New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Whos the sod whose borrowed my beard and my jacket...if you feel in the pockets theres probably still some shotgun cartridges from duck shooting, some .22 bullets for rabbits, possibly a .303 cartridge or two and definitely a few stones for scaring the whitebait into the net!

Great photo Keith - shes certainly a good keen girl.

Edited by user Thursday, 15 December 2011 3:32:40 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Before I start on my 10cents worth (inflation adjusted was 2cents) I want people to know I'm not a poo stirrer.
If DOC want possums eliminated then they are going to have to come up with a better way than what they are doing now. They have been using 1080 for a very long time now and there are still possums here. Last roar my girl friend and I stayed in a hut 7hrs walk from the road end and I went out for a pee one night and counted 8 sets of eyes peering back at me from the hut door ( taking traps this year). The hills weren't falling down round our ears and there appeared to be plenty of birdlife around, at the opposite end of the scale I have been in to Pureora forest park a good few years back now after a 1080 drop and I have never heard such a silent forest, to top it all off the waterways were full of laced carrots( got bloody thirsty that day). Please don't drink the water from a drop zone, why you might ask if the authorities say it's safe, because even if they cant detect it doesn't mean it's not there and because nobody actually knows what the long term effects of repeated exposure to small doses will do to you. My Dad spent all his life farming and only now when he hasn't farmed for a long time is he having health problems and thats because of repeated exposure to herbicides of which he hasn't had anything to do with for over 20yrs! I know 1080 isn't a herbicide but it is one of the more toxic poisons known to man!
What about TB I hear you ask as the animal health board repeatedly says "that it could ruin our export industry" Theres a lot of other countries out there that have a tb problem England has it in there badgers I believe, don't see them plastering the country side 1080.
I moved from the Coromandel(was tb free not sure if it still is) to the West coast and brought my dairy cows with me to a bad tb area in fact the farm we moved to was on movement control when we took the job. We were there for 5yrs and never once did we have a problem with tb despite the fact that the herds on both sides of us were on movement control. Funny thing is one of the herds had not long had a tb test that was clear when he sent some cows to the works only to have them rejected for having tb. What I'm getting at here is that stock movement is the biggest spreader of tb, I'm not saying possums don't carry tb we all know they do but if those cows that went to the works were sold after that clear test the guy that purchased them would have been none the wiser until he had a test that may or may not have shown that they had tb. Ever wonder what happens to the animals that have tb show up at the works. It's cut up but instead of being exported it's sold on the local market, before you go stickn your fingers down your throat to get rid of that steak don't panic cause cooking kills it (freezing doesn't). If that's the case why do the AHB go on about tb ruining our export industry, unfortunately I don't know the answer to that but I'm sure if you asked the KNOB from the AHB who got on national TV and told us that 1080 breaks down to the toxicity salt and vinegar chips I'd bet he'd come up with some bullshit answer. On that note did anyone read in the paper a couple of months back that they had recalled a heap of meat from export because it may have been tainted with 1080? NO! It was a tiny tiny little paragraph in the local paper. Now that sort of thing has the potential to reduce this country to 3rd world status. No shit!!!!! I wonder what sort of a country we are leaving for our kids and it really worries me.
If anyone thinks it's safe to eat wild game from outside a drop zone get yourself a copy of the latest outdoor mag and read the article wriiten by Steve Anderson. I went to school with this guy and he always struck me as pretty up. He photgraphed several poisoned deer from 3-5kms outside the drop zone.
I personally believe that in my kids lifetime if not my own that there will be birds and insects that will become extinct without mans intervention(read DOC being heroes) because of this stuff.
One final thought to ponder if this stuff is as safe as they say why does this tiny little country use almost all the worlds supply of it.

this is a gold forum not a 1080 bashing site
before you go on about 1080 get the facts straigth ive been in the bush for the last few days hand laying the stuff
i smoked and ate while doing so i now have a funny twitch in my left ball is that because of 1080 or smoking
if you want to go shouting of hear both sides of the coin im not saying im for 1080 but some one has to do it and i dont mind putting my hand out for $$$$$ to play with the stuff at the same time carry a pan round for when lunch comes round

