Boole Poole Period 2 - long post with a lot of Pics

[rifletuner]

I recently got back from a week on Boole Poole for the hog deer ballot hunt. THis is one of the only parts of the world where you can hunt free ranging hog deer (Axis porcinus). This is my experience on a self guided hunt with 5 other guys hunting from the same camp on a balloted basis for a designated 5 day period. This hunting block is only available to hunt via the ballot, and 3 groups are allocated a place in 3 specific weeks. Otherwise it is not legal to hunt this area.

Monday morning I was awake at 4:20am and on the way to Bairnsdale by 5:00. I drove straight through and made it to the briefing with just a couple of minutes to spare before the 8:30 start time. Interestingly one of the hunters balloted for Blond Bay was a no-show, so they were down one hunter before they started. The briefing is mandatory, so even if he arrived later he could not hunt in the balloted area.

Not much to say about the briefing. We heard from Game Management Authority, Parks Vic and the guy from the hog deer check in station (mandatory check-in of any hog deer taken). They did mention that a private property bordered the hunting area in the east side of the property and that it was well signposted and to make sure we didnt enter any part. The owner is very pedantic and has cellular cameras all over the property. The Parks Vic people said there was a lot of signage that they had posted to delineate the hunting area and that it would be pretty clear on the boundaries (this proved to be very false as neither I nor any of the hunters saw a single Parks sign). They were asked if the new area was signposted and added to the "more to explore" maps, and the answer to both was "no". They mentioned that some residents in the new eastern section were not happy about the addition of that part of the island to the hunting area, and if we were confronted by anyone we should not engage and video the person and submit it to GMA for later investigation. The most disconcerting thing to me was several mentions that snakes were very active, and there were multiple sightings of brown snakes sitting on top of tussocks - which would put them roughly at knee to hip height.

The briefing was over in about an hour and we headed off to get to the island. Four of the six hunters had their own transport on and off Boole Poole. That left another hunter Adrian and myself that needed to book transport. That turned out to be harder than we expected as many of the carter operators we approached said they were unable to do it. In the end Adrian found "Gippsland Water Sports" and they proved very good to deal with.

We arrived at the island just before 11:00 am and unloaded. All the others were already there. Our boat could not get as close to the shore as the other smaller craft, but one of the other hunters pushed his boat out and we loaded it up which meant we could get all our gear across in one trip.

The camping site was mandatory for all of us to camp at. Apparently in prior years it was okay to camp in other locations, but that had been specifically excluded in the briefing. So this meant we had to travel 10km or more east, or 5km or more west to get to the end of the hunting area. On the advice of a friend with a lot of experience, here I bought my son's power assisted mountain bike to help me cover the ground. By the time we were set up at the campground and worked out roughly where we were all heading, it was about 1:00pm. I went east to try to find water holes to sit over. In the briefing Parks Vic did mention that "apparently the road is fairly overgrown". We had a fairly warm week, with temperatures most days with lows of around 60, and highs of around 80. The hottest day was a high of around 90.

This is a view of the road east at the campsite. This proved to be the least overgrown and easiest (relative term) to ride a bike on.

I found the start of the private property and went around it as requested. He had a lot of "keep out" type signage around his whole boundary. Apparently he was flying a drone over the hunters in period one.

My goal was to find water to sit over for the rest of the week. I had a list of GPS coordinates of water holes compiled by my friend and I used this to guide where I looked for water. This proved to be much more difficult than I expected. On the first day, everywhere I looked proved to be dry and inactive.

Some of the countryside on the east side from the shoreline and from the road that afternoon.

The round trip Monday afternoon was around 12km. I was running my GPS as little as possible to preserve battery life so distances are a bit guesstimated. It was tough going and I had sweated a lot. My trip east had been a bust and I was none the wiser at the end of the day.

Two of the other guys I met on the trail (also on bikes) had pushed further east than I did and found water which they sat over but never saw anything. Adrian had gone west and had found a small puddle of water on a water hole and was pretty optimistic about his prospects for the next day.

 

[rifletuner]

Coming into day two, I had been thinking about the plan for the day. My initial thought was to focus on the east since thats where the 2 stags in period one had been shot. But that was a bit of a double edged sword. Yes, there seemed to be more potential in that part of the huntable area, but the flip-side was the distance from camp was a longer haul, and we had no information about water sources in the new area. So potentially we could look for the whole week before we had a good picture of that part of the Park area.

After Adrian had found water in the west, I decided to go explore that area. Tuesday was forecast to be the hottest day with a top around 30 degrees, so I thought it was potentially the best day to be sitting on a water hole.

The shoreline from camp Tuesday morning

I had assumed the road west would be the same as the road on the east side. Boy, was I wrong. This section of road was much worse all round. Much more overgrown, sometimes to the point I had to stop and look around to work out which way the road went. Between the growth, bumps in the road and branches & trees down, I ultimately decided it wasnt viable to ride the bike here and didnt take the bike out again after Tuesday.

I checked out more water holes, but everything I saw was dry. At one I found an old hide someone had set up, but the waterhole was dry.

