Hunting Australia

[Quentin VanPelt]

I have seen several members in this group that are from Australia, and I am wondering if I could get some insight on how a guy goes about coming hunting. Australia has been on my radar for quite a few years as a hunting destination, and I am at a place in my life that I would like to make it happen sooner rather than later. I have been a traditional bowhunter all my life, and the game rich environment and sheer adventure factor of Australia is calling my name. I am just in need of a little guidance on getting the ball rolling. When it comes to hunting, I have a great work schedule. I am a fishing guide in Alaska, so I work from mid-April through mid-September usually, which leaves me the rest of the year to hunt and fish as I please. I realize that there are outfitters/guides there that offer hunts, but with having the amount of time I have available and flying halfway across the globe from Alaska I would like to make this a trip that would last more than the typical 5–10-day hunts that guides would have to offer. I would like to do 14 days at a minimum. I don't really have a list of any certain animals that I would like to go after, but a place to chase boars, goat's cats, deer, or whatever would be available to be hunted. if a guided hunt would be my best bet, I can live with that, but I am just exploring my options. Is a hunt like this something that could be a DIY option? Appreciate any insight and would love to chat about making this happen.

 

[nevadabugle]

Interested in hearing the replies.

 

[Tom-D]

Im pretty certain if you are using a bow there wouldnt be to much to it at all. Personally i think your best bet is to target the alpine national park in Victoria for Sambar deer if you want a long diy adventure sort of thing. Im pretty sure there is a temporary game licence for international vistors. Im from nsw but our laws are a bit more tight around public land not sure it would be as easy to do as vic. I do know a few people that do guiding around australia aswell if you ended up wanting to go that way. If you want to chase fallow or reds the rut peaks in mid april and most people are chasing sambar around June to August

 

[Wilderlife]

I can talk with decent authority about Victoria and New South Wales. I'll try and keep this somewhat restricted so there is room for more questions, as opposed to typing out a novel right now.

Victorian options

For the most part, your easiest option in terms of logistics for turning up here for two weeks and having a bit of a DIY hunt is going to be on public land in Victoria, chasing sambar deer. There are a few fallow deer and red deer in some parts of Vic public land but it's predominantly sambar. There are also some parts where you can hunt wild dogs, but in most of Alpine National Park they're protected.

For this to be your best option you'd organise flights into Melbourne, hire a car, and go somewhere you've researched. You'd need to get your Vic Game (GMA) license and if you do some reading/googling you'll probably be able to find something about an international license. There are no tags, no bag limits, and no 'seasons' as such, but I believe hunting at times that are total fire bans is off limits. Most sambar hunters start getting into the idea around March/April, plenty of people hunt them hard through our winter (June/July/August), but most experienced sambar hunters consider the best time to hunt sambar around September/October. They aren't like other deer species that have one time they rut and it's common to find stags in hard antler at all times of year, but in general terms, September/October is when there is the most rutting activity.

Gates to the higher country in Victoria are shut over the periods there is snow so if you want to go up there you'd need to backpack in. You won't gain much as the snow pushes the deer down anyway. Most of my sambar hunting has been backpacking in to areas on river flats in the middle of winter. Thick country, fairly cold, lots of deer, etc. Come September/October, some gates may be open but snow will be melting so you may find deer in the tops.

Another great option would be finding someone down here with a boat that regularly hunts/fishes Lake Dartmouth. It's a huge reservoir that's full of trout and surrounded 360 degrees by Alpine National Park. I went there last year and it gave me a vibe that I imagine is similar to a lot of what happens in Alaska. Load up a boat (or multiple boats) with a fairly comfortable camp, rifles/bows/whatever, and head out. Find a good spot on the shore to camp and hunt from there. It's fairly remote but it does get decent pressure, but it would be impossible to shoot all the deer there. It's a pretty spectacular place.

Most of the public land available to hunt in Victoria is amazing country.

