The Outdoors Guide

Hog deer are not widely distributed. The main population is located along a narrow coastal strip stretching from south-east Victoria up into the south-east corner of NSW. I’d received an invite to hunt on private property where the hog deer population was living in heavy tea-tree thickets along swampy creeks. Being subjected to light hunting pressure, they haven’t been much disturbed, and are inclined to leave cover and feed on adjacent grasslands in early morning and late evening. In this haven they often stay out all day and bed down in the tall grass to enjoy the warmth of the sun. In most areas, however, hog deer don’t stray too far from the edges of cover, but during the rut which takes place in February and March, they are inclined to linger longer in the open, wandering about through the long grass. The gestation period averages five months and hinds usually drop their fawns late in August. But I was hunting in April after the end of the rut and the deer were scattered all ...

THE Sabatti factory is located in an area that has a rich heritage in gun making, the Brescia (Gardone Val Trompia) region is located in north central Italy on the southern fringe of the Alps. Sabbatti has made and still makes all manner of high-end shotguns, double rifles, combination guns and bolt action rifles. It must be over a decade since I last handled a Sabatti Rover bolt action and I was looking forward to seeing what Aqusport, the Queensland distributors would be sending me. I wasn’t disappointed since I found the latest Sabatti Rover Inox had been considerably improved over the old model. The only criticism I can come up with concerns its weight; field-ready with scope and mount, sling and three rounds in the magazine, the outfit tipped the scale at 4.3kgs. That’s a lot of weight to be lugging up into the high sierras and rather hefty for a rifle in .270 Winchester which by my rule of thumb should weigh no more than 3.6kgs all-up and 3.3kgs would be better. This wou...

Rabbits are probably the only critter you can shoot in the hundreds without drawing any opposition from environmental groups, such is the damage they do; everybody seems to dislike them that is everyone except us hunters. However if I had to pick one method of hunting rabbits above all of the others it would have to be taking them with a shotgun as they are being flushed from their warrens by ferrets, it is the ultimate in rabbit hunting as far as I am concerned. Although I have not done it for some time I have just started getting back into it. I have owned and used ferrets for rabbit hunting for most of my life. At its height I had about 14 ferrets, such was the amount of shooting we were doing. Having that many ferrets was not without its dramas as one of my neighbors bred and showed Rhode Island Red chickens. At about $300 a bird, needless to say he was very protective of them. One day my children told me that the ferrets had gotten out overnight and were gone. Believe me ...

Specializing in high-quality air rifles, this German maker is less well known for its line of small-game rimfire and centerfire rifles. The latest addition to the range, the HW 60J has a thumbhole stock and is a work of art in walnut and steel.  Weihrauch enjoys a worldwide reputation for accuracy and air rifle quality that’s been carried over to its cartridge rifles. The HW 66 is available in two models, the Production that has an American classic style stock and Jagd-Match with heavy match barrel and especially developed match target stock with high Monte-Carlo buttstock and ventilated fore-end, a model well suited to Olympic Competition. The Jagd Match is available in the same calibers as the HW 66 with the sole exception of the .22 WMR. The HW 60 J is a light, well-designed, nicely balanced small-game rifle featuring a Continental-style walnut stock with hogsback comb, cheekpiece and slender schnabel-tipped fore-end. The barrel is equipped with a folding rear sig...

A subject that always comes up whenever hunters congregate around a campfire is that of killing power. How many times have I heard someone say: "It's where you hit 'em, not what you hit 'em with." My response to that is: You'd better make sure the bullet you hit 'em with is up to the job, or you may be faced with a long trailing chore. Then, another guy pipes up and says that his .243 is plenty of gun for deer, which convinces me he is sadly lacking in field experience. However, it is likely that his mate agrees with him and criticizes another hunter for packing an unnecessarily powerful rifle - say a 7mm magnum. In my book, no rifle in a medium caliber from .257 to .30 has too much power for even the small-boned fallow deer under uncertain conditions. Killing power is a good subject to start an argument, but even the most powerful rifle will not kill a game cleanly unless the shooter can place a properly constructed bullet in a vital area. Today, we ...