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Well after the 1st tip up North about 5 months ago myself an d2 mates Col and Reg loaded up again for another epic tour of beers, boars and disasters so here is the full 7 day assault.

Well the grand tour to places foreign (QLD) to crush, kill, destroy and blood my 45/70 started on Friday arvo with me rushing home to start getting all the gear like rifles, ammo( had to finish loading some 350gn 45/70 pills)tucker, clothing and all the other junk that goes with heading off for a week pigging.

I had most ready to go just had to be packed. Things were going well till one of the RO's turned up to drop off a club rifle and I lost nearly an hour talking to him during which Reg who was going with myself and the other mate Col turned up.

So after the RO left I had to hussle and finish reloading and get a few things together.
Got all that together and then we headed off to the local RSL for a few beers to discuss battle tactics for the up coming trip.

After a feed and a few beers we headed home. Now at 2am in the morning a knock on the door is generally not expected or wanted especially when it's 2 Coppers................. .. the missus answered the door as I was still getting out of bed and both the missus and I were starting to get that shit feeling especially when the local Copper started off with something about the YB.
As I was minute behind the missus getting to the door I asked what was happening and dreading things but it turned out that the son's car had been reported stolen and the Coppers wanted to know where he was.............. he was walking around town with another bloke looking for his car.............. no wonder parents drink.

Went back to bed and at 4am up again and started throwing gear on the 2 cars and this is when the bloody wiring for the fridge decided to shit itself........ bloody hell this is starting to shape up as 1 of THOSE trips.

I sort of got it fixed and off we headed in my Landcruiser and quad bike and Reg's Colorado and Col's quad bike.
As the morning went on we pulled up at Wellington at McDonalds dog food for a quick feed and coffee and found the fridge not working but still reading 0 C so on we went. Pulled up at Coonabarabran for a pit stop and threw a bag of ice in.

This worked a treat all the way up to the place where we took the Engel off and put it on 240v and that worked looks like I may have to get the 12v side of the fridge fixed as it's not a fuse.

On the way up I rang the manager to let him know where we were so as he could let the cleaner know to leave the keys in the doors of the dongas.

We arrived and not long after the manager(Neale) turned up and after a beer or 2 and a few tales and Neale showing us his scars after an attempt to see if Shotty pellets hurt we decided that a run out after some pigs would be a good idea.

After a few beers part 2 of day 1..........

Anyhow after Neale's show and tell of why it's not really a good idea to head butt shotgun pellets we waited till Neale got back with his quad and we headed off back towards Thallon and out towards Dirranbandi to a place we had shot on previously and unloaded the quads.

Neale had his dog Elwood with him and Col had his .44 mag, Reg had a shotty and I had my 45/70 loaded with 350 gn Speers loaded back 2 gns less than the test loads I used as it was a bit better to handle.
We headed off to the scrub and for probably nearly 20 minutes or so we hadn't seen a thing and then after another 10 minutes we moved off into another bit of scrub.

Neale pointed out where he wanted us to head in so off we went. About 10 minutes in Neale jumps on the UHF and let's Reg know there's a mob of pigs heading to him.

I didn't hear this above the noise of the quad and then off to my right I saw a brown sow with about 20 -30 young'uns running with her.

Here was the chance to devirginalise my 45/70. I drew a bead on the lead sow and let go and clipped her on the leg....... Hell now I've got to finish her off but she ducked in and around the low hanging trees and bushes and I lost her.
As I was idling around a couple of suckers broke cover and headed for the open paddock which suited me right to the ground as I opened up the noise button on the 700 Yamaha and took after them.
Meanwhile behind me somewhere Neale, Reg and Col were chasing and shooting pigs... or at least trying to with Neale getting a couple.

