Drew Jaeger

Very useful indeed.

Badlands Super Day

I use a lot of Huntech apparel as a layer system; layer up or layer down as required. Helly Hansen Impertech rain gear is brilliant too.

I use a Havalon Piranta Tracer-22 with the 60XT blade for general use and the #22 blade for skinning. Back in August, I bought one hundred 60XT blades and one hundred #22 blades from the States for A$78 delivered. http://www.havalon.com/xt-22tr.html

Guys,... Australian snakes do not have long hollow hypodermic needle fangs like the American Rattlesnake or African Gaboon Adder or Boomslang. Australian snake fangs range from 2-5mm in length. A good pair of boots and long pants should be sufficient protection for most situations. I recommend the snake awareness course conducted by SSSafe too.

Purchased a LED Lenser P7 with gun kit last Friday. Hoping to try it out this weekend on a bunny or two.

Piranta Tracer-22 with the #22 blade.

EBay is a wonderful thing.

The Havalon system is a fantastic concept. I purchased the Piranta Tracer-22 in July '09 and although I have not used it to partially cape a deer, it has been used for taking meat, retrieving projectiles and hanging up foxes. In preparation for next year I recently purchased some extra blades - one hundred #60XT and one hundred #22 blades for US$24 and US$29 respectively. That should see me through the year.

Exquisite craftsmanship indeed.

This is where I purchased my Irish Setters; BassPro

In the last ten months have worn Irish Setter Shadow Trek in varying weather and terrain conditions with very satisfactory results. Mate, that prolonged torture sounds as bad as the old Gestapo fingernail extraction!

That's impressive!

Matt, for western NSW there are a number of practical patterns that could you could use; Auscams and Buffalo camo are more than adequate.

I currently use the Lansky sharpening system with varying results depending on the blade design and metallurgy. At the 2008 Wild Deer Expo I was impressed with a particular electric knife sharpener. The sharpening operation involved two oppositely rotating wheels. The sample blades were honed to a nice consistent razor sharp edge. Unfortunately I can't remember the make and model. The closest thing I can find that is similar is the Nirey KE-3000. Nirey Sharpener Link Does anyone else use electric knife sharpeners? If so, which model and are they worth the $$$s?

+1

Olympus SP-570UZ 10MP with 20X optical zoom. The camera is compact and is one step back from a SLR and has similar features. The camera is almost two years old now. I wouldn't mind upgrading to something similar with 1080p HD video. However it's not really a priority at the moment.

For hunting in 2010, I got the following boot from BassPro; Rocky Sport Utility Max 9" Insulated (1000g) Irish Setter Shadow Trek Uninsulated

...and they are still clear. True story.

The rangefinder I DON'T recommend is the Leupold RX-III. The optics are very poor, even in bright light conditions and the laser is temperamental at taking readings. Made in China by Green River. The Bushnell 1200 Legend ARC would be my preference today. I've seen the superseded model, the 1500 Elite, in action – brilliant. Made in Japan.

Next Thursday mate, I'll be there with beer & biltong in hand.

The latest series of Steiner Nighthunter binos are superb with outstanding brilliance and clarity. I looked through a pair of 8x44mm NighthuntersXPs at Elk's and immediately thought of upgrading. That was it,... only a thought. These 8x30mm NighthunterXPs of mine were discounted to $910 back in early 2005.

Ok guys,... my uninsultated boots and Badlands superday pack arrived (MAX-1 camo) on Monday 7 September from Cabelas. I placed the order on Monday 31 August - shipping was 25%. Cabelas wins!