Gummas5150
New member
Hello Everyone,
My name’s Gummas and I’m a relatively new hunter from Australia. My grandpa (a serious old-school hunter) took me out for my first hunt when I was 13, and I managed to bag my first fallow buck during the rut. Getting my firearms licence was always on the to-do list, but life took a different turn—I caught the rock bug and spent the next 15 years playing in bands and touring all over the place. I finally got my licence and got back into hunting about 18 months ago.
My grandparents have a property that backs onto state forest (where hunting is legal), and it’s crawling with deer. There’s a trail that makes a big U-shape from one corner of the property, up the mountain, and back to the other side. One day I hiked it from left to right and couldn’t believe how much dog scat was around—like a whole pack of dingoes had moved through.
The next morning, I planned to walk the same trail right to left and borrowed my grandpa’s .22LR just in case…
Lucky I did—because not 300m from the house, I came across two wild dogs.
I was stepping into a clearing where the trail crossed, when a blur of motion caught my eye. I looked up and spotted one red dog and one blue dog. I raised the .22 and—bang!—nailed my first ever dingo with a clean shot from 30 paces. The other one took off howling, and I reckon I got the biggest adrenaline rush of my life.
Since then, I’ve been hooked on hunting wild dogs. There used to be a $120 bounty at the time, but that’s been scrapped thanks to “new research” claiming that what we traditionally call wild dogs (dingo x domestic mixes) are actually pure dingoes. Animal rights activists pushed hard to get them protected. These days, you can still shoot them on private land, and there’s a 3km “unprotection zone” where licensed pest controllers and forestry managers can shoot/trap them—but the bounty’s gone.
I love deer hunting and have had a great 18 months, but there’s something about wild dog hunting that feels riskier, more exhilarating, and seriously addictive.
I came across this forum while hunting for the old Hunting Wild Dogs DVD by Tom Varney, which came out about a decade ago. Sadly, he’s passed away and I haven’t been able to track down a copy from any retailers. If anyone here has a copy they’d be willing to sell—or any other Aussies who might be able to lend it—I’d love to get in touch.
Looking forward to learning as much as I can from the collective wisdom here!
My name’s Gummas and I’m a relatively new hunter from Australia. My grandpa (a serious old-school hunter) took me out for my first hunt when I was 13, and I managed to bag my first fallow buck during the rut. Getting my firearms licence was always on the to-do list, but life took a different turn—I caught the rock bug and spent the next 15 years playing in bands and touring all over the place. I finally got my licence and got back into hunting about 18 months ago.
My grandparents have a property that backs onto state forest (where hunting is legal), and it’s crawling with deer. There’s a trail that makes a big U-shape from one corner of the property, up the mountain, and back to the other side. One day I hiked it from left to right and couldn’t believe how much dog scat was around—like a whole pack of dingoes had moved through.
The next morning, I planned to walk the same trail right to left and borrowed my grandpa’s .22LR just in case…
Lucky I did—because not 300m from the house, I came across two wild dogs.
I was stepping into a clearing where the trail crossed, when a blur of motion caught my eye. I looked up and spotted one red dog and one blue dog. I raised the .22 and—bang!—nailed my first ever dingo with a clean shot from 30 paces. The other one took off howling, and I reckon I got the biggest adrenaline rush of my life.
Since then, I’ve been hooked on hunting wild dogs. There used to be a $120 bounty at the time, but that’s been scrapped thanks to “new research” claiming that what we traditionally call wild dogs (dingo x domestic mixes) are actually pure dingoes. Animal rights activists pushed hard to get them protected. These days, you can still shoot them on private land, and there’s a 3km “unprotection zone” where licensed pest controllers and forestry managers can shoot/trap them—but the bounty’s gone.
I love deer hunting and have had a great 18 months, but there’s something about wild dog hunting that feels riskier, more exhilarating, and seriously addictive.
I came across this forum while hunting for the old Hunting Wild Dogs DVD by Tom Varney, which came out about a decade ago. Sadly, he’s passed away and I haven’t been able to track down a copy from any retailers. If anyone here has a copy they’d be willing to sell—or any other Aussies who might be able to lend it—I’d love to get in touch.
Looking forward to learning as much as I can from the collective wisdom here!