Meanwhile I had a couple of goes at the suckers missing 2 so I just gunned it and ran over 2 of them and dropped a 3 rd with the 45/70............ The 45/70 was now commissioned as an offensive weapon but THEN Neale pushed a small brown sow out and she made the bad mistake of heading towards me. At 30 yards the 45/70 barked and the sow basically got rolled over as the pill exited from her shoulder and kicked up dust on her opposite side.
During all this my mate Col now referred to as Boxhead had lost his gun somewhere and was running over pigs with his quad.
He managed to run over 3 so our total is now 7
It was now getting dark so we headed back to the trailers and back to camp and the pub for a feed and a few beers before bed.

More to come folks on Day 2 stayed tuned.....

Pictures will follow later.


Day 2 started a bit late due to a hangover.
We fired up the quads and headed out to a scrub paddock that had produced last time we were here.
We got to the gate opened it and parked the quads and Reg's Colorado 4wd under a tree grabbed the guns and went for a walk through a mixture of Wilga trees bushes and fallen timber. There was plenty of sign but no pigs and it was stinking hot. We walked through and came out the other end on a fence line where we met up and had a discussion about what we were doing next.
We agreed to walk back to the car and quads and try somewhere else.

We got back to the car and quads with no sign of any pigs and had a drink of water and headed off to another couple of tanks but with no results we eventually got back to the dongas just ahead of a big storm.

We sat back with a few beers and watched the storm and then Neale turned up after cricket and we had a few more beers before knocking up a quick feed and hitting the sack.

So ended Day 2

Got to head to work shortly so will do more on this epic adventure of beers, boars and disasaters AND actually finish the yarn this time.

 

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Anyhow after Neale's show and tell of why it's not really a good idea to head butt shotgun pellets we waited till
Neale got back with with his quad and we headed off back towards Thallon and out towards Dirranbandi to a place unloaded the quads.
Neale had his dog Elwood with him and Col had his .44 mag, Reg had a shotty and I had my 45/70 loaded with 350 gn Speers loaded back 2 gns less thanwanted the test loads.
We headed off to the scrub and for probably nearly 20 minutes or so we hadn't seen a thing and then after another 10 minutes we moved off into another bit of scrub.

Neale pointed out where he wanted us to head in so off we went. About 10 minutes in Neale jumps on the UHF and let's Reg know there's a mob of pigs heading to him.

I didn't hear this above the noise of the quad and then off to my right I saw a brown sow with about 20 -30 young'uns running with her. Here was the chance to devirginalise my 45/70. I drew a bead on the lead sow and let go and clipped her on the leg....... oh bugger now I've got to finish her off but she ducked in and around the low hanging trees and bushes and I lost her.
As I was idling around a couple of suckers broke cover and headed for the open paddock which suited me right to the ground as I opened up the noise button on the 700 Yammie and took after them.
Meanwhile behind me somewhere Neale, Reg and Col were chasing and shooting pigs... or at least trying to with FB getting a couple.

Meanwhile I had a couple of goes at the suckers missing 2 so I just gunned it and ran over 2 of them and dropped a 3 rd with the 45/70............ The 45/70 was now commissioned as an offensive weapon but THEN FB pushed a small brown sow out and she made the bad mistake of heading towards me. At 30 yards the 45/70 barked and the sow basically got rolled over as the pill exited from her shoulder and kicked up dust on her opposite side.
During all this my mate Col now referred to as Boxhead had lost his gun somewhere and was running over pigs with his quad.
He managed to run over 3 so our total is now 7
It was now getting dark so we headed back to the trailers and back to camp and the pub for a feed and a few beers before bed.

 

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Day 3 began with coffee as the 3 of us tried to come to terms with hangovers as we agreed it was Neale who caused this because he wasn't there to say otherwise.

We headed out to the quads loaded up with Boxhead and his .44 mag, Reg with the 12g and myself with the pumpkin chucked 45/70 and headed down to the river after FB had given us a rough idea as to where there maybe pigs.

Neale had suggested that we try a paddock that had produced pigs last which meant we sent Reg in the Colorado down to the end of the scrub and Boxhead(Col) and I would push through the scrub and hopefully push a pig or 2 towards Reg.

