Friendly hunting comp

[Blr243]

Starts at sunset oct23 and ends sunrise oct 30 ..".. pigs goats rabbits and hares are one point. Foxes and cats five points. Deer are worth 15 points a wild dog/ dingo is worth 30 points photo proof is not required this is just a bit of non serious fun There is no prize. There are no wild dogs or deer on my blocks There are rabbits and hares but I choose to leave them be they cause no harm here ....... the winner receives 10 demerit points to be applied at the start of the next comp if it happens again .......everybody is welcome. .......are your rifles sighted in and ready to go ?

[Blr243]

Hopefully no one shoots a dog tonight or I will be working hard for 6 nights to catch up It’s nearly 840 pm and my paddocks are bare other than a few Roos

[Blr243]

Buggered if I know how I missed the mob during my first scan but then after stuffing around on the internet I grabbed my binos and there’s a mob only 225 from my quad. I moved quickly to improve my wind advantage and suffered terrible anxiety during the stalk It happens every time on the first stalk of the trip. Almost makes me want to turn and walk back to the quad. Once I heard them munching I moved only another 15 m forward . Folded out my bipod legs and then laid down , safety off and took the two larger ones. All the small ones scampered away .....now with crickets and a few mozzies we wait for more to arrive

[Blr243]

Walked out a bit further. Got a small boar. Then circled around onto the mob again. The way they were moving around all over the joint I had to be super careful and mindful of a miss. My quad/ dog were there too and buildings. Sometimes even if I can’t see things I just have to know where they are. Passed up a shot at one stage to be sure. End up getting one of the suckers. Very quiet out here in the paddocks. If nothing turns up in 30 mins I will shift camp

[flutch]

nothing about donkeys, camels and goats?

[Blr243]

I knew I would forget something. Goats I did mention. I used to shoot donkeys when I lived in Broome. Let’s shoot some donkeys and camels too ! Only saw one small solo boar and one mob last night. This place I should be haveing at least a dozen separate sightings of either mobs or solo boars. I reckon the choppers have cleaned em up. Nothing I can do about it. I m here so must make the best of what I have ....on the upside when I was greeted by the owner yesterday he said he found another place I can shoot on so he must have had a chat to one of his other neighbours

[Die Judicii]

According to most comps, raffles, draws etc,,,,,, the rules state that,
The person running it, his employees, and family etc are not allowed to enter the comp.

So that puts you out straight away Jeff,,,,

[Blr243]

My dog posted the competition......he drugged me and then stole my phone while I was asleep .... honest

[Die Judicii]

My dog posted the competition......he drugged me and then stole my phone while I was asleep .... honest

Ya can't hide from this Mate,,,, if yer dawg is running the comp, I guess you'd be his Daddy, which makes you family.

By the way, what is the wiley crow worth ?
I turned two of em into Essendon supporters this afternoon.

And I'm going out tonite to see what comes in to drink from what is now the only water for about 15 klms.

[Blr243]

Be careful with the crows. Not sure if we are allowed to shoot them. If it’s ok you can set the points for them. Good luck on the water. I’m trying to nut out a couple of water sources because it’s getting hot enough that I should be paying more attention to them and because I’m not haveing much luck in my usual paddocks. Got some thermal video of an echidna coming down to the creek for a drink after dark . Also found a fox on my way walking across the paddock towards a mob of small pigs. He was prob 300 away so I whistled in my first ever fox .....other stuff later. I’m tired going to take 15 nap

[Die Judicii]

Must've been a bad night all round.
I sat over the only dam with water in it all night from 9pm till 6-30 am
Absolutely nothing except roos.
Did not hear a dog (feral) howl, and no sign of any pig.

I did however hear the property owners dogs way off in the distance going absolutely berco at 11pm and 3am so maybe there was a dog hanging around back there.

I reckon all the water activity must be happening mid afternoon and evening at the moment.
I'm gonna set a camera to find out for sure.

[Blr243]

I have had a couple of trail cameras for prob 6 months but never used them then a few days ago when looking for them I could not find them so I just bought a Swann from Bunnings After last nights hunt I put it on a water hole at the end of a creek. I did that at about an hour after dawn this morning... I reckon your right about the game going to water earlier esp in this heat. I’ll check mine half hour before dark tonight then I’ll prob sit on that hole for at least an hour If the cam does reveal pigs coming to that hole in the heat of the day I will know when so I can wait there in the heat.