I will say this - coming over to Vic and hoping to get into the sambar with a stickbow would be an exceptionally big ask. I'm happy to be corrected but to my knowledge, there could be less than a dozen people in Australia who have been able to get after the sambar fairly well with a stickbow. Typically the country is thick and the deer are very switched on. There has been patchy success in recent years where people have figured out they can call sambar in sometimes, but this isn't a magic button by any means.

I'm fairly hopeless as a sambar hunter but I can go into a lot more detail if you need, in terms of what I would do if I were you and I got down here, best strategies to use, best places to look, etc.

New South Wales options

We have a lot of public land here in NSW. I believe there is an international license available. Do some googling around DPI NSW R license hunting and see what you can find. The system is a little harder to navigate than Vic, where you literally buy your license and just go. In NSW you need to book a state forest and have some GPS or similarly compatible device with you. Not hard to work out at all, but just a bit more effort than Victoria. You'll have a bit more variety in terms of game available, but NSW is a big place and some of the forests are a long way out. You could expect to run into goats in plenty of the state forests in the north-west of the state if you gave yourself two weeks to muck around, no worries. Most of the forests along the Great Dividing Range will have fallow deer, foxes, pigs, etc. Cats are everywhere but they aren't as easy to find as out other critters. Some state forests have good numbers of red deer as well. Some of the southern NSW forests have good numbers of sambar deer.

For a NSW state forest hunt you'd either fly into Sydney or Brisbane and organise which forests to go to. Brisbane is in QLD but it's not that far to drive from there to some of the forests in the northern part of NSW.

Again, if you gave yourself two weeks and you did enough research (talked to enough people) you would have a decent chance of seeing a few animals. Goats and pigs are much easier with a stickbow than fallow deer, especially in Sep/Oct as it'll start warming up and the ground will get noisier.

Some of the country in NSW SF's is amazing, but plenty of it is tough to hunt and kind of boring. some of the country is big pine plantations that are choked with blackberry and it's fairly stale. A lot of NSW SF country isn't the sort of thing a North American may be used to where they find a nice big basin and sit at the top with binos and have a look. Yes, there is some country like that, but it's not the majority by any means. Some of the stuff in western NSW is almost entirely flat and the country has more in common with desert than not.

Your best option, in my opinion.

Find someone, or some people, you can build a connection/friendship with. I've been making noise on here and on Archery Talk a bit over the last couple of years and haven't really invested the time I need to in order to pull it off, but also because I figure I'd just save up some money and come over and do a DIY thing in North America for a month for my 40th birthday (I'm 36 in February).

If you can find an Aussie (or Aussies) who can do things like pick you up at the airport/s, help organise licenses, have a vehicle with a lot of base camp equipment, and know some productive spots, you'll be in for a much better time. This would especially be the case for people who have private access in NSW, or in QLD (no public land options in QLD), or even private access in the NT for things like pigs, buffalo, donkeys, etc.

I know that if for example I were to host someone from Alaska in September, it'd be fairly easy as I always have two weeks off work from late September to early October. I have a lot of private land opportunities in northern NSW where I live, where we could quite easily get into some fallow deer, goats, pigs, foxes, etc. The fallow bucks will be dropping their antlers at this time so trophy potential isn't really there but certainly meat options are. Goats and pigs tend to be an all year thing but they are easier to find in some places than others.

Murray cod (native fish) season closes on 1st of September and opens again on 1st of December so that's not really going to be an option.

Trout season closes in June and opens again at some point in October, so you could maybe tack that onto something you do.

The other part of the equation is, what can you offer someone down here besides friendship? If an Aussie were to go to Alaska for two weeks any time from when their hunting seasons start, what could they hope to get after without having to invest big dollars in a guide or having to rely on drawing a low percentage tag?

FWIW, I regularly hunt with stickbows, compounds, and rifles. My mates and I hunt year round and are always getting into game. We have a great time and the opportunities are essentially endless, but that comes from having decent private access as well.

 

[Tom-D]

I can talk with decent authority about Victoria and New South Wales. I'll try and keep this somewhat restricted so there is room for more questions, as opposed to typing out a novel right now.

