thought i would share, a 10-80 baiting program is underway in my area so i drove to a more remote patch of scrub to run the pooches. it was late so i planned on just having a short run hence breaking the first golden rule of the bush and went prepared for a short fun hike. due to a few seasons of good rain the lantana and lwayer cane undergrowth had become a green wall and the only way thru for a person is either to crawl like a snake thru it or slam on top of it one body length at a time which both get you cut up. anyhoo the dogs got scent of a huge feral cat and went, i heard the bay way up in the distance and by the time i got near it the dam cat had run again guessing going thru the canopy. i could not keep up and by the time i called in the pups & the gsd they were fatigued and done but the old girl just kept doing her thing and was so far away i lost her.
by this point it was pitch black with heavy cloud cover and i got disoriented, spent many hours crawling thru the scrub in pouring rain and mud to find a way out which was the second mistake as i should have stayed put until it was either daylight or the cloud cleared and i could get a bearing.
the pups got their wind back and had a great old time on this extended hike chasing the night critters and the fresh tracks, the gsd got all weird and velcro like and never left my side (big girl).
finally got to the truck about daylight and drove all the tracks trying to find the old girl but nothing. she could have been staked, picked up a bait, been cut by a critter or killed by wild dogs or....
finally went home to straighten out and get a plan, drove all thru the tracks for hours and still nothing...long story less long got a text some 20 hours later from a farmer who was a bout to shoot a strange dog running his vermin proof fence, his wife thought she recognised the dog and would not let him shoot, they tried catching her but she is half wild and bolted. i arrived and gave the other farmers a description and told them not to shoot, found her running the dog proof fence trying to get home.
she went straight cross country for at least 15 miles as the crow flies in an area she had not been in before and arrived by truck at inside a dog box which by road is about 25 miles away. to get back she crossed a heavily baited area with literally 10-80 laced chunks of raw meat illegally broadcast out of a light plane, illegal steel traps are all over and legal containment traps.
when i found her she had about 4 rifles pointed at her head, 303 (ex-millitary), 30-30, 22.250, and a .243. and a bunch of lurchers ready to tear her up as she was pacing the dog proof fence, thankfully they held off and when i got their i just called her and she trotted up in great condition jumped in the truck like nothing ever happened.
not sure if i should beat her or just give her a steak, i opted for the steak.
by this point it was pitch black with heavy cloud cover and i got disoriented, spent many hours crawling thru the scrub in pouring rain and mud to find a way out which was the second mistake as i should have stayed put until it was either daylight or the cloud cleared and i could get a bearing.
the pups got their wind back and had a great old time on this extended hike chasing the night critters and the fresh tracks, the gsd got all weird and velcro like and never left my side (big girl).
finally got to the truck about daylight and drove all the tracks trying to find the old girl but nothing. she could have been staked, picked up a bait, been cut by a critter or killed by wild dogs or....
finally went home to straighten out and get a plan, drove all thru the tracks for hours and still nothing...long story less long got a text some 20 hours later from a farmer who was a bout to shoot a strange dog running his vermin proof fence, his wife thought she recognised the dog and would not let him shoot, they tried catching her but she is half wild and bolted. i arrived and gave the other farmers a description and told them not to shoot, found her running the dog proof fence trying to get home.
she went straight cross country for at least 15 miles as the crow flies in an area she had not been in before and arrived by truck at inside a dog box which by road is about 25 miles away. to get back she crossed a heavily baited area with literally 10-80 laced chunks of raw meat illegally broadcast out of a light plane, illegal steel traps are all over and legal containment traps.
when i found her she had about 4 rifles pointed at her head, 303 (ex-millitary), 30-30, 22.250, and a .243. and a bunch of lurchers ready to tear her up as she was pacing the dog proof fence, thankfully they held off and when i got their i just called her and she trotted up in great condition jumped in the truck like nothing ever happened.
not sure if i should beat her or just give her a steak, i opted for the steak.