One of our valued landholders within the local red deer area was seeing an increase in wild dog tracks across one side of his property. The last time he saw this, the attacks on young calves soon followed and we sorted the problem out for him. Time to do a run down that way again, first with Judy and then with my nephew Travis riding shotgun.

Rusa deer, are they a "Pest" or a poorly managed resource? Here is the first part of our series on Rusa deer hunting and management in Queensland Australia. Part one is about a hunt for a massive full velvet Rusa stag.

Those so called "hunters" within our ranks, who promote a "kill 'em all" mentality may think they are fooling everyone but they are really just fooling themselves. Many in Government must be rubbing their hand together with glee, as they see some "hunters", (who would sell Granny to get access), accept the system which will eventually see us with no guns, no hunting and no game. Sustainable Use means respect, morals and fair hunting rules, Eradication means we need to throw out our humanity.

The first two dogs had fallen to our sets but the trail camera told the story. The Saddleback dog was carefully manoeuvring between the traps with all the skill of a burglar, so it would come down to patience and persistence (plus a few little tricks thrown in. ;)

The first traps were in and we had just had light rain overnight which would help to kill the man scent along the trapline. Time to go out and see if Skunk had helped select our trap sites wisely.

Outstanding dogs may only come your way a few times in your life. Chocky Ya Ya (also known as Chock, the old General, La La to his countless friends) was one of those dogs. Super smart, a superb hunting mate but he was getting old. On one of his sojourns away from the lodge, he crossed paths with some seriously bad wild dogs and the rest, unfortunately is history. He paid the ultimate price, so will they.

In search of Chocky's killers

Skunk and I had our first catch, a very different style of wild dog to what was normally seen in this area, a new arrival. With big rain predicted, could we strike again before the heavens opened up? Time to check the trapline again.

The wild dogs that killed old Chocky had been through our area often. About two years ago, the Alpha male of the pack was a very trap shy and cunning dog known as "Saddleback" due to his colouration. This is the story about this trapping session in two parts.

We had been highly successful with our wild dog trapping program but our trail camera photos showed the two dogs which were scratching traps and dodging our best efforts. Could we crack these hard cases in our last day?

When life makes my head spin, I go for a walk in the bush with my dogs, listen, breathe, settle my spirit and count my blessings. We are all in the circle of life and there is no jumping off this train. As we see fazes of our life pass, we see their reflection in our children, Grandkids and even our four legged mates.

Our trapline had worked, we had the main dingo packs rattled and the survivors were on the move. This is the time when you need to remain focussed, improve your set patterns and get ready to finish the job.