NATIONAL HUNTING CAMP 9: JUNE/JULY 2023

This Camp kicked off at Shelley Forest Camp in north-eastern Victoria, with 17 hunters in attendance from eight ADA branches.

Those present had a ball, with four hunters successful in taking deer and plenty of other animals sighted, especially fallow deer. The burn-off smoke and chainsaw noise that had disturbed recent camps had all but disappeared, and consequently, deer had returned to the lower country. This increase in deer numbers augurs well for deer harvests at future camps.

Mikel Mason, from Victoria Police at Tallangatta, addressed the group on firearms regulations and hunter etiquette early during the Camp. Mikel, a hunter himself, knows what is important to us, and he covered topics such as firearm and ammunition transportation and hunter behaviour, including firearm-related problems that he has personally dealt with.

Five deer were taken during Camp, with Ian Skiller taking a young fallow buck first up on Block 10. Ian has been to the majority of National Hunting Camps, but this was his first ‘Shelley’ deer ―congratulations! Two days later, he returned to the site to find that the carcass had disappeared, evidence of an abundance of wild dogs in the area.

On Day 2, John MacLeod took his first ever fallow deer, a spiker, on Block 13. John had noticed fallow deer feeding on farmland adjacent to Block 13 and was able to ambush his deer as it moved from a bedding area towards the paddocks. This fallow deer was his second-ever deer.Congratulations!

Oleg Kozlov is a big man and always invests a commensurate effort in the field and rarely goes home without a deer, proving that every hunter can have success if they put their heart into the task. Oleg was in his tree stand on Block 9 as dawn broke. The temperature was only 6 degrees, and he was dressing to the hilt. However, it began to rain, and despite donning a rain jacket, things were getting rather unpleasant. By 9 am, Oleg was thinking he was wasting his time, so he began a second breakfast, but then three black animals were spotted moving towards him: a small sambar stag, a large hind and a smaller hind. When the foremost hind was 30m from his tree, Oleg dispatched it with a single shot from his 30/06. Hit in the neck, it dropped on the spot, and the other sambar bolted. They stopped 60m from his tree, giving Oleg a second opportunity. The small stag dropped to a headshot.

Camp dinner was organised by John MacLeod, Jarrard Botting, and Donovan Jones, a venison stroganoff and a venison ragu, both ‘engineered’ by John, and venison lasagna made by Donovan. Jarrard Botting, a professional chef, made the flatbread and prepared the sauteed silver beet with garlic and lemon and slow-roasted sweet potato. There was food left over from the dinner, and this fed the Camp like kings until it closed.

Benjamin Channawl joined the ADA a couple of days prior to his arrival at Camp. Ben, now an Australian citizen, hails from Myanmar and has been hunting deer in Victoria for the past five years with plenty of success on sambar and fallow deer. Much of his hunting is with his mate Hope Hre, who accompanied him to this Camp. Ben took a ripper fallow buck on Block 5 on his second day, his first-ever antlered buck. The animal is easily the best trophy taken on any of the preceding nine National Hunting Camps, and well done!

Thank you, Lyn Coulston, for your ongoing commitment to taking care of Shelley Forest Camp. Thanks also to Bob Gough for providing yet another well-received and well-delivered hunter education session. Everyone who partook of the camp dinner and the considerable food that was left over commended John, Donovan and Jarrard for the planning, preparation and work that went into the camp dinner.