PhilH

Very co-incidentially @steve66, we have just in the last couple of weeks upgraded to Baofeng. Better aerial choices, they are removable and interchangeable, and accessories are better as in more choice for ear-pieces and microphones....plus they put out 5 watts on PRS (Personal Radio Service). PRS is our equivalent of your PMR466 but we have eighty channels, can transmit on 5 watts and a host of other things. You are right about range. When out on the hill planting trees last week I was able to talk to the Christchurch repeater 78 km away just using the handheld. The Baofeng 5 watt handheld on

Oh yes, especially when it is warm and sunny....though thankfully we are in winter. Best thing is to keep your legs covered and keep moving. If you get bitten on the arms and neck you are just not moving fast enough.....? Cheers Phil

Leaving home for the office View from the office. Closer view from the office.....they are farmed deer.... The office. Planting new trees and re-establishing old lines right up to the skyline in the back. Keeps a man fit and healthy in his retirement....? Cheers Phil

In the two largest Islands of New Zealand it is the big reds, fallow, rusa and sika deer that are getting out of control. Stewart Island, the smallest of our three islands has our largest White-Tail population. In fact, I believe the deer population there is almost exclusively White-Tailed. The deer with no fear: Stewart Island residents divided over deer roaming through gardens Deer have become an issue in the township of Oban on Stewart Island, and the community is divided on how to deal with them, a DOC ranger says. Who needs puplic la

Just a quick additional note here. The Duoclang F1 is now doing full kitchen duty. Why? Well, interestingly, yesterday I was reading an article from an old hunter who was reviewing a new knife and after initially unwrapping it, drooling over it and seeing how sharp it was, the knife was then put into the kitchen for a minimum of a week for use there. His reasoning, if it can't perform satisfactorily in the kitchen it has no place with you on a hunt. And immediately I see the benefits of this logic. Here I was this morning using the Duoclang to dice onions and bacon for breakfast and immediate

Well, the Duoclang F1 arrived yesterday. Now just to re-cap, the Duoclang F1 is a Chinese copy of the much vaunted Fallkniven F1. What attracted me to this knife was the price, that it looked to be a good copy of a knife with a solid reputation and I believed that it was going to be badged as a Duoclang rather than Fallkniven, which would only show it to be a counterfeit. I was disappointed in the badging; it has Fallkniven stamped on it. So instead of presenting to the world as a Duoclang that is of the same design as a Fallkniven, it is presenting itself as a Fallkniven and a counterfeit. A

I was out again last night. It had been raining hard and the ground was treacherous in places plus the water courses were all up. Over a small valley about 650 meters away, I spotted four pigs feeding on a hillside at the edge of some thick bush. The wind was not entirely in my favour but I could account for that. Yep, I thought, definitely worth a crack Nigel....so off I went. Had to take a detour of about 1.5 km in order to stay down wind of them and in the end the closest I could get was 230 metres. I couldn't get any closer without crossing a usually small stream, now rather swollen by the

Here are some pictures of the damage they do. It is possibly hard for people who have not been to New Zealand to understand the full scope of the damage Wallabies do. In the following two pictures the land shown in its natural state is covered in natural tussock between knee and waist height. It is hard to walk through in its natural state. These are examples of where the Wallabies have eaten it down and will continue eating it down until it basically can't sustain any growth and it then turns into desert. Then the pigs come in and root for worms and any remaining plant roots and we

Every country has their own pest problems, some unique, some not so unique. I believe that it is only Australia and New Zealand that share the problem of Wallabies as pests. New Zealand has a policy of total eradication - if only it can be achieved. Australia has a bit more of a difficult problem with them as they are not an introduced invasive pest there but an indigenous mammal and also regarded by some, as a national treasure. That said, they still have a huge impact on pastureland. Unfortunately here in New Zealand, wallabies have acclimatised well and possibly thrive better here than

Nice to see. What is the night vision setup? A clip-on? Cheers Phil

Just an update to the post - the shot to the poor hind. As stated above I was attempting a raking shot. Well it failed. The bullet entered a couple of inches below the spine on her right side and excited just to the rear of her left shoulder. In other words, I 'gut shot' the poor old girl. A shameful shot on my part.... Cheers Phil

Monday morning and @Southern Hunter had come down from his little alpine village and taken away the three pigs - see We now had room to hang animals again so Sharon was keen to get up into the hills again. I had spent the afternoon doing some forestry work for a local farmer and didn’t get home until after 1730 hrs, so that wiped me out for that night. Nothing for it then, Sharon determined, we were definitely going Tuesday night or she would go alone, plus it was going to be an ideal night. Tuesday night, I’m all rested, the weather is good, Sharon is fizzing to go, so game on. It i

We moved to our present location just over four years ago @socks Sharon is employed as the Civilian Security Officer for a Defense depot here. As most of her work is after hours we have to live onsite which is in 750 acres of land nestled in the foothills. This, combined with two neighbouring farms, is where Sharon and I do our hunting.....actually, it isn't hunting for sport but true pest control. Pig and deer cause a huge amount of damage to native bush, forestry, fences not to mention the pastures that get plowed up by the pigs or just the quantity of pasture that both species consume. Then

Well, after breakfast, as it was still raining, we took the three pigs over to the woolshed and started into it. In 1 1/2 hours it went from this....... To this....... And this ........ Sharon had to pose with this one and hold the hock upright as I nicked the achilles ....... my bad....I put it down to lack of sleep. Cheers Phil

Sharon and I went out again tonight after spotting a big pig on the hill. We are starting to think that this hill has cursed up. Third time that we have gone up there chasing a pig the wind has turned just as we get to the top ridge, pig gets wind of us, and its gone. Sharon had some choice words to say that I can't post here. Ahh well, fall back to Plan B. Down the hill, skirt around the base and go to our hide looking down the valley on the other side. Same as happened the last couple of times, we just settle in and my Chief Scout - Sharon - spots three pigs in a scrubby wind break, 350 m