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25.01.2022 Its a cat (and a dog print). Recently in the media as a possible big cat sighting. A classic example of mis-judging the size of an animal when there is nothing to compare for scale. Featureless grass with undulating ground compounds the illusion of a large sized cat. The latest theories by an individual close to the case are that its possibly an asiatic golden cat (or hybrid with feral cat) brought to Australia by Asian seafarers or some undiscovered native cat. The sto...ry just gets more implausible! Lets apply Occams razor - is it a rare melanistic form of the rare and endangered asiatic golden cat that has lived undetected by science in Australia since before European settlement or could it just be a black domestic/feral cat without an object for scale? The finder of the print describes you can actually see where its foot slipped forward in the mud and the dominant back pad... characteristic of a feline. The first statement about a sliding print hi lights that using the shape of the heel pad would be unreliable as it is a misshapen print. The lack of claw marks is also claimed to show its a cat print but I see what look like a couple of claw marks?? Hard to confirm in a single photo though. See more

25.01.2022 Dog prints marking time in the sand of western NSW. The top set are still crisp and haven’t been blurred by wind like the bottom prints. To judge the age, you’ll need to know how much wind there has been recently and how sheltered the location is. I’ve seen Landcruiser wheel tracks blown out by high winds in ten minutes and sheltered dog prints still crisp days later in calm weather.

25.01.2022 Data collection and research after the catch. Its not a job for everyone but I reckon its interesting stuff! Photographic record with date and location information for the clients records. Weight taken. Typical weight for a mature tom. Unfortunately the two biggest cats Ive ever dispatched werent weighed due to no scales at the time. Stomach contents - mostly rabbit in this case. Two whole feet amongst the pieces and fur. Also the skin/shell of an emerging bardi grub ...moth. Severe disease/parasite load visible on the liver. Ive forwarded this photo to a few experts in the field but no clear answer as to the cause without a sample to analyse in the lab. Some possibilities including lymphoid hyperplasia, a range of infectious causes (mycobacterium, histoplasmosis, etc) and unlikely but serious risk tularaemia (which is usually associated with possums). A good reminder of why gloves and hygiene are very important! Scat collection for later analysis of diet. See more

24.01.2022 A quiet but very close howl woke me early one morning. Unzipping my swag I was surprised to see a dingo cautiously skirting my bush camp. I grabbed my camera and managed this one good shot before it melted into the mulga scrub. This happened about 15 years ago near Marla at the start of the Oodnadatta Track in northern South Australia. Im no longer surprised by dingoes coming close to camp in central Australia as it happens quite often. Its all cattle, aboriginal or conservation land out in the centre so dingoes arent routinely controlled unless there are impacts on cattle beyond tolerable levels. This means that dingoes are common and often less afraid of people.

23.01.2022 Firing a Jake trap with my hand - new YouTube upload. A simple demonstration to bust some myths around traps. I fire a real Jake Trap in a real set with my hand. It doesnt cut my fingers off. It doesnt break my fingers. It doesnt even bruise them. This demo is as real as it gets. The trap is buried in the dirt as it usually would be, which deadens the traps action. The jaws have rubber padding. Traps are designed to hold the animals, not break them or cut feet off - that would defeat the idea of trying to catch them!

23.01.2022 Who wouldve thought this camo pattern would blend in so well with leopardwood bark in western NSW. Took some time to put up a couple of monitoring cameras for an upcoming job. Just a little head start to see what pattern the dogs are keeping.

22.01.2022 The new 2020 Browning SpecOps Edge thanks to @browningtrailcams Some new features while keeping the controls familiar and all in a slightly smaller package (Pictured with the previous SpecOps Advantage model below for size comparison). The one feature it now has that I really like is a timer function which will help reduce hundreds of unwanted crow photos during the day when set at an animal carcass. I can just set it to be inactive from 9-5 during the day but be on duty in the prime hours of dusk through to dawn. The smaller size will help hide it from unwanted eyes a bit easier. A small difference in size actually translates into a bigger difference when setting it up out in the bush. The Edge is also now able to take 512gb cards! No more full cards from busy set locations.

