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After having finished my rotating shooting platform, and sorting a few minor bugs, I have been back at the property hunting the dogs.
Although the attacks on sheep seem to have eased off a bit, the dogs are still there.
One dog in particular.
I had seen this one on six previous occasions, and for a number of reasons (as mentioned previously) I never tried to take a shot.
But, it started to make a series of mistakes.
1) it slowly started to show two distinct patterns of behavior and appearances as in "times" and "locations"
2) it started to tend following the same route.
Even though this was promising,, it had an uncanny knack of seemingly not being there one second and then appearing the next second.
I had one particular spot where I would set up and wait.
It was on a steep rise and in amongst several large trees, and from there I had a panoramic view.
The area which resembled a long shallow valley, was used many years ago for raising rubble.
In the middle there is approx twenty truckloads of rubble left over.
To the left it went down towards the stockyards and shearing shed, and to the right it continued on and up into mountainous country.
On the far side it went steeply upwards much higher than where I sat.
I would scan left and right approximately every minute or so.
The pattern that started to emerge was that the dog seemed to materialize from nowhere, almost to the top of the mound, and then disappear over the edge.
It was frustrating because it seemed to be mocking me. From the split second of seeing it, to disappearing, I couldn't quite get a chance to squeeze the trigger.
Three mornings in a row it did this and it was only quarter of an hour off sunrise.
That coupled with the fact that it was following the exact same path led me to believe that it was on its way home,,, and just before sunrise,, it had to be living very close to the mounds of rubble.
But,,,,,,, then it changed its timetable on the morning that I eventually got to shoot it.
It suddenly appeared at 1-45 am and again was close to the edge of the mound.
I gave a short whistle, but with no effect.
As it got to the top, I yelled out,,,, and it didn't pause, but it did turn slightly, just in time to cop a ballistic tip under the right front shoulder.
It actually travelled far through and hydraulicked out the rear thigh muscle.
The resultant exit hole was nearly as big as my fist.
An end to the sheep killing and mauling for this dog.
The property owner says he has lost well over a hundred sheep since Christmas.
After daylight I went searching and found the large hollow log it had been living in only twenty meters behind the rubble heaps.
The entrance to the log was decorated with many bones from its past kills.
It was a bitch, but was dry, so I knew there weren't any young pups to contend with.
From her log she had a perfect view of the shearing shed, and the owners house a bit further on from the shearing shed.
So she probably knew where the owner was and what he was doing at any given time of the day.
All up, I had spent many weeks in pursuit of this particular dog.
And again,, many thanks to GrandDad for the many tips and hints that certainly helped me to nail her at last.
As an interesting aside and an example of how good the thermal gear is,,,,,, I shot her at 1-45 am (and left where she fell) and at 5-45 am I scanned over her and was amazed to see that she still glowed white as if she were still alive. Four hours after being shot on a cold night.
I do not fear death itself... Only its inopportune timing!
I've come to realize that,,,,, the two most loving, loyal, and trustworthy females in my entire life were both canines.