Oz Hunter

Once apon a time there was a happy feral pig family until one day....

Brendan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:11:00 GMT

Brendan decided to create a pig trap so he could wreck the inner fabric of the pig community. Until this day Brendan didn't have the capability to create such a beast as it required a welder, steel and a heap of skill.

Brendan knew that he could go out and purchase the welder and steel but the skill would only come once the first two items have been secured. Off he went to the hardware store and returned a happy, yet poorer owner of a Lincoln Electrics 180c MIG welder, and a heap of steel. Now all he had to do was learn how to weld.

He soon put flux coated core to steel and before you knew it he had a pig trap in his back yard and deployed to a paddock near you. I must say that he and his mate Mav did a fantastic job creating such a engineering feat, however what good is a pig trap without pigs... How could he find these feral animals that lurk in the darkness waiting for the opportunity to strike on unsuspecting wheat fields. Then he had an idea, it was a fantastic idea, and idea that would dwarf the invention of the steam engine or nuclear power..... He would often see pigs feeding on the carcasses of the dead Kangaroos that were being culled so why not put the trap around these exact carcasses.. To ensure that they pigs would find the trap appealing, he used cracked corn so it would be kinda like having desert... mmmmmm Rotting Kangaroos followed up by cracked corn.. To be a feral pig.. Yum Yum Yum

So a quick stop at the rural shop and he had the pigs desert, now it was time that he had been waiting for... A time that he thought would never come... YES it was time to set the trap...

The corn was spread and the trigger was set, now it was a waiting game... He knew that there was a family of pigs hanging around as he has scoped out the area using a game camera, and on checking the trap he was surprised to find one of the daughters in the trap. The trap was set once again, and the carcass of the daughter was placed in the trap so to encourage its now lonley mother.. The next morning he checked the trap once again....

YES his master plan worked... The mother was in the trap playing with her young one as if to say... "Stand up you naughty girl... what are you doing laying around on the ground like that, don't you know we are feral pigs and we have fences to destroy, and fields to dig up!!!"

Unfortunately for the mother pig, the baby pig wasn't going anywhere and now she was going to join it.

THE END

Have a look in our media section for photo or my YouTube posts for video.

Mother and daughter in trap before I set the trigger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g35UVVL_IGE

Little pig in trap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSNb36K6y5k

Kill the daughter while the mother escapes.

Brendan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:20:00 GMT

Last week I caught a mother and a daughter on my game camera. Today I can write that problem is no more.

I took some footage of a mother and daughter walking in and out of my pig trap without any issues or concern about the trap... When ever I see this it is time to arm the trap, and arm the trap I did.

The first night I loaded it up with crushed corn and on my arrival the next morning I found the daughter in the trap with no indication as to if or where the mother was location, and if she had been around to get in the trap.

On closer inspection of the game came footage I found that while both had been been in the trap it was by accident that they tripped the trigger and close the door with both of them fully enclosed within the trap. So how did the mother escape?????? Well only the game camera could tell us this... On closer inspection of the photos that were taken at the time the trigger was fired, both pigs were in the trap however the mother was closest to the door, and when the noise of the steel bucket fell she bolted out of the trap before the door could close, but the daughter remainded... mighty unlucky for the daughter I must say.

I dispatched the daughter and reset the trap hoping to catch the mother...... The story continues and I have an update in my next blog so come back for an update.

Deer hunting

maverick_sr71 — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:26:00 GMT

A sad but true tail.

Paul, Brendan and Madon have been kind enough to take me out deer hunting on a number of occasions now in several state forests in south eastern NSW.

The first time Paul and Brendan took me out was before I even got my firearms licence. The forest was south east of Cooma and things were looking very good on the drive in. We crossed paths with a couple of nice fallow deer as we headed to the camp site. After setting up the camp we had time for an afternoon hunt. We headed out together and came upon some sign of both deer and pig down by a small creek. The guys decided to follow the creek line, one on either side, I followed Brendan.

At a point the creek split into two forks with Paul following one and Brendan the other. I learnt a lot from following these guys that weekend. I learnt to look for sign and where and what to look for. I also learnt the art of stalking in bush that wanted to announce to everyone within 100km your presence at every step. I also realised that I was wearing the wrong clothes as far as colour goes, though Brendan lent me a blaze orange hat I'm sure if any deer did see us my bright blue jacket would have stood out like a neon light.

Brendan thought he heard some thing up near the top of the ridge line so we climbed, and climbed and climbed some more. We'd pretty much had enough, and not having seen any thing we headed back to camp. On the way home Brendan walked right past where a pig was in hiding. The pig made a bolt for it as I approached, 10 or so metres behind and Brendan went in pursuit, but the pig was long gone.

The next morning I decided to follow Paul on the hunt. Paul lead me to where we were stamped at a couple of times, but the deer stayed just out of sight. He showed me where he'd shot a deer the previous season. Again we say plenty of sign of both deer and pigs. Again I learnt a lot more.

The next time we went out I was with Madon. I'd just got my licence and deer season was over. We were rabbit hunting in Maragel SF and as we cruised through an exclusion zone we saw at least 6 fallow deer.

Deer season is back again and Paul, Brendan and I are off to another forest. None of us found any thing during the evening hunt but stories of past hunts were interesting around the camp fire. The next morning we set out again. I decided to sit behind a rock that overlooked a clearing......abnd a dead roo. It was still early when a fox slowly and cautiously made its way to the dead roo. Brendan was some where on the ridge behind it, but deeper into the forest. I spent a good half hour watching the fox, it took it the first 20 mins to cover the 50 metres from when I first saw it until it reached the roo. Brendan was still some where back there as far as I was aware, and then the fox upped and left in a hurry, it was then I heard Brendan moving toward my position.

That afternoon we went for more of a drive. Some young kids had come into the forest in the late evening of the first day and we heard a few shots coming from the other side of the forest in the evening and again in the morning. We followed the boundary of the forest and found a roo that had been shot very recently, a bit more investigation and we found a few more. Eventually we found where the kids had been camped and a few hundred .22 rim fire rounds, a few larger cal rounds and a couple of packs of shot gun shells. There was also a stack of broken bottles and stuff that had been shot up. We also found one of their beds and a bag with roo legs. Either they were still to pissed to remember to take these things or they high tailed it out of there in a hurry, thinking we might be forest rangers. We took some photos and a GPS reference and passed all the details on the the NSW Game Council.

The next Deer hunt was at Mannus SF with Madon. Again we say heaps of sign and we covered a lot of ground, but to no avail. Another group camped just down from us had one guy drive in after mid night on Saturday and by Sunday night he had his deer and was driving home to Sydney that night. Bugga!!

Brendan and Paul again asked me out to yet another forest. Last time they were there Paul had a couple of shots at a nice red deer. However it was overcast and drizzly both days and the deer were nowhere to be seen. Again we saw plenty of sign, but no deer.

OK, here's the killer. Brendan and I go out roo culling on a property not 5km as the crow flies from our place. With a good 6 or so roos in the trailer and a couple of bunnies, courtesy of me, we see a couple of interesting eyes up a ridge about 200+ metres from us. Brendan's looking at the eyes through the rifle scope and says it's just some roos. I see the eyes moving and they are remaining steady as they move, not bouncing like a roo would. The eyes go behind a tree and some bushes so we just wait. A few minutes later they reappear where they were before. Brendan takes another look, "deer", he says, "a fallow buck with a decent rack". Lucky I know what a buck is otherwise I'd say Brendan's a *** man. Anyway, the deer's to far for the spot lights to put enough light on the deer for a decent shot, and with only .223's it would need to be a head shot.

We keep watching and the deer heads off and out of sight again. This time Brendan says, "I know where that goes, we can drive up there and have a look", so off we go. Up a dirt track to the top of the ridge and around a sweeping left hander and............ not 50 metres away is the deer, feeding, oblivious to our presence. In my head I'm begging to be given the opportunity to shoot my first deer......................

