A Thug In The Bush

[Derek Bullock]

I was out and about in the mountains again today when lo and behold I was approached by a rather chubby looking thug in the bush. (Sorry about first blurred photo)



I thought to myself, will I give way to this thug or be a man and stand my ground. Then I looked closer at his battle scarred ears and thought, this blokes been around and could be a tough one.



Been through a few scraps myself over the years so decided to not let myself be pushed around by some long haired git. After an eyeball to eyeball session for sometime I won out and he let me pass and went on his merry way through the blackberry bushes.

[Big_unit]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

Your keen, Wombats are known for being ultra territorial and are often very possesive of their favourite feeding grounds. when they want too. A full grown wombat would have no problems biting clean through your leg bone or using their claws. If they start snorting or worse still screeching then my suggestion is get up a tree, its a sure sign its ready for a blue. They can keep up with a horse at full gallop for about 50 yards.

Ive seen bullbars come off second best to these guys.

[PinHead]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

took the kids and grandkids to Australia Zoo yesterday..I have only ever seen one wombat in the wild but on seeing them close up they have immense power..I am never going to argue with one.

[skippa]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

I reckon the typical aussie bloke is well represented by the wombat.


My missus and kids would somehow find a reason to call me a wombat at times.... I'd just smile to myself, afterall .... he just eats, roots and leaves

[el_carpo]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

Thanks for the pics and story Derek. Sounds like those wombats can be dangerous if they want to be. Better keep a safe distance and carry a sturdy walking staff with you.

I learned that lesson with a whitetail deer once. I was walking my pet beagle on a trail in the local forest preserves and came upon a big buck. He looked at us for a while and I could tell he was thinking about charging. It was right in the middle of what is called "the rut" when bucks fight for females. They get super aggressive and are ready to rumble with anything that draws their attention. Unluckily for me, my beagle is like that all the time (especially with animals larger than himself) and started to bark and growl at him. That, of course, got the deer really ticked off and he starts stomping and snorting and advancing at us. I picked up the dog and grabbed a branch off a tree and started backing away at a steady pace. Thankfully, the deer decided to leave us be. I told my dog, "You do that again and you're on your own bub!"

Here's a pic I found of what I almost had a taste of.

[jez and suze]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

there is a few of those deer in minnipi parklands and the council is going to shoot the dominent male as he is starting to chase people on pushbikes

[bugman]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

It's amazing how many there are down here in Tassie, to the point where they are classed as a pest to farmers.

Permits to shoot them are handed out to anyone who asks. Farmers knock them off on every shooting trip I've been on since being here in 18 months.

Probably not a good story to relate but when I was a kid I shot one with a 22. It turned and ran and I put a couple more in its bum as it ran away.

It stopped and I thought I'd finished it until it turned and chased me. It was grunting and growling and heading directly toward me so I jumped up on a big fencepost and it ran under me and into the scrub.

I've never shot another one since and that was over 25 years ago.

Brett

[_Dan_]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

shooting wombats? legally...

I worked in Fleays fauna park in burleigh when i was a teen, had to look after the wombat enclosure for a couple of weeks, had to use a plastic rake on his back side when he tried to grab me.. awesome animal though.

[el_carpo]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

I never knew there were deer in your guys' part of the world. Once again, Ausfishers teach me something new. Thanks!

That deer you shot may have lived. They have tremendous ability to heal. In fact, medicine is studying them in hopes that they will be able to find new ways to heal broken bones in humans. A few hunters I've known on a local outdoors site here have even seen three legged deer out in the woods acting perfectly fine. There aren't too many predators to kill them here (coyotes or the odd wild dog only) so as long as they aren't eaten by an animal, they're usually able to heal up quite well.

They're a pest for sure to gardeners and farmers but they have their uses as well. I've made all sorts of neat-o stuff from deer. Jewelry and carvings from their bones and antlers, leather from their skins, candles and soap from their rendered fat (only did that once to see if I could LOL it was a bit....pungent), knife handles from their antlers (I've seen some beautiful knives made from antler) and of course as food, they're tasty. They have a strong flavor, but venison sausages and jerky are tough to beat.

Thanks again for the information guys. I'm going to have to study Tasmania's fauna for a while. While looking up the deer, I found some other interesting animals you have. There's more than the famous Tasmanian devil in Tasmania.

[el_carpo]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

.......oops! I misread it. I thought it was a deer you shot. Sorry 'bout that.

[Grunter71]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

_Dan_ and El Carpo

I am pretty sure Bugman is talking about shooting deer, not wombats.

[bugman]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

Actually Grunter.... I mean wombats.

Mainland and Tassie wombats are a bit different species I think. There's certainly no hairy nose down here anyway.

The wombats dig big holes that cause problems with stock etc...

I guess you have to see it to believe it ... but while spotlighting I have seen 10-15 wombats in a 100m square area. - every 100m square area.

Forrestry Tassie and the Sate Government actually pay shooters to shoot them. Gunns Timber are the same.They eat their baby treest. A lot of people on the land deem them a pest and the numbers seem to back that up in some areas.

I will reiterate you must have a crop protection permit - or a sanctioned permit to shoot them. But I've never met a farmer down here yet that doesn't have a crop protection permit.

Brett

[cuzzamundi]

Re: A Thug In The Bush

Lmao off el carpo - my beagle was exactly the same! ah theyre characters.

cuzza