It was Thursday evening; sounds of crickets, critters and kookaburras, the breeze in the gum trees, the crackle of dry grasses as I changed positions and the way the natural world poured into me all contributed to my mood as the sinking sun sapped the warmth from the day and the moment stole my stresses; that feeling of peace and stillness inside, a deep connection with nature and an understanding of where I fitted within it brought with it a comforting feeling.
I felt good.
As the sun sank lower behind me the last rays warmed my back and turned the summer-dry hills in front of me to gold and I felt content where I was, knew I was exactly where I needed to be at that precise moment, and I sank back into the feeling allowing it to wash over and permeate within me.
I'd finished work only a couple hours earlier and the four days off over the Easter weekend pulled me forward and into their embrace as a lover might - a place I was happy to be - and with a few things planned over the coming days decided to do a little hunting on Thursday night just to kick it all off. I changed clothing, grabbed my loadout - it's always ready to go - a rifle and ammunition and jumped into my truck and headed up into the hills and into the welcoming arms of nature. The instant I turned off the black top I felt better and the complexities and stresses of my work and the professional business man I have to be fell away just as the dust my truck tyres kicked up was left behind the deeper into the hills I got.
I did some hunting initially, found some targets and dispatched them but, as always, sat down just before sunset to enjoy that moment - the show that nature offers up free of charge each evening and one I feel is quite special.
The sun had dipped below the horizon behind me leaving a brilliant line of red, purple and orange that sat lavishly upon the black silhouette of the woods, a black frame to the vivid hues of the Australian sunset - the sky ahead (the image above) was stained in subtle pinks and yellows as the light faded and the sky would soon be crowded with stars - Ho I love watching them slide across the sky as time passes.
These golden hours, the natural world around me, the peace of mind and spirit, absence of the sounds of humanity, fresh air and no reason to be anywhere at any given point in time are truly golden hours for me; a bounty I find invaluable.
I ended up staying into the night, around 23:00h or so, and pulled the trigger several times, five rounds and five downed targets from between 230 to 280 meters, fairly close ranges considering my shooting skills I guess. I even saw a sleeping kangaroo who seemed to think laying right next to my rifle was the perfect place for a nap.
I eventually packed up and hiked back to my truck and headed home for some food, coffee and a shower...after securing the rifle and ammunition in accordance with the legislative requirements of course. I felt relaxed, a little tired from a lot of hiking and stalking, but ready for the rest of the weekend which, I believe, will prove just as valuable as those golden hours had been.
If you have any comments please feel free to leave them, I'll treat them each accordingly, and also if you're up for a challenge...in the image at the top of this post there is a kangaroo standing up...if you think you know where it is let me know...you'll earn millions of bonus points if you get it right.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image(s) in this post are my own taken 28 April 2024
Hi Galen, I can only tell you to enjoy these four days of rest. I liked the wording of the text, it "transported" me for a few moments to a place where I can't be , it makes me a little envious, but I think I can imagine what contact with Nature makes you feel. A hug
Thank you, and I've been nice time so far, relaxing and doing a little here and there also. I am off to a country fair today (Sunday) in a place called Meadows which might be interesting. I hope you're having a good weekend too.
I'm having a very good weekend, I just got back from a very special friend's birthday and tomorrow I have a good day planned. Thank you very much and a big hug
What kinds of temperatures are you experiencing up in the hills away from the coast at this time of the year?
P.s. no record scratch here. I understand what population control is. The overpopulation horrors that happen when it is not controlled. Maybe Debbie Downers would rather the animals die of disease and starvation, Maybe the warm fuzzy feelings they were having should not be interrupted by squealing tires as the animals when not culled over populate and are ran over by automobiles. They would rather they all live and destroy the crops that make the food that magically appears on their grocery store shelves. Sorry...
"record scratch" rubbed me the wrong way...
The days have been 32C in the city and suburbs during the day but this will be the last of that...drops down from 32C today to 21C tomorrow. In the hills it's about the same, a degree or two less, but at night much colder than it is in the city. We're getting 11-13C in the city and where I was on Thursday night it was 8C when I left.
People like you get it, but many do not I suppose. The reality of humans consuming meat and using animal products is that something has to die and it's not always the target animal as you know, there's peripheral scenarios. I think people just don't want to know about it, happy to hear their steaks, bacon and eggs and wear leather without thinking about where it came from.
