Recently a friend and I ventured back to Australia for an 18 day stay to try and complete my SCI diamond level award for the South Pacific species. Fortunately I succeeded by taking 6 species to make it to the 12 needed. This outback hunt proved to be the toughest hunt I've ever taken. Upon arriving in camp in the middle of the day with 110 degree heat and no breeze, I was distraught. For the first time in all my travels, I actually asked myself, "what have I gotten myself into? " I immediately wanted to get back in the air conditioned truck, take my losses and get the hell out of there. While taking my stuff to my tent I busted into a soaking sweat. As a lay my gear on the cot I notice a large HUNTSMAN spider over my bed. He was about 5 inches across and poisonous. After it was removed, I asked where the outhouse was. I took the long walk down a path, watching for King Brown snakes all the way, to a hole dug in the ground and went to take care of business only to find a 4 inch scorpion crawling across my boot. GREAT, I had been there less than a 1/2 hour and was miserable. After about 3 days, I finally adjusted to the temperature.

Later that day, we headed out for our first afternoon buffalo hunt and I had already decided to kill early in case I couldn't complete the hunt. So after seeing about 20 bulls the first afternoon I was lucky enough to find one that went well into the SCI record book. It takes 80 points to make the book and my first buffalo scored 94 1/2". I was very pleased and some of the pressure was off. Over the next 7 days we hiked our butts off and managed to take a total of 4 water buffalos, with the highest scoring 97" which was the last day bull I shot at dark thirty. During this portion of the hunt I also took one hog, saw one 10 foot King Brown snake, the 2nd most poisonous snake in the world, saw lots of brumbies (wild horses), dingos, various large monitor lizards, and probably saw over 400 water buffalos.

We also became certified arsonists because we set many forest fires and probably burned several thousand acres. Of course it's a normal practice there but it really felt weird. It helps new grass grow and pulls the buffalos into certain areas.  However the best part of this portion of the hunt was the duck and goose hunting.

I've hunted birds in Argentina, Mexico, Africa, and all over the U.S. and this was the best ever. There was one problem though. It was only the 2nd time this guide had ever guided hunters to shoot waterfowl and he only gave each of us "Two" boxes of shells. I said as I looked out at all the birds across this marsh that only 2 other white men had ever hunted, " YOU'VE GOT TO BE JOKING RIGHT?"  He said no, that's all the shells he thought we would need. I said " YEA RIGHT", this will last us about 15 minutes. Picture this, BIRD HEAVEN, 3 hunters, 2 boxes of shells each, for one afternoon hunt and the next morning hunt. It was so sad it was almost funny. Anyway, the 2 of us that could shoot reasonably picked our shots carefully for those two hunts. We actually agreed to shoot a box in the afternoon and stop ,then shoot a box in the morning. WAS THAT TORMENT OR WHAT. But we made the best of the situation and killed a lot of birds and the guide learnt the lesson between furnishing a few shells free, and providing plenty of shells that hunters can buy. That night in duck camp we had a stand off between us and a 14 foot croc. We had hoped that after several warning shots from a .357, that maybe the big croc and his lesser buddies would leave, but no way. We were in their territory. It was the same night a camper got drug out of his tent not for from us by a croc. None of us slept much that night along that mosquito and croc infested river. For some reason our tent just didn't seem very safe, so we built several large camp fires around our tent and took turns all night putting wood on.

The last 6 day leg of our hunt took us 1500 miles south to hunt 4 species of deer, in wonderful weather. It was in the 60's during the day and 40's at night, we were very happy to be there. On this hunt I took the number 11 in the world Hog deer for SCI, my buddy took the number 6 in the world Mollacin Rusa deer, and the best trophy of the hunt and my career was the number 3 in the world Mollacin Rusa I took.

It barely missed the number 2 spot by 1/4 of an inch. We each took large Samba deer and Java Rusa as well. On this hunt we saw a total of 4 poisonous snakes, many kangaroos and wombats, a wide variety of beautifully colored parrots and cockatoos and some really beautiful country.

The hunt was very successful in all aspects, I give all of my guides an A+.  The food was good, the game was plentiful, the accommodations were good and the people were a lot of fun.  The hunt was rewarding but did test my stamina, my endurance and my ability to cope.  It reminded me of stories I've heard about bongo hunting.  I'd like to make a note on behalf of Kenny Jarrett.  Thanks to my .300 Jarrett, all of my 6 species, EVERY ONE of them, including the two 2000 lb. buffalo was dropped straight down with one shot.  That is one hell of a gun, and to date, that makes 32 animals taken consecutively with 1 shot.