What did you do today?

[Bugman]

Did my darnest to stay dry.

[bladeracer]

And a pic of two young Wapiti (correct name for Elk) spiker bulls coming for their Weet-bix biscuits. Good way to get them quiet because soon they'll be monsters. Wapiti cows in the background. These guys can already raise their noses to the top of the 1.9m fence I'm behind, at only 20 months old.

What gorgeous animals!
I'm coming up to Qld next month, to Caboolture, then across to Warwick and Millmerran, are you in that area? I'd love to drop past and see them in the flesh. There is a place near here that had a few elk but he'd sold them shortly before I visited and I don't think he's replaced them.

Of course mate, you're most welcome if you're in the area. Give me a yell at the time with a few days notice.
I'm probably 2 hours from Milmerran, though.

Awesome! It'll most likely be early on Friday September 26th at this point. I have to meet a guy at Wahroonga on Thursday, late morning. Then head north, so will probably stop for a sleep around the Qld border. If I'm not able to catch up with you that morning I should be able to find time to duck down from Millmerran during the following week, or come past on the way back home the week after that.

Terramirra Park Deer Farm is the place here that had elk a few years ago. It looks like they have some again now, would they have come from you?
https://www.terramirradeer.com.au/elk/ A property just around the corner from us breeds fallow deer for Terramirra.

[Wapiti]

Wapiti are a very quiet business here in Aus, for obvious reasons. Usually deer breeders are only spotted because people see them.
No, I didn't know of that breeder, looks like they are just into Wapiti. Looks like they are having a real good go at it, in a country that generally belittles people who do something different from the norm.
I remember comments here from way back where people deny there are any in Aus at all! So it's certainly working as planned.
We do it for our own pleasure, nobody else, mainly to see what potential the breeds have. Here in Aus, animals are killed by hunters WAY before they reach their potential or are at an age where their potential is not even able to be assessed.
So the only way to do that is to breed them yourself, protect them and give them good nutrition, just like any other animal. Or people.
There's no such thing as hormone boosted deer like you see screamed on forums when someone posts up a pic of a special animal, just cared for animals that have been protected and managed.

[bigpete]

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Forged my first knife yesterday out of a piece of coil spring. About halfway done now

[Flyonline]

Went and pulled the trailcam today between rain showers. Appears to be a heap of sambar around (unsurprising), but the number was higher than I was expecting though most appear to be moving in non-shooting hours but enough on dawn/dusk to keep me keen. Mostly hinds but there were a couple of stags and a few spikers. Was interesting seeing the various animals rub the preach tree - both hinds and stags and even one of the calves had a go and the wallow was used a couple of times in front of the camera.

Also saw a heap of foxes, many more than I usually see and this is only a few hundred meters from where unc' keeps the numbers in check throughout the year.

No oinkers caught, I might bump the camera higher up closer to where I saw the sign when dropping it off.

[Flyonline]

Snuck out for an evening sit yesterday over a nice little glade I've had high hopes for. There was a bit of sign after the rains, but it appears spread out without any seriously heavily used trails evident. The only excitement for the afternoon was when I spotted a ginger wombat through some dogwood and thought it was a deer - never seen a wombat with such a ginger colour!

I dragged my new chair in and was glad I did, it made the 2.5hr sit so much more comfortable so I attacked it today and replaced the metal feet and put a bit of tape around the extendable legs which has removed 90% of the noise it makes so it might make a few more appearances now. With this and a pair of shooting sticks I'm pretty well free to sit anywhere which opens up a lot more areas

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[wanneroo]

Snuck out for an evening sit yesterday over a nice little glade I've had high hopes for. There was a bit of sign after the rains, but it appears spread out without any seriously heavily used trails evident. The only excitement for the afternoon was when I spotted a ginger wombat through some dogwood and thought it was a deer - never seen a wombat with such a ginger colour!

I dragged my new chair in and was glad I did, it made the 2.5hr sit so much more comfortable so I attacked it today and replaced the metal feet and put a bit of tape around the extendable legs which has removed 90% of the noise it makes so it might make a few more appearances now. With this and a pair of shooting sticks I'm pretty well free to sit anywhere which opens up a lot more areas

IMG_6267.jpeg

Looks like a nice place to sit!

[Flyonline]

Looks like a nice place to sit!

Sure is! I shot a sambar hind only a couple of hundred meters down further down where this side gully joins the main creek line, I've watched a stag walk across the gully a hundred meters above where I was, have bumped numerous sambar crossing from the pines into this gully traveling along the forest road and I'm always expecting a deer or fox to pop up at any moment from the blackberry patches.