20.01.2022 Latest YouTube upload. Feral cat trapping. Trapping felines is not the same as targeting canines. Cats are just different and require an altered technique. This is a way to target them instead of just catching them by accident in sets suited to foxes and wild dogs. Check your local regulations before heading out to put a few sets in - footholds arent legal for feral cats everywhere (and theyre not legal for domestic cats anywhere).

20.01.2022 An obvious set of dog prints across a claypan. It’s been a couple of weeks since the last rain so that’s the firm start of a timeline to age the prints. On the same line there’s a second set of marks, less obvious, that date from a previous rain event. All the detail has been dissolved by water but the pattern and spacing remains to confirm it was also a dog that made them. The clay is now rock hard so a passing dog won’t leave a mark until it hits sand again, which is where I find a fresher set of prints only a couple of days old. Old sign, recent sign and fresh sign at the same spot isn’t by coincidence and it turns out this is a crossing point over a small sandhill to a large waterhole on the other side. A good trap location revealed by interpreting the sign on the ground - a key skill of every good trapper.

20.01.2022 Looks can be deceiving. You could easily picture this one purring on a window sill. But its far from a house cat. Its as wild as a cat can be and completely foreign in our ecosystems. Generations of living completely free from human support has caused a reversion to their wild ancestral past. Australias feral cats are so capable of surviving that they are found from the coast to the arid deserts and tropical savannah to the alpine zone.

20.01.2022 Predation investigation. There are a lot of ways livestock and wildlife can die, many that arent predation. Here is an example of a kid goat killed by a wedge tailed eagle. 1. Skull has no tooth or chew marks visible. Eagles dont have teeth so they strip the flesh from the bone without chewing it. Mammal predators/scavengers will cause various levels of damage to bones by their chewing. 2. The hair has been plucked. Mammals only do this to a small degree. Eagles do this... as they break into and eat a carcass. 3. Thats an eagle foot print in the sand. There was a lack of any mammal predator/scavenger prints in the vicinity- no dogs, foxes or pigs had been at the kill. 4. That is a large bird scat. Only large birds leave white patches that big so it wasnt just left by crows. I mentioned scavenging a few times and its often the case that animals havent actually made the kill but found a carcass dead from other causes. Its hard to show in photos but the situation led me to conclude this goat was an eagle kill and not a scavenging case. The open area where it occurred gave plenty of room for an eagle to kill and a complete lack of evidence pointing to any other cause of death. Sick animals tend to seek cover and dont usually just die in the middle of a bare open patch. Ill also make it clear that eagles can and will kill livestock and wildlife for food despite it often being reported that they only control rabbits and clean up carcasses. This isnt going to become a demonisation of eagles but they do need to be considered when determining causes of predation. See more

20.01.2022 Few and far between this latest job. While its frustrating searching for dog activity that isnt there, its actually a good thing! Gaps in the map can mean that there is nothing there or that no one has checked. Someone has to check those gaps to see what needs to be done. This week, its been my job. While its only a snapshot of right now, the dog activity has been so low that this is the first wild dog sign Ive found.

19.01.2022 Name that track. 22 magnum for scale.

19.01.2022 A few lip squeaks grabbed his attention for another photo. *most new comments now being deleted. I always strive to respond in a constructive way but the volume of comments has got beyond that. Its getting messy and hard to follow so I am cleaning it up a bit. Dingo or wild dog? Thats a complicated question to which there is no consensus answer. Legal definitions should be a reliable way to provide one answer but even that gets convoluted. ... Legally in NSW where this photo was taken its a wild dog defined in legislation as all free-living dogs including dingoes, feral dogs and their hybrids. They are all included together because for practical purposes they are all part of the same population, have the same impacts on agriculture and cant be readily distinguished from each other in the wild. By law, land managers, including National Parks must control wild dogs to reduce impacts on their land and neighbouring land. Legal provisions allow some areas of Park to be set aside where no regular control will be conducted if they are deemed to be low risk for impacts on neighbours. So where this photo was taken, this probable hybrid is legally a wild dog but protected to allow dingoes to fulfill their natural ecological role. Simplifying it further, by NSW law, its both a wild dog and managed as a dingo. Simple eh?! Now that the simple answer is done, Ill follow up with some alternate answers to the same question in other posts. See more