After giving Reg about 10 minutes to get to the end of the scrub Boxhead gave him a call on the UHF to see if he was ready and he was.
Boxhead and I set off and although there was some good sign no grunters were seen by any of us.
We pulled up next to Reg and had a council of war and decided to head down to the river and with Reg on 1 side Boxhead and I would cross the river and see if we could push up a pig or 2 out of the thick tussock type grass. After negotiating the steep bank on the opposite side of the river Boxhead on his Honda 500 decided to work along the edge of the bank while I went up onto some higher ground in case if any pigs were pushed up and ran away I might be in a good position to lay into them or at least turn them back towards Boxhead.

Idling along on the edge of the river Boxhead hits paydirt as he puts up a mob of about roughly a dozen pigs all roughly around the 30kg mark.
I'm sitting up on a track about 100 metres away with a good view below me but couldn't see Boxhead although judging from the 2-3 quick shots he had I had a fair idea where he was so I gunned the Yammy and headed down to roughly where he was and as I hit the edge of the bank a mob of probably 10-12 porkers were on the opposite side of the river on the top of the bank going like the clappers.

Reg couldn't get to them quick enough and I couldn't get a clear shot as they went over the top plus the fact that I would've been shooting over a ridge into the air.
By this stage Boxhead had crossed the river where the pigs had and after I did the same we had a council of war with Boxhead reckoning he had hit at least 1 pig but wasn't real sure.
Reg caught up and we decided to push on the same way the pigs had gone as they were heading towards a big patch of scrub a bit further down the river.

Boxhead and I followed the fence line down the river bank a bit further and found where the pigs had gone through on the downed fence and where heading towards the patch of scrub further down.

 

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As Boxhead and I headed down the river Boxhead who was on the river put up a reasonable sized boar and let drive with his .44 mag and then all of a sudden a mob of sows and suckers.

The mob ran across the front of me but the bloody shrubbery stopped me from getting a clear shot till they were off to my left and all's I had was a snap shot and I thought I saw a sow kick it's rear legs and keep running. The mob ran across the front of Reg who gave them a dose of SG/OO's & SSG's as they hit the fence and headed across the paddock and no bodies on the ground.

After the disaster that was this afternoon we headed out that night for a chance to show how us NSWelshmen are adaptable and started the night out with 2 suckers...... 1 with the shotty and the other when Reg dropped it with his .223.
We also managed to decrease the long legged "rabbit" population by 16 and added a fox to that as well.

Reg also managed to baptise his .223 with another 2 pigs.
And so ended Day 3.


Day 4 started late because both Reg and Boxhead slept in past 7am........... :facepalm:

So when the not so pretty sleeping beauties finally dragged their sorry arses out of the cot we headed out and got the quads and headed down to where we went yesterday but a bit further down the river.
We parked up grabbed the guns and went for an armed bushwalk.

Nothing doing for about 10 minutes or so as we walked through thick grass and around fallen trees and stumps with Boxhead on the other side of the river and Reg and I on the other.
As we walked into some more thick grass Reg kicked out a boar and sow from almost under his feet and gave the boar a dose of SG's which made it move quicker until it ran into a 350 gn pill around 10-20' from me from the 45/70.
Reg spun around and gave the fast departing sow a dose from the shotty as did Boxhead with his .44 mag and I with the 45/70 but the sow survived the shower of lead and disappeared.
Rough guess of the boar was around the 60/70 kg mark with a reasonable set of grinders but bugger all hooks.
We returned to the quads and car and headed back to camp for a feed and beer at the pub where it pissed down rain for a bit.
Now contemplating whether to go out again as the sky is getting darker and rain threatening.

Day 5 was deemed a dead rubber because it rained and we got around 60mm in very short time.

 

[45TAJ]

Well Kevin, you guys are on the loose and hard telling how this will all end - but I'm waiting with baited breath.

 

[charlie sterner]

sounds like a lot of fun...except for the hangovers!

 

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But wait there's more.....................

