As the title would suggest, all is not well, but on the same token they aren't all bad either!
The property I wrote about before is, for the second and I suspect last time, off limits to hunters. Due to unforeseen... political issues, one of the owners is not happy with rabbits being hunted there anymore and has canned it.
You win some, you lose some. It's meant that a lot of properties I had previously not worried about are on the cards again and worth pursuing, and I'm actually bothering to track down the odd property here and there. One in particular looks very promising and is apparently overrun with the buggers - but I've known overrun to be two or three from a nearby warren, or hundreds and even thousands destroying entire areas of farming land.
Given that we've had a mild summer, lots of rain and an already quite high population I suspect rabbit numbers will take off in a big way. This is a bad thing - no doubt at all, but there is a silver lining in the form of higher yields when it comes to shooting - this is satisfying on a personal level, in both animals taken and food obtained, and also for the property owner who sees large amounts of vermin removed.
It is unfortunate that things had to end this way at the property. One minute, all ready to go, next, never to return! These things happen and it's not the first, but a lot of fond memories have been had there and I had hoped to have a lot more there, by sharing my access (with permission, of course) with a few more of the hunters and shooters I have met online and at the range. It really was prime country for a pleasant afternoon. On my second last visit there I had a long chat with the neighbour who I've previously had difficulty getting a face to face encoutner with to ask him if he wants anyone to shoot there - we got on pretty well so it might be time to jump ship to literally greener pastures too!
As I like to put it, hardship leads to solutions! You never know, while this old block was convenient, easy, and I had the run of it it never yielded the highest amount of game and so things may change...
Speaking of which, I forayed out into a State Forest for the second time today. The first time was with a top bloke named Daggaboy, we went for goat out Westish and got diddly squat but saw lots of sign, including that of pigs. I had a day off so the fiance and I loaded up the Falcon ute, chucked a few guns in and some other essentials, and went for a drive. Written permission was for me only so she could only spectate (that's all she'd want to do anyway!) but as it turned out the guns never left the vehicle. We had a good drive around, and stopped at a popular (yet deserted, so close to Christmas...) campsite, and went for a large loop walk around the creek system there. We found extensive disturbance which we suspect was pigs, forgot to take any photos, she got covered in leeches which was an unpleasant first for her while I didn't get one due to what I suspect is long-built up immunity, and then kept driving. We then had the fun realisation about an hour later that we were actually covered in ticks as well. Good fun all around! I only had one of the suckers latched on but we had a few close calls and the leatherman pliers came in handy.
I suspect next time I hit State Forest (as was strongly implied) it may be by myself... She did see her first wild snake though, which she was happy about!
I plan on returning to the same forest, armed with more information from the Game Council warden in the area, another R license holder and a full day to hike the hills and gullies. I'll get some game, you just wait...
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