SteveNT
Very Well-Known Member
Another week in Arnhem Land. We burnt about ½ million sq. km of country (mostly by chopper), the fires revealed the old 1880s Maranbouy tin mine, we pushed a new 20km track to a forgotten crossing on the Goyder River (it took 80 very rough km off the existing route), and shot, butchered and ate a 1 tonne bush bull.
Emu Springs is a beautiful Outstation that is now mostly abandoned because the Govt wants to push all these people into “Centralised Communities” (don’t get me started!) This baby buff was lucky not to end up on the menu when the caterers didn’t show up. Here’s an Arnhem Land Rabbit!
View attachment 258526View attachment 258525View attachment 258524
The shooter launched from a moving vehicle and while both he and this bullock were on the run he dropped it with a spine shot at 100 meters! (Open sights too). The bull picked a pretty spot to die. He had one horn growing into his head which must have been uncomfortable. He was very fat and was butchered in an hour leaving only skin and bone. The young blokes got butchering lessons. This beast fed 40+ people at our camp after a tenderising trip on the roof racks!. I took over 200 photos of the whole process but probably a bit too gory for APS, there would have been tears.
If you can ignore the clothes and yellow axe handle this could have been a scene from 40,000 years ago in this same place. Instead of a cow it would have been a diprotodont.
The fires we light are ignited from choppers using incendiaries. They travel GPS lines agreed to in meetings of Senior Traditional Owners, Pastoralists, Ranger groups and various Govt. depts. They are cool trickle fires which are vastly weaker than a fire in the same area in Sept or Oct when this country has really dried out and lost the natural fire breaks of perennial streams. It was worth $1.3 million last year in carbon abatement and double that this year.
Beautiful drive home at sunrise. There are many ferals (including these horses from ex stock horses) and I sometimes wonder (heretically) if there is a place for them as a replacement for the large herbivoures that used to live in this landscape. With us as the requisite predator. We are doing ariel platform feral reduction next month.
Emu Springs is a beautiful Outstation that is now mostly abandoned because the Govt wants to push all these people into “Centralised Communities” (don’t get me started!) This baby buff was lucky not to end up on the menu when the caterers didn’t show up. Here’s an Arnhem Land Rabbit!
View attachment 258526View attachment 258525View attachment 258524
The shooter launched from a moving vehicle and while both he and this bullock were on the run he dropped it with a spine shot at 100 meters! (Open sights too). The bull picked a pretty spot to die. He had one horn growing into his head which must have been uncomfortable. He was very fat and was butchered in an hour leaving only skin and bone. The young blokes got butchering lessons. This beast fed 40+ people at our camp after a tenderising trip on the roof racks!. I took over 200 photos of the whole process but probably a bit too gory for APS, there would have been tears.
If you can ignore the clothes and yellow axe handle this could have been a scene from 40,000 years ago in this same place. Instead of a cow it would have been a diprotodont.
The fires we light are ignited from choppers using incendiaries. They travel GPS lines agreed to in meetings of Senior Traditional Owners, Pastoralists, Ranger groups and various Govt. depts. They are cool trickle fires which are vastly weaker than a fire in the same area in Sept or Oct when this country has really dried out and lost the natural fire breaks of perennial streams. It was worth $1.3 million last year in carbon abatement and double that this year.
Beautiful drive home at sunrise. There are many ferals (including these horses from ex stock horses) and I sometimes wonder (heretically) if there is a place for them as a replacement for the large herbivoures that used to live in this landscape. With us as the requisite predator. We are doing ariel platform feral reduction next month.
Last edited:
