On patrol y'all

Yep, that's me y'all, the G-dog...Taken a couple days ago by my mate who has zero skill with a camera, literally none. It's all good though, there's not much to see really...I'm just a dude; Arms, legs, body, noggin...Same as most others and quite unremarkable in any way whatsoever.

This was taken on the farm and as you can see I've got a wacky little vehicle behind me.

That's a little buggy, made out of a car, that my mate bought recently which is used to get around at the gun range mostly. I'd invited him out to the farm to help with some culling work I do there as my side-gig and he suggested he bring it along because he is older than the Earth itself, and lazy. (I usually hike around on foot and cull). Anyway, I wrote about it before so you can scroll back a couple days in my feed if you're keen.

This was around 1630 and the sun was dipping, the light going golden and...Those pesky bloody kangaroos were starting to move around.

I'm there to control the pest-population on the farm, to scare them away as such and my methods are effective although only for short periods of time. Generally I shoot kangaroos and deer, (mainly roos) and after a few hours of doing so the others kind of get the hint and stay away for a day or a few days. That's what it's all about...Not eradicating them completely which would be impossible, just shooting a few to keep the rest at bay.

I know people judge me for it, maybe even you reading this, but it's a reality of life, of farming and food production in a modern society. Humans have survived through our ability to produce rather than continue the hunter-gatherer path of our origins...With it, and population-growth, comes the need to produce more and that means protecting crops or stock from threats to aid in efficiency and keeping costs down.

I don't feel judged though, I just get on with my life knowing that what I do helps to put food on people's tables at a reasonable price and let the criticism of my activities wash off my like water off a ducks back. I mean, whilst a person tucks into a steak, or some eggs, or a bowl of lettuce it's their choice to delude themselves that something didn't die to put it there...Yep, snails eating lettuce at the farm are a pest, and are killed...No different to a kangaroo, fox or the blight that attacks a food crop.

I don't like killing animals. I don't enjoy it I mean. You can judge me for it, but I'd feel more comfortable killing a human, you know, like a rapist, child molester or some such. I mean if someone was to break into my house and rape and murder my wife they'd die by my hand if I was able. It's just how I am; I wouldn't be able to live knowing that was left to the law, nor would I want to live without my wife anyway. I feel strongly about that.

But an animal? It's not as simple. You can see one below, a kangaroo. I snapped this the other night. Can you see it? He's standing just to the left of centre in the clearing.

There's a fence line on the right edge of shot and I watched this guy work his way down the fence, on the other side, for about 25 minutes hoping he wouldn't cross. It's scrub on the other side and why they cross is beyond me as the grass isn't any better on the farm side...But cross he did.

I was sitting in the buggy about 252m (275 yards) away and knew, once he crossed, I had to take him.

A quick consultation with my ballistics calculator told me it was a 0.8 MRAD adjustment for elevation (8 clicks) which I dialled in and then I squeezed the trigger accounting (holding) manually for the 5mph wind pushing from 1 o'clock. 0.32 seconds later, the bullet flight-time, the projectile impacted this kangaroos head and it died instantly.

I feel no satisfaction at that moment, only relief that my shot was accurate and the animal didn't suffer. If I thought it suffered I'm not sure I could continue to do this job.

I waited behind the gun ready to re-engage in the advent of him having buddies I hadn't seen which could break from concealment at the noise made by my rifle. There was none.

I recorded the data, the environmental factors, scope settings, range etc. and later went to inspect the shot as where I hit the animal is important; I need to know I am accurate and placing bullets where I need them. This is called DOPE, data of previous engagement.

I never take photos of what I have killed as I don't see the point. In fact, I only took this shot as @farm-mom has been asking for a shot of a kangaroo in the wild. I know it's not a great picture and is from a distance, but one doesn't generally sneak up too close to a kangaroo and I don't have a 5000mm camera lens.

We stayed until after dark the other day then packed up the buggy and left. Of course I had to report the evenings numbers to the farmer so he can add them to the tally - Kangaroo culling is very restricted and tightly-managed. He can only take as many as the government has issued tags for and we strictly adhere to those numbers that reset annually.

On another note, I brought out a Warwick WAF1 straigh-pull which you see pictured with a Nightforce scope mounted. My mate doesn't have a suitable culling rifle and so I figured he could use this. It's only in .223 and is certainly not set up for culling but it did a great job. I've made some modifications to it since the last time I photographed it and the other day was the first time it's been fired in the field since then also.

This gun is set up for practical shooting competitions that simulate real-world situations, require rapid-fire and a great deal of movement in and around obstacles, buildings and barricades which is why it's so short.

This is not my favourite gun in the field as I tend to be more of a long range shooter but this gun is so much fun to use in general and at ranges of 10m-300m is a blast to operate with, and accurate enough. The reason it's not suitable for culling is that I have to make head-shots to comply with regulations and whilst this gun will shoot out to 300m quite easily one would be looking for a larger target than a kangaroo head which is actually very small. The .223 round doesn't provide the knockdown I need either; Clipping an animal may cause it to suffer.

Anyway, I guess this post turned into a bit of a mixed-bag huh? It's a rainy Saturday mid-morning right now and I'll be off for a supermarket run shortly, and to do some research on a lawn mower. Talk about fun!

Have a great weekend y'all, design your best version of it and stay safe.

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Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.

Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209