I SAY SUPPORT 1080 AND DOC THEY ARE GREAT PEOPLE DOING THIS COUNTRY A REALLY WORTHWHILE SERVICE

I had to vote to support or not support 1080 Keith and I supported it on the basis of the information I have here and heard from the course I went to but I DO bash DOC - for endless reasons nearly - If it was not for the local conservator for Otago then DOC would have got National media coverage over a matter with which they and I have an agreement over...a signed document in which they broke the conditions of the agreement. It does however go further than that - are they doing the right thing wiping out wilding trees by the use of poisons and more or less saturation poisoning areas where the exotics are actually modifying the landscape in a manner which could hardly be called unattractive such as in Queenstown and other areas.

I noted in the paper yesterday that an extinct bird had been discovered somewhere and DOC was going to ensure it bred to survive - Number one - its wasnt bloody well extinct in the first place otherwise how could an extinct bird turn up? It seemed to have survived very well thank you without DOCs interference! I sure in hell hope they dont do the 'snail trick' to the birds eggs! In the case of the snails wouldnt a pratical organisation merely have taken them straight to another location, released them in a natural environment where man could not make a fatal faux pas and then merely monitor them? No - too risky so they went into the laboratory where they got cooked to death!

I also have a working relationship with them on two separate stages - one ownership of my place and the covenant I have placed on it to protect it...on this matter I shall say nothing. The other is within another capacity...I was most enlightened and intrigued when they brought up the matter of didymo and the measures to prevent it spreading complete with brochures and other promotional items, car stickers etc and then in the next breath show me a brochure with a 4WD vehicle fording a stream somewhere but no mention of cleaning down the 4WD to prevent the spread of didymo!..in one breath activity campaigning to stop it and in the other promoting an actiuvity which will spread it!

A Takahe got shot by a DOC staff member - not only is it a case of identifying a target beyond all reasonable doubt but clearly a case of someone doing a job who clearly should not have been otherwise the mistake would not have been made.

I have also had some interesting meetings with some DOC staff who are arrogant and worthless and in all cases totally one eyed as to THEIR cause and with an inabiity to deal with opposing thoughts and other people - no human relationship skills.

In the course of a personal discussion with elements within DOC they stated that - "their are too many half witted text book intellectual dreamers' within DOC" but there are also lots of great people within DOC but no one will convince me that by and large they dont a shake up in certain areas. I daresay Keith that in your situation you do deal with the realists and frontline guys who had their training with the old Internal Affairs and New Zealand Forest Service and dont have a string of University textbook qualifications strung onto the end of their names because therein lies the difference! These are the people who have the best answers as to coping with the pests and problems we have because despite their lack of university qualifications they have hands on practical experience, can think outside the square and are not one eyed and bigotted. I have dealings with these people and they themselves have told me what they think of some of the staff...especially in the large city offices.

It is interesting to see that there are as many opinions as there are people - the only question I will ever ask re 1080 is WHY dont they use it overseas? I dont know and havent bothered to find out - I did attend a long winded meeting to hear the pros and cons and I had to vote to support it or withdraw support in accordance with the information we were given and that information came from all parties so the decision was a very well informed one and I for one supported it. As for overseas - I assume the answer lies in the DVD presentation I have in my drawer beside me but I really cannot be bothered looking.

I do however ask if there are better alternatives in view of the fact that it is credited with wiping out a great number of deer...apparently. I know that years ago on my own property I had a campaign to get rid of Opossums and had one dog and a lot of traps and within a relatively short time had indeed more or less knocked them right back to few and far between plus a good many stoats and ferrets. Although trapping is man hour demanding it is also a good way to keep numbers down. In truth there are a lot of good ways to keep the numbers down but it comes down to what is most practical, cost efficient in proportion to effectiveness of results.