Some of the country in the east

I never found any water, but stopped and sat a few times during the day. Every time I stopped, the march flies moved in. I sprayed myself thoroughly with Bushman's DEET spray before leaving camp, but in a mistake I wouldnt repeat again, I didnt bring the spray with me. Tuesday had more march fly activity than any other day, I assume due to the heat. I had the shit bitten out of me that day. The flies would bite through light layers of clothing, and at times once they bit me, I couldnt wave them off so would just swat them and kill them.

Early afternoon I was sitting at a possible spot and being eaten by march flies when I heard a muffled shot to my left. I knew thats where Adrian was sitting, and soon after he messaged our group chat to say he had shot a hind. I told him I would come give him a hand as I was only 200-300 meters away. Turned out I had misjudged the distance and it was over half a kilometre so I was sweating heavily by the time I got there. I gave him a bit of a hand and then he headed to camp with his hind.

Tuesday turned out to be a non-event for me, with no deer, deer sign or water found. I had travelled around 10-12ks on bike and foot. I was one of the first ones back, hot and sweating buckets. Aside from Adrian, none of the others had seen any deer and limited deer sign, even when they found small patches of fresh water. I was shagged and went to bed early.

 

[rifletuner]

Wednesday morning at camp I bumped into Adrian early on. He was packing up and told me he might not be back. Tuesday night he called the check in station to advise them he had shot a deer. He assumed he could keep it on ice until Friday, but was told, "no it has to come to the check in station within 24 hours of being shot". He was moving his gear to the beach just as the boat arrived to take him to the mainland. Talking to the guys left in camp, I was told no one else had headed to the waterhole Adrian had sat on. Since it was the only water I knew of, I took a punt we wouldnt see Adrian again and headed to the water hole.

The walk there was pretty manageable and Wednesday was the coolest day of the week with a top of 20 degrees. Finding a spot to sit is driven by the wind direction. Game can come in from any direction, so you cant get a perfect spot without being up off the ground in something like a tree stand. My main priority was to find a spot where my scent wasn't blowing towards the water hole and hope for the best as far as a deer coming in. I found a spot where I had a view of the water hole, but with cover in front of me and the wind was in my face. I went to set up my seat and shooting sticks, only to find my seat missing. In my hurry to get going, I forgot to put my seat in my pack after having breakfast that morning. I wasnt going back to get the seat, so improvised. I piled a few fallen 4" thick branches on the ground, then put my pack on that. I could see the water hole okay from the bodged up seat, and tested moving to make sure the branches didnt make any noise. It was less than ideal, but I had my spot for the day. The wind was pretty mild and consistent, so I didnt need to move all day. At about 11:00am, it was like the local birds had organised a get together at the local pub. All of a sudden, a few rosellas, a honey eater and a bunch of finch sized birds I didnt recognise all arrived at the same time. I just sat there through it and they paid me no attention.

The water hole and my view of it from my seat

Around 4:00pm, Adrian messaged to confirm he was done and on his way home. I had planned to sit there for longer, but after 10 hours on the improvised seat, I couldnt take it anymore. The discomfort in my legs and back was becoming too annoying for me. I had sat there from 8:00 to 6:00 and the only thing sighted were the birds in the morning. There was still a couple of hours of daylight and I was annoyed to be pulling out when I did.

I was the first one back to camp, and I had eaten and gone to bed before anyone else got back. My plan for Thursday was to get out early and sit until darkness. It was getting towards all or nothing at that stage. Coming into the island, my best case was to hold out for a stag. At this stage with no deer seen and only one taken by the group, I was at a point where I would shoot whatever I saw.

 

[rifletuner]

Thursday I was awake at 5:20, made breakfast in the dark, loaded up with bottles of water, made sure the seat was on the pack this time and hit the road to the water hole.

I got to the waterhole at about 6:45. By the time it was 7:00 I was set up and settled in the seat when I heard a dull "thump" sound and a roo hopped into view, had a look around, and went in to get a drink. I was feeling pretty happy as it was the first animal I had seen on the water.

Around 8:30 I switched my phone off airplane mode and there was a message from the boat charter to say the only time he could pick me up on Friday was 9:00am. I was already a bit 50/50 on hunting Friday, so this made my decision for me. I messaged him back to say I would work with that.

The wind at the water hole on Thursday was a lot stronger than Wednesday, and kept swirling around. I kept testing the wind, and by around 8:30 it was predominantly at my back, blowing straight over the water hole. I didn't want to move from the spot where I was, but the wind forced the issue. I backed out a bit, did a loop to my left as that side had the least tracks in to the water hole, and moved 180 degrees to a hill on the opposite side. This position was more exposed and less comfortable because it was on an incline and I kept sliping forward on the seat and it was difficult to get the 3 legged seat in a solid position. I was backed up in front of a large fallen log and hoped that would break up my silhouette a bit.

By 9:00am I was settled into the new spot as best I could. I kept testing the wind and about 80-90% of the time the wind was in my face, or at least sideways to me. But about 10% of the time, the wind would swing to my back and blow straight to the water hole. But there was no better location there and I had to live with it. I got as comfortable as I could, set my sticks to the right height and did some test sight pictures on the water hole. I was less steady here, but when a bird flew into the water hole, I did a test sight picture and I was never off the bird. So it was going to work fine.

