I went out yesterday and today to see if the reds up my way had started to make any noise yet and to see if I could get a bit more access in the area I already hunt.This time Michael my 8 yr old son decided he wanted to come so we headed off sat morning for the hour and a bit run to the area in the Brisbane Valley for a look around.I have access to about 2500 acres along the escarpment ridge line but back off the ridge a bit over the road that runs north along the ridge but have always wanted to hunt the country on the other side of the road as that country leads down into the gorge and runs along the side of the state forest.Last roar I spoke to the old guy that owned it and he had been hearing them roar every morning just below his house and didnt like the idea of people hunting them so his place was off limits.
Anyway over the last year he moved to the coast and now his son has the place so it was definitley worth a visit to see if things could be turned around for this roar.I had the boy with which seems to help at times to soften the land owners a bit but it was not needed. I introduced myself and said I hunt in the area and before I could even ask he said yer thats fine and started to draw a mud map of the best spots on the place.You could have knocked me down with a feather to say the least and when his son came out of the house and said he saw 15 does and a white stag down there during the week I almost couldnt speak.
As we got back in the car it started to rain but we followed the instructions and where soon pushing the car through the lantana along the sides of the logging track heading down in the gorge and after about 10 mins found the spot he had been talking about and sat watching the rain on the windscreen for a few minutes until it stopped.I could not believe it, even where I had parked was covered with deer tracks and some big deep ones at that.We had a bit of a scout around and found some nice looking walking tracks heading off in the bush almost all with deer sign on them this was unreal.
The only thing it lacked was a nice flat spot for the tent so he headed back up on the ridge and found a nice cleared spot with no lantana growing and set up the camp.That night the ownes son came down and saw us and said he had come down to do some more clearing here on the ridge as he was building a small hut right where my camp was and soon I would be able to stay in it instead of camping if it rained.(could this get any better or what?)
All in all it was a great trip and Michael enjoyed his first trip away finding a scorpion and some wild rasberries and an old tractor to play on in the scrub so he was in heaven and it just topped the trip off when we left this morning just out of the property we spotted 5 does in great nick on the side of the road.