A quiet moment

[Member-Deleted]

On Saturday, about 90 minutes before dark, i went and sat overlooking one of the dams hoping to meet up with some ferals but i had no luck on that score. However, a few roos came to drink on the far side of the dam about 80m away. i'm not sure if they saw me on not [i was downwind] but they weren't alarmed and took forever to drink before ambling off. Then, with about 30 minutes of light left, about 20 roos came bounding to the top of the dam wall only about 15m away and all had a good look for a minute before going down to the water. the closest few were only 5 or 6m from me. again, they took forever to drink and then all ambled off. the whole time i was just sitting there very still not making a sound, fighting the childish urge to go "RAHHH!!!" and scare the crap out of them. i wasn't in camo, nor hiding in bushes - i was pretty much sitting on an earth berm next to a water tank in a brown jacket and blue jeans.

i'm sure a few of you experienced fellas are going 'well, du'h!' but it was a bit of a eye opener for me how much more you see [and are not seen] if you just sit quietly and get the wind right. i felt like a ninja!

oh yeah, and that big meteor that went over on Saturday night sure did set the wild dogs off howling

[Member-Deleted]

in my travels I came across this ... I'm thinking a den, and all those little 'stones' outside and inside the log are puppy poos from last year

[Oldbloke]

Yep, ive had roos within 2 yards.

Staying still and the wind right is super important. Dull. Drab clothing, cammo even better.

Just a tip. Most animals see black, white & blue

[SCJ429]

Good for you, I too have had some fantastic moments when I have been out watching for game and not fired a shot. I am learning to slow down as I get older.

[Blr243]

Bout a week ago I was sitting on a dam in the dark with the thermal waiting for a boar and exactly the same thing happened. The Roos took forever to drink before they upped and off. And it made me think that I had never really observed Roos drinking much ever. Maybe normally in the daytime when I have been watching them they were nervous so had a quick drink then took off ..... this time they thought they were alone so they just took their time

[GQshayne]

Gotta love a stakeout. And mainly for this reason.

[Die Judicii]

If you want to see and learn more of the finer points in the bush, find a spot (like where you sat at the dam and watched the roos) then mark out a 5 meter or bigger (your choice) square.
Then sit and study every aspect within the square.
Do this in the same square either every day or at least once a week for a few months.
You'll be amazed at the subtle and sometimes dramatic changes, ie: animal prints/ scratchings/ burrows/ different plants emerging etc etc.

This is part of the differing teachings of the elders in many areas.

[Blr243]

Die that’s very deep ......it takes me a few days of a hunt to get to the point where become part of the bush , and then I realise how soft and city I am in comparison to the animals that live there full time ....they have no thermal scopes , hot showered and cold beers ....every day they run kill and fight and learn to survive for as long as possible ,,,,after a while they become very experienced in their world ,, when I turn up in their paddocks I’m really just a blundering tourist

[GQshayne]

I have a favourite hunting story from sitting on a dam. The wind was not perfect, blowing across my position. But the main area that I suspected pigs would be coming from was still open. I have always known that pigs had a good sense of smell, so hunting with the wind in your favour was important. But we had always speculated about how good it was.

Spotto half a dozen porkers, just piglets, but on their own. Mooching along, nuzzling the ground, and grunting. Was great fun to watch them. This was a remote block, so they would not have encountered man before. As the wind was blowing across me, I drew a bit of a mental line across the ground, and watched the piglets as they got close to it. Being so young, and smelling some thing that had not done before, I was interested to see how they reacted. As they mooched to the point I reckoned they would get wind of me, the first pigs nose shot into the air, and then all the others. In a split second they were running away as fast as they could. An old pig I would have expected to do this, so seeing young ones do it was a good lesson.

[on_one_wheel]

We should be going out of our way regularly to have these quiet moments.

We rush around too much.
We worry too much.
We disconnect from the real world... nature.

I've had a few good quiet time sessions in my hide lately, it's a comfy nook behind a old stone wall shaded by trees halfway up a hill in a long gully. I can see everything in the gully from that spot.
After about half an hour the urge to keep moving disappears, I get comfortable and start to take it all in.

The Nook

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I also spen some time sitting on a sand dune last week just off the side of the Oodnadatta track, just on the rising of a almost full moon. Whistled for a while and sat there in complete silence ... absolute silence staring at the Milky Way.

The sand hill

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Love it

[Blr243]

Last time I was on a dam I was fifty away from it with the wind in my face A couple of boars came in from a position that would allow them to reach the dam without smelling me but I knew if they came up behind me they would smell me and wander off to drink elsewhere.....I heard grunting and disapproval immediately behind me When I swung the thermal around I saw a big mob of pigs only 15 metres behind me. There was a stack of vegetation between us making a shot very difficult,,,, but I was very surprised they hung around so long with the smell of me and the dog ....I would have thought they would have detected me and took off a lot earlier

[GQshayne]

Last time I was on a dam I was fifty away from it with the wind in my face A couple of boars came in from a position that would allow them to reach the dam without smelling me but I knew if they came up behind me they would smell me and wander off to drink elsewhere.....I heard grunting and disapproval immediately behind me When I swung the thermal around I saw a big mob of pigs only 15 metres behind me. There was a stack of vegetation between us making a shot very difficult,,,, but I was very surprised they hung around so long with the smell of me and the dog ....I would have thought they would have detected me and took off a lot earlier

Perhaps they are in an area where they encounter man, and are familiar with us???

[Blr243]

Definitely getting chased on this block. They smell man utes and farm machinery all day and night . Once I wandered into a freshwater swamp for a swim and a drink up the cape in an incredibly remote area and by that I mean no one had ever been there. No mustering no nuthin .... a boar wandered over from the scrub and had a swim with us. The swamp was probably 1000 metres wide. It had a few cattle and birds on it ...the pig would only get to within 10 metres of us and kept looking at us like he had never seen man before. Eventually we were too boring for him so he just wandered off ...as I get older I forget even some of the exciting stuff but I won’t forget that incident because it was different

[GQshayne]

Just goes to show that can never learn it all or see it all eh.