Victorian options

For the most part, your easiest option in terms of logistics for turning up here for two weeks and having a bit of a DIY hunt is going to be on public land in Victoria, chasing sambar deer. There are a few fallow deer and red deer in some parts of Vic public land but it's predominantly sambar. There are also some parts where you can hunt wild dogs, but in most of Alpine National Park they're protected.

For this to be your best option you'd organise flights into Melbourne, hire a car, and go somewhere you've researched. You'd need to get your Vic Game (GMA) license and if you do some reading/googling you'll probably be able to find something about an international license. There are no tags, no bag limits, and no 'seasons' as such, but I believe hunting at times that are total fire bans is off limits. Most sambar hunters start getting into the idea around March/April, plenty of people hunt them hard through our winter (June/July/August), but most experienced sambar hunters consider the best time to hunt sambar around September/October. They aren't like other deer species that have one time they rut and it's common to find stags in hard antler at all times of year, but in general terms, September/October is when there is the most rutting activity.

Gates to the higher country in Victoria are shut over the periods there is snow so if you want to go up there you'd need to backpack in. You won't gain much as the snow pushes the deer down anyway. Most of my sambar hunting has been backpacking in to areas on river flats in the middle of winter. Thick country, fairly cold, lots of deer, etc. Come September/October, some gates may be open but snow will be melting so you may find deer in the tops.

Another great option would be finding someone down here with a boat that regularly hunts/fishes Lake Dartmouth. It's a huge reservoir that's full of trout and surrounded 360 degrees by Alpine National Park. I went there last year and it gave me a vibe that I imagine is similar to a lot of what happens in Alaska. Load up a boat (or multiple boats) with a fairly comfortable camp, rifles/bows/whatever, and head out. Find a good spot on the shore to camp and hunt from there. It's fairly remote but it does get decent pressure, but it would be impossible to shoot all the deer there. It's a pretty spectacular place.

Most of the public land available to hunt in Victoria is amazing country.

I will say this - coming over to Vic and hoping to get into the sambar with a stickbow would be an exceptionally big ask. I'm happy to be corrected but to my knowledge, there could be less than a dozen people in Australia who have been able to get after the sambar fairly well with a stickbow. Typically the country is thick and the deer are very switched on. There has been patchy success in recent years where people have figured out they can call sambar in sometimes, but this isn't a magic button by any means.

I'm fairly hopeless as a sambar hunter but I can go into a lot more detail if you need, in terms of what I would do if I were you and I got down here, best strategies to use, best places to look, etc.

New South Wales options

We have a lot of public land here in NSW. I believe there is an international license available. Do some googling around DPI NSW R license hunting and see what you can find. The system is a little harder to navigate than Vic, where you literally buy your license and just go. In NSW you need to book a state forest and have some GPS or similarly compatible device with you. Not hard to work out at all, but just a bit more effort than Victoria. You'll have a bit more variety in terms of game available, but NSW is a big place and some of the forests are a long way out. You could expect to run into goats in plenty of the state forests in the north-west of the state if you gave yourself two weeks to muck around, no worries. Most of the forests along the Great Dividing Range will have fallow deer, foxes, pigs, etc. Cats are everywhere but they aren't as easy to find as out other critters. Some state forests have good numbers of red deer as well. Some of the southern NSW forests have good numbers of sambar deer.

For a NSW state forest hunt you'd either fly into Sydney or Brisbane and organise which forests to go to. Brisbane is in QLD but it's not that far to drive from there to some of the forests in the northern part of NSW.

Again, if you gave yourself two weeks and you did enough research (talked to enough people) you would have a decent chance of seeing a few animals. Goats and pigs are much easier with a stickbow than fallow deer, especially in Sep/Oct as it'll start warming up and the ground will get noisier.

Some of the country in NSW SF's is amazing, but plenty of it is tough to hunt and kind of boring. some of the country is big pine plantations that are choked with blackberry and it's fairly stale. A lot of NSW SF country isn't the sort of thing a North American may be used to where they find a nice big basin and sit at the top with binos and have a look. Yes, there is some country like that, but it's not the majority by any means. Some of the stuff in western NSW is almost entirely flat and the country has more in common with desert than not.