Harrop is correct when he says that there are birds and insects which may become extinct without mans interference but take note that MOST extinctions in New Zealand are actually due to mans interference...so it is actually man who has got us into this mess!

Edited by user Thursday, 9 February 2012 4:43:04 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Well Keith I have one up on you - my wife mows the lawn and not me - she owns the lawn mower! I dont think people realise the damage done by Stoats and Ferrets. Itsw kind of strange that DOC has suddenly become the subject of discussion today as I have just been notified that I have to travel through to Canterbury next weekend for a meeting with - Shh dont tell anyone - DOC

I think the stuff you meant above is Ferrotox which is Potassium Cyanide

Sorry Keith didn't mean to upset anyone. I just think future generations are going to shake there heads and wonder what the hell we were thinking.
This country has a fixation with poison and we've cocked it up in the past. DDT is a classic example. There are still places where you cant graze dairy cows in the winter yet they can still crop it and sell the crop whch ends up getting eaten by us. Every day we consume all manner of foods that have at some stage in there life have more than likely been sprayed with a fungicide or herbicide that according to the manufacturer is safe to sprayed within x number of days harvest yet nobody has done the research to see what the long term effects of supposedly safe consumption of these poisons are. Lots of poisons build up in your system over time
who knows what the long term effects of minute doses of 1080 could do to you or worse could you end up passing some problem on to your children. Nobody knows. I often wonder if this why our child cancer rates are getting so bad. Sad but true.
On a lighter note I'd bet good money that if if you took your twitchy nut to the doctor he'd say it was smoking related because you smoke!
It's funny how my grandparents generation of smokers that I knew all died of old age. I know of one person who smoked to the age of 90. Makes me wonder if the diet of less chemicals had something to do with it. Something to ponder

Cheers Keith. Only problem with that is that all us smokers know the only con is the that it costs so bloody much to smoke these days lol. Reckon Im paying $60+ a week in tax on smokes. Went up to the claim the other day and instead of taking any tobacco I put on one those patches. Wondered why at the end of the day I was so bloody ratty turns out when you get hot and sweaty the bloody things fall off. 1st fag that night tasted pretty bloody yummy. BTW I'm pretty jealous that you get to trapse off into the wilds killin coons for a living. Have to be the best office in the world!!!! considering getting a bunch of traps and heading into the backblocks somewhere for winter. Have fallen under the spell of the mighty Whitcombe. It's my favourite place on the planet.
In the last year my 14yr old son has been bitten by the hunting bug bigtime and I took him in there for a few days. Didn't get to shoot any deer but we got real close to one in the bush just couldn't get a clear shot. Well now he's under the spell of that river to.
Afterwards he said to me he was glad I didn't say to have a shot coz he was shaking that much that he didn't reckon he would hit.
It's a shame more kids don't get out there as I'm sure the world would be a better place
He was pretty ill for a few years when he was younger and because he spent so much time laid up he had an x box and all the crap that kids cant seem to do without these days, since he got into hunting ALL that crap is gone, sold his xbox.
Can't wait til the roar, hopeing his 1st deer is a roaring stag.
Cheers
Chris

Wish I could get my boy off the computer. I enjoyed technology when i was young but was always out building trolleys, treehuts, tunnels etc and going to catch lobsters in the creek and frogs from the pond. Cant get my kids to do any of that. They say its "boring". I say they are boring!

They absolutely hate me metal detecting also and the sandflies put them off the first time out prospecting so after that they stayed in the car listening to mp3 players and on their laptops. All of which was sneaked into the car before the trip.

I would love to spend all day walking around the bush. Nothing beats exactly what you described Keith. Native bush, birds singing, sound of a slow creek or waterfall nearby........sigh sure beats rumbling machinery knocking down a quaketorn city. The wifes getting her back operated on next week so cant go anywhere until she heals. Even then I cant see her scrambling up creeks over rocks etc very easily for a while. She would hate to miss a trip as she has the fever as bad as me now. :)

So thanks for the stories as its as close as I can get to the outdoors at the moment.

Hmm Not sure how to put a photo on here.