It’s not at all hard to cook lean meats into a leather boot, been there done that mate… 
Yeah I was initially very set on the 6.5 CM and being a range gun until I considered hunting. But yeah I agree, one thing at a time. I also saw that the Aussie Harvest YouTube guy that was mentioned early does fine with a $200 scope so something like a Tikka T3 in the Synthetic stock could make a fine hunting rifle for well under 2k.
Maybe I’ll just go with my initial plan of a target rifle first and worry about hunting later. I got excited at the thought of cutting food costs.
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Good points man, I have very little Bush time under my belt so yeah maybe I should worry about all this later down the track. I’d definitely get lost lol
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Regrettably hunting is not a way to reliably obtain cheap food in Australia, especially since you’ll basically have to drive for hours to a hunting site and spend at least an entire day out there.
It’s great fun and harvesting and cooking/eating game is very rewarding (not to mention tasty!) though, but if you think you’re going to duck off to the forest once a week and snag dinner and come out cheaper than going to the butcher, you’re going to be disappointed.
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All stuff you can learn mate, do some research into it. All of us mob on here will help you the best we can if you have questions mate. 
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Hunting rifles don’t have to be as fancy as long range target rifles. My local gun shop sells the cheapest Remington in .308 with a scope for about $900.
Remington’s cop a lot of shit, and rightly so from what I’ve heard, but it will probably be fine to put a bullet where it needs to go on a deer.
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Absolutely, you can pick up a perfectly capable second hand hunting rifle, often with installed optics at very affordable prices. Well worth keeping your eyes peeled. 
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Not sure on the laws over there but if you don’t want to try rabbit how about a roo?
They are good practice to shoot, aim for the head as it is a nice small target and will drop them on the spot.
Also good to practice gutting, skinning and butchering.
You can’t mess it up as if you do you can always mince it or cut it into chunks for stews etc. Also good for pet meat.
Check with your laws first.
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I was thinking that if a Deer produces roughly 20-30kg of meat and I used it every few meals, it’d feed us for 3ish months.
But yeah fuel costs and time spent might cause it to barely break even. Though it does sound like a good time.
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As far as I know pest roos are legal to shoot on private property, so I’d gather eating them is fine too.
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Coles sell wild harvested Venison and Roo if you want to try without hunting.Rabbits are available at Vic market.
Something like a 270 BSA can be bought for under $500 with a 70s or 80s scope fitted.
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Thing about hunting rifles, you probably want to pay attention to weight, more so than anything else. Every gram adds up after a while.
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They have roo and wabbit at mine, but they are pricey mate 
Yep JS, I certainly notice the difference between my synthetic stock .300wm and the wood stock .300wm a mate has and my wood stock .458wm gets pretty bloody heavy by the end of the day…
You should get well more than 30 kg from a decent size deer. I think I was close to 200kg on one I shot a few years ago.
To kill a roo even on private property you must get a permit to cull from DWELP and be a registered primary producer I think. If you get one of those you can keep the meet for your own consumption or pet food. They dont want them left in the paddocks.
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Funnily enough the law states exactly the opposite here in SA. They want you to leave the carcasses in situ so they can make sure you don’t kill more than your permit allows…
Far out that’s heaps, how long did it last you?
- 6.5 in your chassis with big scope for target.
- CZ 452/Brno Model 2 for plinking and rabbits.
- .308 short barreled poly stock for going on those long wet slippery dark rainy muddy hunts for the big antlers and on the back of dusty quad bikes hooning after pork. Think Howa 1500 with the hogue stock.
Add a 30" 12 gauge for wing shooting. Spend too long listening to @juststarting and you’ll be Cat H in no time.
All meat is delicious. Period.
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Leave in situ was/still is the case for many of the states. Mind you, there might be 10,000 kangaroos on your acreage and the department will give you a permit for 500 with a wink hehe.
“We may come and check”. 
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Thanks Jizz that’s about what I was thinking,
6.5 CM XRS 1500 for targets and down the track perhaps a Tikka T3 Poly Stock on a 22" barrel .308 to get into hunting. I think I’ve seen them for the $1500 mark.