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A mate of mine, Rob Gale, came up with a concept for a promotional hunting DVD and I was invited to be a key member of the project team. There will be more detail about the DVD project at a later date, so don't press me on that just yet. Last week, along with Rob and cameraman John Hossack, we went on the first leg of the project to Cape York Wild Adventures (CYWA)www.capeyorkwildadventures.com.au By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 By FATBOY404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 CYWA has around 2.3 million acres of some of the best pig and scrub bull hunting country you will ever see. There are numerous rivers, swamps and billabongs with thousands of ducks and geese. We hunted the edge of a massive swamp system which the traditional Aboriginal land owners indicated it would take days to walk around. We hardly scratched the surface there. What is the real potential? The scrub bulls being Brahman, shorthorn and crosses are the best I have ever seen and are in great condition with many weighing between 850 to 1100kg with diverse colours and quality horns. I was able to take a couple of top class trophies using Woodleigh Hydros and Round Nose bullets. Inland fishing is excellent especially for Barra with Tarpon, Saratoga and Grunter also available. Rob and I spent a total of about four hours fishing and I personally caught around 35 Barra with some quality fish being caught and taken for evening meals. This is a photo of one of my Barra caught on a Gold Bomber on our way back to the main lodge after camping at the beach. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 The country also really lends itself to bow hunting. John the camera man took a bull and a couple of boars with his bow with the limited spare time he had. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 Rob used his 270W loaded with 150 and 180 grain Woodleigh PP's with great results on boars. Just a note on the Woodleigh 180gn PP's out of the 270W, they need to be pushed hard to stabilise and Rob loaded 55gns of AR2213SC which is a MAXIMUM load. I hunted with my favourite calibre; the 9.3x62 built buy Jim Kent and Daryl Stevens loaded with 286 grain Woodleigh RN and also 286 grain Hydro's @ 2410 fps. The load was 56.5 grains of 2206H had both bullets shooting within an inch of each other at 100 yards. Both bullets preformed perfectly on bulls and boars especially the Hydro's on the bulls. Hydro's aren't mandatory to kill pigs but on a couple of occasions I successfully took boars after having to literally shoot through small paperbark trees snapping off small trunks and limbs on the way through. Here is a photo of a branch I shot through to claim my biggest boar of the trip. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 This photo is of the recovered projectiles from my 9.3. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 Rob and I both used Trijicon scopes, mine being the 1.25-4 with illuminated green triangle and Rob used the 1-4 with a red triangle. Both scopes were securely anchored with Talley QD mounts. Rob and I both agreed that the illuminated reticles were an advantage in all the various types of country we hunted especially in the thick paper bark swamps often with low light conditions. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 In summary Cape York Wild Adventures offers some diverse hunting and fishing opportunities with first class comfortable lodge accommodation with separate bedrooms all with fans, laundry and large modern kitchen and dining area. Many thanks for a great week to Albin Perrett the owner of CYWA and Wal his right hand man and head guide. Also to the lodge managers, John and his wife Janet, we really appreciated their efforts in looking after us during our stay. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 |
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Some more photo's. One of Johns Boars with my 9.3 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 John at work By FATBOY404 at 2011-09-10 Couple of Robs boars with the 270. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 There were thousands of Brumbies near the coast. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 A couple of my boars. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 |
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The bulls were great hunting and very hard to drive past !!!! By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 A nice Brahman bull.The first I shot at "Blue Lagoon" By FATBOY404 at 2011-09-10 This is my favourite bull. He was on his own and very switched on. By FATBOY404 at 2011-09-10 One thing I learnt very quickly is that you carry as much water as you can and a good GPS. By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 A couple of the knives we used on the trip. By FATBOY404 at 2011-09-10 By FATBOY404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 By fatboy404 at 2011-09-10 |
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Superb, great photos. Love the 9.3 as well, very nice. Are the Brumbies concentrated and doing much damage or are they spread out enough ? . |
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Neale, good pictures and write up. Looks like it was an awsome trip. Got to love those Woodlieghs. How did you find the Green triangle in your trijacon? Cheers Greg |
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The horses do a lot of damage for sure. Having top and bottom teeth they give the vegetation a real "tune up" as well as "padding" in the sandy country close to the coast. Greg. I must admitt that the triange took some getting used to as I have always used the traditinal cross type reticle. Once I had used it for awhile I loved it for close in snap shooting and I also took some animals at around 275 yards with it as well.It looked a long way in the 4 power scope I can tell you. The Woodleigh RN's worked a treat on both bulls and pigs. |
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Hi Neale, Well done, a very good story and photos and I am glad to see that it was a very productive hunt for every-one concerned... Cheers Mate, Jeff . |
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Fan-tuddy-blastic! Well-done! Such awesome hunting opportunities there... And that brumby has one of the funkiest colour schemes I've seen! Great photos, and thanks for sharing them. |
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Nice stuff. One of the brumbies looks like it has a fair bit of Paloose plus a bit of Arab. |
