Ann

The ballot works by a public draw.

So the chances of winning a hunt are such you just have to buy a ballot and hope for the best. If you do win they also tell you which week you can hunt, no option to change. Normally you find out several months prior to the hunt. You could enter it for ten years and not get drawn or enter it like me maybe six times and get drawn twice!

Most of the entrants are Victorians followed by the other states of Australia. There are however always a percentage of overseas hunters who enter from the UK, USA, Belgium etc. I guess they enter the ballot and if win plan to make a trip for that purpose. Or if they can't they forfeit the hunt (which would hurt) and loose just the ten dollars entry which is no big deal.

I posted the form and info so members of NE.com are aware of its existence and if interested can participate.

I surely will try to post it again next year when I also send in my ballot entry.

The opportunities to hunt hog deer otherwise are very limited. Their is some public access land but that is probably quite busy. Most hunters would have tied up access to private land or belong to the Para Park Co-operative (a co-op which controls an island hunting area). Many would be jumping a back fence of a park somewhere.

I would guess 99% of overseas hunters use an outfitter who has access to private land. There is at least one fenced reserve to hunt. But the price isn't going to be $10.

Mickey

Sure - if they allow an outiftter

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At my first hunt at Boole Poole one of the other hunters was accompanied by her husband who just happened to be a Queensland hunting guide himself.

One of the keys of success is pre-hunt scouting. My first hunt I was lucky to team up with a local sambar hunter and we took the boat trip over together. He was kind enough to tell me the results of his scouting as long as he got first option to his chosen spot. He shot the first stag of all of us on the Tuesday. I shot mine on the Thursday. The other two hunters did not take an animal.

My second ballot hunt none of us took an animal at Boole Poole however some were sighted. A major flood had killed a lot of animals the year before. Also the abundance of extra water holes meant the tactics needed to be changed a lot and I only worked this out late. Hunt and learn. However this ballot appears to be for Blond Bay (or other reserves at the organisers option) so is a different area.