Western Australia Hunting advice.

Game hunting and large prey. Deer stalking, hunting with hounds. Boar, pigs etc., large prey, culling, hunting large feral animals.

Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by ZaineB » 05 Jul 2021, 12:20 am

animalpest wrote:Yeah, like one guy who spruiked just before he did his roo shooters competency test that he had shot 27 roos the night before out to 250m without a miss. Trouble is it took him a numbers of targets before he passed his test.



sounds about right to me.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by ZaineB » 05 Jul 2021, 12:25 am

animalpest wrote:I don't think WA has sole rights to the long range woundem cowboys.



cant speak for the rest, but SA and NSW definitely have a fair few strokers too, considering some of these blokes have been imports from there.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 14 Jul 2021, 5:29 pm

This map I just made might help you find some game in WA and get permission in a better area .
Last edited by JohnV on 15 Jul 2021, 9:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by ZaineB » 14 Jul 2021, 5:54 pm

haha well played
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by Blr243 » 14 Jul 2021, 6:16 pm

Interesting map. I noted with interest the wild dog area on the Kimberly’s coast. While in Broome I never did think of it as holding dogs, Maybe I was too busy hauling in snapper and blue bone
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by Blr243 » 14 Jul 2021, 6:30 pm

I also noticed the little bit of buffalo going on in the far north corner.... when I was in Broome 30 plus years ago a station owner close to the coast told me he saw and shot a single buffalo....mostly people only believed him when he produced its horns. It’s hard to believe one could wander so far of course before it was sighted and shot ....perhaps it had some help by man. I have heard of people bringing them back to Qld live on the sly . I suspect it’s probably very much against the law transporting feral animals
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by animalpest » 14 Jul 2021, 6:43 pm

Wild dog's are everywhere in the pastoral areas. Used to be throughout the state forest in the southwest but are pretty well gone now due to 1080 fox baiting.

Deer are becoming more common. I picked up some deer droppings and saw deer rubs last weekend on my own property!

Donkeys only number less than 10000 in the whole of WA.

Camels are back on the rise in numbers. Will doing my bit in a couple of weeks on them.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 14 Jul 2021, 6:59 pm

Blr243 wrote:Interesting map. I noted with interest the wild dog area on the Kimberly’s coast. While in Broome I never did think of it as holding dogs, Maybe I was too busy hauling in snapper and blue bone

There is no prediction of Wild dogs on the Kimberly coast on this map . You may be seeing Google Earths yellow territorial boundary lines .
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by duncan61 » 14 Jul 2021, 7:12 pm

I have to ask Animal pest can you sell the camel meat or is distance impractical.I ask as I plan to go to Caiguna to do the roadhouse but plan to shoot stuff as well
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by Blr243 » 14 Jul 2021, 7:45 pm

John, on the map down the bottom there is a legend showing yellow for wild dogs. That’s what gave me the idea. Or am I reading it wrong , and am I going totally mad?
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by animalpest » 15 Jul 2021, 4:08 am

Duncan61 the distances mean you need to take your own chiller.

The bottom dropped out of the pet food market for camels as some desert species of plants they eat will kill domestic dog's.

I shot 104 roos tonight ( hence the 2am post) and I have made more tonight than I could with camel meat with much lower costs.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 15 Jul 2021, 8:28 am

Blr243 wrote:John, on the map down the bottom there is a legend showing yellow for wild dogs. That’s what gave me the idea. Or am I reading it wrong , and am I going totally mad?

Unfortunately the map in the agricultural area already had yellow for dogs I could not change that and google earth has yellow for it's continental boundary lines so that is probably what you are seeing . Go into Google Earth and zoom the map into the area and you will see the yellow continental boundary lines expand up to just lines not solid yellow . That's all I can think . It's not my best work I will admit that but if I spend hours and hours doing real precise stuff it's not worth it . Just ignore any yellow lines around the coastal edge . PS I have worked out how to switch off that yellow border layer in Google Earth and will redo the map just for you .
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 15 Jul 2021, 5:16 pm

animalpest wrote:Duncan61 the distances mean you need to take your own chiller.

The bottom dropped out of the pet food market for camels as some desert species of plants they eat will kill domestic dog's.

I shot 104 roos tonight ( hence the 2am post) and I have made more tonight than I could with camel meat with much lower costs.

104 Roos on the hooks is nice going and hard work . I did shoot roos and foxes for skins many years ago when I worked on cattle stations . I had a deal with a tannery not too far away and I also got paid by the boss because It was part of my station job to shoot pests . Would get about 30 or 40 good size roos a night and take the skins in after two nights shooting .
I think I got $4 to $8 a skin and fox skins around $15 to $20 for a few years for good winter pelts but after a while the price dropped so much it was not worth doing anymore . I was able to put about $ 12000 in the bank in the time I spent on the stations . I tried to get a pro licence once but it was all tied up in my area and I would have to move way out West to get one . To isolated for the family .
Not big money now but back then it put a deposit on my first house . I used to shoot with a pro roo shooter I knew as a friend at Coonamble and I enjoyed that a lot and he taught me a lot of good stuff . That was when I was hoping to get a licence but as I said , never worked out . Cheers mate and keep them all head shots and the iron bar handy .
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by Blr243 » 15 Jul 2021, 6:39 pm

