Another year of Covid Restrictions.

 Well its been almost 12 months to the day since I last made a blog post, and I am once again in exactly the same place as when I made my last post, Yep Howard Springs Quarantine Facility in Darwin. Covid restrictions have, for the second year running dominated mine and a lot of other peoples lives. Work has been horrible, too many guy's have just had enough and quit and I don't blame them one bit. The affect has been a massive increase in work load on those of us that are left, but there's not much we can do about it. Travel restrictions between Certain states remain and look like being in place until WA lifts its hard Border in January or February 2022. This entry has little actual hunting and I apologize for that.

I have managed a couple of outings this year and being unable to travel to my usual Deer hunting areas for the Fallow Rut in April I decided to try something different. I ended up hunting a small piece of land that held the possibility of  seeing a Fallow Deer, unfortunately I did not encounter any Deer. I had a Fox almost walk into my lap whilst glassing for Deer one evening and I took some great photos before he realized what I was and took off. I did however manage to stalk in on the fox early the next morning, and secured a very nice skin. 

Red Fox late one afternoon.

A little later in the year I took a gamble and my Wife and I were able to successfully travel to Victoria and I was able to do some much needed work on our Cottage. It had been empty for nearly 18 months and was in desperate need of some dusting and cleaning. I didn't have a great deal of time to do much work but did manage to replace a section of flooring that was water damaged a few years ago.

Old Particle Board Floor.

New Hardwood Floorboards.

The Weather was nice and cold and we even had a Snowfall in town one evening, with Snow remaining on the ground and surrounding mountains for a couple of days, which was nice. I enjoy the cold weather it's a welcome change for me, I have spent pretty much my entire working life from the age of 16 working in extremely high temperature environments and still work in tropics now, so I really enjoy the cold.  

A dusting of Snow on the Mountain behind my Cottage

I was also able to Finally pick up my new Rifle from the shop after waiting over a year, I had bought myself a Rigby Rifle in .375H&H as a 50th Birthday Present but due to Covid travel restrictions had been unable to take possession of it. The Shop was able to hold it in safe storage for me and it now resides there whenever I am away at work. I mounted a Leupold 1.5-4 x 24 scope on it in quick release Recknagle swing mounts and took it to a friends property to sight it in. We had a great day on his range and it was an absolute pleasure to shoot, I cant wait to take my first Stag with it.

We were able to travel back to Perth and I returned to work without a problem, however this freedom to travel was not to last, as we would find out later. I returned from Work in August and we were once again able to travel to Victoria so we packed the car and headed East. I set about Tiling our Bathroom and Kitchen floors, then a major Covid outbreak in Melbourne threw our plans into disarray. Victoria went into lockdown and curfew and we were stuck where we were, two weeks later the regional areas were released from Lockdown but Melbourne stayed locked in. I was fortunate that my employer was able to secure exemptions enabling me to fly to work from Melbourne but my wife was and still is stuck in Victoria. 

I did manage to get the Bathroom and the Kitchen floor Tiled though, which is a major item off my list now. There's just some finishing work to do in the bathroom, plaster, trim and painting etc. to complete the job. 

From this.

To This, still some work to do though.

We also made a major purchase earlier in the year and I am happy to say we are now the proud owners of a 300 acre property. It's a very neglected piece of land and there is a ton of work to do. All the fences need replacing and there are lots of Blackberries that need clearing, so I have some major work cut out for me in the coming years. It's a long term investment and I plan to start a small herd of Dexter Cattle on it and run a few Beehives to take advantage of the abundant native Gum's and Wattle. There are also Deer on the property though I am yet to see them as I haven spent much time actually looking for them, I have seen fresh rubs and scrapes. The view from the ridge top is amazing and we will no doubt spend many a night relaxing by a campfire there in future. 

The View down the Valley.

The Spring fed Dam has water all year round.

 I also managed to get out for a couple of hunts and shot a small Sambar yearling on one outing, which was quickly added to the now very depleted meat supply, and the followed that with a nice fallow Doe on a separate outing. Both animals were rolling fat and proved to be excellent eating, I now have a full freezer once again. I was also able to retrieve one of my cameras from a Valley I felt had surely been burned out during the Bushfires, I was extremely surprised to find it largely untouched and some welcome visitors pictured on my camera. Unfortunately the one small patch that did get burned housed another of my camera's and this was lost, the Stag pictured on the surviving camera was a very welcome sight.

A welcome sight after the Bushfires.

I now have a nice animal to hunt after most likely losing the Stag's I had been watching for the previous 4 years to the fires. He has a few years to grow out fully but I am looking forward to matching wits with him in the coming years.  I have no doubt I will also encounter other just as worthy Stag's in the interim and hopefully I get the chance to take one with my new Rifle. Hopefully 2022 brings better brighter news and better fortunes for all those affected by Covid restrictions, I for one am looking forward to simply being able to travel to and from work without the need to Quarantine. With the promise of no more lockdowns in the future I placed my hat in the ring and entered the 2022 Blonde Bay Hog Deer Ballot, I know my chances are slim but you have to be in it to win it, and its a great hunting initiative to boot.

I have a few more days of Quarantine left and there's plenty of episodes of "Meateater", "Gritty" Podcasts and a few unwatched episodes of "Bolt Action Productions" to keep me occupied. For those of you that can't get out, use the time to maintain your gear and practice your shooting, and for those that can get out Happy Hunting.

See You in the Bush.