cpdlm@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Dominique Morel) (06/17/91)
The hunting/shooting rules my friends and I follow are fairly simple 1: Always treat a firearm as if it is loaded. 2: Never point a firearm at anything you don't want to shoot. 3: Never Chamber a round until you have identified your target. (This stops you getting a shot of too quickly and in the long run you end up with more game because you don't take hurried shots that end up missing their mark. ) 4: Remove all bolts and empty all magazines before you start drinking, and don't touch a rifle when drunk. 5: Make sure that you know who is sharing the area with you, and let them know what you are doing and find out what they are doing. (Go to the homestead and have a talk with the owners of the place. They also often know where the game is most likely to be found and send you to the appropriate place. ie last time I went to Rex's place he told us to camp at the irrigation as the pig were getting in the lucerne and doing a lot of damage. Also a nice cup of tea is always appriciated after a long drive.) 6: Children are only to touch fire arms under the supervison of an adult. (By law in Queensland children are not allowed to own a firearm until they are 17, but may use them under adult supervision.) ps. I have not read the new act yet and don't if that has changes. RE 3: It is surprising how much time one get to have a shot at game even when they have been spooked. If one takes his time to examine ones quarry one often passes up a shot because " It is not good enough. " This very important if one is paying a trophy fee or one is working withing a bag limit of some sort. ie, the portable freezer on the back of the four wheel drive can only take 75kg and we don't want to fill it with second grade meat when we might get some real good stuff later. RE 5: We sometimes get asked to kill the cattle that are to wild for the ringers to muster. Last time the owner's son took us to the back padock and pointed out a 8 year old bullock that had destroyed many fences and had almost put one ot the hands in hospital. My friend put a 500 grain bullet in its forehead with his .458 Win mag. We quatered it and put him in their cold room. It is a good feeling to know that you are not that you don't have to worry about being shot at or having the chance to shoot somebody because you know if there is anybody else in the area. If there is a few different hunting parties on the places that I got to I tend to camp at least a couple of miles away from any other camps. I used to go to a place in the gulf on which there was five good waterholes for fishing and camping. Four of them had a landing strip alongside big enough to put the owner's 206 Cessena down on. It is sixty-five mile from the southern most waterhole to the norther one, and the closest two are eight miles appart. It was often that my friend and I were the only hunters on the place. The hunting was not all that great, but still good. The solitude and the fishing was something else. Well worth the 30 hours drive to get there. We once sent a telegram to the owner that we were coming and got there before the telegram. "Thing have changed you can get there without a four wheel drive these days and the tourist are a real nuissance." Dominique Morel