BANG...........the bullet flew straight and true, the deer hits the ground on the same spot it was standing. A light wisp of smoke slowly rose into the air from the tip of the rifle, a shared silence passed between us, the spotlight stayed firm on the now dead deer looking for any sign of movement. Brendan turned and looked at me with a big smile and a knowing nod.

......

.....

....

I congratulated Brendan on a well placed shot and a quick and clean kill. I must say I think my holding the spotlight still and true played a significant roll in this kill. We spent the next two hours preparing the deer for transportation back to Brendan's place.

So yes folks, I am still to take my first deer. Perhaps instead of spending the weekends culling roos and knocking over feral pigs on the farm I should be out in the forests chasing my first deer.

Feral Pig v's Bull bar

Brendan — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 09:20:00 GMT

I whipped out the other day to set the pig trap after a fantastic day Skiing in the snow. While the rain was coming down out side of the Hilux and the outside temp around 4 degrees, the heater in the car was just about unbearable but it was something that I think I could handle. I arrived at the property and had to leave the comfort of my heater to open the boundary gate. I must say I couldn't get back in the truck fast enough as the rain ran down the back of my shirt and edged its way toward my plumbers crack.

The property road while normally solid as a rock, when the rain falls they transform into slippery clay it doesn't take much to either lose the front of the car while in the beginning of the turn or flicking the rear around. This was no more evident than when I approached a road that runs parallel to a deep creek that runs nearly all the way through the middle of the property. As I drove down this road I was thinking to myself that this is fantastic weather for ducks and pigs. Now it wouldn't of been 30 second later when three pigs appeared out of the scrub and stood right in the middle of the road. One was a sow and the other two where her off spring of around 5 months of age.

Now I'm not sure if it was the fact that I was surprised that there were in fact three pigs standing in the middle of the road right in front of me, or that the slippery conditions and the speed I was going affected my ability to respond, but either way I guess it doesn't matter. Within a second or so there was a mighty thud and skid marks around 15 meters long. Normally I would jump out of the car and see what the outcome was but given that the weather was not on the inviting side and that there was possibly that there was a cranky pig in the dark, I decided to do my thousand point turn so I could light up the area with my high beam.

On turning around I could see one of the smaller pigs laying on its side half way off the road and kicking in the final throws of life, to which I grabbed my pig sticker and jumped out of the truck. It was about this time I started to think of the mother of this downed child and how she could be sitting in cover of darkness only a meter from where I was standing..... About the time I finished running the idea of the sow charging out of the bushes and teaching me a lesson, my wind screen wipers sprung into action with the sound of then running across the glass without any water to help then function. I have to be honest here and say that it scared the s**t out of me... It was like someone sneaking up behind me and saying BOO!!!! I quickly grab hold of my composure, check that the sow was not coming to take me down, and chuck the pig in the back of the Ute.

On closer inspection I had crushed its skull so death was instant, and with not damage to my truck I would have to say that Bull bar get one point and feral pig still sits at zero.

I quickly popped up to the trap, and put some extra star pickets in to ensure there would be no more escaping pigs and headed home. On arrival my wife was keen to ask "How did you go?". She was thinking that I would say something like "Good, I fixed the trap and set it up for me to check in the morning", the disbelief on her face when I told her "Yes it was good. I scored myself a pig!!"..

The conversation went back and forth until I convinced her to look in the back of the Ute and to here surprise there was in fact a pig in the back. Go me!!!!

The next morning I took my daughter back out to the paddock to conduct some pig dog training with Scarlet (my fearless pig dog in training).

On arrival at The Pit we saw a nice health fox having around getting a mid morning snack.

http://www.ozhunter.com/media/p/2781.aspx

To which my daughter was very excited about as this is the first time she has seen a live fox in the paddocks. After taking a few photos, I handed the camera to my daughter to video part of the training session. You can see the video on my YouTube page.

Here is a photo of who wins between a bull bar and a feral pig.

http://www.ozhunter.com/media/p/2782.aspx

Roo Culling in a Canberra Winter

maverick_sr71 — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:02:00 GMT

I get a call from Brendan....... "you want to go out roo culling tonight?"

I had to think about it, it's a Saturday night, It's June and it's 0 deg or less out side. Having thought about these things, plus the fact that we're likely to be out there until midnight or latter it took all of 0.000000000000002 of a second to say "yes".

Brendan picks me up in the old Hilux. The truck is a true 4WD weapon. Lifted, big mud terrain tyres and diff lockers at both ends, it could go anywhere. There's no side steps or rock sliders so getting in and out is an adventure in skill and balance. The inside is very plush, but you do have to make sure you don't tread on or sit on spent 0.223 cases as he likes to roll his own......... ammo, bent and twisted shells are a no, no. A quick glance into the back seat revealed a shooting rest and a spot light, well two actually.

The first spot light is one of those nice Light Force jobies. This one is a little 170 hand held which plugs into the cigarette lighter. The second was a borrowed monster of steel construction, about 240mm in size this one weighted in at a good 1-2kg. Now that might not sound like much but after holding it without a rest for some 3-4 hours.... yes it weighs a lot. The light output from the Light Force was as good as the larger one and of course was a lot easier to handle being only a 10th the weight. Needless to say I know which of us was going to be using the light one, and it wasn't going to be me.

We rocked up at the property, it's about 7pm. We drop in on the farmer to let him know we are out there. After a good 30 minute chat we hooked the farmers trailer to the Hilux, Brendan set up the shooting rest and I the spot lights. The 0.223 was withdrawn from its case and a box of home made rounds was placed into the centre console of the truck. We were off to find the roos.

We cruised pasted the horse stables where a few roos sheltered. Brendan had seen a few roos out in the paddocks beyond the stables earlier that day so I opened the gate to one of the paddocks and the search started. With spot lights peering deep into the night it didn't take long before the now below 0 degree air was forming icicles on my exposed hand. * Note to self, bring gloves next time*

We didn't have to go far and a few roos fell under the spell of the bright lights. It wasn't long after that the 0.223 spoke, repeatedly. We had to move the truck every now and then but the roos generally hung in the same area making our job reasonably easy. Four shots latter and we were over picking up dead roos and throwing them in the trailer, first one, then another and once the fourth one hit the trailer we were off to the next paddock.

The next one proved to be interesting, we actually had to follow the mob and "herd" them so as to ensure Brendan was shooting with a solid background and not toward the farmers house, cattle, sheep, etc. There was one roo that was not moving properly, it's bounce was a little one sided. We managed to get a better look at it as it made it to the top of a hill. The roo had a broken leg. Not being ones to allow an animal to suffer Brendan dispatched it at the earliest opportunity. This was where the Hilux came into its own.

This particular paddock was very rocky, and not just small rocks, some were very large and not always easy to see. At one stage the Hilux hit a large rock and at the same time a small gully. Now we all know that seat belts are compulsory when driving on the road, but when your out culling you're in and out of the truck like a yo yo, so seat belts are optional. The combination of hitting both the rock and the gully saw Brendan launched hard against the drivers door, and me sitting in his lap, with the truck leaning side ways. After a quick summation of the now very embarrassing situation I quickly leaped back into the passenger seat........... and the Hilux pulled away into the night without another word said. Oh, and that roo, we had to walk down a very steep hill that was to steep for the Hilux and drag the 100kg + roo back to the trailer. We both need to get fit.

It must have been about 11pm and we had about 12 roos in the trailer, not a bad night. My left arm was no longer functioning, I'm not sure if it was the fact that it was frozen solid or the weight of that big steel light had cramped my arm to the point of no return, either way I was relieved when Brendan said we were calling it quits for the night and heading for the roo pit.

Now in the ACT it is a requirement for all culled roos to be placed into a deep pit which is to be dug by the land owner. The farmer had dug this one at the back of the property, down wind of the house, next to where the property backs onto the National Park. As we approached the pit we flashed the spot lights onto the roo pit. Low and behold a couple of feral pigs came wandering out of the pit. Brendan leaped from the truck like Steve Erwin would leap onto a crocodile. I tried my best to keep the spot light trained on the now running pigs. Brendan squeezed off one round and then another. The first one scored a pig in the hind quarters and it couldn't run any more, the second also found it's mark, but in the dark we couldn't find it.