Awesome John thanks very much.........I did look on google earth but could not c any yellow on the coast. ...while there I was checking out the topography and watercorses, and tidal flats on my old stomping grounds. Having google earth back then In that big country would have been nice
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by ZaineB » 15 Jul 2021, 6:45 pm

Blr243 wrote:Awesome John thanks very much.........I did look on google earth but could not c any yellow on the coast. ...while there I was checking out the topography and watercorses, and tidal flats on my old stomping grounds. Having google earth back then In that big country would have been nice



Much of the state has feral or wild dogs on it to some degree, however the more built up and populated the area/dense farms the less you generally see, Ive shot a few on the odd occasion down in the south west but these are all just strays gone feral, most of the dingo crosses dont start till you get out to outer wheatbelt/goldfields/nullabor and north from there.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 15 Jul 2021, 7:16 pm

Feral data from WA government is hard to come by . I don't have any data on wild dogs much outside the Agricultural area .
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 15 Jul 2021, 7:29 pm

Blr243 wrote:Awesome John thanks very much.........I did look on google earth but could not c any yellow on the coast. ...while there I was checking out the topography and watercorses, and tidal flats on my old stomping grounds. Having google earth back then In that big country would have been nice

You probably have the layer turned off in the Layer menu at the very bottom of the menu bar . It's in Borders & Labels .
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by Faedy » 17 Jul 2021, 12:23 am

Blr243 wrote:I also noticed the little bit of buffalo going on in the far north corner.... when I was in Broome 30 plus years ago a station owner close to the coast told me he saw and shot a single buffalo....mostly people only believed him when he produced its horns. It’s hard to believe one could wander so far of course before it was sighted and shot ....perhaps it had some help by man. I have heard of people bringing them back to Qld live on the sly . I suspect it’s probably very much against the law transporting feral animals


It probably escaped from the old holding yards at the Broome abattoir.
We used to farm them in the South West of WA back in those days - bought them from the NT - they got brought to Broome, cleared by AG Dept,then trucked to Margaret River
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by Blr243 » 17 Jul 2021, 4:46 pm

Your mention of the meat works there reminded me of that smell us Broome people had to deal with when the winds blew a certain way
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by animalpest » 17 Jul 2021, 6:37 pm

A truck rollover full of buffalo north of Eneabba back in the mid 90's on the Brand. Got the call earlyish on a Monday morning and had to race to our Stores Dept, pick some half decent guns and race up there to deal with them wandering around the highway. An interesting start to the week.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by bah! » 24 Aug 2021, 8:59 am

Not buffalo but there are a couple of small scrubbers that pop up on Indian Ocean Drive some nights. Never seen them witha gun in the car though.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by Diamond Jim » 26 Aug 2021, 1:04 am

niteowl wrote:
Blr243 wrote:I never had donkeys stand around much for shooting .....this was 30 plus years ago. Maybe things have changed


Back in 1971 (50 years ago) out the back of Dunham. Maybe they had been hammered in the mean time.


Do you mean Denham, Shark Bay?
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by niteowl » 26 Aug 2021, 1:32 pm

Diamond Jim wrote:
niteowl wrote:
Blr243 wrote:I never had donkeys stand around much for shooting .....this was 30 plus years ago. Maybe things have changed


Back in 1971 (50 years ago) out the back of Dunham. Maybe they had been hammered in the mean time.


Do you mean Denham, Shark Bay?


No mate, I said Dunham and meant Dunham. I know the place well.
Know Denham well too, spent 3 years over at the Loop.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by Express404 » 05 Mar 2023, 9:51 am

Ignoring the bla bla...
Yes you will find a place to hunt if you persevere, and 6.5 a great caliber..
Try keep rifle weight under 9lb (4kg) if you want to walk in the hills.. 10lb (4.5kg) will be heavy. My 300wsm is under 3.5kg loaded, sling and bipod.. and is great in WA hills, and over on Sambar.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 07 Mar 2023, 1:43 pm

This is roughly where the game is in WA . Save as a .png and you can overlay the images in Google Earth and adjust transparency in GE Image properties to see underlying satellite image detail .
Last edited by JohnV on 07 Mar 2023, 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 07 Mar 2023, 1:52 pm

Donkey , Camels
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by NorthWester » 08 Mar 2023, 4:20 pm

niteowl wrote:A couple of things you need to be aware of first up. If your firearm licences are for "target shooting" you cannot use them elsewhere in WA, farms or otherwise, unless you have your licence changed.

Next, terrain, in WA :shock: you can have everything imaginable depending on where you go, it is a BIG state as mentioned.

Re the donkeys, I shot them for the APB for a bit many years ago in the Kimberly and just from a vehicle. Drove up to them to about 100 yards or so. Drop each one cleanly and the rest of the mob will just stand there. You can go through the rest of the mob.

Pigs can be in open areas to dense scrub, ranges 10 yards to as far as you can see (not suggesting long range shooting)

Goats, much the same depending on where you go. Mostly pastoral country, stations, these are big remote areas but are not open to shooting without permission.