[Blr243]

DJ. 9 pm till 630 am is an impressive stint. Do u manage to stay awake for all of it or do u sneak in some mini naps like I do ?

[Blr243]

Staked out the waterhole for a bit but there’s was only two echidnas and Roos that come in for a drink. I had a look at my cam that was there all day it looks like only Roos came in for a drink. Still trying to work that camera out. Bloody technology. Shifted to my usual paddocks it was 11 pm before I saw my pigs. Just the usual mob of sows slips and suckers that I see every night I got three of them tonight. Now haveing a break. Wind is firm tonight but nut yet cold

[Blr243]

At dawn I set up on the bank above my waterhole and trail camera but only roos a stinker ,birds and a very pretty bright lime parrot cake for a drink This is about as good as it gets now that the chopper shooters have 90 per cent of my pigs away

[Blr243]

Forgot photo

[Die Judicii]

DJ. 9 pm till 630 am is an impressive stint. Do u manage to stay awake for all of it or do u sneak in some mini naps like I do ?

That is my usual type of stint Mate.
Its like a lottery,,,,,,, if your not in it,, you'll never win it.
So the longer you can stay out the more chance of being successful.

I do occasionally rest my peepers, but a wallaby hopping along or a porker grunt very quickly jerks me back to the job at hand.
I try not to snooze tho, cos a dog can sneak past while your snoozing with absolutely no sound.

[Blr243]

About 845 pm I had had enough of sit and wait on my waterhole so I thought just 5 more minutes and that’s all it took .... I My constant thorough scanning of the hole and all it’s surrounding areas and entry points I picked up a boar coming in despite some elevation the wind was not great for his particular entry so I waisted no time grabbing the scope and shooting him as he positioned himself for a drink ... then I made my way to my nighttime paddocks. So now that I am set up I wait again

[Blr243]

Shortly after setting up on the paddock edge I spies what I thought could be an ok solo boar but he was out there so the first three hund metres was going to reveal a boar or a roo ( waste of time). At some stage I remember saying to myself yep I’m 100 per cent conf that’s a pig. I carried on making ground and assessing the wind as I did so ...I was anxious..... After . eventually getting within 50 m he was facing me but I had to prepare. I unfolded the bipod and quietly laid down in the dirt. Focus , video on , safety of and then wait for the right moment. I knew when he turned broadside that he was mine. I strode up to the boar and all was fine Took a photo and headed back to my quad and dog. The gps tracker said it was 1200 m away. I caught the reflection of eyes from my red head torch on the walk back. Real close. A quick scan with the binos revealed a nervous feral cat. By the time I got the rifle ready he had moved about 75 m and the potential for a miss was lining up roughly with general Direction managers house so I thought stuff it and I shouldered the rifle. Hopefully I will catch up with that cat aagain before the trip is done

[Blr243]

The 1200 m boar

[bigpete]

Nice boar

[Blr243]

The night started well but roughly midnight I fell asleep and I did not have my alarms set. I did not even see it coming. Woke at 415 and was disappointed in myself. Very slowly circled the rest of the paddocks in the quad stoppping to thoroughly scan every 400 m. But all was quiet ....now quiet content on a thick mattress with bacon and coffee

[Oldbloke]

I reckon anything shot during the daylight hours is worth any 10 shot under light

[Blr243]

Old bloke please rephrase. I don’t understand. Maybe I’m tired already. Or I’m still buzzing from the tabby cat I just shot. Picked up his eyes while slowly quadding along. Same spot as last night. Same cat but this time the shot was super safe. Vmax knocked him down. First cat for the trip. And it’s always nice to get the one that got away last time. Just arrived at my pig paddocks. Looking bare other than a stack of Roos. But the night is young

[Stix]

I reckon anything shot during the daylight hours is worth any 10 shot under light

I assume you referring to spotlighting being easy Old Bloke...

Gotta tell ya, Ive clobbered many a piss easy fox thats stopped half way across a track in broad daylight standing broad side on looking at me within 40 yds, & yet had untold amounts of them outsmart everyone they come across at night...

