bucks_unlimited wrote:This seemed like a simple question to me but the more I thought about the more difficult it got. Which Aussie state or territory is the best for hunters? Some have more variety of game, others have better public land access. Every state has its issues and threatened longevity of the sport we love but each has a passionate group of hunters and conservationists keeping things alive. In my research, I found that places that seem to be full of opportunity are equally full of weird legislation that you have to navigate to take advantage of these opportunities. Every time I think about it I come up with a different answer, though my answer usually includes those states with duck and quail seasons. So what do you guys think?
Will depend on your own definition of hunting to some degree. For some people it's about spending thousands of dollars to mount a head on a wall. For others it's about walking a creek on a quiet morning bagging a few rabbits or foxes. For some it's sitting in a vehicle all night looking through a thermal scope. For some it's wading around all day in water to bag a handful of birds. For some it's a few days on foot, on your own sneaking around difficult terrain, living off what you're carrying, and hoping to bring home a few kg of meat at the end of it. If you have specific interests, like buffalo, then you have to go to NT. If your interest is deer, then head for Victoria. If you love busting pigs try the top end of Qld.
Victoria by far. Hundreds of thousands of acres of public land open to hunting and requiring no permissions from anybody. You can hunt here without ever having to negotiate your way onto private property. For most people there is public land within an hour or two travelling time. If you want to hunt deer there's a $66 annual fee but you can hunt them whenever you want to all year round with no limit on numbers - on private land you don't need a deer licence. Same fee for ducks but they have a season of just a few weeks every year with very tight limit on numbers taken. All pest species (cats are not pest species) are free to hunt on public and private land, or you can simply find a quiet spot and practice.
WA is the worst - no public land, ridiculous firearm legislation, private land hunting is a long way off for most people, and difficult to get access to. It would make most sense for a Western Australian to catch a flight to Melbourne or Sydney and hunt public land here than spend days travelling to hunt somewhere in WA.
Queensland is also private land only but I think it's not too onerous getting access.
NT is a bit weird I reckon, private land again but I don't think you can go and lay in a paddock shooting rabbits and foxes for a few hours in most places, you have to travel a fair way and I don't know that there's all that much small to medium game around, but you might be able to find some pigs.
SA used to be good but I think nowadays it's private land only.
NSW has private land still, but you have to get an additional licence, and get permission every single time you go out there. And it's not automatic, you can get knocked back if they think there are too many people enjoying a piece of public land. And you can't confirm your zero on public land once you've travelled to get there, so you better baby your rifles during the trip. It's relatively easy for property owners to cull kangaroos in NSW now, if you're into that.
ACT has no hunting at all. Best you can get is to find somebody that will give you permission to cull pest animals on private land.
TAS I know very little about, it may be a haven for hunters but I think we'd know about it by now if it was. They can hunt wallaby down there on cull permits and I think they can hunt some animals considered native on the mainland, like possums? The whole of Tasmania is only about 250km high and wide.