19.01.2022 A trap dog on the line is a valuable asset. Bucks main duty is scenting wild dog sign but occasionally he will bail pigs for me. Hes too valuable for his scenting ability to let loose on boars but he keeps smaller pigs occupied while I sneak in for a dispatch shot. Id already shot one pig from this mob but the others made it into the scrub. Buck went in on their trail and had them bailed in no time. As a team we ended with all three instead of just one if Id been alone.

18.01.2022 Plenty of surface water and forecast rain sent me back onto the bitumen and home early from Western NSW last week. It’s great to see the country coming alive again after so many dry seasons!

17.01.2022 Central Australian dingoes are a bit lighter in build than those closer to the east coast. Thats not surprising given the harsher conditions of the arid interior. What might surprise some is that Id say the dogs of western QLD and NSW can be a bit larger on average than the mountain dogs of the Dividing Range.

17.01.2022 Name that print. Size 8 boot print for scale.

16.01.2022 Aussie dog control history. Lanes Dog Trap evolution. This trap has been the most popular and most recognisable wild dog trap for a long time but its popularity is now waning. Top is the steel jaw version, middle is the newer rubber padded version and bottom is the New Lanes coil spring. The steel jaw evolved from earlier forged spring traps and became a benchmark due to its robustness, lighter weight (compared to heavier forged traps), low maintenance but cheaper cost... through the use of pressed springs and mechanised manufacturing. The rubber padded version appeared in the 1990s due to increased concern and regulation around steel jaw traps. The general reduction in Australian manufacturing claimed another victim when the production of long spring Lanes traps ceased some time around 2010. Further regulation and developments in international trap design led to the New Lanes coil spring that was set to revolutionise trap design with its cast stainless construction. Unfortunately the details didnt match the potential and there were a number of flaws in the trap design. These flaws and the high price meant it was never popular and as far as I know, it is no longer made. The long spring Lanes Dog Trap is still a favourite and keenly sought by many trappers but finding them in useable condition has meant many Lanes fans have been forced to use other traps. Im no expert on the history of Lanes traps and there are many aspects Ive left out or missed but I think this is a pretty good version from the trappers perspective. See more

15.01.2022 Wednesday hump day. Feral camels in central Australia! Its often claimed that camels are low impact due to their soft padded feet. That is just not true! Sure they have less impact than if they had hard hooves but such big animals will do plenty of damage even with soft feet. The second and third pictures show camel trails leading in to a waterhole. Those trails will catch the runoff from the next storm and erosion will start. This rocky ground will likely resist severe er...osion but other soil isnt as resistant. Camels also foul the vital desert waterholes that the native wildlife relies on. They urinate and defecate in and around the water causing it to become a putrid green cesspool. They rip apart their preferred forage trees and eventually kill them. Trees like the quandong are locally extinct where camel numbers are too high. They wreck fences and livestock watering infrastructure. Theyre also a resource and iconic outback animal that has become part of our desert culture and history. I love seeing them but Ive also willingly culled them and harvested them for meat. My only regret is not collecting one of the unique skulls! See more

14.01.2022 Dog control history. A strychnine bottle recovered from an old shed and contents disposed of appropriately. Strychnine was extensively used to poison wild dogs and foxes across the country until it was largely replaced by compound 1080. There were many simple, complicated and cunning ways to produce baits or lace a carcass with strychnine (but this isnt the place to delve into that history). Strychnine rags were also bound to the jaws of traps so that a captured dog wou...ld be quickly poisoned as it bit the material with its teeth. This was done in remote areas and in the horse era where regular checking of traps wasnt possible. This practice is actually still a requirement for remote traps in a couple of States. Bottles like this and also in blue glass still turn up in corners of old sheds from time to time. If you find one, treat it with very careful respect! Its deadly stuff and needs to be disposed of properly. Contact your state authorities for advice. See more

13.01.2022 New Tikka 308 added to the lineup. T3x Lite Stainless in the adjustable stock. Walkabout rifle for pig and deer night work. Who else uses a swag as a shooting mat? Practicool not tacticool!