Just not that time

[jezzab]

I meant to post this a couple of months ago but I was in the US again for work again and decided for the first time in 7 years going there regularily I would have a bit of a holiday for a few weeks for once. Stayed at a friends place in the Pennsylvanian wilds and had mentioned to my mate that I had an interest in handguns but had never shot one (he has a class gun 1911 from the Naval Acadamy I have handled but it its a display piece and would never be fired), he told his uncle and he said he would pop over and bring a few from his collection I might be interested in and he would let me shoot them.

Was an awesome day, got to shoot them all from black powder 44-40 to 45ACP. He hand loads and I was the luckly one to get a double(?) load on one 44-40 and it was quite the surprise ("Jeez thats a hot one!") haha. Pretty weird just being out the back of "Grandma's place", a log cabin off the road and shooting out the back. Apparently he used to be right into cowboy action and still makes all of the scenes for his local club. The Ruger 22LR had to be my fav.

Was a fantastic trip and lots of trout fishing, beers and laughs. Took me back a bit having a black bear walk past me 2m away while drinking my coffee first thing in the morning. Just missed out on the snake hunt but we did find a rattler nesting in the driveway and a local came, caught it and showed us all of the making of it and how to tell the age and sex

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[Wapiti]

Attended the range this morning, but it was closed by the range Orificer.
Apparently, wildlife on the range. Some young bachelor stags.

[Wm.Traynor]

jezzab,I often think I would like to live in the USA

[Wapiti]

I got bitten by a big shiny Redback on my left hand ring-finger, right on the tip. Turning over an anvil. Bitch was underneath.
I've had my lower leg bones smashed, two toes chopped off, and have shattered a few vertebrae in my lower back into little pieces in a stack. But I reckon that that bloody little spider gave me the most concentrated bastard pain that I can remember having. Man they're painful.

[Wm.Traynor]

Wishing you a speedy recovery, Wapiti

[Die Judicii]

I got bitten by a big shiny Redback on my left hand ring-finger, right on the tip. Turning over an anvil. Bitch was underneath.
I've had my lower leg bones smashed, two toes chopped off, and have shattered a few vertebrae in my lower back into little pieces in a stack. But I reckon that that bloody little spider gave me the most concentrated bastard pain that I can remember having. Man they're painful.

You musta made her angry Mate, Redbacks will rarely bite straight off.
They usually just try to retreat into their web.

Find one that's just sitting and minding its own business,, then get a stick and give it a gentle nudge,, and observe.
It usually takes 2-3 nudges,, and then they start poking their forelegs forward rapidly.
It's not until they do that,,,, that they will bite.

I used to breed them in fish tanks, and sell the females to the CSIRO for their intended use.

Unprovoked, I've had quite a few walk across the back of my hand and one in particular ran up my arm.
But I've never ever been bitten by one.

[Wapiti]

Thanks Wm.
All it was, was really mega pain, I only mentioned the other painful incidences I've had to mention I'm no stranger to big discomfort, as most of us accident prone blokes are! Never would I have expected such localised pain from such a tiny shiny little thing. They are everywhere here, under every log, in all the firewood.

But I did the recommended first aid thing, ice pack, which knocked the pain right back in about half an hour. But when taking the ice-pack off (recommendation was for 15-20 mins), the pain was extremely intense. WAY worse than before. I think it's the mega pain that makes these little buggers so nasty.
The finger was ever so slightly swollen, and felt like it had had a shot of Lignocaine for the rest of the day, but was fine next day.
So yeah, I joked with the Mrs that all I need now to have been there, done that, is to be bitten by a brown snake, to which she did not recommend.

DJ, it was under the rolled edge of the steel, it had a web and an egg nest. My finger actually squashed it as I reached under to grab the anvil and stand it up. So it was just trying to defend itself, so my bad. I actually killed it accidentally, so fair enough it tried to protect itself. Humans are bastards, I don't get why some people think us humans have more rights than anything else on the planet. Humans are the only true evil things on earth.

[Wapiti]

Dusty the dog has the s**ts on because this young Buck is in his yard, doing the mowing. The Southern Downs storms about to hit.

[Wapiti]

How'd you go last weekend Rich?
Was cruising around and saw this young-ish boar. Got him at the skull/neck vertebrae with a 135gn Sierra hollowpoint Gameking. Not the best bullet for pigs, but shot placement is the key.

[bigpete]

Missed 2 pigs this morning. Took loads of great photos. Dodged flies

[jezzab]

My freeze dryer finally turned up after 4 months of waiting. Breaking it in

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[Wapiti]

Looks like you get right into your prep and storage stuff Jezzab, would be great to get a rundown on how it goes mate.

[jezzab]

Looks like you get right into your prep and storage stuff Jezzab, would be great to get a rundown on how it goes mate.