Calibre, how long is a piece of string?? I personally use many for various situations but for culling jobs 22-250, 270 W or 300 WM sometimes.

Scope, all of my day scopes are 3-9 or 4-12, for many years it was limited to a fixed 6 X. Virtually all of my / our shooting is done with thermal at a maximum of 4 X optical.

As for shooting, I have been a shooter for just on 60 years, virtually all in WA, but a week in the territory with a buffalo meat works. Yep, they are EASY to kill with a 270 W regardless of all the crap you read. One shot and instant kill.
These days basically Govt. culling of pigs, kangaroos and deer when found.


Re the donkeys standing still. This was my experience too. Ideally if you can identify the jack and dispatch him first the rest will just stand around or run around in circles allowing you to take out the rest. Just not any with a tracking collar that is often used to locate them. Ranges were typically within 100m. .25/06 more than adequate to knock them flat.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by animalpest » 08 Mar 2023, 7:54 pm

NorthWester wrote:
niteowl wrote:A couple of things you need to be aware of first up. If your firearm licences are for "target shooting" you cannot use them elsewhere in WA, farms or otherwise, unless you have your licence changed.

Next, terrain, in WA :shock: you can have everything imaginable depending on where you go, it is a BIG state as mentioned.

Re the donkeys, I shot them for the APB for a bit many years ago in the Kimberly and just from a vehicle. Drove up to them to about 100 yards or so. Drop each one cleanly and the rest of the mob will just stand there. You can go through the rest of the mob.

Pigs can be in open areas to dense scrub, ranges 10 yards to as far as you can see (not suggesting long range shooting)

Goats, much the same depending on where you go. Mostly pastoral country, stations, these are big remote areas but are not open to shooting without permission.

Calibre, how long is a piece of string?? I personally use many for various situations but for culling jobs 22-250, 270 W or 300 WM sometimes.

Scope, all of my day scopes are 3-9 or 4-12, for many years it was limited to a fixed 6 X. Virtually all of my / our shooting is done with thermal at a maximum of 4 X optical.

As for shooting, I have been a shooter for just on 60 years, virtually all in WA, but a week in the territory with a buffalo meat works. Yep, they are EASY to kill with a 270 W regardless of all the crap you read. One shot and instant kill.
These days basically Govt. culling of pigs, kangaroos and deer when found.


Re the donkeys standing still. This was my experience too. Ideally if you can identify the jack and dispatch him first the rest will just stand around or run around in circles allowing you to take out the rest. Just not any with a tracking collar that is often used to locate them. Ranges were typically within 100m. .25/06 more than adequate to knock them flat.


Hey nightowl, so you used to shoot donkeys for the APB? I was their firearms instructor.
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by JohnV » 09 Mar 2023, 10:35 am

That is similar to goats although a goat herd is led by the most experienced female Nanny not a Buck . The older Males stay to the rear of the heard to fight any rear guard actions . If you shoot the lead Nanny they tend to get confused for a while until a new leader emerges . Be careful following a goat herd along narrow paths on the sides of mountains as a big male could suddenly turn back on you and try and push you off the edge .
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Re: Western Australia Hunting advice.

Post by niteowl » 09 Mar 2023, 3:00 pm

animalpest wrote:
NorthWester wrote:
niteowl wrote:A couple of things you need to be aware of first up. If your firearm licences are for "target shooting" you cannot use them elsewhere in WA, farms or otherwise, unless you have your licence changed.

Next, terrain, in WA :shock: you can have everything imaginable depending on where you go, it is a BIG state as mentioned.

Re the donkeys, I shot them for the APB for a bit many years ago in the Kimberly and just from a vehicle. Drove up to them to about 100 yards or so. Drop each one cleanly and the rest of the mob will just stand there. You can go through the rest of the mob.

Pigs can be in open areas to dense scrub, ranges 10 yards to as far as you can see (not suggesting long range shooting)

Goats, much the same depending on where you go. Mostly pastoral country, stations, these are big remote areas but are not open to shooting without permission.

Calibre, how long is a piece of string?? I personally use many for various situations but for culling jobs 22-250, 270 W or 300 WM sometimes.

Scope, all of my day scopes are 3-9 or 4-12, for many years it was limited to a fixed 6 X. Virtually all of my / our shooting is done with thermal at a maximum of 4 X optical.

As for shooting, I have been a shooter for just on 60 years, virtually all in WA, but a week in the territory with a buffalo meat works. Yep, they are EASY to kill with a 270 W regardless of all the crap you read. One shot and instant kill.
These days basically Govt. culling of pigs, kangaroos and deer when found.


Re the donkeys standing still. This was my experience too. Ideally if you can identify the jack and dispatch him first the rest will just stand around or run around in circles allowing you to take out the rest. Just not any with a tracking collar that is often used to locate them. Ranges were typically within 100m. .25/06 more than adequate to knock them flat.


Hey nightowl, so you used to shoot donkeys for the APB? I was their firearms instructor.


Not generally. This was a special request back in 1971 as the APB new where I was going to go and requested this to occur.
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