Things you find when hunting

[Wapiti]

Just for something different but still very much hunting related. Because unless I was hunting, I would not have found these pieces of history, and wondered how they got there, who left them and what things were going on way back then.
Over the years I've found a few spots where a very long time ago, someone has had quite an established camp.
During the '18-'19 drought, I could spot these things from a distance because they were visible due to the complete lack of grass. This time was the worst recorded drought in this area's history. Usually the first things spotted were old kerosene tins, then old beams and posts from lean-to's with rusted old wire used to hold it all together. Old pots, sheets of tin and stone fireplaces.
From enquiries I've made, most likely they were rabbiter's camps. Although I have found some quite strange ones that don't really fit that description, because of where they were.
Anyway, these are some of the cartridge cases I've found. Most were 25-20, majority was 32WCF and 303 Brit. Also I found, laying beside a track, a clipped 223 cartridge someone lost that was obviously only during the last 50 years.

[Wapiti]

Some old coins I have found after rain, having being exposed on the surface. Some interesting dates on some of them. Not all in the same place. I bet the persons losing them had very holey pockets, and really missed the money.

[Wapiti]

And some other stuff. Suggesting that these spots had people living there in humpies for quite a bit of time.
Heaps of medicine and condiments bottles, as well as many wine bottles of course.

[Wapiti]

Anybody else get out a bit and find some historic or interesting old stuff? Hunters tend to look down a lot, snakes, noisy sticks, trying not to twist ankles etc.

[Jackaroo]

Enjoyed looking at your finds.

[MG5150]

I was walking through a creek on our block trying to find any sign of a deer I had taken a shot at with the thermal on the evening before and came across this...

Someone else must have been spotlighting back in the day and dropped their torch!

[MG5150]

My grandfather told me that once they had found a rifle 12ft up a tree fused between two branches.

An old timer must have lent their rifle in the crook between two branches of a sapling and forgot to take it with him and over time it's grown into the tree and been lifted higher and higher.

It was a bit of a novlety to show new blokes in the hound crew when they hunted that particular gully until one time they came in to find the tree had been cut down and the rifle cut out.

[No1Mk3]

A few bucks worth of coins there, would advise you have the Commonwealth pennies valued, early 1920's are mostly $30 tp $50, but the 1928 could double that, and if Melbourne Mint perhaps triple. A proof 1928 is tens of thousands, as is almost any 1930 (only 1930, not 1931 or later) dated so keep your eyes open for that date.

[Jackaroo]

My grandfather told me that once they had found a rifle 12ft up a tree fused between two branches.

An old timer must have lent their rifle in the crook between two branches of a sapling and forgot to take it with him and over time it's grown into the tree and been lifted higher and higher.

It was a bit of a novlety to show new blokes in the hound crew when they hunted that particular gully until one time they came in to find the tree had been cut down and the rifle cut out.

Must have been put high up in the tree. Tree's don't grow like that.

[TuskerOrd]

I'm always on the lookout for interesting rocks, pebbles and crystal's - whenever I hunt I would find myself studying pebbles. Found several cartridge cases, canon balls/projectiles??(Near Kimberley where the Boer and Brit forces clashed in 1899-1902?), nothing special though, over the years. My prized finds are fossilized eggs. Whenever I hunted the Karoo or Namibia I would hunt for small fossils - to my fathers dismay.

One item I hated finding were snares.

[Wapiti]

Enjoyed looking at your finds.

Thanks mate, it's mainly junk of course but when finding this old stuff, one wonders what actually was there, and what those people were doing and how they lived. Tough people, doing what they could for a quid.
I've also found an old music-box mechanism, so they could listen to a favourite tune. Or maybe remember a woman somewhere. And old foundry-made pots and pans with their capacities cast into them (in quarts). Billies with old fencing wire handles made from big tin cans.

[Wapiti]

A few bucks worth of coins there, would advise you have the Commonwealth pennies valued, early 1920's are mostly $30 tp $50, but the 1928 could double that, and if Melbourne Mint perhaps triple. A proof 1928 is tens of thousands, as is almost any 1930 (only 1930, not 1931 or later) dated so keep your eyes open for that date.

Good info mate, yes I suppose. But to me, because I found it on my place it means more than money, if it's worth anything at all except to make one think back.
My dad found a silver Florin here too but forgot it was in his pocket and he thinks he spent it, thinking it was a 10 or 20c piece. Doh!

[ColdStart]

I have found drug crops, does that count?

[JohnV]

I was chasing pigs with dogs and a boar holed up in deep thick brambles and lignum . I had to crawl in and extract my dogs as it was too dangerous for them in there . Once I dispatched the boar I noticed some grave stones and could see the name Kelly . They got the university to come up and look at them and it turned out to be relatives of Ned Kelly . They said it was the site of an old Cob & co way station but only the graves remained visible . Ned Kelly would disappear sometimes and many said that he went into hiding in NSW . This could have been where he hid with relatives .

[JohnV]

I have found drug crops, does that count?

That only counts if you got shot at and chased .lol.

[ColdStart]

I have found drug crops, does that count?

That only counts if you got shot at and chased .lol.

