April Trip...

Discussion in 'Hunting and Fishing' started by Andy the Aussie, Apr 21, 2018.

  1. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Administrator of the Century Staff Member

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    ....spent a week away chasing deer and hogs, normally the top day temps would be 20 or so C and below 10C over night. That damn week was over 30C each day and only down to 17-20C over night. property is also in the grip of drought. Hunting all week and didn't fire a shot, not because I didn't see anything, just no buck that was large enough and no meat as it was too hot to be fugging around with. Saw one big boar (and a bunch of little hogs) but he was motoring and when I did have him lined up has was skylining back toward my camp. Cunning prick..!!

    A few pics...

    A small buck, silly bugger, all about the girls at this point....

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    I was climbing a steep section and stopped to breathe (read gasping for air and bent over at the waist)...there right between my legs....

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    ....scared the crap out of me as I thought it was a WHOLE Brown Snake..!

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    ...turns out it is a shed from a Black Snake.

    A couple of hogs I shot up here in a flying visit in late February.... you can see how dry it was then !! About 4 inches of rain fell between them and this visit but still not enough to get it right !!

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    I have a few more pics and some video I have to copy off the laptop I travel with. I will get to that soon.... :D
     
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  2. Buddlee

    Buddlee Bottom Feeding Spammer

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    wow, amazong bro!
    [​IMG]
     
  3. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    Glad you got out!
     
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  4. DYSPHORIC JOY

    DYSPHORIC JOY Administrator Staff Member

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    Very cool:

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  5. Lockster

    Lockster Member

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    Bloody snakes!

    Nearly trod on 2 Black snakes on the same day during a trip at the start of March, one took off like a rocket (middle of the day) and one seemed to take a little while to realise I was there but then reared up in an ”S” ready to strike so I backed out pretty rapidly. The second one was much later in the day, about an hour before dark, I wonder if it being later , and therefore a fair bit cooler, meant he was a bit sluggish and just decided to get ready to strike since he wasn’t able to slither away quickly...

    Either way both of them certainly elevated my heart rate rather rapidly!!

    Andy do you see many of the dark coloured Fallow deer? I took one on the last trip out, but it’s the first one I’d seen that was really dark like the one in your photo. I wish the one I took had a rack like that
     
  6. Zeek

    Zeek Member

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    That's a big hole in the side of that little bugger...:confused:
     
  7. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Administrator of the Century Staff Member

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    .... yes these are Black Fallow and they are the most common in this area, in fact till the late 90s they were the only type till a large deer farm went bust and the fences "fell down" when they could no longer maintain the feed etc. There are now Menil (spotted) and common (a mousy brown to red colour) and some with a Hungarian line (toward the "red of a Red Deer) that I see reqularly. This trip I also saw three whites. I normally see one a year or so but there were three all in a small valley. He is probably a first year head (after being a spiker), he should grow till 5 or so but will probably get shot (that is the problem here in Aus, any antlers get you shot).

    that the exit, the entry was just behind the right eye raking.... ;)
     
  8. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Administrator of the Century Staff Member

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    Rest of the pics....

    Due to the weather there was perhaps a bit to much of this...

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    The next two are taken from the same spot just 90 degs apart, sitting over a rutting stand to see what the dominant buck looks like...

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    .... he was actually a nice buck that someone would be happy with, he was busy chasing away smaller bucks and I was too busy watching him to take pics of it all unfolding...LOL

    Late one afternoon looking up where I was the day before (that high point opposite). The snake and buck above where not far from the top there...

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    And the view further down the valley from up there...

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    I will try and work on the videos today.
     
  9. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Administrator of the Century Staff Member

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    ..... a few years ago I came across this little guy....

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    ....on a track that runs around just under the top of the hill in the pick above with the darker blue sky. I had twisted a knee coming down from a high spot and was not at all in the high stepping mood. Black Snakes are mostly all show and no go unless you back him right into a corner, step on him or try and pick him up. I will always stop and take a pic if I can and this guy was cranky to be bothered by me (you can see he has started to flatten out "cobra up" at the front) but I just fished out the camera and put my pack between us. He shuffled on into the grass a moment after the pic. I am MUCH more cautious about Brown and Tigers (more Brown in this country than anything else and a very rare Tiger - though they are much more common one 50 or so KM along the range !!).
     
  10. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Administrator of the Century Staff Member

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    ....just saw this, yes, in all the years I have been out and about I have only found a few shed skins. They are generally pretty fragile and I have found that ants seem to descend on pretty quick as well.
     
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  11. Lockster

    Lockster Member

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    Great looking terrain, I can see why you’d enjoy just getting out there and watching the wildlife.

    Re the snakes, I was very confused re the interaction with the black snake that I mentioned previously, he seemed a lot more aggressive than I’ve ever seen black snakes before.

    So some subsequent research tells me that Eastern Brown snakes can actually be a black colour, particularly in more alpine country with colder temps (this place was up near Nundle State Forest), something to do with black absorbing more heat hence they go black to get more heat in areas where it’s colder.

    So with the snake getting into a distinct “S” shape very quickly, and he definitely didn’t flatten out like in your photo above and he seemed a lot more slender, I actually now think I came across a black coloured Eastern Brown, which would explain a lot of the circumstances around the encounter...
     
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  12. Buddlee

    Buddlee Bottom Feeding Spammer

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    Very cool

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Administrator of the Century Staff Member

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    ....so my editing software is crap...anyway...here is one of the videos I made while away. This is the same young buck in the first pic of this thread. Sorry it is all a bit crappy, this is the first time I have really tried to use the V1 as a motion camera. The deer are aware "something" is nearby and just where. Around the 50 second mark he started playing peek-a-boo with me then at 55 throws his nose to the air properly (and looks quite strange doing so ;) ). Just above me were at least two more bucks (including a very nice head) that were grunting up a storm. This also kept this guy on edge.

    A little down from me in the gully between us is a big patch of Blackberry, of course this was sheltering several hogs including the one large boar I mentioned. He of course chose the time when I was transitioning the camera back into my pack to bolt.
     
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  14. Lockster

    Lockster Member

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    Amazing to watch them when you see them before they see you.

    They seemed to sense something wasn’t quite right, do you think they winded you?
     
  15. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Administrator of the Century Staff Member

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    Yes, they knew I was up there, the buck in the video is on the in the still pic above. I had to push up deeper into the area they were to try and get a looks at the other bucks that were grunting, so I scooted this one and a few does along to do so. They had settled down about 150yds away where I took the video but were still flighty and the wind was chopping and changing. I have another vid from last year of a buck strolling towards me and then the wind swung around and put me straight downwind from him...he is gone like a shot !!!

    This vid....



    ...is from April last year, that is a pretty good Menil working on his Rutting Pad.
     
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  16. Evelyn Sager

    Evelyn Sager Member

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    Hey.. It's amazing that you went there :)
     
  17. Bushman5

    Bushman5 Member

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    very amazing! so amazing! razzle dazzle amazing! unicorns! sasquatch! jackalopes! amazing!

    mixed pork shoulder cuts and salt and spices AMAZING!
     
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  18. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    I get it now. Well done. Crispy in fact.
     

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