Your best option, in my opinion.

Find someone, or some people, you can build a connection/friendship with. I've been making noise on here and on Archery Talk a bit over the last couple of years and haven't really invested the time I need to in order to pull it off, but also because I figure I'd just save up some money and come over and do a DIY thing in North America for a month for my 40th birthday (I'm 36 in February).

If you can find an Aussie (or Aussies) who can do things like pick you up at the airport/s, help organise licenses, have a vehicle with a lot of base camp equipment, and know some productive spots, you'll be in for a much better time. This would especially be the case for people who have private access in NSW, or in QLD (no public land options in QLD), or even private access in the NT for things like pigs, buffalo, donkeys, etc.

I know that if for example I were to host someone from Alaska in September, it'd be fairly easy as I always have two weeks off work from late September to early October. I have a lot of private land opportunities in northern NSW where I live, where we could quite easily get into some fallow deer, goats, pigs, foxes, etc. The fallow bucks will be dropping their antlers at this time so trophy potential isn't really there but certainly meat options are. Goats and pigs tend to be an all year thing but they are easier to find in some places than others.

Murray cod (native fish) season closes on 1st of September and opens again on 1st of December so that's not really going to be an option.

Trout season closes in June and opens again at some point in October, so you could maybe tack that onto something you do.

The other part of the equation is, what can you offer someone down here besides friendship? If an Aussie were to go to Alaska for two weeks any time from when their hunting seasons start, what could they hope to get after without having to invest big dollars in a guide or having to rely on drawing a low percentage tag?

FWIW, I regularly hunt with stickbows, compounds, and rifles. My mates and I hunt year round and are always getting into game. We have a great time and the opportunities are essentially endless, but that comes from having decent private access as well.

Great break down!

 

[Quentin VanPelt]

I can talk with decent authority about Victoria and New South Wales. I'll try and keep this somewhat restricted so there is room for more questions, as opposed to typing out a novel right now.

Victorian options

For the most part, your easiest option in terms of logistics for turning up here for two weeks and having a bit of a DIY hunt is going to be on public land in Victoria, chasing sambar deer. There are a few fallow deer and red deer in some parts of Vic public land but it's predominantly sambar. There are also some parts where you can hunt wild dogs, but in most of Alpine National Park they're protected.

For this to be your best option you'd organise flights into Melbourne, hire a car, and go somewhere you've researched. You'd need to get your Vic Game (GMA) license and if you do some reading/googling you'll probably be able to find something about an international license. There are no tags, no bag limits, and no 'seasons' as such, but I believe hunting at times that are total fire bans is off limits. Most sambar hunters start getting into the idea around March/April, plenty of people hunt them hard through our winter (June/July/August), but most experienced sambar hunters consider the best time to hunt sambar around September/October. They aren't like other deer species that have one time they rut and it's common to find stags in hard antler at all times of year, but in general terms, September/October is when there is the most rutting activity.

Gates to the higher country in Victoria are shut over the periods there is snow so if you want to go up there you'd need to backpack in. You won't gain much as the snow pushes the deer down anyway. Most of my sambar hunting has been backpacking in to areas on river flats in the middle of winter. Thick country, fairly cold, lots of deer, etc. Come September/October, some gates may be open but snow will be melting so you may find deer in the tops.

Another great option would be finding someone down here with a boat that regularly hunts/fishes Lake Dartmouth. It's a huge reservoir that's full of trout and surrounded 360 degrees by Alpine National Park. I went there last year and it gave me a vibe that I imagine is similar to a lot of what happens in Alaska. Load up a boat (or multiple boats) with a fairly comfortable camp, rifles/bows/whatever, and head out. Find a good spot on the shore to camp and hunt from there. It's fairly remote but it does get decent pressure, but it would be impossible to shoot all the deer there. It's a pretty spectacular place.

