Yowiehunters Forum

hey i just found this site - and i must say i never believed in these things till i started reading articles on this site.

just wondering what kind of protection people take out witht them when looking for yowies.... guns? flares? knives?

futhermore is anyone out there crazy enough to go looking for them unarmed?

cheers,
bobby

PROTECTION NO. 1: Bright torch or hand held spot light!

REMEMBER: A maglight carrying 5+ 'D' size batteries, may double as a baton. (In the off chance the Yowie you're investigating turns out to be an escaped lunatic.)

What Joe said

Only ever taken a bright torch/spotlight

Welcome to the forum

i must admit that i have on occasions carried a base ball bat although i reckon that it might be more of a hinderance if it got too hairy out there, but its nice too know you got something too swing esspecially when the ones you looking for have a habit of throwing things at you!

I've taken an air-rifle........

More for comfort than protection. It would more than likely just aggrevate him.

I do feel safer with a gun in my hand. If you could even call it that.

I carry a 12ga. shotgun, loaded with .00 or .000 Buckshot. But its more for protection from Grizzly/Black Bears & Mountain Lions.

A shotgun? Thats more like it.

Air-rifle? I'd.. well, the only airgun i'd take would be a http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/ ... MGTMMP5SD6 - H&K MP5 SD6. Yay for replica airguns.

Then again, if you're a crack shot, you could probably blind one, or atleast temporarily blind it so you can run away.

Hmmm,

All these excitable Yowie researchers wandering the bush armed with air rifles and shotguns......how safe that makes me feel....not!

I guess so long as the five safety principles regarding firearms safety are stringently adhered to no matter how wild the imagination runs ..........

LMAO!!! All these QLanders running around with air riffles ect....its no wonder yowies are aggressive!
I have a better question? Why are men so aggressive! LMAO!!!

Assume every gun to be loaded....... Always point it in a safe direction ie the ground....... Keep your finger off the trigger until you're sure you're ready to fire......Be sure of your target..........and DON'T SHOOT JOE.

That's five, isn't it? Right. Let's go hunting.....

But seriously. I don't just run around poppin off slugs for sh*ts and giggles. I probably wouldn't even pull the trigger if I came face to face with ol' matey from Ormeau.

But I'd much rather have a gun and not need it, than need it and not have one.

Not a bad effort, Romeo - but 4 out of 5 safety principles is hardly reassuring. Perhaps if you could define "safe direction", without looking up a manual, my faith might be partially restored!

Seriously though, what are you going to shoot with an air rifle? Sure you could take someone's eye out with it, and even cause a nasty little wound, but against a Yowie? I strongly suggest some research of how many reports of firearms conclusively having any effect of maiming or injuring a bigfoot/yowie/hominid creature/etc.

Remember in the movie "Predator" where Arnie says, "If it bleeds we can kill it!"? If there is any case on file where a bigfoot etc. is known to have left blood behind we would have conclusive DNA evidence of it's existence - we don't. Yet you will find there are many cases of bigfoot creatures being shot at.

I thought I did....not gonna take out an eye firing into the dirt. That one was drilled into me since I was knee high to a grasshopper.

Like I said, I'm probably not going to shoot anything. I rarely do. But I have it handy, and it might become useful under certain circumstances.

I'm not going to go and buy a shotgun so everytime I go for a bushwalk I have the firepower to kill an 8 foot monster. I bring an air-rifle because it's there, and it might be useful. You make me sound like a fruitcake with an itchy trigger finger....

It's more for shooting cans around a campfire anyway.

But I do believe that in the unlikely event of attack, I would have a better chance of survival with a well aimed slug to the face, than if I sat there thinking to myself 'shoulda brought that rifle', while my leg was chewed off.

[quote="joe"]Hmmm,

All these excitable Yowie researchers wandering the bush armed with air rifles and shotguns......how safe that makes me feel....not!
[/quote]

Scary agreed , the reason I would rather spend most of my time that i can in other areas, though my most sucessful time has been is up their, is understanbdable ....

Up where, Ormeau?

You'd have to be stupid to take a gun up there. Way to populated, houses and people everywhere.

I've only taken it when we go camping on a mates station out west. Not a soul within coo-ee.

[quote="joe"]Hmmm,

All these excitable Yowie researchers wandering the bush armed with air rifles and shotguns......how safe that makes me feel....not!

I guess so long as the five safety principles regarding firearms safety are stringently adhered to no matter how wild the imagination runs ..........[/quote]

First off, I'm not a Yowie researcher. I've never been to Australia. I'm Canadian, I research the Sasquatch. So you don't have to be concerned with me, Joe.

Secondly, I'm not carrying the shotgun in the hopes of tagging a Sasquatch with it. It's for the large predators that roam the areas where my organization and I conduct research. Have you ever observed a Grizzly Bear in the wild? Some of these animals grow to weigh 1000lbs., a 1 ton carnivore is not something I feel like facing unarmed. Pepper spray doesn't always work, sometimes the bear can still see enough to overtake and maul a person. Then there are the Black Bears, they also roam our research areas and are known to actively seek out human targets. Playing dead for a black bear doesn't work, it will continue to maul you and may even start eating you while you are still alive. Mountain Lions are known to attack from behind, lying in wait until you pass by their hidden location. When they attack they go for the back of the neck or the head. If I think one of these animals is around, I will change trails or flush it out, if it shows aggression I will shoot it. Then there are wolverines, grey & timber wolves, coyotes, & wild dogs.