13.01.2022 The floodwater cam showing moisture inside after three days of being under. Once I pulled the rubber plug out of the bottom it dried out quick. Put the battery tray back in and flicked the switch...

13.01.2022 Fox called out of a thick bracken fern patch with the chirping sounds of sparrow and woodpecker from the Foxpro. I like to start a calling session subtly with mouse or rat squeaks for any fox that happens to be close by. Then begin ramping up the sounds and volume with some rabbit cries and squeals. If that doesnt get results I switch to the bird sounds which will often call in a fox that has ignored all the other sounds. I love the timer feature on the Foxpro remote. Its nice to know exactly how long Ive been calling for since time seems to warp when at a calling stand. This fox came in at the eleven minute mark. Just in time because I usually start packing up at around twelve minutes.

12.01.2022 Western NSW. Cruiser Country.

11.01.2022 Nearing the end of another long day on the trapline. Full days exploring new country and setting traps.

11.01.2022 That storm escalated quickly! Watching a nearby shower of rain led to a mad dash to escape what became a rapidly expanding storm! In this country, getting caught by a storm like this will result in some messed up tracks at the very least. Bogged and stranded behind sheets of water and rising creeks can add to that mess! Not much to do now but wait for it to dry out enough to start driving around without making a mess.

10.01.2022 A video from a quick set with the new Browning SpecOps Edge. Had it set at a deer wallow but none showed in the few days it was set. The feral cat is too close for the camera focus but its always interesting watching them slink around.

10.01.2022 Thick scrub. Our targets love it. Ideally the plan is to catch them away from cover but sometimes there’s no choice but to get in after them.

09.01.2022 Another video from a quick set with the new Browning SpecOps Edge. Quick camera fire up time catching that roo hopping into frame. The fast trigger speed opens up some location opportunities that used to yield poor results with slower cameras. Camera pulled ready for a trip out west soon.

09.01.2022 Feral cats are right at home in the western NSW landscape but they shouldnt be. This location is at least 20klm (12.5 miles) from the nearest house. Up until this day, the only interaction with humans this cat ever had was to hide when it heard a vehicle nearby once in a blue moon.

08.01.2022 I backtracked away from the horse carcass to sneak in behind some rocky outcrops for closer photos. Turns out we both headed for the rocks and I was able to snap some good photos from cover as he snooped about totally unaware of my presence. As a trapper, Im often assumed to hate the animals I target but its just not true. I can easily appreciate watching and photographing an animal that in another place or time, I might be targeting to kill.

07.01.2022 Checking out some remote range country for dog activity. Buck is happy to have found this rainwater puddle after a long scrabble up through the rocks. It was interesting to see that when I would climb up through a difficult section of rocks, Buck would just find an easy way around and meet me at the top. Wild dogs do the same. If theres an easy path, they will usually take it. These easy paths can be at small or large scale. A gap in a rocky range, a vehicle track through scrub or around a fallen branch. These are the type of places where dogs move predictably and the trapper can use that to set traps in targeted locations.

07.01.2022 Feral cat prints cruising the sand hills. Lots of rabbit, rodent and bird prints attracting the predators.

06.01.2022 This CZ 512 22 magnum is turning out to be quite versatile. Perfect for rabbits, cats and foxes and able to step up on small pigs in the right situation. One carefully placed shot at close range but more quick shots available for backup if needed. A nice option where excess noise or projectile pass through is an issue.