I sat in my rickety position until 11:30 when I thought I saw movement on the game trail directly opposite me. My first thought was to dismiss it since there were often shadows that looked like movement when the wind blew the tea tree along the trail. But 10 or so seconds later, a deer popped out of the trail, directly behind a tree. From the little I could see, I knew it was a hoggie hind.

I slowly moved my muzzle over to her and found that my aim was quite solid. She was standing above the water hole, and I was very worried that the wind would swing around to my back again and give me away. I made the decision that as soon as I could shoot, I would. She stepped to her left and paused broadside for a moment, and I squeezed off the shot. I lost her in the recoil for a moment, but as soon as I was back on her, I could see she had dropped on the spot.

I packed up my gear and slowly walked down to the deer. My first thought was "wow, that bullet expanded a lot more than I thought it would". And my second thought was "she looks small". In the short pre-shot time, I never saw her against anything that gave me a clue about her size. But now looking down on her, I could see she was not big. I doubt it would have changed my decision, but I realised she was quite young. Anyhow, it was well beyond reconsidering, so I carried her out, tagged her, opened her up with a knife my son made and "gralloched" her as my ancestors would have referred to.

 

[rifletuner]

Just a pause here to talk about my rifle choice. I decided to hunt with my 9.3x64. The metal work is built around a Zastava M70 action. The work was nominally done by Procal, but the actual smiting was done by my late friend Bob Bell when he teamed up briefly with Peter van Meurs. The stock was made by Geoff Slee a few years before he passed away. Its a rifle I really like and have carried a lot, but not actually shot much game with over the years. I usually shoot 320gn Woodleigh RNSP bullets which are great, but I was worried the hog deer might not offer enough resistance to expand the bullet. I was worried the big bullet might zip through with minimal damage and I might lose the animal. So I loaded up some 232gn Norma Vulcans for this trip. I figured the lighter, non-bonded bullet at a modest velocity around 2450fps would expand okay on the smaller animal. I have had these bullets on the shelf for the last 30 years, but never hunted with them. It was only once I was on Boole Poole that I remembered the bullets were also given to me by my friend Bob. I hadn't planned it that way, but a nice bit of a twist of fate to be using a rifle he built loaded with bullets he gave me. But I was surprised how much the bullet had expanded on such a small animal.

I bagged the deer and hauled everything back to camp. I managed to fit the deer into my esky, then messaged the charter boat to see if they could come get me this afternoon. Unfortunately he was booked out all afternoon, so we agreed to 7:00 am Friday morning. Next I rang the checking station and booked in for their first slot of the day at 9:30 Friday morning.

Right about that time, I reflexively went to scratch my stomach, but my hand ran over a tough lump. I thought "oh shit - thats a tick". Sure enough I lifted my shirt and a tick was embedded about an inch away from my navel. After a bit of googling, I decided not to try and remove it on the island due to the possibility of leaving bits of it in me, or squeezing its contents into me. I could see that a chemist in Bairnsdale had tick removal spray in stock, so decided to go straight there as soon as I was on the mainland. It wasnt ideal, but that way the tick would only be in me for max 20 hours.

Around mid afternoon, I heard what I thought was a boat coming into camp. I was a bit surprised as I expected everyone to hunt until as late as possible. I went down to see who was back, but instead there was a guy on a jetski taking photos of the boats moored at camp. He came up almost to the sand, still sitting on the jetski and asked "are you the one that came onto my property"? From what I could tell he had the sign posted property. I answered "I doubt it". He asked me a few more questions about the hunters there, then wanted to have a bit of a chat. He wasnt rude or threatening, but it was a bit of an odd conversation. Then he rode off. I spoke to the guys about it afterward and everyone was adamant that they hadnt gone onto his land, so not sure what was going on with that.

Since this was the last evening, I was expecting the other guys to be out quite late. But everyone was back by around 5:00pm. They were all a bit dejected. Pretty much no one had seen a stag all week. Two of the guys had seen one stag, but it was standing on someone's lawn in a residential part of the eastern side. The same two guys had multiple opportunities at hinds, but chose not to take one. All the guys said they expected the hunt to be hard, but didnt expect it to be this hard. The prevailing theory was that a lot of the private properties had water troughs providing clean water, and a large portion of the deer were all getting their water there. Pretty much everyone was planning to leave the island Friday morning.

I got up early the next day, packed up and moved all my gear to the shore. I was waiting for the charter when he came in just before 7:00. I was on the mainland and all packed into the car by about 8:00. By the time I got to the pharmacy and sprayed the tick it was about 8:30. I grabbed a coffee and waited for the check in station to open. I got the hog deer check-in done with no issues, and was on the way home by 9:45.

I drove through without stopping and was only about 20 minutes away when I brushed my armpit and felt another small lump that didnt belong there. I was pretty sure it was another tick. As soon as I got home I went and checked in the mirror and sure enough it was another tick in there. I sprayed that one straight away. Ticks - the gift that keeps on giving.