If you had the possibility of facing any of these animals, you would want to carry a firearm as well.

I'm not sure how many large carnivores are present in Australia, so I will not make any comments on the need for a firearm there.

SFS I didn't realise you were from the US. I can see why you would need a gun up there, I might even carry one myself in your situation. In Australia its diferent. The most dangerous known animal wehave would have to be a dingo, I think, and as a rule they don't attack adults. Occassionally they have gone after and even killed children, but that is a very sad, and thankfully rare event! We do have big cats, though they are officially unreconised, and as far as I know I have never heard of one killing people. Though it could happen I suppose. I think that the most dangerous animal we have in our forests are 'men' lOL, and we aren't allowed to shoot them! (mores the pity! Sometimes)LMAO!!!!

Thanks for your input SFS.

As Dawn said, Australia has far less recognised predators than Canada. Along with dingoes, we also have wild pigs or boars that are worth being wary of, but both are not indemic of the Australian bush. The creatures I'm most wary of are snakes and spiders, especially in the summertime. Aside from wandering the hot bush in boots and thick jeans, a first aid kit is the only remedy for them until hospitalisation.

Unless the area here in Australia being investigated is known for wild pigs, dingoes, or a likely haven for bush dwelling vagrants, escaped convicts, or mental patients, firearms aren't a prerequisite. Unfortunately, here in Australia, pepper spray is recognised as a prohibited weapon unless carried by armed forces or Police. Thus the effective use of force against a possible human antagonist in the nighttime bush has to be more creative.

Canada forests with their bears, wolves, coyotes, and wolverines, are deserved of carrying a firearm and there are plenty of situations where not carrying a firearm would be extremely foolish.

Dear All

I actually don't think that any weapon in the field would be effective against a Yowie or a Big Foot.

Firstly - You have no idea at all when they are stalking or watching you unless they want you to know they are there, as they are the ultimate bushmen/women.

Secondly, they are just too quick and powerful. It is only on very rare occasions that humans catch them unawares. And, if you do catch them like that, surely you would not shoot an unsuspecting harmless creature, just because you have a weapon.

We are not talking dumb Big Cats (al be it they are rat cunning), we are talking about humanoids here. In my opinion (if that's worth anything) shooting a Yowie if they’re not showing that it meant to harm you, would amount to a murder of some type.

Having said all of the above; When I go bush, I sometimes carry a whip, and or a telescopic walking stick, along with my back pack of goodies. The whip is more to create a scary cracking noise that scares pretty much anything. And, the telescopic walking / hiking stick I use for snakes if I have too. And I have come across plenty of them.

I go bush mostly for fossicking purposes, and my back pack consists of pans and sieves, fold up shovels, geo picks, rope, chisels, plaster of Paris, GPS, compass, first aid kit, mobile phone, two way radio, sample bags, tweezers, water / food and a few other odds and ends. Oh yes I always carry a bowie knife too and sometimes a machete.

Even though I am an excellent shot with a pistol and a rifle I would never take one out bush, unless I was going into pig country and then I would only carry a pistol, if I really had to.

So; “Weapons in the Field”, it really all depends on the area, the circumstances and the demeanor of the investigator.

Paul

Dawn

I just wanted to let you know that it is highly likely that a missing person in the Grampians Area several years ago is most likely attributed to a Big Cat.

I was talking to Bernie Mace a few months ago and he told me of a prominent field researcher into the Big Cats of the Grampians and that his car was found, but he never was. Absolutely no trace of him was ever found.

Big Cats have pulled down horses and killed them, so a human, would be pretty easy to dispatch.

I didn't say in my above message, that I don't own a gun. But, I was in the Army and police for some years and was well trained in long arms and pistols.

I don't actually support the use of weapons in the field in general, but I would never say never. As I said it really depends on the circumstances.

I must say though, that I think that the most dangerous animals in the Australian bush are pigs and snakes.

Paul

Thanks Paul, I hadn't heard of the event you discribed. You'd have to be pretty unlucky, wouldn't you! I do know they tke down animals as big as horses and bulls, thats happened around our way before now. I would have thought that man wouldn't be on the food list. I wonder wether he got to close to cubs or something! There are only a few times that I've heard of them being anything other than curious towards humans. The kid that was scratched on the arm, the farmer that had one charge his ute a few years back in the Grampians, that got all the air play, a few cases of snarling, but that, I would put down to warning them off!

Dawn

Have a look at Eye Witnesses page on my web site http://uqconnect.net/~zzpclach/bigcatsentry.htm and there are a couple of reports there that could have turned nasty. One young shooter from memory had one run at him and he scared it away with his rifle that he was using to shoot rabbits. There was also a couple who saw one in long grass in the Grampians and it ended up stalking them. They were lucky to get away with their lives I think.

The above fellow who went missing in the Grampians according to Bernie apparently was a well-seasoned and experienced Big Cat researcher.

Paul

Thanks for that Paul. I will not be quite so cocky strolling around in the dark at Buxton anymore!

oh guns base ball bats , such primitive weapons , the base ball bat well the yowie would just take it and use it as a big tooth pick or add it to its stick formations, as for the shot gun well no ones killed a yowie yet with one , so once the yowie breaks the wooden but off that gun it will have a toy blow gun , then if ya really want protection take a high power industrial lazer and some mirrors and some battery operated strobe lights . and some of those repeating camera flash units that continiously flash ,