Aussie Levergun Goat Hunt

[Jacko]

I arrived at the Mingoola property about 9pm after leaving work at 2pm , normally it's an easy 5 hour trip but there was a prang on the main road out of Brisbane early afternoon and it banked up traffic for about 20 km . I was less than impressed as I had hoped to arrive at the property with enough light left for me to poke about the cattle yards with my Browning BL22 and maybe pop a Bunny or 2 , ah well next time !

When I arrived my Bowhunting mates where huddled around the fire 3 parts cut after several too many Ports and the odd Scotch . I gambled on the weather , I knew it was going to be chilly but I was not expecting the cutting wind or it to be near zero degree's in the middle of October . Thankfully I did have my minus 7 rated sleeping bag so had a snug nights sleep .

Saturday morning broke crisp and clear frosty minus 3 with a steady Westerly wind blowing . I had only brought my light weight camo gear and due to the steep terrain was not too concerned about warming up . I was using my Rossi M92 .357 magnum rifle this trip and as I did not want to spoil my mates Bowhunting opportunities planned to hunt the 3 hills 2.5 kilometres across the valley from where the boys planned to hunt that morning

The wind was blowing at my back so I approached the base of the hills at an angle hoping that my scent would not be blown up the numerous thickly overgrown gullies that the Goats and the odd pig used as highways . I lucked out and while glassing the first gully I had approached heard a mob of Goats bleating 2/3 rd's of the way up it ,the scrub was too thick to see them .

I set off for the grassy knoll I gambled they where headed for about 1 kilometre away and began to climb the hill in hope of getting to the top and laying in ambush before they got there . As I am hardly the figure of fitness I climbed the very steep vegetation choked hillside in a zig zag pattern in an attempt to make the climb a little easier . I reckon I walked 3 times the actual distance needed to crest the hill but I got there in the end . Not once did I here the Goats bleat or feeding during the climb .

As I cautiously stepped out of the scrub into the waist high grass I spotted a white Goat 50 yards off , feeding towards me . I was not going to ruin so much effort climbing the hill and risk trying for the shade of a tree 15 yards up on the crest and hide behind a fallen log there so I just sat down in the grass where I was and waited .

After about 15 minutes I lost sight of the white Goat . I could hear a Goat feeding towards me that I figured was the white goat very close so I raised the Rossi and waited . Seconds later a white Angora cross Goat stepped up the little rise I was sitting on .

He was walking straight towards me , our eyes where at the same level , he had to see me but my Made To Deceive camo worked and at 4 yards I aimed through the Tang sight at the jucture of his neck and chest and squeezed the shot off - WOW -talk about poleaxed . At the report of the rifle 2 more white Billy's 15 yards downhill milled about confused , 2 more shots tight behind there shoulders - 3 down . Next the bigger bodied black Billy 20 yards running downhill left and slightly behind me , I put a projectile through his shoulders , he fell as if poleaxed as well 4 down , but the bullet had passed right through him and caught the smallest Goat in the mob a young Billy, through the gut .

I quickly put a finisher into him and for good measure a couple of unneccesary shots into the 2 white Billy's . I sat down and had a much needed drink of water and studied the 5 dead Goats all with 20 yards of each other . Later that day when I caught up with my mates Gary said clear across the valley he heard 8 fast shots and thought I was onto a mob of pigs . I did spot a pig on Saturday arvo but the wind gave me away .

This was my first kills with my Rossi .357 which I bought in January . I handload 15 grains of W296 anf Hornady XTP 158 gr jhp projectiles . Next rifle to blood is my new Marlin 1894 .44 magnum , should rewrite the definition of emphatic if I get into the same position to cull a mob of Goats again .

Excuse the photo folks , you wouldn't believe me if I told you I actually did clear , attempt to clear the straw blades of grass from the photo angle .

regards Jacko

[Nath]

Good man you
What a treat to get a story from the south
Up here the experts think the 357 ain't strong enough for critters like that! Idiots!

How'd the archers do?

Nath.

[gamekeeper]

WOW! that's some shooting!
Leverguns are made for opportunities like that.
How well would you have done with a bolt action?

[TedH]

Excellent!

[RKrodle]

Great hunting and shooting.

[kimwcook]

Good one on ya, mate. Excellent hunt and it looks like you filled the freezer. Looks like fairly open ground and goats can be very skiddish. Thanks for the great story and pic.

[wilko]

Nice story. I enjoyed reading that! Goat meat is strong flavoured but delicious !!! enjoy!

[Bill in Oregon]

Jacko: Great post. Thanks for letting me come along on your hunt. How much did those guys weigh? Do anything with the meat?
I'd lift a mug of Foster's to you, but some of your countrymen tell me it is "a fizzy drink for oiks"!

[Old Time Hunter]

Congratulations! Glad to hear of a good hunt, not a 1000m super wiz-bang sub .25 cal at 5000fps using a 100x optical enhancer shooting from the next township.

[76/444]

Nice shooting, great hunt,... but, a whole lot-a-butcher'n!!

I eat goat about twice a week, minimum. My favorite is fresh kill liver fried (RARE) in bacon and onions served on top of smashed taters. Then a leg of kid on the barby slow roasted all day. With goat enchiladas coming in third!!!


I eat goat!

Oh, yah,.... good looking cammo for that hunt!