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Quote: I've noticed you get all sorts up there or everything under the sun all in one mob. Does anyone know if any of the old Whalers are still running free in mobs or have they all been diluted by other brumbies ? . |
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Thanks for the comment fella's. We had a ball and would have loved more time to explore the region. Albin also had a Polaris buggy there to use but we ran out of time. We flew in on the mail plane but it broke down the day before we left so to Albin's credit he had Wal drive us to Cairns in the 80 series Toyota which took 10 hours so we could all catch our connecting flights. One of the highlights (for me) was the meals.Most nights we had fresh Barra,crab,steak and my favourite,ribs in the Webber that were that big you could put your foot on one end !!!. Cant help with any horse knowledge. |
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Once again, great work Neale. Good to hear that you decided on the triangle in the end. As I said, the dot in the german recticle was like a pin prick and hardly worth it. A trick that I'm getting used to is to sight in so that you use the triangles tip at the bottom of you aim point. So for a circle type target, i place the tip at the 6 o'clock position. George |
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Glad the trip went well. |
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Looks like a lot of fun! |
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Awesome Neale. Looks like fascinating country. Comgratulations on those bulls. I see you also have a Kizlyar Sobol ! Great knife for the price. |
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Thanks again for the interest fella's. GK. Thats what I did mate. I used the tip of the triangle for sighting in but in close and running shots I just put the green "about there" and fired. Tophet1. I like the Sobol as well.It looks like a smaller knife but I have caped out animals with mine and stuck pigs without a problem. Check out the UZH-2 it is a favourite of mine with a 6" blade that is quiet thin and is a very light knife. Not out of place in the kitchen or the field. |
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Looks really good!! Alben is a top bloke... does he still have Diaper Stn or did he manage to sell it? |
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Not sure mate. Where was it ?. He has the four wheel drive park out of Brisbane still and the lease on "Blue Lagoon" in the Cape,not sure what else. |
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Quote: Good on those hydros , still how did you manage to get that bullet - did it tumble and keyhole on the boar? |
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Bloody great trip Fatboy, with the fishing as well....any webpage ? do the buff get there or only in NT, thx, Mike |
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93mouse. Mate the Hydro broke that branch as well as taking the side out of another (that I saw). The pig was front on and I shot it in the head. You are right I think it did keyhole but no soft point would have got there. Go the 9.3 hey !!!!!!!!!. |
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This is the web page. www.capeyorkwildadventures.com.au Thanks Mike. It was a good trip. No Buff there mate just big pigs,Scrub Bulls and great fishing. |
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Prices are very good compared to some. Would he do custom packages as well ? |
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Great write up and pics, looks like a great place. |
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John. He likes four hunters at a time. Just talk to him and I'm sure he will help. |
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Really, FB, what a crazy great hunt! You guys don't run out of stuff to shoot, do you!!? |
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Awesome photo's Neale, the best of all worlds. Well i guess our "perfect" world hey, if you need a porter when you go back you can book me a spot! But decisions decisions .338 or 9.3?????? |
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9.3. I guess we are lucky with the ease that we can go hunting in Australia. It was a lot of fun. Viking338. Book you in for next September mate ????. Even bigger decision for you,338Fed,338-06 or 9.3x62.(dont forget the fishing rod). Cheers Neale. |
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Awesome writeup and pix mate, see you soon. |
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Quote: Look forward to it mate. Bring plenty of Coke !!!!. |
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Neale Great post & pics! I noticed in an earlier post by you the 9.3 286 grain Hydros shot much lower in your rifle than the 286 grain protected point loads you were using. Did you resolve this by going to the 286 grain round nose bullet? I am finding my Walther barrel shoots the protected point & the round nose bullets to different points of impact = round nose a few inches lower! I am looking to save time & dollars working up some loads for th 286 grain Hydros for bulls and buff. I would appreciate your help in building a combination of loads (hydro & soft)to shoot similar points of impact. I have been using 58-59 grains AR2008 thus far. PS The new 232 grain Hydro should be a cracker for this type of work given the specualation that increased velocity creates a larger wound channel. Laurie |
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Hey Neale, A cousin and a couple mates would be interested in this hunt / fish. Should they contact you? Oh and they are 9.3 guys! |
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Quote: I used 56.5 grains of 2206H for the Hydro's and RN 286 grainers for two reasons. #1 was I could put 3 of each into 1.5" @ 100. #2 was a bit more room for the Hydro's being so long. I like the Hydro's for this sort of a hunt where you are shooting through paper bark swamps at scrub bulls and big boars. I have used the 235 grain Hydro on Bulls in WA in a 375 H&H but have not used the 232's in my 9.3's. Hope that helps you out?. Adam. I don't have anything to do with the outfitter but there is a link at the start of the thread they can look up. |
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Nice report and great photos. Looks like you had a good time. One question - why do they call them "brumbies"? |
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John Brumby released horses into the wild so all wild horses are called Brumbies. |
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Neale, I assume you hunted in September? How was the weather then? |