Most of the public land available to hunt in Victoria is amazing country.

I will say this - coming over to Vic and hoping to get into the sambar with a stickbow would be an exceptionally big ask. I'm happy to be corrected but to my knowledge, there could be less than a dozen people in Australia who have been able to get after the sambar fairly well with a stickbow. Typically the country is thick and the deer are very switched on. There has been patchy success in recent years where people have figured out they can call sambar in sometimes, but this isn't a magic button by any means.

I'm fairly hopeless as a sambar hunter but I can go into a lot more detail if you need, in terms of what I would do if I were you and I got down here, best strategies to use, best places to look, etc.

New South Wales options

We have a lot of public land here in NSW. I believe there is an international license available. Do some googling around DPI NSW R license hunting and see what you can find. The system is a little harder to navigate than Vic, where you literally buy your license and just go. In NSW you need to book a state forest and have some GPS or similarly compatible device with you. Not hard to work out at all, but just a bit more effort than Victoria. You'll have a bit more variety in terms of game available, but NSW is a big place and some of the forests are a long way out. You could expect to run into goats in plenty of the state forests in the north-west of the state if you gave yourself two weeks to muck around, no worries. Most of the forests along the Great Dividing Range will have fallow deer, foxes, pigs, etc. Cats are everywhere but they aren't as easy to find as out other critters. Some state forests have good numbers of red deer as well. Some of the southern NSW forests have good numbers of sambar deer.

For a NSW state forest hunt you'd either fly into Sydney or Brisbane and organise which forests to go to. Brisbane is in QLD but it's not that far to drive from there to some of the forests in the northern part of NSW.

Again, if you gave yourself two weeks and you did enough research (talked to enough people) you would have a decent chance of seeing a few animals. Goats and pigs are much easier with a stickbow than fallow deer, especially in Sep/Oct as it'll start warming up and the ground will get noisier.

Some of the country in NSW SF's is amazing, but plenty of it is tough to hunt and kind of boring. some of the country is big pine plantations that are choked with blackberry and it's fairly stale. A lot of NSW SF country isn't the sort of thing a North American may be used to where they find a nice big basin and sit at the top with binos and have a look. Yes, there is some country like that, but it's not the majority by any means. Some of the stuff in western NSW is almost entirely flat and the country has more in common with desert than not.

Your best option, in my opinion.

Find someone, or some people, you can build a connection/friendship with. I've been making noise on here and on Archery Talk a bit over the last couple of years and haven't really invested the time I need to in order to pull it off, but also because I figure I'd just save up some money and come over and do a DIY thing in North America for a month for my 40th birthday (I'm 36 in February).

If you can find an Aussie (or Aussies) who can do things like pick you up at the airport/s, help organise licenses, have a vehicle with a lot of base camp equipment, and know some productive spots, you'll be in for a much better time. This would especially be the case for people who have private access in NSW, or in QLD (no public land options in QLD), or even private access in the NT for things like pigs, buffalo, donkeys, etc.

I know that if for example I were to host someone from Alaska in September, it'd be fairly easy as I always have two weeks off work from late September to early October. I have a lot of private land opportunities in northern NSW where I live, where we could quite easily get into some fallow deer, goats, pigs, foxes, etc. The fallow bucks will be dropping their antlers at this time so trophy potential isn't really there but certainly meat options are. Goats and pigs tend to be an all year thing but they are easier to find in some places than others.

Murray cod (native fish) season closes on 1st of September and opens again on 1st of December so that's not really going to be an option.

Trout season closes in June and opens again at some point in October, so you could maybe tack that onto something you do.

The other part of the equation is, what can you offer someone down here besides friendship? If an Aussie were to go to Alaska for two weeks any time from when their hunting seasons start, what could they hope to get after without having to invest big dollars in a guide or having to rely on drawing a low percentage tag?

FWIW, I regularly hunt with stickbows, compounds, and rifles. My mates and I hunt year round and are always getting into game. We have a great time and the opportunities are essentially endless, but that comes from having decent private access as well.