Day 6 report,

Well what a change around in the weather which is a good thing for our livers as another on the suds would see us applying for livers and kidneys after yesterday and last night which ended up with Boxhead going back to camp early for his 2nd nana nap while Reg and I held the innings together till closing time while watching Neale and his mate put a full frontal assault on a bottle of Black label Bundy and Reg and I having a small crack at it as well.
We left or more to the point were kicked out as it was past closing time

I was up around 5am because of a bastard of a hangover and hit the can of Black Doctor( Coke) followed by 2 cups of something resembling coffee and 2 pieces of toast.

About an hour later Boxhead crawls of bed and we start discussing battle tactics meanwhile Reg is basically dead in bed.

Around 9 am we decide it's time to do something that may or may not resemble hunting and we rattled Reg's cage to see if he was up for a hunt but he wasn't real flash and bowed out so Boxhead and I jumped in the cruiser and headed to the quads.

The amount of water laying on the side of the road and in the paddocks was astounding and the river which was a series of holes was now flowing.

Boxhead and I headed back to where we got pigs on the 1st day and while trying to get there had to put the quads into 4wd to get along some of the tracks to get to the river.

While driving down the last paddock we started to notice fresh tracks and diggings so we knew we were on the money as we pulled up at the river and parked the quads grabbed the .44 mag and 45/70 and started to hoof it along the bank.

We hadn't gone far when I noticed a lot of diggings and pig tracks in the sandy soil that were very fresh with the tracks heading further along the bank.
We followed the tracks into a patch of grass on the bend of he river and as I came up to a fallen tree I was looking under it and Boxhead pointed to spot at the end of the tree about 5' from where I was looking pulled up his .44 mag and promptly put a very large hole in a sleeping pig.

All hell broke loose as pigs we couldn't see exploded out of the long grass and headed for safer places as Boxhead and I filled the air with lead but just weren't quick enough to get any more because it was basically snap shooting at fast disappearing pigs.

We got happy snaps and headed off and found more pig tracks and followed those as they led back roughly towards where the quad bikes were and in doing so put up a small sucker which Boxhead promptly missed.

We returned towards the quads and I saw a black pig about 200 yard away trotting towards the river so we went looking for it but never found it.
We got to the quads jumped on and headed further down the river towards a big patch of grass on the bank and parked about 100 metres from it grabbed the guns and hoofed it again.

Once again we found tracks into the long grass and followed them for a fair while but they us towards thick forest so canned that idea returned to the quads and headed off into the next paddock.

Boxhead and I jumped on the quads which were now looking like we'd been bog snorkling because of the mud and shit in the paddocks and followed the fence line down and crossed it and came back up the bank into the paddock.

As we headed towards the scrub line I came across some fresh tracks and diggings and let Boxhead know on the UHF.

I followed the tracks for a bit and as the ground had little washouts and gullies I had to move to my left to get around a gully when a mob of sows and little pigs broke cover from a stand of saplings to my left.

I jammed on the brakes on the quad stood up and as I swung the 45/70 around off my neck the bitch of a sling caught the handle bar of the quad and buggered up a perfect side on shot on a big sow as I had to untangle the bloody bitch of a thing by which time the mob had buggered off.

Meanwhile Boxhead had seen the mob as they crossed in front of him about 30 yards out so he put lead in the air as they hit high gear but missed.

I saw the tail end of the mob gunned the Yammy and took off after them and caught up with them as they dodged through some light scrub heading for the river.
I let drive 1 shot as they disappeared over the bank into the river but missed.
I hit the throttle again and got to the bank just as the mob came up out of the river on the opposite side lined up on the lead sow between her shoulder blades and just as I fired she topped the bank and I smashed her hip anchoring her and as she sat up I drove another round into her to finish her off.

By this time the rest of the mob were well and truly heading out but I sent a couple of rounds after them anyway but missed.

That basically finished the morning session with 2 more pigs to the tally bringing the total to 14.

