Back Country Hunting

Want somewhere to hunt?

Residents of the Northern Territory can participate in the Back Country Hunting (BCH) initiative subject to the following requirements:

Hold a current NT Firearms Licence
Be a current member of a Parks and Wildlife Commission approved hunting organisation
Have a BCH accreditation from a P&W approved BCH Assessor
Have an appropriate BCH permit from P&W
Hunting parties must include a minimum of two adult licenced and accredited hunters

Hunters will also need to provide the NTFC prior to issue of permits, copies of their current firearms licence and their current AHO membership card (or recent renewal receipt).

Hunters should examine the NTFC website to see the schedule of areas still available on which days and send a short request to council advising blocks / dates required. Council will set aside the area if free and forward to the hunters a Permit Application and Fees Payment Form. Approved permits will be sent by council to hunters together with detailed directions and gate combination codes etc.

SEE THE LATEST HUNTING AVAILABILITY SCHEDULE

A Junior, who does not have a firearms licence, and a licenced interstate person who is a member of an AHO, can be listed as a nominee and accompany a permit holder on a hunt.

Note: the accompanying hunter/nominee - does not apply for and get a permit themselves - they are listed as a nominee on the permitted hunter's permit application.

All Permit Applicants, including Nominees, must have completed the BCH accreditation and be a current member of a BCH (Parks & Wildlife) Approved Hunting Organisation. There are three such AHOs - SSAA, Australian Deer Association and NT Field & Game.

Follow NT Back Country Hunting

Our BCH Coordinator, Brian Boyle, has set up an NTFC BCH Facebook Page which will be updated with Course Accreditation Dates & Locations

HUNTING FEES

@ AUGUST 2022

$35 ADMIN FEE PLUS $25 PER DAY PER PERSON

FOR EXCLUSIVE HUNTING USE OF THE DESIGNATED AREA

Please note that since last season various shooters licences and Hunting Organisation memberships may have expired. If you propose to apply for a Permit in 2022 please ensure your documentation is still valid at the time of your proposed hunt and that a copy has been provided to NTFC of your licence and AHO membership.

Safety During Hunting

Keep watch for fire alerts. Ensure you know your escape routes. Very carefully do a local back-burn if appropriate as a last resort, depending on wind direction & strength and if you really feel threatened. Keep parked vehicles & belongings away from grassed areas long / dry enough to burn.
Lots of tracks were observed last season (presume unauthorised access) around the North & South blocks in particular. We are keen to receive details (Rego. numbers, make, etc) of all unidentified vehicles in your area.
Much good work has been done by Parks & Wildlife to access roads and creek crossings etc. but the hunting areas access routes fairly quickly become impassable after any decent rains.
Discharge of firearms must be for hunting purposes only. Sighting in of scopes etc should be done BEFORE the hunt at an appropriate location. NO plinking or target practice in the hunt areas !
ONLY hunting on foot with firearms. NO dogs, bows, trail bikes or quad vehicles.
Carry LOTS of water and water purification tablets and filter bottles. Top up wherever you can.
Carry a Sat Phone and / or EPIRB and GPS
Only camp at designated camping spots.
Ensure Emergency Contacts are aware of planned return timing and which camping area proposed.
Only travel in well serviced 4WDs and carry recovery gear - winches etc.
Expect more than 20 kms per day of walking. Plan most walking in earlier morning hours & later afternoon

Fire Warnings

Prospective hunters should contact Parks & Wildlife BEFORE setting out in order to receive fire warning updates. Best contact points are BATCHELOR OFFICE (Norm) @ 89 993971 or WALKER CREEK OFFICE @ 89 782302.

In the meantime enter with care, keep watch on smoke and be well aware of the location of recently burned areas in case a refuge is needed. Should go without saying also to be careful at camp sites not to leave vehicles sitting over dry grass and have swags etc set up in clear areas.

Helpful hint, if you do get absolutely trapped, starting a small fire in your immediate area between you and an approaching fire may result in an already burned safe area when the large flame front approaches you. Always carry matches or a lighter.

IF YOU ARE IN THE HUNT AREAS KEEP CONSTANT WATCH FOR FIRES AS THEY CAN BE FROM NUMEROUS SOMETIMES UNPLANNED CAUSES. AT THE CAMPSITE DON'T PARK IN THE MIDDLE OF A SPEAR GRASS CLUMP !!!

Safety Precautions

Please note as well that, for safety and insurance cover reasons, a minimum hunting party of two is required in relation to park entry. Interstate licenced hunters also need to be (NTFC) Accredited and Permitted and MUST be accompanied by an appropriately Licenced, Permitted & Accredited NT resident hunter. Must be at least one NT hunter for each interstate participant.

Animals and Vehicles

Enquiries have been received in relation to apparent "Cleanskin" cattle in designated hunting areas. While these animals may be taken it is the hunter's responsibility to ensure they are, in fact, "cleanskins" BEFORE taking a shot !! Animals may only be taken within the Hunting Area (Nth, Cent,or Sth) as designated in the permit.

We have also been asked about shooting apparent wild dogs. Parks have advised though that many hunters are not clearly able to distinguish Dingoes (protected species) from other large wild dogs and have therefore instructed that NO DOGS are to be shot through the BCH program.

It should be stressed that while most of the tracks appear passable with care some of them are deceptively smooth or clear with some hard to see deep ruts. Please keep speeds to a minimum even if sections appear to be clear; at least until you have travelled over them once. If, as well, there have been any recent fires in the area there are likely to be trees over tracks. Some areas can also be quite boggy after any decent rain (especially in Central & Southern blocks) and you should pack some recovery gear in that event. Northern Territory Firearms Council volunteers and Parks & Wildlife Rangers have improved some of the rougher creek crossings etc. but they are definitely not suitable for anything but good four wheel drives. Rangers advise 5 crossings in total have had recent major work done to ease the angles of approach and departure, with geo mat and rock base installed.

WE REITERATE AS WELL PLEASE - HUNTING DOGS, TRAIL BIKES AND QUAD VEHICLES ARE NOT PERMITTED IN CONJUNCTION WITH BCH ACTIVITIES IN THESE BLOCKS. Vehicles are to be left at camp sites and ALL hunting carried out on foot. Some hunters have been "luckier" than others in terms of animals seen and the "lucky" ones seem to be those who walk more than 100 metres from their vehicles !!

Unexploded Explosive Ordnance (UXO)

The Litchfield area has been used in the past for artillery and other military training and it is not unusual to find items of unexploded ordnance which have survived intended discharge and 50 odd years of bushfires. If simply left in place and locations appropriately marked these items are relatively safe BUT THEY SHOULD NEVER BE DISTURBED !! For future reference, procedure for UXOs is as follows:

Description of UXO (pictures best)
Location: either GPS or GRID (Identifying map datum) with word picture on best access route. Eg Southern campsite 2 -13.368877° 30.951651°
Marking: Not absolutely necessary but either a tripod constructed with branches in vicinity of the UXO or else tree marking will be appreciated.

ADF noted the following general points about UXOs in the Litchfield area:

The fuses have often been triggered but primers have not been struck. All safety means are therefore disabled by triggering of the fuse so movement of these items (such as bouncing around in the boot of a car) could result in detonation.
Although the rounds are quite old, high explosive is now often found seeping from projectiles under hydraulic pressure; HE is flammable and could be detonated by heat (eg bushfire).