Tag: Hunting Trail Marker & Wind Indicator

Camel Cull


Posted on | by Greg Gibson

Distance is always a problem for our pursuits here in Western Australia. Isolation an inconvenience. To help with the control of camels on Cattle Stations on the fringe of the Never Never (arid uninhabited dessert regions) you need to be prepared. Prepared in the sense that you will need to carry all essentials required for the trip, fuel, water, food, communications and emergency supplies. Planning is essential. So after packing extra water and food, first aid kit, satellite phone and 120 litres of extra fuel, off we go. 14 hours later and we arrive at the cattle station and get the run down and good old chat.

Over the next 7 days we will travel around the Cattle Station and adjoining properties to locate and cull all the camels encountered. Camels are very nomadic beasts and travel huge distance to find feed and water water water. Conditions have been very bad in these semi-arid areas with no significant rain events for the previous two years. Things were dry and feed was sparse. The camels have to search far and wide for their survival. All the camels encountered were in a very poor state. Hence needing to come into the Stations from their usual desert habitat to find water. All the Stations have bores and or windmills to water their cattle and the camels invade these watering points in huge numbers. Water is a rare commodity in this environment so the Cattle men can ill afford to be sharing it with these brutes. A large bull camel can consume up to 200 litres of water in one drink. Camels because of their size also do damage to these watering points by breaking pipes, floats and infrastructure causing expensive repairs and putting the cattle at risk of dying from thirst.

Camel meat is a very good to the palate, being similar in texture and flavour to beef. So any of the young culled animals in reasonable conditions had their backstraps removed. The skin on a camel is not that tough, but it is fully impregnated with sand and vegetable matter tangle and entwined in the thick woolly hair so is dynamite on knives. The Apex 46 knife came to the fore. This knife surprised me. Camels are large animals with bulls standing 2 metres tall and weighing 1000 kilograms.  The Apex 46 is a weighty sturdy knife but still a size that can be used articulately. I removed the backstraps from numerous animals and only used a steel to touch up between each. Kept its edge, certainly did. A permanent addition to my kit. This here knife is a bloody beauty.

Well what a week. We culled 122 camels. This should keep the Station owners happy though this is an ongoing issue for them. They pray for rain for their cattle but also for the Never Never country so the camel move back out into the desert.

Apex Airglo Trail Marker & Wind Indicator


Posted on | by Napier

New for 2015/16 season, the Airglo hunters pack is now available from all Napier Dealers.

All hunters know how quickly a stalk can go horribly wrong if the wind changes direction part way through an approach, so successful stalkers use skill, and appropriate kit to maximise their performance.

It is well known that Deer rely on their 3 senses to survive, and that some species have better eyesight than others, but what is common to all is their primary defence is scent.

Airglo -Napier

The consencus from leading stalkers and pro hunters is that on average Deer rely on 65% Scent 15% Eysight, 20% Hearing

Over the years many attempts have been made to overcome this, deodorant sprays, pine flavoured chewing gum, scent treated garments etc.

BUT the basic fact remains, a Hunter exhales 10,000 litres of HUMAN scent every day, & no amount of kit and skill will produce results if a deer catches your scent. Its game over and often you never even saw them!

Some folks check wind occasionally, especially at the beginning of a stalk, with powders, cigarettes, or just observing the trees.

Rarely is the ground level air moving in the same way as the tree tops, and it can change instantly as you walk, affected by hedges, terrain & turbulence, sufficient to wreck an approach.

It is therefore important to check and re check often.

Airglo was developed by Napier to be easy and convenient to use.

First we looked at the alternatives and found that most use quite large particles & just pack in squat bottles, very difficult to grip and never easy to find in the pocket just when required.

Worse still one major brand states clearly on the pack.

“WARNING this product contains chemicals, including lead, known to the state of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm. Wash hands after use”

So Airglo is Made in England, by Napier of London & is completely NON TOXIC and non staining.

ULTRA FINE PARTICLE powder is packed in a special ergonomically designed BATON dispenser with sufficient air space that when used vertically it dispenses a tiny amount each puff. & it’s is easy to grip and use even with wet cold or gloved hands.

Even the slightest air movement will be detected with AIRGLO.

Supplied with a Realtree AP Neoprene sleeve

It can be attached by its lanyard or belt clip, and is always ready to use.

The SILENT one handed dispenser cap can even be used with gloved hands, whilst in its protective Realtree sleeve it can be worn around the neck.

Airglo is also an effective TRAIL MARKER, just invert the bottle to mark a shot position or to re trace travel, being insoluble in water, AIRGLO will maintain trail capability for some time but will disperse naturally and is non staining to skin and clothing.