We quickly dispatched the first pig and dragged it back near the pit were we could get a better look at it. Brendan had a new dog (Scarlet) he was training as a pig dog (more about Scarlet the fear some pig dog in latter stories). To assist with the training he took the ears and a bit of the hide off the pig. We emptied the trailer and placed the tags on each carcase. Very pleased with our efforts, and as it was now after 1am, we headed off home. It was decided that roof mounted spotlights were required, especially on cold Canberra winter nights.

First rifles

maverick_sr71 — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:40:00 GMT

I'd just applied for my firearms license and already the millions of questions that many new to the sport have were racing at light speed through my mind. I decided to focus on the first, and probably the most important question, that many newbies grapple with........... which rifle do I buy.

There are a plethora of different rifle manufacturers in the market, just look at Usedguns.com.au and you are very quickly overwhelmed. The next thing is the number of different calibers that are around. After chatting with a few different people who had been in the sport for some time some very obvious advice became a recurring theme, what do you want to do with the firearm? Target? Hunting and if so what game?

Well I wanted a firearm that would be good on rabbits as I wanted to feed them to my dogs. I also wanted to help keep the pig, fox, wild dog and wild cat population under control. Plus I wanted to learn to hunt deer. I knew that one rifle was not going to do all of this, but which ones would be best to start out with?

I'm ex military, so firearms are not new to me, but using them to hunt game was. I quickly discovered that if you want to keep the meat and/or pelt of a fox or rabbit a smaller caliber rifle was best, something like a .22 rim fire or a .17. Pigs, cats and dogs could be hunted successfully with a .223 or similar caliber. For most deer species a .243 was the minimum and a .270 for a Samba deer. Obviously a water Buffalo, camel, etc would need something over the .270 mark also.

A bloke I was working with mentioned that he had a SMLE .303 for sale and the price was right. At least it would get me down the range and practicing my firearms handling and accuracy. For a good six months SMLE and I practiced at the range, exploded a few bunnies and wandered through some very nice country side looking for deer. It was during this time that I realised that purchasing a rifle based on emotion and availability was not the best measure. SMLE was nice, but for what I wanted it was also quite heavy and largely inaccurate. Another mate said he could get me a .22 for the right price (thanks Madon) but it would take a little time to organise. So SMLE was my first foray into private firearms ownership. She reminded me very much of the old SLR I was used to.

Then Brendan got his 'Roo culling license and needed a spotlight holder and dead roo wrangler. He'd picked up a new .223 and I got a first hand insight into the accuracy and lethality of this rifle, even though it weighed as much as SMLE. At this time I only had SMLE in the safe and the promise of a .22 rim fire. I decided that a .223 was a great small to medium sized game rifle, foxes, dogs, pigs and cats. This time I did a little more research, having learned the lesson of buying on emotion. I asked a lot of questions, both here and on other forums. I had been given a few different brands and models people had a consensus of opinion about, all positive. The Sako was suggested to be at the upper end of the scale for manufacture and quality, so I started looking. Usedguns, Black town firearms and many other web sites. Sako was not only hard to come by but was also quite pricey, even second hand. I decided to check out the firearms shops locally.

Reloaders Warehouse in Queanbeyan is usually very good, but stocks few second hand rifles. So I went off to Fyshwick Firearms and inquired about the availability of a Sako .223. As luck would have it they had one in stock and after a good look at it a deposit was placed. The timber stock was in good condition, considering the rifle was already 15 yrs old and the rifling on the barrel was in very good nick. The action felt very smooth when cycled, something I was told by all was a key feature of the Sako rifles. Well I can only say is that those who recommended the Sako certainly knew what they were on about, a very nice rifle to fire and reasonably light in weight compared to Brendan's. The .223 has since been out pig and goat hunting with GrizzlyPaul and again with Brendan. Its knocked over several rabbits and hares when out roo culling with Brendan. She is certainly the most accurate rifle I have in the safe.

Madon came good with the .22 rim fire and rabbits have been a part of the dogs diet since then. This to is an older rifle, but a very good small game rifle. It's also quite accurate and is a joy to carry all day long. After selling SMLE I found myself without a deer rifle and deer season about to open. A young fellow on another forum mentioned he was looking to sell his Remington 700 Police pump action in .308. Again I asked the brains trust about this rifle (Brendan, Paul and Grizzly) and a few forums. I did a lot of research on the net and found that this was a great rifle for deer and large game. It came with a few extras and had only had a couple of packs of ammo put through it. After some consternation I placed a deposit on it.

Again this rifle is reasonably light, for a .308, is quite accurate and is reliable. It's been tricked up with different stock and slide action. It was used to knock over a few small pigs and the large 150kg sow we got a month or so ago.

So that's my rifle collection to date. Modest by many standards, but the range of caliber is perfect for whatever the intended game is, from rabbit to buff.

So some 18 months into my firearms ownership the best advice I could give anyone starting out is to take your time and do your research before buying your first rifle. They are not some thing you should impulse buy nor should you buy based on sentimental reasons. If you've done your research and you know what your intended use is then you'll get the right rifle the first time. SMLE was my first and she was in reality the wrong rifle for me for several reasons, I should have started with something like a .223 which can do rabbits up to pigs, making hunting more achievable and rewarding.

Pigs of escaping!!!

Brendan — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:55:00 GMT

It has been an interesting week. Since setting up the game camera and the pig trap, I must say it has been an exciting and interesting week.

It started out with putting up the trap last weekend and baiting it but not setting the trap. this was so the pigs were used to not only having the trap around but also getting pigs in the trap, then on Saturday night I set the trap and spent the night wondering what the morning would bring.

I popped out early on Sunday morning to see what ferals I might of caught. Where I have placed the trap I can see it from over 200 meters away, and with the help of my zoom lense on my camera I could see that the trap was not in the same state as it was when I left just 15 hours eairler. I could see that the trap had been sprung as the steel bucket was on the ground and the heavy steel door was closed. The strange thing is that it appeared that the trap was not sitting square to the fence.

Grabbing my combination .222/12g and releasing Scarlet from the back of the Ute I stalked up to the trap and on arrival it was obvious that while the trap did catch some pigs, they have managed to move the trap the couple of meters toward the fence and lifted the trap so it was sitting on the bottom wire of the fence, giving the pigs the opportunity to escape. [:'(]

As I wouldn't have time to come back out during the week I locked the trap door open, set the camera, while of course putting the trap back in position.

On getting home I looked through the video footage to see what happened, and I must say that the video evidence was clear. The trap caught 3 pigs with another couple moving around the outside with some fighting to break them out.

Have a look at the footage of the Great Pig Escape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mobq750ovs

Here are some of the photos of the trap after the pigs have escaped.

http://www.ozhunter.com/media/p/2778.aspx

http://www.ozhunter.com/media/p/2779.aspx

Even though the trap had let 3 pigs escape I was very excited that the trap was in great condition considering my lack of experience in welding and the amount of hammering it copped through the night and that I caught it on camera and even more so that my trap worked.....

Now was the time to bring is some extra star pickets to stop even the toughest pig from move the trap again.

The first game camera photos are in.

Brendan — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:04:00 GMT

I popped out today to see what my game camera caught and you wouldnt believe it that it not only caught photos of pigs in and around my trap but it also caught a pig doing a dump right in front of the camera...

For the last week I havnt set the trap as i couldn't go out and check it but today it is set, so tomorrow hopfully I will find a small piglet in the trap.

Any how have a look at the photos of the pigs and the dumping pig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB--S0IFwec

Hunting trip

Brendan — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:29:00 GMT

Mavrick and I hit the road last weekend and headed north/west towards nygan.

I have posted some photos of our brief but successful trip, and have a story to come, along with some more photos.

Pig trap and Game camera are deployed

Brendan — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:44:00 GMT

today was the day where I had some time to whip out and put out the "Black Hole" aka Pig Trap, that I and Mavrick created, along with getting a chance to also deploy my new StealthCam HD game camera.

