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ALAN_MCKENZIE
.400 member

Reged: 24/03/04
Posts: 1214
Loc: Western Australia

Sambar country up in smoke again.
#66753 - 10/12/06 10:59 PM

Received several calls today from friends in East Gippsland,all telling me that some of the best sambar hunting country in Victoria has gone up in smoke again.

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"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949

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AdamTayler
.375 member

Reged: 22/03/04
Posts: 688
Loc: B.C.

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: ALAN_MCKENZIE]
#66770 - 11/12/06 05:38 AM

Would not a burn remove scrub and create a grass land next year? Is this beneficial for Sambar, like it is for ungulates here?

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It's the journey, not the destination.

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ALAN_MCKENZIE
.400 member

Reged: 24/03/04
Posts: 1214
Loc: Western Australia

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: AdamTayler]
#66817 - 12/12/06 01:32 AM

Its a bloody tragedy that could have been avoided if controlled burning was carried out in Autumn after the first rains instead of a bunch of arsehole government greeny departments telling country people that controlled burning should be done coming into summer and then cancelling it because it is to dry.
The regrowth bush is rubbish bush that is not of any use either for man or beast.
Iff you think I am pissed off you are right.
I was born in the High Country at Dargo and these fires are cutting me to the bone!!!!!!!!!!!
The area burnt is some of the best sambar country in the world.
I am planning on returning to the high country to live, one day before I get to old to enjoy it or government incompetence destroys it ...........
Al

--------------------
"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949

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Gadge
.300 member

Reged: 02/05/04
Posts: 130
Loc: Gippsland, Victoria, Australia

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: AdamTayler]
#67201 - 16/12/06 03:12 PM

Quote:

Would not a burn remove scrub and create a grass land next year? Is this beneficial for Sambar, like it is for ungulates here?

No, in eucalypt forests after intense fires, the understory regrowth is usually thick scrub. To the point of impenetrability. Mild fires result in a more open understory, which is the reason for the 'fuel reduction burn' programs we have. Few of these done this year - conditions have to be just right, and the forest dried out too early.

Not that grass regrowth would particularly benefit sambar, as they are browsers, of the coarser plants, not grazers.

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Cheers,
Doug

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ALAN_MCKENZIE
.400 member

Reged: 24/03/04
Posts: 1214
Loc: Western Australia

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: Gadge]
#67225 - 16/12/06 11:29 PM

Gadge,I was talking to Doug T from MCAV the other day and he is of the opinion the same as me that controlled burning should be carried out heading into winter after the first rains so that the bush is damped down and conducive to a cool burn.
Not waiting till just before summer and then saying its to dry to carry out a controlled burn.
The result is this bloody inferno that is scorching East Gipsland and the High Country.
Al

--------------------
"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949

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gryphon
.450 member

Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: Gadge]
#67462 - 20/12/06 05:26 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Would not a burn remove scrub and create a grass land next year? Is this beneficial for Sambar, like it is for ungulates here?

Not that grass regrowth would particularly benefit sambar, as they are browsers, of the coarser plants, not grazers.

After filming many sambar this year and observing them closely i will disagree with the "not grazers" as they graze far more often than the casual observer may think,many hunters have been schooled in this line of thought,however it is wrong as we have personally (many many times) observed them grazing,attached is a pic i took only last Saturday of two hinds grazing.And yes they are indeed browsers of course,not disputing that at all.
I watched this pair for 45 minutes in the hope that a stag might appear for a pic opp to no avail, however they never lifted their heads from the dry feed on the ground.

I have other pics posted of other deer grazing also.

As i type i have just got in from a snakes hiss on the lemon tree and the smoke is extremely thick from the current fires.

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Get off the chair away from the desk and get out in the bush and enjoy life.

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gryphon
.450 member

Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: gryphon]
#67470 - 20/12/06 05:59 AM

This pic is from the previous month(obvious from the green pick) of a hind /calf combo that i watched grazing for 1/2 an hour or so in company of another hind...all three grazed and believe it or not they fed entirely on the dry feed disregarding the very green pick below them in the creek bottom,however their tracks suggested that they had fed on the bottom grasses during the night...more grazing too!

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Get off the chair away from the desk and get out in the bush and enjoy life.

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tasso
.224 member

Reged: 02/05/03
Posts: 2

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: gryphon]
#67501 - 20/12/06 10:30 AM

Although the fires cause great destruction to man, animal and land, the Australian landscape will regenerate as it has over countless eons. There may be disapointment initially as many secret hunting spots have gone up and people find it an inconvenience to find others, the Sambar will recover and prosper. The fires disperse the herds and they will colonize new areas and will influence greater breeding activity to fill the voids, once the new regrowth appears. All is not lost.

Tasso

Edited by tasso (20/12/06 10:40 AM)

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ALAN_MCKENZIE
.400 member

Reged: 24/03/04
Posts: 1214
Loc: Western Australia

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: tasso]
#67518 - 20/12/06 01:59 PM

I note from the exellent photo's posted by Gryphon that there is a lot of dead timber and also burnt tree's.
The one thing I have observed in recently burnt country is the amount of wattle and other rubbish plants that seem to germinate.

I also have observed Sambar grazing, and in particular in oat crops in the gippsland area.
Al

--------------------
"Dogs always bark at their master"
Sir Seretse Khama.25th June 1949

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gryphon
.450 member

Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...

Re: Sambar country up in smoke again. [Re: ALAN_MCKENZIE]
#67543 - 20/12/06 05:50 PM

Well here`s another one for you Al!

Each one doing their own thing.

--------------------
Get off the chair away from the desk and get out in the bush and enjoy life.

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