I don't mind to be honest, I mean, I'm content with how I do things, humane dispatch of targets, and understand that some people won't approve for whatever reason.
Nothing but love from this consumer. Have I told you I live vicariously with you thru your writings. I know your tired of hearing it.. lol
I just wish I could have been on that hillside at twilight and felt that feeling. No records scratchin' here bro.
Last of the cool days/nights here on this side of the crazy planet. 45°f here tonight and calling for a few more cool nights next weekend. Days are getting warmer and muggy tho.
Keep your good posts coming Galen. It is why I keep coming back to this Hive.
I think you would have enjoyed it that night, the peace and quite, the gunfire and all too. I'm quite fortunate to be trusted enough to have unlimited to that place and the skills to know what to do when I'm there.
The mugginess you mention, that's what I would hate up there. The tropical north of Australia is very humid and it's unbearable...but then so can the extreme (dry) heat found in the interior and where I am situated. I prefer cooler weather.
I hope you're well and the wheels don't have to roll this weekend.
All good here. Just set up next weeks run up to North Carolina with a second stop near Charleston South Carolina. So we are still hanging on while the clowns in power burn this country down around us. I hear yours are doing the same.
Your writings make the breaks I take where I actually do enter into the cyber realm enjoyable. I try to avoid the news.
Soon it will be uncomfortably hot and humid here. This ol' trucker does not have the stamina for that any more. I will do my projects from early morning till 9-10 am.
I am planning a campfire beside the pond Saturday night.(tonight)
If the easy chair and the netflix big screen does not win out. 😉
Yep, we have much nutbaggery here from the government and in so many areas that it's difficult to see a way out. It's the same in a lot of places I think and avoiding the news is certainly a good strategy.
Do you have sleeper cabin AC? This is one I have had a lot to do with in the past. https://www.customair.net.au/
The APU takes care of that. It will literally make icicles on my toes and nose. The best $5k I ever spent.
Mob on the move at dawn or dusk, I would think would be through the slight gully formation through center of photo, not a marksman so wild guess as to movement of animals.
Great golden hour photography on the open plains.
They certainly do move around at dawn and dusk but are known to be around all the time and happy to move about except for on the hottest of days.
They weren't in the gully, they're actually in that open patch to the left of shot, not too far down from the crest.
Out in the open, swagger chaps not shy obviously a quiet region..., no wonder you thoroughly enjoy it.
Sleeping kangaroo my foot ! 😏
Such sweet and heartfelt words, accompanied by a photo of a dead animal. That's like a big record scratch right as I was about to be lulled into the worded bliss.
lol. It is quite the downer, after I get past the curiousity.
I know ! nice, nice, sweet, sweet, nice, nice.... YIKES !! LOL
I think that kangaroo just had a busy day and decided, fuck it, I'm laying down for a bit of kip. seemed like a likely place for it.
If you were pinocchio.... your nose would have just grown a half foot !
On other note, I was surprised when I accidentally hit the favs button and Vwa-LA.... up they came without hesitation. Did you threaten whoever it was that fixed it??? If you did, it worked !!!
Lol...just my nose?
I saw that...there was a plug-in required that those running nodes had to get. Apparently it's all fixed.
As far as I know. If anything else grew when pinocchio fibbed, they didn't include that in the children's book I had.
I wonder what took them so long ! It's not nice for them to annoy me. It IS all about ME... right ???
Haha, yeah I was going to an adult level there, can't help it, you know me. Lol.
How dare they not fixit in your time frame! I was pissed with the situation too though as I use my Favourites list for people I want to watch, those that might need some reward subtraction and others I like (sporadically) and not enough to follow all the time. It's gtg now though...although I can't believe they risked the wrath of you by not fixing it earlier though.
Were you culling or freezer filling?
Either way glad you had a good evening :) Got more of the same planned or all different events now? And lots of relaxing too? :D
A little of both on this occasion, but the main thing was just to be out there. Mission accomplished.
I had to read it two or three times to get the hint about the kangaroo. 😃
They can be hard to see even in real life sometimes, I don't expect anyone to see it in the top image although peoppe might be able to spot a kangaroo in the second image if they look carefully.
Didn't find in the top picture, but sure enjoyed looking and "hunting" for it in your spot!
Lovely area, just need a higher zoom level for my eyes!