The afternoon session saw Reg, Boxhead and myself headed off to check out a paddock with a cleared paddock with a stand of trees and a tank in it.

We drove in to the stand got out walked in saw some sign but no pigs.
We walked out and followed some tracks into an open paddock across to another stand of trees but this produced nothing and that was basically the end of Day 6.
Now sitting back after tea and cracking a few coldies.

 

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Over the past 6 days every morning I'm up around 5am hang over or no hangover that's it BUT there's a couple of pairs of bloody crows that are nesting in a tree not far from the dongas and EVERY bloody morning the squawking bastards are carrying on.

Now normally the crows would cop a load of SG's or a 55gn or 60gn pill from either Reg's .223, Boxhead's 22/250 or my 22/250 AI but because we're 100 metres from the pub and the place is full of campers noise may be a bit of a concern.

Sitting here injecting caffeine into the system after a rather long day yesterday and a lot of beers last night as we decided after sitting around after yesterday to sit back and have a few beers while we played Q&A's that Reg had gotten hold of off the internet on all sorts of things.

1 beer led to LOT of beers and not much in the answering questions dept.
Also as the afternoon wore on more and more people were rolling in for today's pig races at the pub.

The pig races are an annual event here and they raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service which is an organisation that operates in the far reaches of Australia where help can be 1 -2 days away by car/4wd on the big stations that cover a few thousand miles in size so the Flying Doctor service flies in picks up the patient and flies them to whatever hospital is closest............................it's a great thing and deserves every cent it gets.

Anyway Day 7 as it happened,

Sitting around at 6am after a shower and I was watching the bird life waiting for Boxhead and Reg to awaken from their lack of beauty sleep with lack of beauty being the operative words.

After a while both finally got up and after more injection of caffeine into our systems we discussed where we were going to attack the pig population and decided to visit a paddock that we'd looked at earlier in the week so we jumped in the cars and headed out to the quad bikes.

After fueling up the quads we headed out with Reg following in the Colorado and about 15 minutes later we arrived at the gate to the paddock and drove in and about a Klm in parked the car and quads under some trees grabbed the guns(12g shotty .44 mag and 45/70) and hoofed it into the scrub looking for pigs that may be laying up under the Wilga trees.

After probably an hour with seeing nothing but a few scratches here and there and 1 set of tracks plus at least 2 Echidnas(Spiny anteaters) we headed back to the quads and car had a drink of water and discussed battle tactics.

We decided to head back to the river to where I shot a boar earlier in the week and about 20 minutes later we arrived at the track just off the main track/ road.
We headed in along the fence line in the 1st paddock to the gate in the 2nd paddock and followed Reg along the fence line towards the river when I watched Reg gracefully sink the Colorado in a patch of mud.

Boxhead and I went around him and pulled up on firm ground about 10' in front of him...... missed by that much.

Now this is where we start thinking about going back to grab the Colorado recovery Landcruiser but Boxhead has a fair length of 10mm rope that I had given him a while ago so he grabbed a Bow shackle attached that to his quad and Reg's car and tried to pull Reg up and out of the mud and nearly succeeded.
We then decided to also add my quad to the show and with Boxhead's quad we pulled Reg up and out of the muck.
We headed on down the paddock to the river parked up and looked at the shit piled up in the wheel arches of the Colorado and promptly put a lot of shit on Reg😆

We walked the river for probably a klm for no result and walked back to the quads and car and headed back out and found a path around Reg's scene of embarrassment out and back to camp and that basically finished Day 7.

Well here is the last report for this truly epic adventure,

After deciding where to spend most of the day trying to tally up more grunters we headed out. We went out to the river and although there was plenty of sign we saw nothing so headed back to the quads and car and headed off to another part of the place that bordered the dog fence.

We headed up the track and came to the end and opened a gate and followed the track along the dog fence for a bit when I looked up the track and saw a black shape next to the fence probably 500 yds away and wasn't sure what it was till it started to move.
I gunned the Yammy and hit 80 kph and with in seconds was chasing down at big boar around the 70kg+ mark.