I gathered all the equipment in my truck grab Scarlet (my hunting partner and pig dog in training) and hit the road. The great part about the property where I was going to deply the trap and camera is that it has a bait station in the form of a Roo pit, that I have been baiting for the last few months and because of that there is a healthy number of pigs that come into the area.

To get there you have to cross an open field and today as I reached the edge of the field I spotted two wedge tail eagles leaving the pit, and thought to myself - "Damn I guess there is stuff all chance of driving up on some pigs!".. Well before I could think out it any further I was right up at the edge of the pit, and a big sow jumped up and out of pit of death, quicly followed by two young suckers. I had to do a double take as that was the last thing I was expecting.

I jammed on the brakes, open the back door and gave the command for Scarlet to chase the pigs. She bolted out of the truck and was hot in the sent. Across the pit and through the fence and crashing into the scrub on the other side.

I could hear her and the pigs in the bushes as I bailed over the fence and into the scub myself. The pigs has run up and through another fence and up into the thick scrub that surround the property. Scarlet was standing at the fence looking in the direction of the pigs as if she was waiting for me to give her the go ahead to chase the pigs. One word from me and she was through the fence with me in hot pursuit.... I could see the the fresh pads on the ground and Scarlet was following this line.... She dissapeard in the scrub once again, while I was pushed through the thorns, to come out a clearing with no Scarlet or pigs to be seen.

I waited there for about 5 minutes for Scarlets return, and I must say that she had the biggest grin and foming from the mouth with excitment.

After all that excitment I put the pig trap together, and placed the camera over it so see what I can catch.

Tomorrow I will venture out and see if I caught anything and if I have any HD video on my game camera. I am sure to let you guys know how I go.

Here are some photos of the setup.

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2744.aspx

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2743.aspx

Maverick can now Blog

maverick_sr71 — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:10:00 GMT

Yes world, look out................. Brendan, in a moment of shear brilliance (or should that be blind stupidity), has given me access to Blog my little heart out.

Over coming weeks I'm going to start putting up some details of hunting trips and adventure I've recently been on, discuss things I've done in regards to equipping myself for hunting, and talk a bit about the vehicles we go hunting in. I bagged my first fox last weekend and have a very nice skin to tan.

Most of you will know that I'm relatively new to the hunting scene, but have been learning from Brendan, Paul, Grizzly and Madon. I hope you all enjoy this new comers perspective and observations.

I hope you get a bit of a laugh out of my experiences, as well as some inspiration.

The Black Hole - Not even light can escape!

Brendan — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 05:29:00 GMT

The main welding is complete on the new pig trap and with the first coat of paint on it wont be long before fields trials begin.

I have make the trap so it can be pulled apart, extended or even turned into a transport container, and let me tell you... With my new found welding skills the trap is soo secure that I have painted it black and called it "The Black Hole - Not Even Light Can Escape - Mark I".

I also have a Stealth Cam HD game camera in transit so I can use in conjunction with the Black Hole.

The only problem is as I am a mate a heading out west (Near Nygan) for the long weekend, I wont have time to test out the trap and the Camera. So it wont be until a week later that I will really get a chance to give it a try.

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2702.aspx

Pig traps - Stage 1

Brendan — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:10:00 GMT

Stage one of the pig trapping has commenced.

I popped down and purchased a MIG welder , a heap of iron and a whole heap of ideas. With some assistance from maverick, we have welded up three quarters of one trap and hope to finish the rest of them off this weekend.

Once it is completed I will put lick of paint on and then put it out in the paddock a field tests and let you guys know how I go.

Feral Pig, Roo shooting, Deer and great times

Brendan — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:20:00 GMT

As you would know from reading mmy posts, I am a licenced and accredited Kangaroo Culler here in the ACT (Canberra Australia). The licence not only allows me to help out the farmers in ACT it also gives me an excuse to get out of the house, shoot of some rounds (OK hundreds of rounds) and just enjoy the great outdoors.

Every now and then you pick up the odd rabbit, or fox, but this year I must say the bar has well and truly been lifted.... Gone are the night where you spend 6 hours knocking over Roos, the nights are turning into what I would call, a hunting trip where you just happen to take the odd Roo.

For example I was out, we got to a point where I was deciding which Roo to take, then a rabbit popped out, and then a Deer. Well by looking in the media section of the website you will know which one I took, but the choice has been fanstastic. Shortly after this we saw another 3 deer in the distance, then only to come back on the Roo pit (The hole in the ground where we have to put the harvested Roos) to have two pigs jump up and out or the pit... Lets just say one didn't get as far as his mate did.

http://www.ozhunter.com/media/p/2630.aspx

Then the very next trip it was a decission between a huge pig or two deer....

I am now working on a project to build some pig traps where I can not only capture some pigs alive but also help in the farmer to reduce the ferals that are coming onto his land from the public land next door....

Pigs pigs everywhere.

Brendan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:02:00 GMT

As the rain fell on Canberra my family decided to pop out and have a look at our horses... Of course it was raining and the weather was getting worse, but hey... We werent going to be bothered by anyone.

Anyway to cut a long story short, after lookin at the horses for awhile the farmer showed up and yelled out his window.

"Do you have your rifles on you?"

"No, why whats up?" was my reply

"There are a whole heap of pigs and piglets down the back"

Damn, damn..... As it turned out that they were driving around checking out the property and come across a mob of pigs, to which they managed to snaps some great photos. The piglets sat by the car, not knowing what to do as the parents ran off over the hill.

This has not been the first time I have been caught out by not having my rilfe on me... I dont intend to be caught out again.

Dont forget to have a look at the media section for the photos.

You never know what might happen.

Brendan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:45:00 GMT

The last 4 days have seen Canberra covered in rain and water that just about washed my house away, but thats a different story.

We have two horses located on a farmers property not far from my house, and yesterday we recieved an SMS saying they had some problems with one of their dams and it has over flown and damaged a road. Now me being me, the wife, daughter and I decided to go for a look see.

All the dams were over flowing with water that had eludged the property for some 12 months, and the creeks were fully up. We drove around for a bit and then decided to turn around a head for home. Well what was until the new Hilux hit slipped on the soggy ground and then stopped any forward motion..... On getting out and having a look the front wheel was at least 1 1/2 foot in mud, and the rear was almost up to the diff.... It was about this time that I wish I had my old truck back, as its mud tires and double diff locks would of made getting out of this a whole lot ease, and if all else failed I could of used the 12,000 winch.

Well that was then and this was now.... Putting the wife to work in digging out mud and getting the daughter to find some roughage for the wheels I removed the extra mud from the sides of the truck... All this proved to be in vain as it became obvious that this truck wasnt coming out with out help... A quck phone call to the farmer had him down in my direction and a quick snatch backwards saw the trusty hilux free again...

While this only chewed up some time, it would of been much more serious if I was out of reach and was unable to get some extra assistance. Heck I could of been there for days or until the ground dried up.

What it did highlight to me is that I need to transfer all the safetly equipment from my ould truck to this new hunting truck so I can get our of situations like this if and when the need arrises. This is something everyone that hits the bush to go hunting should consider. Just because you have a 4x4 doesnt mean that you can get into trouble every now and then, and the best thing to do is be prepared.

3 Ways to Hunt Feral Animals With Night Vision Equipment

Brendan — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:05:00 GMT

I purchased myself and night vision scope some years ago now and since that time I have had plenty of opportunity to use it both hunting and areas of observation (camping, bushwalking, etc), and I must say that every time I put it into practice while hunting I am extremely impressed with not only the performance but also the ability to be able to find and hunt game with no visible light source.

Just to get you up to speed and to ensure that we are all talking about the same thing I'll give you a quick rundown of what night vision equipment is and in particular my nightvision.

There are typically two types

1) Uses heat to determine an image while another
2) Amplifies light to give you an image.

The first one is typically used by military, law enforcement and emergency services, and is commonly called thermal imaging. I'm sure you would have seen many hours of this footage during the Iraq invasion. It is typically the image that is used from attack helicopters and the like.