[Jacko]

Fella's we usually bring home a young goat and share it between us on these hunts as despite my luck this time around just shooting 1 Goat on this place is hard yakka . I absolve guilt on not taking meat this trip by reminding myself the Cocky[landowner] is pleased I have culled a few Goats from his land as they get very protective about anything other than cattle or sheep eating "their" feed . The Billiest where pretty rank , I would not take meat from them , the young fella, however I should have . We can be a wastefull lot with game meat in Australia , many hunters cull rather than take meat but this attitude is changing .

Much of the land is cleared but on the steep hillsides it is gnarly thick , visibility is only a few metres and difficult to walk quitely in . In the rocky area's Cypress tree's and Turkey bush choke out most of the other ground cover and game hides up in it . It's like walking on cornflakes in there .

1 of my 2 mates shoot a nice little Boar with his homemade bow , arrows and broadhead the day before I arrived but he has not emailed me photo's yet and the other fella snuck up to within yards of a mob of Goats but as none had the quality of skin he wanted passed up a shot , he did not want to take meat .

regards Jacko

[CEMENTHEAD]

Congrats on a good hunt!!

[Nath]

N.

[JohndeFresno]

Thanks for the great story and picture, Jacko.

The Hornady XTP is one of my favorite jacketed bullets, and I'm glad to learn that it did so well on your game. Good shooting!

...I was using my Rossi M92 .357 magnum rifle this trip...I handload 15 grains of W296 anf Hornady XTP 158 gr jhp projectiles

Jacko, QuickLoad software estimates that your XTP 158 grainer ahead of 15.0 gr. W-W 296 will exit the Rossi Model 92's 20-inch barrel at 1659 ft. per second (506 meters per second).

Since the XTP charts show the top effectiveness of that bullet between 700 and 1400 fps, I am wondering what the bullet looked like. Did you have an opportunity to examine the exit hole and/or see one of the bullets?

[COSteve]

Deleted

[Jacko]

JohndeFresno , my rifle seems to like medium velocity loads , even 15.3 gr of W296 did not shoot as nice a groups . I was concerned that the XTP projectile would expand to quickly if driven too hard out of the rifle . On thing I noted with some of the projectiles in the box is that the hollow point was filled with a waxy substance , I left it in there to see what would happen . I wonder if it made the projectile act as a solid on that black Goat .

My rifle has a 24" barrel and I also figured it would shoot a little slower as the info I have is an 18" barrel is ample for the .357 to develop full ballistics , perhaps this contributed as well to the exit wound . The black Goat had a 1/2" exit hole in its off side shoulder and the bullet still managed to drop the little gut shot Goat in it's tracks , as you can see in the photo blood poured out of its gut so must have been artery as well . I wonder if it had enough pepper behind it still to blow up the little Goats lungs .

None of the other Goats had exit wounds so perhaps it was an anomaly . Once this box of XTP projectiles are gone I wont be using them again , the price has increased to over $50 per box of 100 . I use Westcast 180gr FP for practice and will switch to them for hunting as well . I can buy 500 cast projectiles for less than that and I guess exit wounds will be par for the course . Just to horrify you further on the price of premium projectiles in Australia , hows $75 for a box of 50 44 mag LeverEvolution pills , needless to say I'm shooting cast out of it .

COsteve I've had the Tang sight on my Rossi for 6 or 8 weeks , though I have wondered if I should have got the Marbles instead of the Lyman so as to have windage adjustment . I have been shooting targets with it to 200 yards , I let a mate shoot the rifle at 200 yards last trip to the range , very cool watching the projectile through a spotting scope on it's way to the target as well

regards Jacko

[Bruce Scott]

Good hunt, Jacko!

[Borregos]

Congratulations on a great hunt

[JohndeFresno]

JohndeFresno , my rifle seems to like medium velocity loads , even 15.3 gr of W296 did not shoot as nice a groups . I was concerned that the XTP projectile would expand to quickly if driven too hard out of the rifle...

Thanks for additional input, Jacko. I have a proposed hunting load of the same projectile for 15.2gr of 296 at an estimated 1,311 out of a 6.5 inch handgun that I have not tried on game (warm but safe, moderately fast per the Hornady book). This is very useful info!

[crs]

Jacko,
Thanks for the post - felt like I was there with you (without the cold or effort).

Also, it reminded me of the last time I shot that many goats at one sitting. I had been in my deer stand below a rimrock near Comanche, Texas for a few hours since sunrise when I heard some critters feeding along in the oaks below me. I got the .308 up and and ready to shoot a nice buck or tasty doe and along came a "Mob" of six smelly, farting, pooping, bleating, nasty, angora goats. They decided to have a picnic on the acorns just below my two person blind in a big cedar tree and would not leave. This was not the first time that goats on this ranch had ruined a morning of hunting and I just lost it - put down the rifle and pulled out my M19 .357 loaded with 125 grain JHP and let fly. When the smoke (figurative) cleared there were four goats on the ground and two hightailing off down the hill. I did have to shoot two of them twice to knock them over - not just wound or kill them, but put them down. It was a little like shooting metal plates at the Dallas Pistol Club.
Soon, my hunting buddy(daughter) came along to see the carnage and said the predictable "Dad, you really need to learn to control your temper!".
It was time for lunch anyhow, so we hoofed it back to camp.

[Jacko]

The things kids say crs - wise beyond their years

regards Jacko