Yes spotlighting is an opportunistic way of shooting things, & many think its an "unfair advantage"...usually those haven't experienced, &/or dont have the patience to truly enjoy the challenge of foxing at night...

Using a light to locate them--they may be 400-500 yds, 4 paddocks & 5 gates away--, then with tools such as whistles lights & cars, try to outsmart them, keep down wind of them often circling through the same 4 or 5 paddocks, constantly loosing them & trying to think where they would go, then second guessing yourself only to have them pop up right where you first thought they would be--having this happen 3-4-5 times over 30 mins with the same fox, having to work gates & dodge flocks of some of the most stupid animals God ever made that somehow do what they can to stampede & scare off their only enemy.. ..., all when Foxes have free access to cut across seeded/cropped paddocks in any direction, know every blade of grass for miles, can go through ANY fence at ANY point, launch 2 feet over the boundary on a complaining disjointed neighbour's land & stand & smile at you, &/or learn how to not look at a light & go to ground & know how to literally vanish before your eyes when they are 2 metres from the front wheel of the car...

Not all spotlighting is opportunistic...some of it is modern, well edumacated hunting...( )...and very addictive ta-boot...!!

Come to think of it...Ive heard the occasional "expert fox hunter" that only does fox drives...spaced 20 metres apart driving through creek beds to flush them out & him & 2 of his mates having to off-load half dozen full field loads of BB's to bring one down at 15 paces, suggest that hunting them by spotlight across paddocks is "cheating"... ..

[Oldbloke]

"I assume you referring to spotlighting being easy Old Bloke.."

Well,, easier. IMHO

[Blr243]

Old bloke. If you want ten times more points for daytime work that’s fine by me ....I’m actually giving myself 200 points instead of 5 for the cat I shot last night to make up for the fact that I did not get to shoot any pigs last night ........stix. Are you getting out soon or has that weather totally screwed you? I have had a few opportunities on foxes last couple of nights that could have worked out if I had not already lost my whistle. It’s a tube type. The other night when I called up my first fox I spent al least a minute on the tube type whistle frantically trying to clear it. Dirt had blocked it up. Eventually it came good and I got the fox. I have found two home made slightly less than ideal tin whistles. Today I shall improve them or make a new one

[Blr243]

When I was looking for challenge I did many years crawling around the hills chaseing deer useing a bow without success I’m sure the deer are still laughing at me. But now I’m just having fun

[Oldbloke]

" Old bloke. If you want ten times more points for daytime work that’s fine by me ...."

No, just making a point. Would be fairer to differentiate

[Blr243]

6 am Sun is edging above the horizon, sitting on the porch in a comfy recliner , listening to J j cale with a nice cold bundy winding down after a long night ....a couple of the farmers ever keen wild eyed kelpies are sniffing at the smell of pigs on my boots and looking intently at me like they want me to tell them how it all went down .... I spent some time on my waterhole firstly last night but the only thing that arrived was a fox that came close but in a bad wind location so after getting a whiff he kept trotting on as if he knew of another waterhole further on down the road that might not smell like man .. I watched all this through my binos. I uped and left when I had had enough but on the way to my cultivation paddocks noticed that someone else was already driving and spotting them I parked up at the other end and made a point of pointing my quad lights in his direction to assist him in at least being aware of my presence.... after shooting a few Roos He moved up the end , I fell asleep and never saw him again perhaps he exited the paddocks while I was snoozing. After much waiting , some sleeping and a lot of swearing at my alarm clock I ended up doing a non eventful lap of the paddocks. I still had some dark to kill so I headed up to my other bush block. Briefly stopped at my waterhole for a Squizz and saw a good boar ambling away. I quickly dismounted grabbed the rifle and followed him into the bush hoping for a chance but he was quickly swallowed up by the night and he escaped to live another day ........I then moved up to the cattle feeding station and dismounted....wandered over to the big mob of cattle hoping to find them accompanied by pigs ...I was in luck. A mob of about ten was amongst the bedded cattle to escape the cold wind ....amongst the cattle and yards I had to be very careful that bullets or their fragments would not hit any cattle or equipment......after getting ito position it took me at least 15 mins to stay down wind and carefully negotiate all the fences and equipment and avoiding spooking the cattle two ... I ended up taking two pigs in tricky spots then made my way back to my quad. Some interesting pics to follow soon