The second of the two types is what we are interested in, it is the nightvision that you can get access to as a civilian and as a citizen of Australia.

With nightvision there are different levels of performance, these levels are rated in generations. These generations also reflect the way the technology has changed over the years, for example generation 1 or Gen 1 as it is called, was first used in the Vietnam War while generation 4 is what is currently used by the military. Because of the effectiveness of this type of technology in warfare the American government has placed limits on exportation of night vision equipment from the USA to other countries. Some countries are strictly prohibited to receive any night vision equipment while others such as Australia are permitted to receive up to and including Gen 2+ nightvision equipment. Within each of these generations they also have different categories to determine the clarity of the image and as with all things the better the clarity the higher the price.

For a more detailed look at how night vision work have a look at the ATN website.

http://www.atncorp.com/hownightvisionworks

ATN are the premium night vision manufacture in the US, they are also the manufactures of the night vision rifle scope that I also own.

The best way to explain the difference between hunting with nightvision and not is like the difference between hunting during the day and spotlighting. The amount of animals that come out at night by far outweighs the numbers you see during the day. Now just imagine if you had those numbers that come out during the twilight hours except that you had the visibility of daylight, however this is not entirely true. It is much more than this.

Not only do you have the numbers which are seen at night but you also have the cover of darkness as your prey does not share in the nightvision technology.

This becomes very apparent once you use nightvision in the field. I have personally followed pig's, foxes and cats in complete darkness without their knowledge and within 10 m. Bloody amazing!!!!

However there are ways to which you can use this technology to give you a superior advantage in the field. Here I will list the three top ways.

1) Sit and wait.

This is by far has produced the biggest yield of feral animals than all the other techniques that I have used. It is also not too different from the citywide technique you would use in the early mornings or at dusk without nightvision equipment. The process goes along the lines of: find an appropriate spot where your prey is likely to come during the night and then find an appropriate location where you can sit and have good clearance over this area. It is then a simple process of sitting and waiting.

Places where you would typically used this technique is sitting over dams, crops, game trails and my favorite - carcasses.

I would typically use this technique when I know there is going to be game coming to that exact spot. This is normally determined through research and observations.

This technique also gives you the ability to predetermine concealed location and configure that location so that you can sit there for a long period of time accompanied with all the accessories that you might need. An example of this is that I use my double swag. I position in such a location where I can look down on to the target area and within that sway I can also store extra batteries and a high-powered infrared spotlight, not to mention pillows, sleeping bags and other niceties.

I would typically move into the swag and then roll down one end so I made in seeing through to fly mesh. In the ready I would have my rifle situated on a bipod along with the nightvision scope and only located around 20 to 30 m from the target area. The system gives me the ability to be able to be able to go to sleep and then when there is any pig activity there is enough noise that wakes me up. It's then a simple process of lifting the rifle, turning on the nightvision and taking advantage of the situation before me.

I also known people which have used this technique within barns to reduce the bird population as they roost at night. But this friend he was a simple process of taking them out one of the time without the knowledge of the other ones sitting around (most birds are really stupid at night).

Here are some photos of how I have used this out west of bourke.

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2419.aspx

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2420.aspx

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/2421.aspx

2) Stalk and wait.

This technique is very similar to the sit and wait, the only difference is, is that instead of sitting and waiting on a location you stalk into the location and then wait. It also means that with the sit and wait you would normally would have constructive concealed location where you can sit an extended period of time, where this technique is mainly used for locations which you might not want to sit ay that long. It is also good that it gives you a good understanding of the surrounding area along with giving you a good indication of night-time activity.

One of the drawbacks of this method is that as you are not stationary the nightvision requirements increase. What I mean by this is that with the sit and wait technique you only need a nightvision rifle scope while you can get away with only using the scope is more effective to use some form of night vision goggles in conjunction with the nightvision scope.

The other limitation with this method is that while the other two methods give you the ability to have high-powered infrared spotlights this restricts your ability to carry this equipment as you also have to carry the batteries to power such spotlights.

3) Drive and wait.

This technique is typically used when you want to cover a large amount of area in the shortest possible time, and would normally be used in areas which you are unfamiliar with. For example if you suddenly get access to a property which has multiple dams have an extended range you would use this technique.

While this technique is typically used for reconnaissance it can give you hunting opportunities. The technique goes like this: you first locate the multiple target areas which you would like to survey during the evening, then once the sun has set it is a process of driving to within nightvision visible distance and surveying the area, then once you are happy you can move on to the next area. The benefit of doing this is that you can also have high-powered infrared spotlights which increases your visible distance considerably. The downside of this technique is that there are times when your quarry will be scared away by the sounds of the vehicle approaching, however given my experience animals don't tend to get scared the same way at night as they do during the day, and because of this they are more likely to return quicker and flee less.

Combinations

I have in the past with great success utilised all three combinations. I would drive to a location and then wait there for a while, then once I see my game old then stalking the location and utilise a pre-built concealment area.

Here are a couple of pictures of my success with my night vision.

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/40.aspx

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/39.aspx

In my up-and-coming blogs I will discuss some hunting trips when I have used each of these techniques giving you a real-world experience so you can understand the practical uses.

First Contact

Brendan — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:47:00 GMT

The other week I had one of those hunting experiences which get your heart puming, adrenaline running and leaving you with a sence of euphoria, the main difference is I wasn't out hunting.

A property that I cull on, was having some trouble is with pigs coming in from the National Park, across the fence and not only destroying their dams, but also harassing and scaring the horseriders that frequent this property.

The pigs coming across the border had increasing frequency and tenacity when it was becoming not uncommon to see a few of them during the day and within 20 or so metres from the main residence.

It was my job to try and understand the numbers, frequency and location of where these pigs might be coming in, so I could then create an ambush plan, part of this plan was to set up some game cameras around the property to track the numbers, Times and locations of when these pigs were coming across. To do this I find appropriate locations which already had signs of pig activity and then situate the cameras to oversee these areas, leading to adapt to a comeback and check the footage.

It was on one of these trips to check the footage I took my daughter along and Scarlet. On locating the camera in question my daughter being full of beans wanted to run up and down a hill that was adjacent to the galley I was in. My daughter and Scarlet would walk up the top of the hill then I would call Scarlet and to have both come running downhill as fast as possible, after doing this about five or six times to check the camera and was ready to go.

My daughter being my daughter still had some energy she wanted to get rid of, so agreed to walk up this hill with her one more time, just so we could all come running back. Now, I don't mind walking up the hill every now and then when there is a purpose, I must say I wasn't overly excited to walk up the hill just come straight back down. I guess it's just one of those things you do as a parent.

As I dragged myself up this hill with all the enthusiasm that I could muster, I noticed on the opposing hill there were some out of character shapes, sitting in the middle of an open clearing. After a double take, and then another double take I realised what I had before me was a mob of around eight full-grown feral pigs soaking up the sun and fresh grass shoots as if they didn't have a care in the world.

I quickly ushered my daughter back as she was some metres ahead of me. "hey what to think that is over there on the hill?" I asked with interest as to see what her reply would be. Kind of as I suspected she didn't know, then when I informed her they were pigs a little eyes almost popped out of her head. I quickly assess the situation to only realise with great horror that not only were there were pigs around 150 m away, but I had no rifle, no knife or even a camera!!!!! I just couldn't believe it, such an opportunity with no way to capitalise on.

I had a plan. My daughter was to stay on the hill, with strict instructions to keep an eye on this mob with pigs while I traced back to the car and grabbed a rope. We would then stalk around behind the mob and push them out into the open where Scarlet would have the opportunity to see them running, with the hope and natural hunting instincts would kick in.

I grab a rope and raced back at my daughter when she informed me that the mob had walked down into a gully and was heading towards the open plains. I created a short lead for Scarlet to ensure that she wouldn't jump the gun too early and I could control her release. As we were stalking towards the mob I gave my daughter the rundown of pig hunting on what may or may not happen. I also informed her of the safety aspects and the dangers of these animals, and that she was to stay behind me at all times.

