I have just returned from a few weeks out in western NSW and northern
Victoria to find the hunting in NSW National Parks and Nature Reserves to be
a well ploughed field on B-A. Two anecdotes from my own sojourn may be
apposite.
While drifting around Nombinnie/Round Hill I chanced upon a Malleefowl
crossing a road. I eased up to the birds crossing point and struggled
through the mud following its tracks for a short distance. Its long low form
and plumage blends well with the mallee and triodia and at a short range
would make a tempting proxy for a medium size mammal. Nombinnie is one of
the seventy six parks and reserves scheduled for hunting.
In Barmah Forest NP in Victoria on the Friday before the long weekend I
stopped to follow a few robins on the side of a dirt road - binoculars in
hand. A 4x4 tray top cruised slowly by replete with hunting dogs in cage and
armory. The passenger yelled "Ya alright, (it clearly wasn't a question)if
ya lookin' for possums there's three back there with bullets in their heads
(expletives deleted)". This was followed with the requisite spinning of
wheels followed by a slow cruise off maintaining visual in the rearview/gun
sights. Three o'clock in the afternoon is an unusual time to be possum
spotting/shooting I thought but maybe things are different in Mexico. I saw
literally hundreds of such vehicles streaming out of Melbourne the following
day.
Chris Lloyd
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