About Big Cats Victoria
John Turner Biography
I was a country boy, raised in rural central Victoria and grew up fishing in the river for cod and redfin or chasing rabbits and foxes. These outdoor activities were normal and expected pastimes. The advent of "Scouts" and then camping and learning bushcraft helped me understand the ways of the natural world and how animals and man interacted in real life.
Hunting became a serious interest for me as a maturing teenager during the late 1960s. I therefore took advantage of the opportunity to go New Zealand and spend some time with a professional deer hunter learning his exacting trade from the bottom up. I was part of a boots, pack and rifle outfit and that major life experience was in the days well before the advent of helicopters and quad bikes - now the universal cullers' tools. My appreciation of the out-of-doors lifestyle and wild places continued to grow with only the interruption of the Vietnam War and my luck in the ballot. By late 1970, I had been back from military service in Vietnam for about six months. At this time I occasionally went spotlight shooting for rabbits with my father. |
One night, near Whitfield in north eastern Victoria, my dad was driving and I was on the back tray of the vehicle with my telescopic sighted .22 rifle and spotlight. We had just rounded a bend in the track when he said to me in low tones,
"Fox eye shine, just through the fence, right side."
Swinging the spotlight around I peered through the scope on my old BRNO rifle.
The image was not of a fox but of a huge black cat, at least the size of a labrador dog, eating from a dead sheep some fifty meters from me in the paddock. As I watched, it looked up and into the light beam for about sixty seconds then, almost casually, walked off into the nearby bush. Thirty eight years later that vivid image is still etched in my mind.
My second close encounter with a "panther" took place in the late 1990s - I was making my way towards a favourite trout stream along the bushline at first light. Quite unexpectedly, I noted a jet black, leopard-sized cat. It was sitting on its haunches on a pile of logs watching a nearby mob of grey kangaroos feeding. The 'cat' was so intent on the roos that I managed to stalk within ten meters range before it became aware of me. Alarmed, it bounded off, scattering the mob of kangaroos.
I had only been 'armed' with a light trout rod in this encounter and was therefore wholly undergunned for what had occurred. The mystery of our unknown predators might have otherwise been solved.
Twenty five years ago, when I moved my building business to coastal Victoria, my interest in 'big cats' in Australia continued and I teamed up with Simon Townsend, another investigator of the phenomenon. Together we have developed a large network of farming and town folk who have assisted us in gathering reports.
I continue to document sighting reports and investigate stock killing throughout the south western region of Victoria (and contiguous areas) and have personally recorded about one hundred and eighty reports from the Otway region alone.
In recent years I retired from the building industry and have been able to spend more time in a productive manner. I now concentrate on collecting data relating to stock and wildlife kills, an area of special interest to me. My capacity as a bushman and tracker, coupled with my easy rapport with country people and witnesses generally, has given me unique opportunities to garner information about our unidentified predators. The availability of sophisticated technologies including night vision equipment, infrared motion sensor cameras and highly sensitive sound recording systems all now combine towards helping me achieve my aim.
It is my intention to secure a specimen of our 'panther' for positive identification and I whole heartedly believe that the mystery of this unidentified predator species in Australia can be solved by the application of good will, hard work and practical technology.
"Fox eye shine, just through the fence, right side."
Swinging the spotlight around I peered through the scope on my old BRNO rifle.
The image was not of a fox but of a huge black cat, at least the size of a labrador dog, eating from a dead sheep some fifty meters from me in the paddock. As I watched, it looked up and into the light beam for about sixty seconds then, almost casually, walked off into the nearby bush. Thirty eight years later that vivid image is still etched in my mind.
My second close encounter with a "panther" took place in the late 1990s - I was making my way towards a favourite trout stream along the bushline at first light. Quite unexpectedly, I noted a jet black, leopard-sized cat. It was sitting on its haunches on a pile of logs watching a nearby mob of grey kangaroos feeding. The 'cat' was so intent on the roos that I managed to stalk within ten meters range before it became aware of me. Alarmed, it bounded off, scattering the mob of kangaroos.
I had only been 'armed' with a light trout rod in this encounter and was therefore wholly undergunned for what had occurred. The mystery of our unknown predators might have otherwise been solved.
Twenty five years ago, when I moved my building business to coastal Victoria, my interest in 'big cats' in Australia continued and I teamed up with Simon Townsend, another investigator of the phenomenon. Together we have developed a large network of farming and town folk who have assisted us in gathering reports.
I continue to document sighting reports and investigate stock killing throughout the south western region of Victoria (and contiguous areas) and have personally recorded about one hundred and eighty reports from the Otway region alone.
In recent years I retired from the building industry and have been able to spend more time in a productive manner. I now concentrate on collecting data relating to stock and wildlife kills, an area of special interest to me. My capacity as a bushman and tracker, coupled with my easy rapport with country people and witnesses generally, has given me unique opportunities to garner information about our unidentified predators. The availability of sophisticated technologies including night vision equipment, infrared motion sensor cameras and highly sensitive sound recording systems all now combine towards helping me achieve my aim.
It is my intention to secure a specimen of our 'panther' for positive identification and I whole heartedly believe that the mystery of this unidentified predator species in Australia can be solved by the application of good will, hard work and practical technology.