting access that gets me in the bush most weeks. So over time you quickly learn what works and what is a waste of time. I could prattle on for hours on hunting gear and what I take but these are the 5 accessories that I take on all my hunts be that deer hunting, calling foxes or shooting feral pigs off the quad bike.
These five items assume that you have the staples like a rifle or bow, backpack, clothes boots etc.
Item #1 - Great Binoculars - I can't understate these enough. Get the best you can buy, you don't have to spend $3k to get sharp optics, just do your research and if possible try before you buy in low light. You'll use them for hours on end, or at least you should. Look more, walk less is a good motto. And to look more, in detail you are best served with a pair of binoculars. So many people pump huge dollars into a rifle scope, And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, If you’ve the cash go right ahead. But you'll look through that scope on a deer hunt potentially once for 15 seconds.... But bino's, you'll run the socks off in use all the time. So get good ones and you'll be much more inclined to use them on every hunt.
Item #2 - Bino chest pouch - Neck straps suck, simple, they allow your bino's to flop around, especially climbing around and under things like trees and fences, I've just never been a fan.
I ran a Vortex elastic bino harness for years and liked it, At a minimum get something like that for about $30-40.
About a year ago I finally got a bino chest pack and man o man I wish I'd done that sooner, my hunting mate said the same thing after he got one last year too. No more bouncing swinging bino's, They are easy to access your optics as you don’t need to run lens covers, They balance and distribute the weight your carrying well and they offer great protection for your expensive glass. Additionally you can run a rangefinder, GPS, wind check, range card and other handy items in the side pockets or by adding side pouches. The easier things are to access the better and less fumbling on a hunt. An added bonus I’ve found is if you take the bino’s out a chest pouch is a great storage option when night hunting for a thermal or NV monucular.
Item #4 - Safari Sling - Just get one, Best thing ever. Puts your rifle on the front and super fast to shoot. Makes carrying a rifle ready to shoot in seconds a breeze. Plenty of times I’ve thought I was in a non productive hunting area, or just walking back to the car, you glance over and
shit - Something I want to shoot has busted me unprepared. With a safari sling there’s no more trying to do that stealthy / unstealthy rifle jiggle as you unsuccessfully attempt to smoothly slip the rifle off your shoulder on a traditional sling without moving around and startling the animal you’ve just bumped up. With a Safari sling all that unnecessary body movement is eliminated as your rifle is all but in your hands ready to shoot always, but your not actually holding it in your hands
Item #4 - Soft Bullet Holder. Prepare your credit card - Go punch into eBay - buttstock ammo holder. These elastic wonder things are made to slip over your rifle buttstock and well, hold ammo. Get the type to suit your general cartridge diameter size (They are quite universal). This epic item costs around four bucks thirty three cents from China, so very expensive. Now once you have it - Get some scissors or a sharp knife and cut it down to “this” and burn the edges to stop it fraying. Now you have a very quiet way to hold bullets and brass in your pocket or pack that isn’t bulky and it cost you next to nothing. I hate rattling shells in a pocket whilst trying to hunt, this is an easy, not bulky and cheap solution
Item #5 - Nitecore NU25 Headlight - I find being so light and compact it’s always in my hunting pack or belt. They are USB rechargeable which I like for backpack hunts as I take a small power bank, but it’s simple to charge at home on a phone charger lead too (micro USB). This light has three different light sources. Good main beam with various powers and run times. It has a Hi CRI flood beam which is great for camp use and pictures, I use this a bunch as it’s a really nice beam in close and with the Hi CRi it shows natural colours, not the white washed out regular LED most lights are. And the red LED with two brightness levels I use a bunch when walking around as it's doesn't spook the critters much and I can see where I’m stepping. The runtimes for a light this small and light are very impressive and with the three light sources in one body it’s super handy I find. Often your walking into or out of a hunting area in the dark so a nice light headlamp will serve you much better than the light on your mobile phone - Yes, I’m sure most people have been reduced to using the phone light in a pinch and isn’t that fun
