I had a similar experience when digital cameras came along. I was making good pocket-money at sporting events with my film cameras and was determined not to switch to digital until it satisfied all three of being better, cheaper and more convenient. I had to wait a bit, but we got there. Looking back on that makes me snort with laughter.
And so it has been with drones. Year after year I talked with a property owner about how much I looked forward to flying a dawn patrol around his farm, to find exactly where the pigs are. How many times had I walked down this valley or up that, in the freezing dawn light, while the pigs were laughing at me from somewhere else? Well, the technology is finally good enough. Putting my eyesight up in the sky is going to help me deal with their insanely good sense of smell. It'll even things up a bit. :-D
Unfortunately, drones can't do anything about how freaking cold it is on frosty, foggy mornings in some parts of Australia. You folk overseas keep hearing about how hot it is here. Not everywhere! Not all the time! The thing I've noticed about using a drone for scouting around farms is that it means I'm standing still for half an hour, outside in the breeze and usually in the shade so I can see the screen. With old fashioned hunting, you know the kind, walking for miles with a rifle over your shoulder, well, that keeps you warm!
Yesterday was my first time flying the Mavic 2 Pro when there's fog about. I've heard from airline pilots that they can land in light fog because they can see down through it. I discovered that pigs don't have bright runway lights pointing to where they are. It was a light fog in the distance when I took off but a pea-souper soon rolled over the paddocks. I pressed the auto-return-home button and after a short panic I had the Mavic and me back in the car, shivering.
I'd been sitting in there for a couple of hours, drinking hot chocolate and curled up trying to keep warm when I looked up from my smart phone once again. This time the fog was slightly clearer.
'Hang on, there's no Angus cattle in this paddock. What are those black lumps out there?'
Binoculars. Holy cow, those are some big pigs! There must have been some tasty grubs in the soil or something - they stayed put while I unlocked a gate and slowly drove 400 metres closer. I turned the 'Cruiser side on to make a good rest over the hood (also a warm one!), then switched off. They noticed the sudden silence, but didn't run. I soon had two sandbags supporting a Mauser M03, making adjustments to get the two closest and biggest pigs lined up. The range was at least 200 metres; perhaps 250. The Zeiss Victory HT scope was already set for 200. I anticipated that the first shot from my 270's clean barrel would print slightly high. It hadn't been fired for six months.
The shot was steady and felt good but the boar I'd aimed at, along with all the other pigs, started running at full speed. I watched a gang of piglets trying to keep up with one of the sows, then switched back to following the boar. I waited for it to pause at the fence but it barrelled straight through a large hole. Damn! Nothing! How deflating.
The fog had almost burned off when I moved the Landcruiser to a slight rise that was closer to the forest line, about 200 metres from the fence. I launched the Mavic with a new battery and once again was amazed at how quickly flying in a straight line gets the camera into a bird's eye position over the best parts of the farm. Nothing to see out there though. On the return journey I flew along the tree-line where I'd seen the pigs earlier. One of them was back! It must have wriggled under the fence while I was staring at the screen. The drone went straight over it, 40 metres up. It reacted to the noise and I caught a glimpse of it heading back into the forest. By the time I'd landed - nothing.
Now that the sun was out I found that waiting to see if any of the pigs would make another appearance was a less shivery affair. I wasn't confident, but at least I wasn't freezing anymore. An hour later the same boar I'd seen with the drone, the lesser of the two big boars from before, walked out from the blackberries and stalked behind the fence, looking for a suitable hole. The sandbags were already on the hood so I only had to lift my Mauser from the rear seat and settle it into place. The boar walked almost directly towards it. When it got to 120 metres away it suddenly turned and ran back to the fence. It was probably the noise of my 270 firing that made it do that.
Not another miss?! Surely not? After a short while I thought, 'Let's see what we can find in the forest with my drone.'
He made it through the belt of blackberries at the edge of the forest before conking out.
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| The smaller of two large boars knocked over with a Mauser M03 - 270 Win. |
Once I'd struggled through the thorns I headed down towards where the first boar had blasted through the fence. I found this.
And then this.
He went in here. I didn't.
But we'll call that first shot I fired a true one after all. Good rifles, these Mausers. :-) Which could come in handy when I bump into the critter that did this - with its antlers.
