Wild bulls of the NZ bush

[Rick Cox]

Thanks for this post guys! I had no idea. But I was raised on a ranch in Northern BC and can attest that some of those bulls were dangerous!

 

[BenKK]

Sarg, I’m fascinated by the stories of the old guys hunting bovines with traditional gear, but to my knowledge they were all accessing star pickets and bashing them flat. I love finding stone points and axe blades, and the ancient factories they came from.

Was that stone point an actual wound in the gut, like somebody had tried to kill it? Or was it a pick-up perhaps with other stones for either mineral content or digestive aid? Either scenario is fascinating to me.

 

[BenKK]

Any pics of those scrub bull skulls for euro mounts. They have to look cool!

 

[Gemsbok45]

Very cool! Thanks for the pic. My wall could use a couple of those. Like to try some of that tucker as well!!!

 

[264]

heres a few pics
Nice bull we let walk last weekend, hope to find him in the next few weeks

Chris with the Fat Lady 577 2 3/4 650 woodie

375H&H

chapius 9.3x74

Jezza saur 93x62

couple of dipped skulls

577 2 3/4

 

[Cervus elaphus]

heres a few pics
Nice bull we let walk last weekend, hope to find him in the next few weeks

Chris with the Fat Lady 577 2 3/4 650 woodie

375H&H

chapius 9.3x74

Jezza saur 93x62

couple of dipped skulls

577 2 3/4

Great photos ! thanks

 

[264]

Mates 375 ruger

450-400 400gr DGX

good bull 577 2 3/4

450-400 400gr woodies 13m

 

[PaulT]

Awesome contribution .264, thanks for posting.

 

[264]

Awesome contribution .264, thanks for posting.

Cheers Paul.
Euro mount skulls

358 win 185 ACP

577 2 3/4 650 woodie

Huge poll bullock escapee , great eating 7x57 140 PPSN

back straps

Chris 8x57 mauser

Horns growing into his skull

 

[Gemsbok45]

What a great resource! Those painted Euro mounts are really cool! I’ve only been to Australia once but did not go up to the NW territories! Great place and Great people!

 

[Gemsbok45]

Are you guys using outfitters or do you just pitch up to an area where hunting is allowed. Is there a season and do you have have a license. Thanks

 

[Sarg]

A few nice Bulls there Mick, bit of meat to lol !

Great to see the .577 LN Fat Lady at work .

 

[PaulT]

A mate of mine Mick, with a nice one for the table.

 

[Cervus elaphus]

What a great resource! Those painted Euro mounts are really cool! I’ve only been to Australia once but did not go up to the NW territories! Great place and Great people!

Time for you to pack your gun and come over for a closer look covid-19 permitting. Dry season up north is Australian winter which is now.

 

[Cervus elaphus]

These are not domestic cattle gone wild, these are bulls born in the bush who have not had contact with people and are not afraid of them, the younger ones are lean curious and territorial. Unlike domestic cattle in the bush which are noisy and flighty, these bovines are like ghosts in the forest. Many time when working in the bush, I could sense them coming and unslung my rifle. I didn't realise at the time that I was seriously undergunned which is probably just as well, but I had confidence in my rifle. A farmer caught a scrawny cow and with the help of dogs got her into a manuka log enclosure which she promptly started to wreck. He offered the animal to us for dog tucker (that's a lot of tucker for two miniature foxies and a border collie). It took two hits with a shotgun to the neck followed by a rifle round to the body to put her down and she was only half the size of the ones still up in the wooded gullies. Would like to hear any adventures you've had with the beasts of the bush, especially you hunters up in the Territory.

These are not domestic cattle gone wild, these are bulls born in the bush who have not had contact with people and are not afraid of them, the younger ones are lean curious and territorial. Unlike domestic cattle in the bush which are noisy and flighty, these bovines are like ghosts in the forest. Many time when working in the bush, I could sense them coming and unslung my rifle. I didn't realise at the time that I was seriously undergunned which is probably just as well, but I had confidence in my rifle. A farmer caught a scrawny cow and with the help of dogs got her into a manuka log enclosure which she promptly started to wreck. He offered the animal to us for dog tucker (that's a lot of tucker for two miniature foxies and a border collie). It took two hits with a shotgun to the neck followed by a rifle round to the body to put her down and she was only half the size of the ones still up in the wooded gullies. Would like to hear any adventures you've had with the beasts of the bush, especially you hunters up in the Territory.

I should have titled this wild bulls of the NZ and Aussie bush. Some great photos thanks to contributors. Get onto youtube for videos of hunts up the Northern Territory. A couple I really like have been put up by Dingo Creek Buffalo Hunt and True Wild Outfitters. I have no idea what their services are like, I just like their very professional videos. Great action with buffs and pigs, guns, bows, bee eater, frogmouth, happy jacks (apostle birds), dingoes, donkeys, scrub bulls, euro mounts, a croc these videos are an excellent expose of the Northern Territory and what it has to offer. And, I love the music, guitars and didgeridoos - dramatic and fitting to the type of country. Well done you two, and the rest of you bring these up on the screen, turn the speakers up and have a feast.

 

[Sarg]

Sarg, I’m fascinated by the stories of the old guys hunting bovines with traditional gear, but to my knowledge they were all accessing star pickets and bashing them flat. I love finding stone points and axe blades, and the ancient factories they came from.

Was that stone point an actual wound in the gut, like somebody had tried to kill it? Or was it a pick-up perhaps with other stones for either mineral content or digestive aid? Either scenario is fascinating to me.

@BenKK it was a while back & I forget exactly but I think it was in the chest or outside the gut bag (as Hell I'm not cutting gut bag open) & old wound, I thought strange as far too small & why shoot a big old Bull, then thought maybe he was shot or speared as a calf, the camera guy would have it on film as the whole butchering job was filmed to promote a knife, I have one & it was awesome lol !

 

[BenKK]

Well, Sarg, I don’t know that country but it is awesome to think that somebody in recent memory was/is still throwing rock around! Whether that person is somebody who has documentation, wears cotton, drinks Coca-Cola and drives a car is a whole other topic, suitable for the campfire only. But would you tell me the approximate year and the rough, general area?

 

[Sarg]

Would be 2015 & between Dhuruputjpi River & Koolatong River, East Arnhemland !

Probably a bloke from Melbourne or Tasmania shot it to test his old gear lol !

 

[PaulT]

Ben, when i first arrived on the East Coast i found a number of Man-made platforms built up in trees over the top of game-trails leading in to water.
When i questioned my T.O's about it they told me they would use them to gather Red beef.

Someone would sit up on the platform with a handmade spear and drive it in when a Red bull walked underneath.
These were more "modern", yet hand-made, spears usually fashioned from an old chainsaw bar.
"Him Bullocky spear" !

Old mate was placed in the "machan" and picked up a few days later, sometimes successful, sometimes not. When they were successful, obviously, the platform was the safest place to be.

 

[BenKK]

Yesterday we paid respects at the grave of a man who successfully killed a buliki with spiya en borndok not far from here. He passed-away from a health problem, not a hunting accident. He killed that buliki in the nineties, I reckon, most likely with a steel blade.