Look,. I'm not a nut job apocalypse prepper or anything, I just hate wasting stuff. I've got a decent orchard. I go fishing and hunting. I have a pressure canner so I can do meats and this freeze dryer is new. Things take up a lot of room in the freezer/s and it's nice to just put them on the shelf.

I've canned salmon (tuna and local caught trout etc) and it tastes 10x better than the store brought tinned crap and it keeps at room temp. You can eat it out of the jar.

I've canned venison, beef, lamb, pork and chicken. Pull it off the shelf and you are good to go for eating as is if you want to throw in a pot a s make a meal with vegetables

.....


And who didn't wanna make astronaut ice cream as a kid...

[bigpete]

I've been considering a freeze dryer in recent days. What model did you get ?

[jezzab]

I've been considering a freeze dryer in recent days. What model did you get ?

Harvest Right Home Pro (Medium)

[Wapiti]

Looks like you get right into your prep and storage stuff Jezzab, would be great to get a rundown on how it goes mate.

Look,. I'm not a nut job apocalypse prepper or anything, I just hate wasting stuff. I've got a decent orchard. I go fishing and hunting. I have a pressure canner so I can do meats and this freeze dryer is new. Things take up a lot of room in the freezer/s and it's nice to just put them on the shelf.

I've canned salmon (tuna and local caught trout etc) and it tastes 10x better than the store brought tinned crap and it keeps at room temp. You can eat it out of the jar.

I've canned venison, beef, lamb, pork and chicken. Pull it off the shelf and you are good to go for eating as is if you want to throw in a pot a s make a meal with vegetables

.....


And who didn't wanna make astronaut ice cream as a kid...

Nah mate, just interested in being able to breed, collect, and store natural food - especially with a very shaky expensive future. I think we will soon see a time where good food is going to be used as a weapon. Maybe not.
We have a large cold room, meat saw, smoker, industrial mincer/sausage maker, just set up the big stainless benches and the Mrs is really chomping to get a freeze dryer, so any info on what works is gold.

[bigpete]

I've been considering a freeze dryer in recent days. What model did you get ?

Harvest Right Home Pro (Medium)

Cool ( pun intended )

[bigpete]

I've been considering a freeze dryer in recent days. What model did you get ?

Harvest Right Home Pro (Medium)

Would you mind if I asked where you got it from ?

[Wm.Traynor]

Had an Epidural ( no, I'm not in labour ) in the lower back for nerve pain in the buttocks and thigh, which gave me the YIPS!

[jezzab]

I've been considering a freeze dryer in recent days. What model did you get ?

Harvest Right Home Pro (Medium)

Would you mind if I asked where you got it from ?

I got it from OzFarmer, in hindsight I should have just ordered it direct, apparently the price is about the same. Here is my experience:

Look, I hate to say bad things about a company but this is beyond a joke. They are the official importer for Harvest Right

May this year I messaged them to see how long their preorder on a HR Medium Pro would be, they responded saying the units will be arriving in mid June. Awesome! So I ordered a unit.

I was traveling to the US again for work and I wouldnt be back quite in time for a mid June delivery and emailed them to make them aware, which they noted and would contact me before shipment.

While I was away I was emailed flyers that there was an EOFY sale and it was $1600 AUD off (I prepaid $6600 AUD delivered). I was a bit upset and emailed them and was told that the discount was because it was a EOFY sale (even though I still hadn't got my unit and they would no doubt be on the same shipping container). No sweetener, offer, sorry, nothing. That hurt.

Delay, delay delay delay. Then they are offering free shipping at the price I paid ($611 AUD shipping).

Jump to September and they said last week they would ship Thurs or Friday and called. Here we are Monday and I emailed at midday with no reply. Ghosted once again

It was delivered two days after that

PS Got 70 fresh eggs (blended) from the chickens in it now, see how they go. Apparently 2 x Tblsp egg powder + 2 x Tblsp water = 1 egg. Other stuff ive done so far though is amazing (beans, corn kernels, roast chicken, shredded cheese, icecream sandwiches). It just tastes the same when rehydrated and the same texture (bar the icecream sandwiches, you just eat them like biscuits). Still playing and learning.

[bladeracer]

Drove to Qld - 2201km on the trip meter.
Trip has gone very well so far. Left Morwell at 1130 Tuesday, arrived 2030 Thursday at Caboolture.
Caught up with Lazarus, Tubs, Wapiti and Die Judici - all of whom really made the trip worth making
Got a couple days to myself before heading to Millmerran.

[Wapiti]

Was great to meet you mate! Glad I was working on the fence when you drove by near the road cos I missed your text from out near Texas, apologies.
Remember that offer if you've got time to kill on your way home.
How bloomin' terrible is it that we're all so busy nowadays?