With that we stalked down the gully and onto a ridge where the mob had found a dam in a similar clear area. This was their opportunity, we could stalk within 15 to 20 m of the mob and then launch an attack from behind a small bush...... well, this was the plan anyway.....

Stalking close we kept the wind in your face to stop chances of us being detected early through our scent, and we managed to get right up to the bush. One last peak around and I could still see the mob, now was the time to secure our plan of attack. I made sure my daughter was right up close to me before I lept from the bushes with dog in tow and hopefully pigs running into the distance. I poised ready to the attack. Ready set go!!!! I stood up, that the dog off the lead and moved out from the bushes, only to my surprise there was no pigs to be seen.... I must say it felt a little bit anticlimactic as I was ready to chase.... Oh well, I figured I would take the dog down to where the pigs were standing with the hope that she would pick up the scent. On covering the short distance, I looked around in confused state, trying to understand exactly where these pigs could have gone to, after all there was no other trees around or bushes except the ones which I had used the cover. Of course that was it, before I lept out from the bush I turned around to seek my daughter was okay and that she was by my side, it was at this point in the pigs wandered off and entered almost in the same bushes I was hiding behind. Kinda weird really!!!

I grab Scarlet and directed her up into the bushes while I scouted the edges look into any sign and it wasn't long when I could hear the sound of pigs grunting and bushes and tweaks snapping. The mob had been hiding in the bushes right near me, Scarlet flushed them out and they broke cover to get across the 30 m of open area. Scarlet was on to them like a homeless on a brown paper bag, and before she knew it she jumped on the back of one of the tail enders.

Now I'm not sure at this point there was more surprised that she had a she grabbed one, but gauging from her actions if she could talk she would have been yelling out to me "Hey dad what the hell do I do now!!!!". No quicker as she jumped on the back of his pig that she stopped completely in tracks, while I continued to run after the rest of the mob in calling for her support.

They crossed large gully, while rounding back through the brush on the other side all the while making a horrendous noise while I was using both my hearing and sent to follow them through the scrub. Finally there was silence until out of the bush near the right of me I heard the unmistakable sign of an animal smashing through the bushes and breaking cover. It was a large boar headed straight up the hill and back to the original dam. I quickly ran the idea through my head and realised my daughter was still sitting at the dam waiting from my return, except now she had a 70 kg angry boar bearing down on her exact location.

By this stage the adrenaline and excitement, not to mention my lack of fitness had taken the piss out of me but I had one more hill to climb with the knowledge that my nature of daughter was over that hill with an angry boar. Let's just say that I found some extra energy.

Getting to the top of the hill it was good to see the boar running down across the clearing and my daughter still standing near a tree or left her. Once I climb down the hill and got to within talking distance of her I quickly got an update. What ended our transpiring was the boar came running over the hill straight for her and then within the last 5 m chucked the left and headed off into the distance. I'm not sure if the ball actually saw her and decided to set sail, or that it decided to head left as there was more cover. I guess it goes without saying that it scared the pants off her.

Once again it goes to show that you need to be prepared at any time while out in the bush, because you never know when something will appear.

Deer season closing soon

Brendan — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:58:00 GMT

The deer season in New South Wales is coming to a close at the end of October, and to me it was a reasonably fruitful season. My freezer is stacked to the brim with fresh venison, and my memory is full of hunting tales.

I like to spend this time of the year to reflect on exactly what was and what could have been. This allows me to go along and both understand what worked and what didn't work, so I can utilise the lessons learned not only next year's deer season but also in other aspects of my hunting life.

One of the things it always surprises me with hunting, is that you can always expect the unexpected. Just when you think the hunt is over, there is a high chance that something is going to jump out of the bushes. This was definitely shown to be the case on one my hunts throughout the year, when I spent three days hunting deer before going home, after the car was packed and we were on our way out we decided to check one last spot. Sure enough not 150 m from the car there were two fellow and we took both.

I hope that your season was successfull and that you learned some valuable lessons for next year and the years ahead.

Secrets to bagging a Deer in the up and coming deer season.

Brendan — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:06:00 GMT

The start of the New Year represents the start of a great up and coming year of hunting.

First of all I would like to say happy New Year to everybody and hope the Christmas period was relaxing and enjoyable.

In the first part of this year we will see more State forests open from the game council which will give us, the hunting and conservation community the ability to not only assist in the control of feral animals in these forests, (using our own money and our own time) but also allow us more selection and variety when choosing our locations to hunt.

At the beginning of March the deer season will open to the majority of species throughout New South Wales. If last year is any indication hunting deer for conservation is growing in popularity every year and it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure spots in the prime deer regions of our forests, so with this in mind I would suggest that you decide on where you are going to hunt and to book early as possible to avoid disappointment.

From now is a great time to get out to the area where you plan to hunt deer, to not only survey the area for signs but also possible locations for either man-made , or natural hides. It is also a very good idea if you plan to use a man-made hide is to erect it now so any deer in the area will get used to seeing this new structurein their area, and by the time you go to use it in early March they will be none the wiserand you will be rewarded with greater success.

Now is also great time to go through your hunting equipment and ensure that everything is in working condition. This will ensure that you have enough time to either save up and purchase any toys or goodies that you might want/need for the up-and-coming season. It also gives you time to think about some really good reasons to tell you other half why you need to purchase these extra goodies. If you start planting the seeds now you will surely be able to purchase what you need before March without much resistance from your partner.

The dry and hot weather which we are currently having will also give you the opportunity to determine deer numbers before the rut. This can be done by going to your preferred hunting site, find the water sources and once located it is an easy method of sitting and waiting on these water sources late in the afternoon and early mornings. Any deer in the area will have to come out of the scrub to drink and in doing so will give you a good understanding of what is around. TIP: This is also a fantastic way to hunt pigs in hot and dry areas.

It will also pay great dividends if you start selecting, testing and making any ammunition that you plan to use for the hunt. He's also a great reason to get your a*re out to the range to refine your shooting skills and improve your accuracy to reduce the possibility of a trophy animal getting away because you were out of practice.

so what are you waiting for, start creating a wish list, put some lead down range and get your a*re out in the bush to do some pre-rut scouting.

The future of hunting and shooting in Australia

Brendan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:08:00 GMT

There is been some debate recently both in the media and on this website about the future of our sport. It has made me sit back and think about the future of hunting and shooting in Australia.

By its very nature, hunting and shooting is heavily regulated throughout the different states and territories of this great country of ours. Our sport is only one of a few sports in Australia whose future is in the hands of politicians and lawmakers. Its these politicians and lawmakers which will inevitably decide the future for us all.

I will quickly go over what I see as our history in relation to hunting and shooting.

Way back many years ago, guns in Australia were produced to maintain and eradicate feral and pest species, while also giving farmers and landowners a souce of food.

Understanding our past.

Now since the early days pest eradication has come a long way and science has stepped in to create strange and wonderful ways to eradicate pests. Now we use guns, drugs and even viruses. We also mass produce and slaughter animals in a commercial fashion, and in doing so has reduced the need for most people to own and use of firearms. The majority of the poplulation does not know or understand how their food gets on the BBQ or why people should own firearms. People are scared of the unknown and most people are not exposed to firearms, so they become the unknown - SCARY FIREARMS. The media knows and understand this, and uses it to its advantage.

Mass media has the ability to change the thinking of nations.This was no more evident than in the World Wars when the propaganda machine of the countries involved were flat out convincing their people that their side of the story was the right side.

Jumping ahead to what I considered modern times. The general populace is concentrating in large cities with mass population densities with little understanding and knowledge of anything outside their immediate circles. Now without getting into an in-depth conversation and explanation about the economics of countries and their need to specialise, I will say this. For countries to advance ecnomically their people have to speclise and it is this specialastion that also reduces the normal man or woman to understand and perform what would be considered normal/easy tasks. It is this specialisation that has brought this country from living on the back of sheep, to be one of the top 20 economies in the world.

