ManU

G'day aushunters, I am going to put the following review up on google reviews, thought you guys might be interested, the guys at SKRE really were very helpful and while it isnt cheap in Aus dollars, it is very comparable to the other 'premium' name brands and cheaper than most i think: After significant amounts of research and analysing all of the premium gear providers (kuiu, first lite, sitka etc), i chose SKRE gear to supply me with all the clothing i need for an upcoming trip to NZ chasing Tahr and I am extremely happy with that decision. I picked up the Rocky Mountain Elk bundle (base layer top and bottom, outer layer top and bottom, vest, belt and also bought balaclava, gloves and gaiters) and the guys at SKRE were brilliant helping me out with selecting the right pieces, double checking sizing and shipping down to Australia. Thanks to Covid travel restrictions here it has taken me a while to get out there and try this new gear out but thankfully I was able to spend a few days recently the NSW alpine area where temps were cold in the early morning at -5 Deg Celsius and up to about 10-12 deg C in the day. I was comfortable in all of those temp ranges with the kaibab base layers and hardscrabble pants and jacket, all I had to do was remove my insulation layer once it started warming up and I was fine. The only thing I would add is a pair of inner gloves to wear inside the deadfall gloves when it is really cold. I have never owned premium gear like this, the fit, comfort and freedom of movement was downright awesome thanks to the 4 way stretch. The base layers were so comfortable I barely knew they were there and no itch which is a good indication of quality – I have cheaper merino base layers from a general hiking company and they don’t fit right and itch like crazy. After 4 days of wearing them, I may have smelled a bit off but the kaibab top and bottoms barely had any smell at all. Luckily we had pretty good weather so I haven’t really tested this gear in the wet yet but I have no doubt it will perform exceptionally. I personally chose the MTN Stealth pattern and I felt like it melted in to a number of different terrain types including pine forests and Australian native scrub. Overall, I am extremely impressed and can recommend SKRE to anybody out there trying to decide which brand they want to go with, give SKRE a go, I am pretty sure you will be glad you did. Unfortunately i forgot to take a good photo of the gear while out there, the one decent photo i do have was with a hunters element jumper on and no jacket so it doesnt really do much in the way of showing the gear.

thanks fellas, lots of interesting points there, i'll check out a few brands mentioned here but i must admit i am leaning toward the Lowa's at the moment, i do have a bit of time up my sleeve so can try and nab them on sale. If i wasnt going to NZ i wouldnt be so fussy and would be happy with a mid level boot but last thing i want is to have issues with gear on a trip like this one. FYI - I have bought most of my clothing already from SKRE, i will put up a review once i have had a chance to test them out properly, which should have been early April but my plans got squashed by a virus

Hi all, I have done a search through the forums for a thread on boots however there isn't much that's in the more recent years that I could find. I'm planning a trip to NZ chasing Tahr and looking for a decent pair of boots without the massive price tag that a lot of boots seem to have these days. Mainly just interested in people's experience with certain brands, what to steer clear of. Because I expect this trip to be pretty hard going, I am happy to spend a bit of cash but only if it is really worth it. Some of the brands I would like a bit of feedback on (but will take any good advice anybody has) include Merrel, Lowa, Hunters Element, Salomon, I cant really afford to go to any of the real high end brands. Important things for me are going to be stability, waterproofing, comfort and best suited to a narrow foot. I've been wearing a pair of boots from Cabelas that I got years ago when the dollar was on parity, they have been ok for my needs but they kill my feet and ankles after a few km's and its time to upgrade. Cheers in advance

Hunt report - went out on the weekend trying to chase down some problem pigs on a mate's small property. No luck on the pigs but we did take out a few rabbits with the shotty which was fitted with the light. In summary, the bracket to hold the light on the bottom barrel of the shotgun worked really well and the light was perfect for shotgun range. At any more than 50m i was starting to strain the eyes to see anything more than vague shapes moving though, im not sure how it would have looked through a scope, probably would have been fine in that 50-75m range. In the end it does the job but the feedback received here was spot on and if it was happening all over again i would take the suggestions above for a better light but the kit as a whole worked well.

well, just to wrap this on up for me, the torch arrived and i tested out its light output just down the street and its more than good enough for what i want and the mounts will fit almost any similar sized LED torch if i ever buy a better one. I cant see why i wont be able to use it effectively on bunnies and foxes out to 50-75m which is definitely the limit for myself and my 22 in an offhand shooting position anyway and its definitely good enough for shotgun range. As for the torch, i left it on all night to drain the battery so i could charge it from dead (not supposed to be needed with a Li battery but old habits die hard) and it was still shining the next morning albeit at the lowest setting, even though the info in the box said it was only effective for 2 hours. Pretty happy with that.

aah thanks guys, that sounds better, even out to 50-75m will be plenty i think. Wish i had have asked here first though, probably would have went with the wolfeyes bracket and solarforce light but thats what i get for being impulsive!

damn! not quite up to its sales propaganda then is it? Thanks for the info, hopefully i can atleast use it to some effect and perhaps just use the clamp with a better light if i want better performance...