Nah, they weren't armed, but I was.

I can't be the only one to have come across drug crops can I? and its been more than 1.

[ColdStart]

Also stolen and dumped cars, some have me scratching my head thinking how in the hell did it even get here with some of the 2wd I have come across.

[JohnV]

I have found drug crops, does that count?

That only counts if you got shot at and chased .lol.

Nah, they weren't armed, but I was.

I can't be the only one to have come across drug crops can I? and its been more than 1.

That is always the best policy .

[Die Judicii]

My grandfather told me that once they had found a rifle 12ft up a tree fused between two branches.

An old timer must have lent their rifle in the crook between two branches of a sapling and forgot to take it with him and over time it's grown into the tree and been lifted higher and higher.

It was a bit of a novlety to show new blokes in the hound crew when they hunted that particular gully until one time they came in to find the tree had been cut down and the rifle cut out.

This pic of the car door was taken after the 2008 floods at the river crossing half way between Cloncurry and Normanton.
The tree itself was growing out of the top of the river bank which itself was well above the "normal" river level.
The door was in excess of twenty meters above the "normal" river level,, and not a snowflakes chance in hell of getting it up there other than floodwater.

The pic of the old log partially grown into the tree was one of many that found themselves hoisted up into the trees by floodwaters over the years.

21032009(006).jpg (18.05 KiB) Viewed 5694 times

21032009(006).jpg (18.05 KiB) Viewed 5694 times

[MG5150]

Check this

https://sotoda.blogspot.com/2015/01/20- ... owing.html

I too have come across a crop

[Wapiti]

A mate and I came across a dope crop during a trail bike run in the local bush when we lived in Brisbane.
There was this continuous run of bushland from Logan to Gailes. The crop was being guarded by some bearded wombat who was too slow to catch us with his bike, we were pretty quick, and he had had one too many cartons of XXXX strapped to his guts to ride quick.
You would've been able to see it from the air, no problems.
As a famous drug baron once said, "I don't have a drug problem, I just produce for a demanding market. I'm a only businessman".

[Wapiti]

Went for a walk this morning along a fenceline and found these antlers. 2 x 7pts each = 14pts. Luckily what appears to be a matching pair, which is unusual to find within about 200m of each other.
I can see many stags have shed their antlers starting about 2-3 weeks ago, or are getting around with only one. This is a bit early for here, usually you can set your calendar for October 1st for that to start.

Anyway as you can imagine as a breeder of these things I have lots of them, but most I haven't found yet so the chandelier the wife wants will have to get a start sometime. I managed to scab two great big old wagon wheels, one will be used to arrange the biggest antlers around the circumference. Going to be heavy.

[Wm.Traynor]

These stories have been a fascinating read

[Wapiti]

Those pics of the stuff that've grown in the trees has got me going so I've attempted to start my own down at the sheds. I've stuck the head of a fallow buck that came to an untimely end this winter I think, by some poachers shooting over the fence. At least, he was near the boundary fence where this has been going on and he had both shoulders broken and a shattered shoulder blade. Unfortunately dogs chewed his nose off when I wasn't looking.
Anyway he's in a half grown grey-box tree as you walk down to the workshop, to remind me to never miss an opportunity if it ever arises. Maybe it'll work and grow into the tree, maybe it won't.

[Die Judicii]

HaHa ,, Wapiti,, In years to come, long after you’ve fell off your twig one frosty night,, there will be people staring up into that tree looking at the antlers,, scratching their heads and saying “WTF, how did that happen” ?

[Wapiti]

Maybe got caught jumping up grabbing leaves when the tree was little and got caught?

[Die Judicii]

:D Maybe got caught jumping up grabbing leaves when the tree was little and got caught?

You saying that reminded me of something I, and many others in the district saw many years ago. A fox that had either climbed or jumped up the trunk of a river redgum sapling and had its head wedged in a fork about 1.5 meters off the ground. It had died as a result,, and the scratchings from its hind feet in the bark were testament to its desperate and futile attempts to free itself. It mummified in situ and lasted nearly 12 months before breaking up. It was the talk of the town for ages, with every one putting forward their theories on how it came to be.

[Wapiti]

Something in the tree it wanted would be the most likely cause of it's demise? Bastard of a way to go.

I have a few deer skulls of Fallow bucks that decided to take out their frustrations on fences. Sometimes they do it when they're itchy and rubbing off the velvet, sometimes fighting either side of a fence and acting tough because they know the fence is protecting them (like keyboard abusers protected by distance! )
And other times they are trying to be top dog or just being mischievous.

There's a big red deer stag in the houseyard every night that likes to wreck stuff, twice we've had to dart-gun him to cut the fence off his antlers. So far he's been strong enough to break free from the fences through sheer strength but that won't always be the case.

I'll see if I can find some pic evidence.

[Wapiti]

here's a pic of two incidences, the upside-down hanging single antler was in the fence when I came upon it, the deer had pulled the whole coronet out of his skull in getting away. Would've has a big hole I reckon. Wonder if he recovered.

[Wapiti]

This one I found before he died of exposure, lucky for him. Still not the ending he'd have wanted though.