I slammed on the brakes swung the 45/70 up and let 2 quick shots go as the boar hit the speed of sound. Both shots kicked up dirt next to and just past him and then he headed into the scrub and I sent another round after him which clipped the tree just over his back.

I was pissed off something chronic as I had what I thought was a sitter shot and missed.

Reg and Boxhead caught up and while we were discussing what happened the boar reappeared about 200 yds down the track so Reg took off after him and managed to get 2 shots off out the shotty before the boar disappeared into the scrub.
He was a cracker of a boar bigger than the 1 I got earlier in the week.

And that basically was the end of the innings from us as we headed back to load the quads on the trailers so that we could get away tomorrow and now sitting back with a couple of beers and about to cook an early feed.

The trip home was something like 7 hours and that is always a downer after a week away destroying ferals but the entertainment has to be paid for in 1 way or another.

pictures to follow...................

 

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and here come the pictures some with some of the country we had to hoof it into.

 

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few more pics

 

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A few more pics

 

[Z-MAX]

Looks like a big pile of fun to me

 

[Paul Workman]

piggin...

Excellent story! Thanks for taking us along!!! Enjoyed every minute reading about it.

 

[Dave H]

Great adventure - thanks for sharing.

What brand of .45-70 you shooting - visualized a Sharps until saw follow up shots - maybe a Marlin?

Best.

 

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Great adventure - thanks for sharing.

What brand of .45-70 you shooting - visualized a Sharps until saw follow up shots - maybe a Marlin?

Best.

Yeah mate it's a Marlin 336 Big Loop loaded with Speer 350gn flat nose projectiles.

Throwing miniture pumpkins at pigs sure has a of of appeal to it.
Had to load it back 2 gns of powder to make it a tad more shootable although I'm going to try and load 400gn pills for it just for that extra splat factor.

 

[Kentucky Fisherman]

sounds like a lot of fun...except for the hangovers!

Actually it sounds a lot like one of our PD Safaris to South Dakota or Montana. I think Kevin could more than hold his own over here. He'd get a kick out of how we Yanks launch PD pups like Atlas rockets. "To the moon, Alice!"

Carpman

 

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Actually it sounds a lot like one of our PD Safaris to South Dakota or Montana. I think Kevin could more than hold his own over here. He'd get a kick out of how we Yanks launch PD pups like Atlas rockets. "To the moon, Alice!"

Carpman

Reckon it'd be a real hoot edjamacating you Yanks on how to at least put a bit of lead into the same paddock as a rabbit, fox etc.
Then again a few quiet hours at a pub talking about 5000yd kills with a .22 firing subs with open sights and head shooting a fox on the run in the head on a windy night using a candle might turn up some interesting tales.

We obviously don't have PD's out here but we do have rabbits and at times a LOT of them which makes busting them on warrens around 300-400 yards etc with a .223 and .222 sporting but a 22/250AI is much better paddock pizza.

 

[Paul Workman]

I'd love to be a varmint hunter for a day (or two) in the land of the Southern Cross.

A 22-250AI would simulate my 220 Swift - which also makes young ground hogs and especially PDs become "pasture pizza" at anything up to 100 yards and a bit more.

.

 

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I'd love to be a varmint hunter for a day (or two) in the land of the Southern Cross.

A 22-250AI would simulate my 220 Swift - which also makes young ground hogs and especially PDs become "pasture pizza" at anything up to 100 yards and a bit more.

.

A bloke on the hunting forum I'm a member of here in Australia had a .220 Wilson Arrow basically and had the 50gn pills cracking at 4700fps (chronographed I actually shot the rifle and saw the numbers come up and was very surprised to say the least) and the rifle actually grouped around the 1/2" - 3/4" at 100yds.........only trouble was it was heading to a very short barrel life so got scrapped at that stage.
Would've loved to have seen the paddock pizza that would've created on a rabbit or fox.