Much appreciated response. Really breaks some things down. Great starting points and things to take into consideration. One downfall to Alaska is, anyone from outside of the United States is what they consider a non-resident alien. Which in turn means they are required to be guided for all hunting. If that wasn't the case I would gladly host someone to come hunting.

 

[Quentin VanPelt]

I have got on to the NSW DPI licensing website and found a restricted visitors license. It says to be eligible for a license one must be a part of an approved hunting organization and become accredited for a R license. Neither of which sounds like a big undertaking. The part that sounds the most difficult is it says visitors must be accompanied. Here is the wording straight from the website. Sounds to me guided would be the only option. Here is the link to the visitors section.

Restricted Visitor's licence

www.dpi.nsw.gov.au

Visitors must be accompanied​

While on a hunt, all holders of a Visitor's licence must also be accompanied at all times by a holder of a full NSW game hunting licence.

Persons who can accompany an overseas hunter are:

• a Restricted game hunting licence (R-Licence) holder
• a General game hunting licence (G-Licence) holder
• a Restricted Guide game hunting licence (R-Guide) holder
• a General guide game hunting licence (G-Guide) holder.

The Visitors licence only allows the holder the same authority of the accompanying licence-holders type, for example:

• to hunt game animals on declared public land the visitor must hold an R-Visitor's licence and hunt with an R-Licence holder or R-Guide licence holder
• to hunt game animals on private land the visitor must hold either an R-Visitor's or G-Visitor's licence and hunt with a licence holder as stated above, or with a G-Licence or G-Guide licence holder

 

[Quentin VanPelt]

Im pretty certain if you are using a bow there wouldnt be to much to it at all. Personally i think your best bet is to target the alpine national park in Victoria for Sambar deer if you want a long diy adventure sort of thing. Im pretty sure there is a temporary game licence for international vistors. Im from nsw but our laws are a bit more tight around public land not sure it would be as easy to do as vic. I do know a few people that do guiding around australia aswell if you ended up wanting to go that way. If you want to chase fallow or reds the rut peaks in mid april and most people are chasing sambar around June to August

Tom, thank you for the reply. From looking at the NSW it does sound somewhat difficult. I would be interested in knowing about the guided outfits you know of. That is not totally out of the option, and very well may be the best bet for a first timer.

 

[Wilderlife]

I have got on to the NSW DPI licensing website and found a restricted visitors license. It says to be eligible for a license one must be a part of an approved hunting organization and become accredited for a R license. Neither of which sounds like a big undertaking. The part that sounds the most difficult is it says visitors must be accompanied. Here is the wording straight from the website. Sounds to me guided would be the only option. Here is the link to the visitors section.

Restricted Visitor's licence

www.dpi.nsw.gov.au

Visitors must be accompanied​

While on a hunt, all holders of a Visitor's licence must also be accompanied at all times by a holder of a full NSW game hunting licence.

Persons who can accompany an overseas hunter are:

• a Restricted game hunting licence (R-Licence) holder
• a General game hunting licence (G-Licence) holder
• a Restricted Guide game hunting licence (R-Guide) holder
• a General guide game hunting licence (G-Guide) holder.

The Visitors licence only allows the holder the same authority of the accompanying licence-holders type, for example:

• to hunt game animals on declared public land the visitor must hold an R-Visitor's licence and hunt with an R-Licence holder or R-Guide licence holder
• to hunt game animals on private land the visitor must hold either an R-Visitor's or G-Visitor's licence and hunt with a licence holder as stated above, or with a G-Licence or G-Guide licence holder

It might be worth doing a bit more research in this space, mate.

NSW is a little bit funny in that we have some animals declared as 'game animals' and others as 'ferals' or 'pests'.

Deer are the ones mainly classified as game animals, but even that is becoming loose at the moment. A few years ago we used to have closed seasons on some deer in NSW but they removed that as a result of drought and a few other factors.