06.01.2022 Another multi camera boar rubbing sequence.

05.01.2022 Finally got to this camera after the storm a few days ago. My suspicions were correct and the cam had been under flood water. A five klm round trip walk due to impassable muddy roads. The level had receded but the cam had been almost fully submerged and at least half under for 3 days. Some moisture inside but not waterlogged and it recorded a video of me retrieving it so the camera might have survived! Will let it fully dry and fire it up in a few days... The grebe was not my intended target!

05.01.2022 I spied this scene while travelling through Kosciusko National Park. Long Plain is prime country for both wild dogs and feral horses. I suspect a large part of the dog diet in that area is from horses that die of ill health, injury, starvation or exposure in the harsh winter. Bad for the horse but a long lasting free feed for the dogs. Dingo or wild dog, brumby or feral horse? Thats something Im not going to jump too far into. There is so much disagreement about both issues it seems a bad idea to combine them into one post! Even more controversial is that this area burnt last summer in possibly the worst bush fires on record.

04.01.2022 Rabbits make perfect predator bait. Ive caught plenty of foxes, cats and dogs on the humble bunny. One rabbit will easily provide bait for at least seven big dirt hole sets targeting dogs - two back legs, two mid sections, two front legs/chest and the head. More smaller pieces for fox and cat sets with a smaller dirt hole. The fur makes good visuals for cat sets too. I chunk it up with an axe, skin on, gutted but organs left in. I find the gut goes off too quick and spoils the set but organs are such a tasty treat for predators that it has to be used. Sometimes my scent dogs get a feed too!

04.01.2022 Young boar caught on camera scratching a hard to reach spot. You know when you think someone might be watching? I think he had one of those moments! A second camera fires up in the background and we switch angles.

04.01.2022 Sometimes it’s beautiful sunsets and sometimes it’s swamps, rain and mosquitoes. And that’s just one shift... Drenched and blown away later that night after a storm rolled in. No photos of that though.

04.01.2022 Predation investigation. This one is a sambar deer in the Victorian High Country but the principles are the same if its a prime steer, goat etc. Its quite obvious that the majority of the edible parts have been scavenged already but where are the leg bones? Complete absence of the four sets of leg bones indicates they have been removed by people not animals. Animals will scatter them but there will be parts left on site and often still attached. Pic two is a closer look a...t the ribs. The circled break is bullet damage. Nothing breaks big bones like a bullet does. Im looking for this type of damage to the skull, jaw, spine, scapula and ribs mostly. So weve worked out this deer was shot by meat hunters (or poachers if its your livestock/property) but thats not the end of the story. The scavengers take over to finish cleaning up the carcass so Im looking for sign to see what they are. Its rained and frosted at this location so any prints have been washed away or the ground is frozen and wont take a print. Pic three shows some dog hairs that have caught on the end of a rib as its reached into the chest cavity for some delicacy. Those hairs are white and I reckon Ive got the culprit on a camera set not too far away - pic 4. Unfortunately the camera lens was frosted up due to the exposed high elevation location so its not a great shot but good enough for monitoring purposes. See more

02.01.2022 Another bird of prey kill I found today. Plucked fur and head stripped to gain access to the highly nutritious brain.

01.01.2022 Not much activity on my COVID stranded cameras in NW NSW. This site had a mix of pigs, rabbits and a feral cat before weeds grew up in front of the camera. A nice dusk video looking out over the plains past a mob of pigs though. The other more promising site was dismal. The camera was pushed off line in the first couple of days and then spent 2 months pointing in the wrong direction taking photos of nothing. Frustratingly, there was fresh dog activity passing the location right where the camera should have been pointing.

01.01.2022 Mange affected fox caught during a trapping course Ive been instructing at this week. Quietly covering a few points on humane destruction before a practical demo. Its satisfying when the principles and techniques we teach result in catches from the real sets everybody gets to put in and run for a night or two.

01.01.2022 Id rather be trapping! Fencing at home in the mud and rain today. Some days farming is far from fun but Id still rather be here than behind a desk.