Here in the south, we call those "dirt naps" because they look so cozy and quiet laying in the dirt. That looks pretty good sized one, hard for us inexperienced to judge size/weight, but guessing maybe around 75 lbs / 34 kg?
Will look forward to finding out where it really is in the top pic, and hoping you'll clue us in if no one gets it on their own.
It was probably a little heavier than that, maybe 40kg...They're pretty dense buggers. This one was a good sleeper though.
I took the image with my phone, the kangaroos are at almost 300m so I didn't expect anyone to see them as blowing the image up just pixelates the image. I'll circle them if I remember tomorrow.
Knowing you, I figured it would be a ways out. It's just a dark blob for me at 500% zoom, but this is what I thought might be it just from rough size and contrast...
That's a good spot...but no it's a stump.
There's two...one not far off the fence line which is stretching forward to crop grass and a smaller one facing away from the camera to the left and slightly lower (within the blue marked area.)
I didn't shoot at them in these positions, just over 340m, but they made their way a little lower off the crest about the middle of that area below where the second, smaller, one is in the image. That brough them to slightly under 300m. They were not big ones, maybe about a third smaller than the one that took a nap right next to me rifle. I didn't think people would find them as neither actually looks like a kangaroo standing up, because they're not standing up. with a side profile.
Tks for pointing out, barely recognizable with the direction and still mainly just a blur. Where's that ultra high-res? lol.. Envious of the area and love seeing the pics.
Nature and sunshine are definitely golden hours of relaxation where it is more worthwhile to be than anywhere else, it gives a lot of peace and quiet.
It is very difficult to spot the kangaroo that camouflages itself very well in the bushes. Many of them looked like kangaroos to me, but I'm not sure. I thought I saw it in the top left corner, but there are three dots that could be it and I enlarged the image so much that it got pixelated.🤣
Most likely that kangaroo is the one that then sleeps peacefully next to your rifle, it was a good place to do it.
Well, I'm not taking you hunting if you're not able to see the kangaroos...you'd not make a very good spotter! 🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣But you learn!!!! hahaha
I'll hazard a guess. Is the kangaroo near the tree in the middle? I'm just on a laptop and things don't look as clear to me haha.
Those were a lot of kills. 1 shot 1 kill is really efficient. As for the sleeping kangaroo, when it's this close, do you still use the sniper?
That's close actually, to the left and up the hill is one...well, there was until I shot it.
Nice on you to easily spot them. Or do you use binoculars for better vision?
Binoculars and my rifle scope for sure, but I scan with the naked eye also.
A while ago I saw on the news a kangaroo who was trying to drown a dog. Until then I thought that kangaroos are cute but it seems that they can be quite nasty/ dangerous.
They wouldn't go out of their way to be aggressive normally, but can be if corneres or threatened. Some grow very big too, 6.6 feet or so. They can be intimidating I guess, although I've not come across an overly aggressive one in all the years I've spent in the outback.
the standing Kangaroo, clearly
is in the picture at the top of the post.
Did I get that right? LOL!!!
Above is the text I wrote in my post. I guess you might have missed it.
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Considering the color of the grass and this "sleeping" kangaroo (which almost 100% match, perfect camouflage), it really takes a good eye to spot it at 250m, even with optics :-)
Wonderful text.
I'm looking at the picture, isn't there a kangaroo on the left side of the picture, on the line where the grass meets the forest, to the left of the two small trees? Probably not, but as they say "it is important to participate" 😀
I don't have optics, I look with my old eyes 🙂
This you mean?
Yes
Hmm, nope sorry. Close though.
😳 Huh! I always see you with guns, that makes me scared! Looks like this zone isn't that friendly. Are a soldier? Anywhere I just took courage to try out your stuff, not knowing what will come out of it. That's why I put in for the #weekend-engagement 🙏
I'm not quite sure what to make of this comment so don't have much in the way of a reply.
Sorry for that. Just expressing my mind
Five rounds and five down? Have you ever missed any target? Like it ran away?
And why that kangaroo is sleeping with open eyes 😉.
Oh and yes, spent quite a time finding kangaroo but ending up with a guess.
Is it there?
Yeah I've missed a time or two, but not too often because I do a lot of training and practice.
Hmm, nope that's not a kangaroo where you indicated. And yeah, clever kangaroo sleeping with his eyes open huh? 🫣