Thanks fellas. “Exotics” is a much better way of approaching it I think, wish we’d thought of it! That way we would manage them as “game” instead of going to war with them as ferals! Most station (kind of Aussie for “Ranch”) owners are only too happy for you to kill feral pigs, rabbits, cats (don’t laugh, if one gets his claws on ya they can hurt ya bad, mate!) and sometimes feral goats (but for the last 5 years or so they have been getting mustered and sold to the Middle Eastern countries) they do incredible damage to the land and displace natives. We don’t have much in the way of native game, just emus,’roos and wallabies (which you can’t shoot with a bow, it’s illegal) but you can kill wild dogs/dingoes as there is very few pure bloods left, except for a couple of coastal island populations, which are pure-breds, and they are really bad on stock once they have bred with domestic dogs gone wild. From a bowhunters perspective, it’s a bloody good thing we have millions of ferals! I’m told we have the only fully wild population of camels left in the world , too. Many blokes in the Northern Teriitory hunt them with the bow. Donkeys, too.

Yeah, people out West are fine with hunting, it’s just accepted it’s what men do, but in the cities it’s very different. In the last 30 years city Aust has become very politically correct and over regulated…almost a Nanny State…unless your rich and powerful of course, then you do whatever you want, whenever you want and bugger the regulations!
I’m very proud to be a bowhunter and am never ashamed of it, but if you are having a night out at dinner or a party and you just want to relax and enjoy yourself it’s best not to bring it up or you’ll just spend the night having the same old arguement with the same kind of people. A lot of folk in the capital city I live near, Brisbane, seem to have been informed on nature by Disney movies, you know what I mean?

As for Trad gear, Strait Aero, nah mate, it’s pretty easy to get ahold of. We have a few Trad suppliers, and many enthusiastic bowyers. I shoot a ‘Gringa” longbow made by a mate of mine in a town called Bundaberg, about 5 hours from where I live, and would love one of Mark Kimbers ‘Huntsman” recurves. http://huntsmanbows.com.au/ He’s another local bloke, only a couple of hours from my place.

BTW, What on Earth is a “Ditch Panther“??

Just had a look at that link, Duncan, thanks mate and WOW! Wicked squealers you blokes have over there! They more than match any boars I’ve seen out Western Queensland, that’s for sure! Bloody amazing!