wedgetail
FNG
Very different to the NA mountain goat, the Aussie feral goat is a major pest. I didn’t know where else to put this write up but I thought some of you may be entertained by my 2nd son’s first hunt (he’s been an observer a few times however). Here you can’t even handle a firearm until you at least have a minor’s permit, which is available from 12y on, and then it’s always under supervision from a fully licensed adult. This land is the cattle property I manage - a “property” is under about 100k acres, anything over that has the privilege of being called a “station”.
As always - my middle child is hot on the heels of his elder brother… didn’t waste any time getting his permit and heading out for a hunt. I’ve been making him practice in field positions - no point in printing nice targets while prone with a bipod if he can’t hold reasonably steady on an improvised rest… Mauser 4000 222 with slightly reduced LOP shooting 55gr SPBT at 2900fps, do pretty well on goats I find. We decided to go after a goat rather than fallow. The chance of success is much higher, I’ve found with younger/inexperienced hunters it’s fairly fraught going after deer, there’s so much more you have to get right. In comparison goats are very obliging! So we set out from the house on foot yesterday morning about 11:00 after the rain squalls seemed to have died down.
Headed to the top of a hill overlooking the river and were immediately confronted with a few options over the other side. Coming from the west the wind was really not in our favour for most of the closer ones, as some fallow quickly let us know.
Further south about a 1km away there was another mob, not much of a climb out of the river.
These ticked the box
So a fairly steep descent into the river, then crossing it with the aid of a long stick. We’ve had a bit of rain recently but the level isn’t that high.
Then we followed the river for a while before starting to head up out at an angle. It was loose and reasonably steep, but I wanted to pop up just in front of the mob straight into a good shooting position.
As we approached the rise where I believe they were behind we slowed right down and got lower. I crept forward and looked over and sure enough there was a black head through the long grass, very close by. I backed off, removed my pack, and got TYB to chamber a round and creep forward. This rock was very well placed for the bipod. I told him to pick a suitable target (IE not a crusty old one and not a Billy) and fire when ready. I also chambered a round ready to take a second or finish off the first. I took this photo with outstretched arms - looking at it later I saw they were bedded down, no wonder only the heads were visible!
He fired, and I stood. He’d shot a small nanny in the head, she was belly up, the others were up and making off. I managed an offhand shot on a bigger nanny with the 7x57.
Then we dragged them to a tree, slung them up and I instructed him in gutting. He’d seen it before but hadn’t done it himself. Although he’s used the knife I made him to help skin animals his brother has shot, this is a proper first for it too.
Took us about an hour to walk back to the house, then negotiate the ute (pick up) to a spot we could carry the carcasses to - one at a time slung under a long stick. We’ll try and butcher them some time today, but with a high of 7°C, there’s no rush!
As always - my middle child is hot on the heels of his elder brother… didn’t waste any time getting his permit and heading out for a hunt. I’ve been making him practice in field positions - no point in printing nice targets while prone with a bipod if he can’t hold reasonably steady on an improvised rest… Mauser 4000 222 with slightly reduced LOP shooting 55gr SPBT at 2900fps, do pretty well on goats I find. We decided to go after a goat rather than fallow. The chance of success is much higher, I’ve found with younger/inexperienced hunters it’s fairly fraught going after deer, there’s so much more you have to get right. In comparison goats are very obliging! So we set out from the house on foot yesterday morning about 11:00 after the rain squalls seemed to have died down.
Headed to the top of a hill overlooking the river and were immediately confronted with a few options over the other side. Coming from the west the wind was really not in our favour for most of the closer ones, as some fallow quickly let us know.
Further south about a 1km away there was another mob, not much of a climb out of the river.
These ticked the box
So a fairly steep descent into the river, then crossing it with the aid of a long stick. We’ve had a bit of rain recently but the level isn’t that high.
Then we followed the river for a while before starting to head up out at an angle. It was loose and reasonably steep, but I wanted to pop up just in front of the mob straight into a good shooting position.
As we approached the rise where I believe they were behind we slowed right down and got lower. I crept forward and looked over and sure enough there was a black head through the long grass, very close by. I backed off, removed my pack, and got TYB to chamber a round and creep forward. This rock was very well placed for the bipod. I told him to pick a suitable target (IE not a crusty old one and not a Billy) and fire when ready. I also chambered a round ready to take a second or finish off the first. I took this photo with outstretched arms - looking at it later I saw they were bedded down, no wonder only the heads were visible!
He fired, and I stood. He’d shot a small nanny in the head, she was belly up, the others were up and making off. I managed an offhand shot on a bigger nanny with the 7x57.
Then we dragged them to a tree, slung them up and I instructed him in gutting. He’d seen it before but hadn’t done it himself. Although he’s used the knife I made him to help skin animals his brother has shot, this is a proper first for it too.
Took us about an hour to walk back to the house, then negotiate the ute (pick up) to a spot we could carry the carcasses to - one at a time slung under a long stick. We’ll try and butcher them some time today, but with a high of 7°C, there’s no rush!
