A short week away !

Just home from a week out in the west of NSW. You know, nominally hunting however if I am being honest with myself, it was just to get the hell away from the world for a little. Prior to heading off I had been watching the weather pretty closely as we in the eastern states of Aus have been getting beaten up by constant weather events on and most of this year! I saw the area I was heading had received about 3inches of rain up until the weekend before I was heading out (with a number of the western river systems already in flood or with flood warnings in place. The property (been heading there since 1987) is NOT on a river, but once you get off sealed road after good rain it can get sporty. Good was the that the whole week before I left was dry bad was waking up last Friday to leave I see that a half inch had fallen bang on the place overnight. I was happy that most of Friday was warm and windy, that red dirt country dries out pretty quick. After about 7hrs on the road (going through areas where the main highway had been closed over the preceding days due to water), I got to where the black top ended and the dirt started, I was pretty happy that I was kicking up dust on that road in with only a few patches wet.

This is where the property starts….



…… and while the track on the place was sloppy it was passible.

Happy to unpack at the old homestead ….



Seeing as it is daylight saving time here, I went for a hunt in the late afternoon. Realised just how much rain there had been as once well worn track were wet and overgrown, the grass/weeds were waist deep in many places. On that first afternoon I could hear some hogs but with the grass not a chance of seeing them.

Strolled back watching the sun go…



I would like to say I bounded out of bed the following day and hunted before light but….well no…. that drive and work over the last few months meant that the quiet and solitude had the effect of me sleeping the sleep of the dead. It was glorious !!!!! Going by the note at the house no one else had been out there at all in the past month and I can happily report now I didn’t see or speak with a soul while I was these !!

I had packed more than my usual Sako .308 for the trip and I wanted to finally get my SSG properly zeroed and across the chronograph as well as zero the Marlin 45/70. As Saturday was already looking pretty last I thought I will drive to the makeshift range and get those jobs done. A whole 50m from the house the track was sodden



And on closer inspect the water was actually running



….never have I seen that there before !!!

Not to be deterred I made several shuttle trips walking down and back till I got set up. Elected to do the 45/70 as I really wanted to hunt with it this trip…..



….good and bad here, I discovered I needed a lower front sight and I ran out of elevation at the back and was still not on at 50yds. I would be able to hunt with it (knowing the hold) but still needs work.

Back to the house for a lazy lunch !

Oh so this big chook and her chick have obviously been living in and around the house yard over the last few weeks and she was not at all impressed by my presence !!





….over the week I saw them every day and at no point did she warm to the idea I was there.

 

Picked up the camera and 45/70 and went for a long walk back out from the house and sheds to see what may be around. It is snake season and I pretty much expected to see a Western Brown or two (worst week was 5 of them IN the old house over the course of a week) but besides several dead on the blacktop on the way out here I didn’t SEE any…..did I mention waist deep foliage…. you just need to put it out of your head and press on…!!

Out a bit behind the house one of the tanks (western term for a dam) was well and truly full, as they all were it turns out, and had formed a little lagoon…..



…..heard some distinct critter sounds I was hoping for hogs but ended up with goats….LOL Here they are feral and often shot, however the owner of this place traps and sells them on the hoof so unless it is an abnormally big billy I just huff back at them and go…



There is a bunch of old vehicles laying around out in the bush and also a good spot to find Mr Nolegs but just took a glamour pic of the Marlin….



Then as I swung back in toward the shearing sheds I saw one of many Shingleback Lizards that live around here. He only tolerated me for a minute (trying to get the camera out and adjusted) then skulked off.

 

More later

 

You can find Emu (not "Emoooo" !!!!!!) here at restaurants and such but I don't like it at all. They really are not something we would hunt (also a protected native species). That 45/70 is excellent. It belonged to a friend of mine from high school and when he decided he was no longer going to hang onto his guns he insisted me and his other close mate re-home tham for him.

 

I did kind of loose track of the days (and glad of it) but I did a couple of big long walks (as there was no way to drive out to the boundaries). On the fist I walked north then swung to the east through an area that was the first I hunted out here, always see something! During that walk I did some a couple of does but I need no meat so left them alone, more goats and one interesting set of tracks….



After a couple of hours I swung back south west on a cross country line back to the homestead….along the way I came across a another big healthy Shingleback ….



As I was about 50m from the back of the shearing sheds a flock of around 100 Budgerigars blasted off from the grass just next to me….scared the bejesus out of me !!!!!!!

Sitting on the verandah (I did lots of that) I was often joined by a few of the local skinks….



I think they are cool little critters but often give you are scare as you are always well attuned to reptiles around the house and something brown with a head like that will catch the corner of your eye every time!!

Not sure which day but I did walk out to one of the big tanks, it always has water, even in the worst drought but this time it was something else





….I hunted along the approaches from a couple of sides and saw plenty of sign but no critters. Then I sat on it till sundown. Only a bunch of big red roos appeared ! It was well after dark when I got back in.

I didn’t talk lots of pics walking (in fairness you tend to cover long distances and I was a bit shagged).

I did get my SSG zeroed and shot a little at things off in the distance…



And everyone will ask about knives…. I had a bunch !!! Always do (and find some I don’t remember packing). I did however carry this CRK Zann pretty much the whole time…

 

I was supposed to drive back on Friday but on Wednesday afternoon the weather took a bit of a turn…



I was not too worried about getting out even if there was some rain. It started late in the afternoon and there were showers all through the night, I was checking the radar and where I was it was “OK” less so further to the east of me (where I had to travel). Waking Thursday morning I had a lazy start as it was sprinkling so I stayed in the sleeping bag, but the time I got moving and check the rain gauge there had been just over a half inch (13mm to us civilised folk) during the night. It was showing as going to hand in till Friday. To my east much heavier falls were predicted and as there was already water over the highway in places I reluctantly decided to head home. Too a couple of hours to get sorted and I was on the road around 12 for what turned out to be 9.5hrs driving to get home.

We always take a pic at the gate half way across the from paddock…



The property tracks were sodden but not bothersome and the several kms of unsealed road from the front gate out was sporty, but I got back to the blacktop unscathed but dirty…

 

.... this has been a ritual since the 80s.

I can't quite put a date on this one...



...but the little guy in the middle is one of my Godsons. He is now in his 20s, has his own building business that is doing great and just bought his first house with his girlfriend..!!!! Makes me feel old !!