An example of this would be:

Joe Blow does not have the skills of knowledge to do simple tasks. Task like change a tyre, or a washer, have an understanding where their meat comes from or even how every day items work (refrigerator, how the TV signel is).

How did we get into this mess in the first place?

Martin Bryant killed a heap of people at Port Arthur. Now why this was a tragedy by everyone's descriptions, it was something that the media picked up on (if there is one thing I know about media and advertising is the use of tragedy, despair and let's face it bad news sells). The media got hold of the story and ran with it, the general public already unaware and frightened of the unknown not only suck the story down like a child drinking a smoothie but also fed the political scene giving them extra tools and ammunition for their war chest (When and if they decided to use it - Read next election). Now I'm not saying what happened at Port Arthur was not a tragedy and I agree it shouldn't have happened. What I'm saying and explaining is how the media affects the general populace.

The government used the knowledge that the general public was outraged by what happened - in Port Arthur - and decided to bring in extra laws and regulations to reduce the amount of rifles and types of firearms that the general public could get access to.

It saw hundreds of thousands of firearms taken from legitimate firearm owners, with the understanding that it is these rifles will stop any type of massacre happening again. Now I agree that some good came out of this, it tightened up and laws on storage and handling and I believe reduce the risk of our firearms being stolen and used by criminals, however I didn't necessarily believe that this was going to help the crime rate in associated with firearms, as most are firearms crimes are performe by crimals that dont have a firearms licence in the first place - READ illegal firearm.

Jumping forward a few more years we have seen the strengthening of firearms laws across Australia. We have seen buyback after buyback, after buyback. The government has spent millions and millions of dollars without producing the desired outcome - reduction in crime and associated incidents in regards to firearms.

Now it is common knowledge that criminals do not register their firearms nor do they have legislation and the laws surrounding them. They get their weapons either by stealing them, taking them directly from security guards, or in some cases making them. They also import them by various means along with hundreds of tonnes of illegal drugs and narcotics.

The public now has had over 20 years of being bashed to death about the anti-gun message and how guns are used to do all sorts of bad things. Unfortunately our society is slowly decorating and the values and beliefs that we all shared only some 10 or 15 years ago are also being eroded. Our children have no respect for property or life, the parents have no respect for their children or the responsibility they have put their upbringing. We live in a world where it's everybody else's fault and that no one takes responsibility for their own actions. It is no wonder that our society and the general public believe that taking firearms from legitimate firearm owners will make them safe, after all the media has told them so, so it has to be true, doesn't it???????

Lets look at where we stand today.

Victoria has for many years allowed hunters into their State forests and in some cases into their national parks. This has been an outstanding success and has been used as a blue print for other trials and feral reduction plans, not only here in Australia around the world. New South Wales has learnt from Victoria and their experiences. In the last few years they have taken on the Victorian model and created what is now called The Game Council of New South Wales. This particular governmental body regulates and lobbies for the rights of qualified and trained hunters to have the ability to hunt in New South Wales State forests. There is no doubt that this particular scheme has been a fantastic success not only for conservation in Australia but also the hunting movement. It has taken out tens of thousands of feral animals and is slowly returned the environments in those areas back to an equilibrium where native wildlife has a chance of survival.

In Victoria last week they are looking at paying landowners to establish native areas on their property. For a small fee licenced and trainded hunters would then have the ability to access these areas ONLY to hunt feral specices. I think this is a great idea and has lots of merit.

It will not only create additional habitat for native wildlife but help in the control of feral animals, while also helping struggling farmers with additional income.

While in New South Wales, they have removed some of the red tape when a licenced shooter wants to aquire additional firearms. Before for evey additional firearm they were required to wait 28 days before they could take possion - Even if you already owned the same rilfe. Now if you are already licenced and you already own firearms in the same category you dont need to wait. This will free up thousands of man hours and get our police force back on the beat catching crimials and not process pointless paperwork.

I believe hunting and shooting in Australia has a bright future.

It is something that is not only a fantastic family sport it also contribute back into society and back into our ecological systems. It brings me and my family closer to nature and makes us appreciate this beautiful country of ours.

The risk we have is when us, as a hunting and shooting community don't stick together. We allow bad habits and misinformation, that put our sport in a bad light, while giving the media and politicians more ammuntion. It is our responsibility and duty to our sport to weed out any bad behaviour that will bring our sport into disrepute.

Do you have a full life.

Brendan — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:42:00 GMT

The last few weeks have just been crazy, as there is lots to do a little time to do all them.

I have also spent the last few weeks talking with a heap of our members, along with having the opportunity to meet with a member from Northern Territory while he was Canberra for some work commitments. I must say that creating this website and talking with the members it has given me a better appreciation of the time we get to spend in our chosen sport or hobby.

Most of our members, if not all of you, lead very busy lives and while I am also very guilty of this, I feel that a lot of the stuff we fill our lives up with, at the end of the day don't give us the enjoyment and satisfaction that I'm sure we're all looking for. I think this feeling was summed up over the weekend when I also had the opportunity to take one of our members out on a hunting trip. Maverick is currently going through the process of getting his gun licence and was more than keen to come along to observe and to learn what we had to offer. It was during a walk up a nice hill, that we stopped at the top to take a breather and after catching our breath. While surveying the amazing scenery Maverick said "I never get bored of this!".

Now I am sure you can agree that this is something that we all appreciate in our chosen sport of hunting. It is not just the act of shooting something, it is a whole environment and without such spectacular scenery and bush I'm sure hunting would lose its appeal very quickly.

The Oz Hunter website is proving to be a very effective way to meet other hunters, not only online but to be able to meet them in person. We all share the same interest in the sport, but we all have different values and ideas. It is this that makes us unique and it is this that brings us all together as a hunting community.

If you are one of those armchair hunters, I urge you to get off your butt and get out there and enjoy what this country has to offer. Fantastic bush, fantastic scenery, and amazing people and places. You only have one shot at life, so don't look back from your armchair and wish that you spent more time enjoying what you love most. To me that is hunting!!!

I must thank all of you guys and girls for making this such a wonderful place along with giving me the ability to interact with your lives. It is an honour and pleasure. I hope to meet you all at some stage and get to spend some precious time with you out in the Australian bush.

Feral horses, wild pigs, winches, four-wheel driving and ...

Brendan — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:49:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago I and a few mates had the opportunity to go out hunting at the weekend. The location was going to be just west of the Brindabella ranges at a camp out of Canberra, originally forecast was a fine and sunny but as the day slowly approached it appeared this was not going to be the case. Only a few days before the snow came down and covered the Brindabella ranges so that certain parts had to be closed off.

Our prime goal to this trip was to secure some feral pigs and more importantly parts of feral pigs to assist in the training of Scarlet (my new hunting dog). The plan was to leave at Saturday lunchtime and come back the following day.

The area that we were going to hunting is a fantastic four-wheel-drive playground and I personally have led a few full drive trips out that way, however I had only ever being out there in the dry season. Winter on the other hand most of that area is closed off due to the very slippery conditions, the unpredictable weather. I knew going into this that it had a possibility to go very bad very quickly if our vehicles and a*re were not prepared to these conditions.

Having a look at my equipment and the things I needed to do to ensure safe and successful trip I suddenly realised that I needed to do some work to my truck. First I have to replace the two rear tires as they were getting very low and even on normal roads they were becoming very slippery. A quick trip to the tyre shop in Fyshwick and with two BFG Mud terrain at $265 each, that problem was fixed, now to address the problem of my broken winch. If you remember from one of my other Bloggs we recovered 3 four-wheel drives that was stuck off a road, in the process of doing this I blew up one of the solenoid they control the in motion of my winch. No problem, all I have to do is find another solenoid... Yeah right!!!!

After pulling the winch apart I discovered that the extra heat had also melted parts of the metal components that hold the winch together, I now had a bigger problem than I anticipated. I jumped on the Internet and did little bit of research and found that I can purchase a 200 AMP solenoid from Melbourne $75 delivered. The beauty of this solenoid is that it replaces the two solenoid which are in the current winch and it gives me the ability to relocate the control box from on top of a bull bar to under the bonnet. For only another $32 I also purchased remote control unit that is easily attached to this new solenoid. Now instead of having 85 AMP solenoid I have a 200 AMP solenoid and not only a remote control, but once again I have free space on my bull bar.