Unusually for me, i bought something on impulse last night. Has anybody bought the Foxhunter LED torch and firearm mounting kit from Zeus industrial? If so, opinions? I bought it to hunt bunnies and foxes at night on foot with both a shotty and rifle, im confident it will do the job but would like to hear real feedback from anyone who has used it. It was quite affordable and comes with two mounts, rechargeable lithium battery, charger and pressure switch with optional extras for scope mounts and extra batteries. http://www.zeusindustrial.com/Zeus%20Q5%20Tactical.htm

thanks mate, i'll give it a look tonight

yeah a bday prezzy might just be the go for a new one, its in March so timing is perfect. The kits on ebay dont instill confidence and arent that cheap anyway, the last thing you want to do is spend over $100 and then the thing blows up the first night in a light drizzle anyway. As is said, the one I saw previously looked exactly like the add-ons that come on the lightforce HID lights and were about $75, i stuffed up by not buying it right then and there. The option of having 2 lights with one out each side sounds enticing anyway, so perhaps a new one with the old light going at the same time. The LED lights are pretty sweet, if i buy a new light, i'll check then out but it comes down to what we use them for as well, waiting for a HID to heat up isnt a big deal for me because we cruise around in the car on a large property with the light going constantly, if on foot or if i had to be careful about how much light i could throw around then i would go LED for sure. Thanks all, i'll just keep looking i guess and see how i go, i dont usually need much of an excuse to buy a new hunting toy

Hi all, I did a quick search and couldnt find anything useful so hopefully i'm not repeating a past topic. I went spotlighting last year with a guy who had a HID converted light and the difference was amazing. I want to convert my Lightforce 170mm striker spotlight into a HID. I've looked in to the process in the past and i did find a place online that had a good looking kit but now that im ready to buy it i cant find them again. Does anybody know of a good quality HID conversion kit for these lights? Preferably one that is waterproof (reasonably anyway) and is well protected As i said i did find a place previously and the kit looked exactly like the HID attachments on the HID lights coming directly out of lightforce, everything i have now found so far is either designed for a driving light and not a spotlight or doesnt look like it would last 5 minutes out the window of my 4by. Otherwise, does anybody think this is just not worth it and i should buy a factory HID light?

nice job mate, i've got the idea of just using my iphone with a small desk speaker, i've already dowmloaded some basic calls in mp3, i just havent had a chance to field trial it yet. Nowehere near as elaborate as yours though, make sure you post some hunt reports when you get it out working again!

Been on here for about 5 years...but apparently needed to do this again when my vip membership expired...

Finally got to use my boots in anger two weeks ago and absolutely wrapped with the results. To repeat, i got the Irish Setter Trophy Quest boots from Cabelas. I have blister prone feet and I didn't even get a hint of a blister after putting in alot of kms on foot in rugged terrain at Nundle State Forest, very secure, warm and dry in miserable conditions. I have never really had a "good" set of boots before and these are definitely the best boots i have ever worn. Also, the sizing chart from the cabelas website was accurate for me anyway, the boots fit well. Overall, very happy with the boots which only cost 100 bucks delivered.

In Canberra at Belconnen food markets. There's a butcher near the pet shop, he's your man.

Got my boots the other day as well, i got the Irish Setter Trophy Quest uninsulated boots. Also very happy with the purchase at 100 bucks delivered and only took about two weeks to arrive by snail mail.

I've been looking online for a "proper" set of butcher's knives for a while to try and cut up my kills better. Up 'till now its just been a bit of a hack job with my skinning knife. I thought i found some good 5 piece kits on the cabelas website but they wont ship knives internationally (thats what the site said anyway), anyway, went in to the butchers to buy the week's meat on the weekend and asked where the guys get their knives and what they recommend, luckily the shop they get their knives from was literally just down the street, went in and found a bunch of quality knives at what i considered reasonable prices, im convinced these things will last a bloody long time and should do the job so i picked up a boning knife, butchers knife, steel and scabbard. Total cost $130. The only thing remaining is a bone saw and maybe a hatchet or cleaver of some kind which he didnt have in stock at the time. Really happy with the pickup, hopefully will get to break them in a few weeks!

CP, I have a pair of boots ordered from Cabelas that should arrive any day now and im stressed about the fit too. I used the foot sizing sheet that they have on the website but you just never know, it might be a bit late for you but i'll let you know how well they fit and therefore whether their sizing chart is any good or not!

Hi CP,im in the market for new boots aswell, the only thing i noticed with those boots is that they are designed for some seriously cold weather that they hunt in in the US which is great if your hunting the Vic high country in the middle of winter but most Oz conditions probably wont be cold enough resulting in a sweaty foot and possibly blisters. I'll be getting mine from cabelas also but just not sure which ones yet.

oh yeah, i forgot to let you know when it turned up. It went well mate, I ordered it and it arrived 3 days later, no dramas at all. The safe itself is a little smaller than i expected but is built well and definitely does the job. IMO, they are good value for money although you get a bit better quality with more $$ (based on my old mans safe which was $500-600) but it will do me for quite a while so for the money paid im happy with it.

Fair enough, just ordered the 5 gun safe, will let you all know when it turns up

This seems almost too good to be true, are those prices fair dinkum? No extra costs? I havent looked at them in the LGS for quite a while how does it compare to the prices for some of those?

I didnt watch the vid but i've been thinking of making one for some time now, i agree you can get them pretty cheap on ebay but i mainly just want to make it out of curiosity to see how it goes. my idea is just to cut some hessian into strips about 30cm x 5cm. Then die some of them khaki, some black and leave some in original hessian brown, then sew them on to an old hunting jacket or vest in a random fashion. I'd probably put some on a hat aswell so they fall past the shoulders. Not sure how well this would work or how much it would get caught in the scrub but going to give it a try one of these days.I'd be interested to see some pix in the aussie bush if anyone has made one

On a slightly different track, has anyone found a decent iPhone app for use in such situations? I have downloaded a TomTom SatNav app for road navigation which works OK although not perfectly. I have done a search and there are a few apps out there for bush tracking/navigation but havent tried them yet. Now, the iPhone will NOT be anywhere near as good as a dedicated GPS unit but might be good enough to get you out of trouble if/when lost.

Auscams work pretty well for me and my hunting mates but i reckon just about any form of khaki based camo will do the job in that area, especially if you do all the right things like watching the wind and stalking quietly etc etc.