Review: Deer hunting in Australia, by Nick Harvey

Nick Harvey has produced a thorough and very detailed book covering every conceivable aspect of hunting deer in Australia. It is a 240-page volume that includes 16 pages of illustrations and photos and it discusses the gamut of topics from individual deer species through to correctly sighting in your deer rifle.

I learned plenty of new things reading the book. I doubt anyone, no matter how experienced, could avoid stumbling across new information and ideas between the covers of this work. It reflects Nick’s decades of deer hunting as well as his research on the subject.

The first seven chapters cover the deer species living in Australia. And yes, you did read right: seven of them. Nick covers the little-known barasingha, a species that was released in Victoria in the 1800s. He believes he saw one in the 1970s but there are no recent reports of them at all. The question is, are they still out there?

The following seven chapters are full of tips that will help you fool, find and follow deer.

There are eight chapters covering equipment including, of course, rifles and cartridges.

The remainder of the book’s 28 chapters cover cooking venison (with recipes), trophy preparation, the Douglas scoring system, a discussion of the damage excessive populations of deer can do and a straight-talking discourse on hunting as a dying art.

All the way through, Nick’s conversational style is very readable and his anecdotes interesting. In some ways you learn as much about the man as about the deer. Best of all, Nick’s extraordinary experience rubs off on you as you read the pages. Nick has a lot to give. I’ve read his words for several decades and worked with him for a couple of years, and every bit of wit or wisdom I get from him is another little nugget of gold.

Whether you’re starting out as a deer hunter or have been doing it your whole life, Deer Hunting in Australia is an essential read.

DEER HUNTING IN AUSTRALIA