One other thing I want to fix up before we went out, and that was to add some roof racks so I could wring out by working lights. Boy wasn't I up or a surprise. The cost of roof racks is horrendous, to get to roof racks on the top of my canopy cost 500 and something dollars, then if you want them installed its another hundred and $160.. Ouch. So all in all it was a very expensive exercise, but my truck was finally ready and only in the nick of time as I was still installing the winch only 15 minutes before the guys were to arrive at my house.

A quick pack up and away we went. The Brindabella Road was covered in not only the remnants of the snow and ice but also the fallen trees that had been taken down by the gale force winds that happen in this area. Was this a sign of things to come, I personally hope it wasn't, however as were getting closer and closer to our destination it seemed to be getting colder and the pockets of snow were getting larger. The cars were sliding all over the road and we were having a ball.

Arriving at camp with three hours of daylight left we quickly unpacked the trucks and headed out into terrain that not only had patches is snow on the ground but it was also raining and snowing. I must admit I was very happy to be wearing my Stoney Creek Hunting gear, as it was doing a fantastic job in not only keeping the warm but also dry. The rest of the afternoon was spent following game trails and surveying the area to any signs of pigs and although there was a heap of game trails pig sign was only very minimal. On arriving back at camp Paul an I discussed what we had seen, while I didn't see any game Paul did see the remnants of two feral horses not that far from our camp so I decided I will check them out in the morning as pigs love dead animals to feast on.

Sure enough the next morning there was fresh sign that was only hours old around and leading up to the horse carcasses but not a pig to be seen. At the end of the trip although we didn't see any pigs, we did have the chance to get to know each other a little bit better and spend some precious time out in the Australian bush.

Oz Hunter going from strength to strength. Stats stats and more stats.

Brendan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:35:00 GMT

Figured as you guys are members who are interested in how successful the website has been since its creation only three and a bit weeks ago.

On average we have over 10,643 hits a day or 319,319 hits in total which equates to around 200 visitors a day, these visitors spread their interests over the website, between the Bloggs, the forums the media section.

The Bloggs receive around 44 visits a day, while the forums have around 400 page views on average with the highest day being 890, and the lowest 25, while the media section would receive around 76 visits per day. Memberships are growing at around two extra members a day and this translates into increased traffic on all the Bloggs, forums and media sections of around 75% extra visits every week.

Our most active day of the week is on a Thursday at 18%, while Tuesday's at 10% one of the least active and it appears that everyone seems to get a rush of blood at 5 p.m. as this is the most active hour of everyday.

The average visitor will spend 38 minutes on the website and 46% of the visitors are from Australia. Australia is leading the visitors while North America and Germany New Zealand and the United Kingdomin their respective orders.

The most popular place in America the visitors was Washington at 261 visitors followed by Oregon and Virginia.

24% of the visitors are returning while 37% are completely new visitors to the website while the rest are unknown, while the website has served out almost 3 GB of images and videos in this time. The total percentage of views people that stay viewing over 19 minutes and this is a whopping 80% of all visitors, and I must say this is amazing.

Google has referred over 300 people, while MSN has only referred 134, which to me appears that nearly all of the website traffic we see is by word of mouth, so it appears that we are heading in the right direction and you guys are happy with the website and what it offers.

A must take this opportunity to thank everyone for their constant support and words of encouragement is without you this site would not be possible and without you and your continued commitment in helping our community grow and prosper to the good of all of us and the good of our hunting community.

Sincere Thanks

Brendan

It's a dog's tail!!!! Climbing stairs, leads, toilets, grabbing and holding and more - Part 4

Brendan — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:18:00 GMT

Since my last blog Scarlet has come along in leaps and bounds and as I wrote about in my last blog I have been doing extra training on the lead as well as in forcing sit and stay techniques.

It seems like ages ago that Scarlet was unable to be walked on the lead without her being dragged, but today you wouldn't realise that it is the same dog. She quite happily walks along right next to me in the heel position and no longer lacks behind or pulls on the lead, she still does get excited when there are other dogs around and especially cattle and horses. I'm sure some more trips out to see our horses will soon take care of that.

How to get your dog to climb stairs on command

Scarlet will now constantly wait at the bottom of the stairs going up the back of our house and will not venture up until she is told to. This was achieved by stopping her at the bottom of each stairs by installing a gate, this gate allowed us to stop her from climbing the stairs while we were unable to be with her. Then we would open a gate and hold it back until she stopped pulling on her collar, once this was achieved we would then ask her to climb and as soon as she did we would either give her loads of encouragement and/or chicken neck pieces. We also performed this at the top of each stairs so she will only go downstairs when asked.

This form of training is very effective and is something I use I just about all tasks that I'm teaching her.

How to get your dog to chase and hold until told to release.

This very technique is something I have been using to teach Scarlet to chase something and to hold it until I allow her to let go. For example, I will sit her down in an area without distraction and grab one of her favourite toys which she likes chewing on, then will wiggle it in front of her face to get her attention while calling her name. If she moves from her position were quickly hide the toy until she settles down again, then at that point I will bring the toy out again. Once she is calm and has her eyes set on the Tory I will then give her the command to chase the toy down and I will either drag along the ground or hold it in my hand to her to chase, all the time hitting her words of encouragement and stroking her back.

When she does actually make contact with the toy I will also give her loads of encouragement and move the toy around so she is forced to keep a firm hold or she will lose it. Sometimes will allow her to actually take the toy from my hands, were sometimes she takes it because of the strength the ferocity of her head shaking. This is something I was doing at the beginning to give her the confidence that she can grab succeed in taking her toy back to her bed. In the last few days I have been making sure that I have a firm grip of the toy so that she neither can take it from me and I don't give it to her, where the only option from their is that she has to hold on until I tell her to let go. At this stage I will be on my knees with a pocket full of dog treats and then once given the command to let go it is up to her to release the object, if this does not happen within the first few seconds I would grab her head and force her lips into her teeth, which in effect is like biting your own lips. The longer she resisted the harder I would push and the more it would cause discomfort, all the time giving her the command to let go. As soon as she let go of the object I would give her loads of praise and stroking and feed her the dog treat which I had ready in my hand. This type of training would only go on for about 20 minutes three times a day and after three days she will now wait until told to chase the object, hold the object no matter how much shaking and pulling I would do, and most importantly released the object as soon as I give her the command. This type of training has shown to be very effective in not only her future job as a pig dog, but also letting of my wife's shoes (which I must say is a very safe option that Scarlet!).

Scarlet will now let go any object which she has him a mouth on command even if the command is from one of the other family members, I'm not sure how she will go when someone outside the family gives her instructions. My plan is that she will totally ignore anyone except family members as there might be a need in a protection role to hold on and not let go.

Toilet training is crap!!

In the last week Scarlet has also become 99% house trained and will no longer go to the toilet inside (99% of the time anyway ) or in her laundry bed during the night, and I must say it seems that this was surprisingly easy. I remember some 10 years ago when I trained my first dog, toilet training seemed to take months and months but since that time I have learned a lot about dog social structure and the desire dogs have it to please and be fed, which I am using to my advantage.

20% weight gain each week

Scarlet has been growing quite rapidly as expected and she has been putting on 20% of body weight each week, when we first daughter at home she was a bit over 5 kg now a three weeks on she weighs almost 8 kg and I would say has doubled in size. She has slowly been growing taller but at length has been growing faster and if she stretched out she would roughly be about half my height all around 80 cm long. Just to think the collars I bought only a few weeks ago now fits her so there is little chance she could slip away the non-pinching choke collar can be used more effectively.

Well that's it in this, hopefully by the time I write I will have been out hunting and scored myself boar skins, which will assist tremendously in my training to her to track down large boars.

Until my next post.....