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PhilH

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Everything posted by PhilH

  1. 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
  2. PhilH
    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
  3. PhilH
    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
  4. PhilH
    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
  5. PhilH
    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
  6. PhilH
    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
  7. PhilH
    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
  8. PhilH
    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
  9. PhilH
    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
  10. PhilH
    Nice to see. What is the night vision setup? A clip-on? Cheers Phil
  11. PhilH
    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
  12. PhilH
    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
  13. PhilH
    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
  14. PhilH
    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
  15. PhilH
    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
  16. PhilH
    Brilliant @bumpy22 and that comes from someone that has never had to deal with foxes during lambing......pigs and seagulls, yes, but we are lucky not to have foxes in New Zealand. What is the scope that have over top of the HMR? Cheers Phil
  17. PhilH
    And then tonight, Sharon was itching to go up the hill again. Had to laugh, it was almost a repeat of the previous Tuesday except this time we saw 3 pigs up on the hill at 950 meters away. We mapped a course and went hell for leather up the hill with the wind in our face. We got to the final ridge and suspected they would be just over the top. Into super stealth mode and just as we were about to get to the top the wind faltered and started to turn. Bugger. We kept going only to see the 3 pigs fifty meters away in full flight to the forest edge....they had got wind of us. Sharon was pissed off
  18. PhilH
    Yes, @Dervburner .17hmr is probably a good choice for your mice. Down under, the breeding conditions are rather ideal for mice and they grow really big. We find a 45/70 or 12 guage shotgun with solid slugs is the best choice here.....? Cheers Phil
  19. PhilH
    The Gamekeeper would cause you grief if stopped by plod? Crikey....this is my every-day-carry and plod over here have never had a problem with it.......so far. I always carry it clipped inside my right hand jeans pocket and it is obvious to see with the large clip and half an inch protruding over the top. What do your Police find objectionable in a knife in the UK? Blade length, blade shape? We, here in New Zealand have to have reasonable cause to be carrying a knife in public. The one and only time that I have ever had it mentioned I just said that I live on a farm and ca
  20. PhilH
    I never knock the Mora. I always carry a variant of it, the Bahco, in my pack. Made by Mora and using the same steel. They are quite indestructible. Less than $NZ20 here in New Zealand. Cheers Phil
  21. PhilH
    I wasn't quite sure where to put this story. If I have it wrong, please point out where it should go. Tuesday night last, after traipsing nearly 10 km over hills where we have usually had great success in finding wild pig we came up empty handed. Those are the breaks. In the past we have seen mobs of 14 pigs up there, but not tonight. Nothing for it but to trek 3 km down the hill to the Suzuki Escudo. We were following a 4 wheel drive dirt track down and around the side of the hill, rifle unloaded and over my shoulder, still using red-beam headlamps, but not maintaining the usual silent s
  22. PhilH
    I totally agree with you @low plains drifter, a lot of these bespoke knife makers are true artisan's or even artists. Their knives, while I can imagine are a delight to use in the bush, are objects of beauty; works of art. Lucky is the man that can carry such a knife when out hunting or in the bush. For me, I firstly don't have the money to buy such knives, and secondly, if I did i would most likely keep it locked up in a glass cabinet for display only. All the knives that i use are just tools. Some are better looking than others but in the end, they are just tools allowing a job to be do
  23. PhilH
    Impossible seems pretty dire, but if only for the moment, I guess not to bad. Hurry mind, the place is starting to fill up. A lot of UK exiles turning up at the door. Hell, the little town of Oxford, about 65 km from my place used to be such a sleepy little hollow when i was a boy. Now it is euphemistically referred to as 'Little Britain' . The Brit's love it for some reason and pay extraordinary dollars to live there. If you don't speak with a Brit accent there, they mark you as an outsider. Thank God I can still wing one...... ? Cheers Phil
  24. PhilH
    Thanks for that @Mmamonster, I do exactly that and I have had some successes but a couple of shots that i am not sure I should have missed. I really need some more time at the range with it to really be comfortable with it, but that is a 150 km round trip. Yes, I did 22 years in the north Island after my first 18 years in the South Island and then did 17 years based in UK but working there, Europe and US before returning to NZ. Now based in the Canterbury foothills. Cheers Phil
  25. PhilH
    Just went and had a look at his site Handmade Knives - Adrian Etheridge Knives - Adrian Etheridge - Custom - Handmade knives UK WWW.ADRIANETHERIDGEKNIVES.COM Custom knife Maker based in Cornwall UK Hand crafted knives for Bushcraft, Hunting, fishing and the Kitchen. First thing I noticed was a notice saying that his books are closed. Looking at the knives that he is producing it is no wonder that he can't take anymore orders.......they are rather sublime. Cheers Phil
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