What I'm getting at is, seeing as you won't be bringing a firearm, all you'd need to hunt things like pigs/goats/foxes on private land is your plane ticket. We don't need licenses to hunt those animals here on private land, besides a firearms license if we're using firearms obviously.

Don't underestimate the opportunity that is Victoria either. There are thousands of hunters down there and finding information in that space wouldn't be too difficult.

Taking an Aussie hunting in Alaska might be difficult but what about the fishing side of things?

 

[Tom-D]

Tom, thank you for the reply. From looking at the NSW it does sound somewhat difficult. I would be interested in knowing about the guided outfits you know of. That is not totally out of the option, and very well may be the best bet for a first timer.

Friend of mine owns an outfit Accurate Hunts . He may not have all of the australian hunting listed on the website as alot of what he does is catering to Aussies heading over seas but he definitley has a central west nsw property and links to a bunch of other guides operating in Vic Qld and the NT. Im sure if you emailed he would be able to cater for what you are after

 

[Tom-D]

Tom, thank you for the reply. From looking at the NSW it does sound somewhat difficult. I would be interested in knowing about the guided outfits you know of. That is not totally out of the option, and very well may be the best bet for a first timer.

Might even be a good idea to do half half . Come do a 4-5 day guided hunt and then head out and give it a go on your own

 

[Quentin VanPelt]

It might be worth doing a bit more research in this space, mate.

NSW is a little bit funny in that we have some animals declared as 'game animals' and others as 'ferals' or 'pests'.

Deer are the ones mainly classified as game animals, but even that is becoming loose at the moment. A few years ago we used to have closed seasons on some deer in NSW but they removed that as a result of drought and a few other factors.

What I'm getting at is, seeing as you won't be bringing a firearm, all you'd need to hunt things like pigs/goats/foxes on private land is your plane ticket. We don't need licenses to hunt those animals here on private land, besides a firearms license if we're using firearms obviously.

Don't underestimate the opportunity that is Victoria either. There are thousands of hunters down there and finding information in that space wouldn't be too difficult.

Taking an Aussie hunting in Alaska might be difficult but what about the fishing side of things?

Thank you for the suggestion of looking into it some more. The license requirement is for public land only for certain animals, like you suggested. I will do some research into Victoria as well. It seems game is scattered all over the place so maybe coming up with what I would want to hunt would narrow it down to the best territory to go to. Maybe make the process a little easier. Fishing wouldn't be a big deal, would be much easier to figure out than hunting for sure.

 

[Quentin VanPelt]

Friend of mine owns an outfit Accurate Hunts . He may not have all of the australian hunting listed on the website as alot of what he does is catering to Aussies heading over seas but he definitley has a central west nsw property and links to a bunch of other guides operating in Vic Qld and the NT. Im sure if you emailed he would be able to cater for what you are after

Thank you, i found his website and plan on dropping him an email about what i am looking for. Part guided trip part DIY would be a great thing to do. I would be totally all for that. Another option i would love to find would be an outfitted hunt. Basically someone who had an area and maybe some accommodations, but i could hunt on my own and cook on my own and all that.

 

[Broadjumper]

I agree with Wilderlife. Victoria is your best option. NSW has some great country but for the limited time you would have it's a big ask, you would really need access to private property . The Victorian High Country is spectacular and carries a good head of deer. Backpacking is the way to go,although I feel it would safer and more enjoyable going with a companion. Can be dangerous up there, weather, old mine shafts, getting lost. You could also drop the Australian Deer Association a line and see if they could help you out in some shape or form.

 

[JMac23]

So my recommendation would be come to Victoria. Hit up Zeb Jones and do a guided backpack hunt into the ANP that will be about 5 days and give you a head start. I know Zeb and he’s a great fella.

From there you can spend the rest of your trip in state forests where there isn’t as many deer but you’re not on your own in what is Gods country but also at the same time some of the harshest terrain you can find with weather conditions that change hourly.

Lots of state forests you can have a base camp from a gravel road that a normal car can get down and then walk in hunting daily.

There’s spots next rivers that you can fish in and get water from throughout Vic.