Good hunting doesn't come for free

 

Yesterday was the first of the real post season swamp working bees. We had a bit to get through -

• Replace the front of the Watson's maimai, which had collapsed
• Re-floor the puru mai mai
• Carve out flight lanes into the Watson's pond, remove willows
• Spraying back the regrowth - since my last trip in September some of the Poa Aquatica had grown from ankle to head high (horrible shit)

Dad and Larry being of retirement age have a bit more time on their hands so had gone in and stayed at the hut on Friday. I picked up Coch in town then we swung by Manukau to get Tom and set off, arriving just before the 9am meeting time. Rick arrived soon after and we got going., Andy arrived soon after and the crews were set to work.

The trap line had yielded over the course of the week another stoat and a fat rat.

 
Rick and I got going on the spraying - we had a bit to get done, while Andy tom and coch headed off to reconstruct the Watson's maimai. Dad and Larry got stuck into the tree felling.

Maimai with front removed

The enemy - Poa Aquatica regrowth



Building materials

 

We powered through the work and by late afternoon were on the finish straight. The boys even had time to do an inventory of decoys - we've decided to downsize the spread from over 300 decoys to 130 odd. When all was finished they'd set aside 170 odd decoys to be sold off.

We got back to the landing at 5, grabbed a couple of shots of the old guys and then headed home. Was a bit achy by 8pm, that f ing knee is till not 100%...