Rats: Clever but Frustrating.

coote said:
A bucket would be a good way of making one of those traps safer.

Down here a lot of trapping is done for rats, stoats, weasels and ferrets. They are all introduced species and we're told that they are harming our native species. Going for a walk in national parks and many other places you are very likely to see wooden boxes containing traps. Often the boxes will have wire mesh over the ends so that animals can see through the tunnel... and so that operators can check the traps. Often the lids will be screwed on the boxes. This helps to make them safer for children. The boxes generally have very small entrances, and there has to be enough distance between the entrance and the trap so that our flightless birds cant reach the trap with their beak and neck stretched right out.

Sometimes these traps-in-a-box are baited with a whole egg. I've heard that hikers have sometimes stolen the eggs from the traps for their own use. They'd have to be pretty hungry to eat an egg of an unknown age.

According to the powers that be, some traditional traps like the Fenn are not deemed humane enough (although they have been used effectively for many years)... so now there are some heavy duty devices being used that would really smash your fingers. Here is a picture of a rat in a DOC 200 trap (Department Of Conservation 200 mm wide jaws). This trap would normally have a box cover screwed down to the baseboard.

ratindoc200trap2.jpg


I'm pleased you enjoyed your New Zealand experience. I've driven past Coromandel, but I've never explored it. I'm not from the North Island. I'm one of the mean dudes from near Nelson City at the northern end of the South Island.
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Damn! Those are some serious traps! I've never seen anything like those, that would take care of business for sure. The DOC was pretty strict when we were there, we got kicked off the castle rock trail for hanging our hammocks. We didn't know that the Kari trees were protected, and we got a pretty stern talking to. I had my bk9 on my belt in scout carry behind my back and was nervous the whole time that they were going to see it and confiscate it. I don't think they saw it, or they just didn't say anything. We had to stay in a B&B that night because we were afraid of getting caught in the bush again and getting stuck with a fine. I think I might have actually seen a couple of those boxes but wasn't sure what they were.

Haha, I didn't mean to imply that the South Island guys were mean, just that we never made it very far south. We got to Christchurch and had to turn back and head north because it was too cold to keep going further south and we didn't have the proper cold weather gear. Actually, we did run into a few A-holes near Christchurch but they were Maoris so maybe they don't count haha. All this reminiscing has me craving some of that "world famous in NZ lemonish drink" haha I love that stuff. And the RTD's, we don't have much like that in the southern US.

I have plans to head back to NZ in 2017, if I make it further down South Island this time I'll buy you a beer and we can have a campfire and play with knives and rat traps.

I'll definitely be going back to coramandel, it was just amazingly beautiful. So many sheep!

Here's a couple pics of our illegal off-trail trek through the castle rock area. We stumbled across what looked like an old lumber harvest or mining area:
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That looks like an old 'skid site' in the picture... a lumber harvest area. However there are some gold and silver mines at Coromandel, but I think that they are now closed.

That world famous in New Zealand drink is probably "Lemon and Paeroa". I've only ever seen it in a brown bottle.

Is that a wood-burning cooker with an electric fan? How well does it work?

Hmmm... Maoris. Not wanting to create an awkward situation, but I understand that I am part Maori :rolleyes:. I wonder sometimes if that might be a factor in how I feel so close to the earth. Nevertheless, I think that God may have created different races and religions so we could all laugh hysterically at each other. Some of my Maori brethren have not helped our reputation, however the actions of some of my Caucasian forebears (and contemporaries) really make me cringe. And I've probably done things that upset both groups. :)
 
coote said:
That looks like an old 'skid site' in the picture... a lumber harvest area. However there are some gold and silver mines at Coromandel, but I think that they are now closed.

That world famous in New Zealand drink is probably "Lemon and Paeroa". I've only ever seen it in a brown bottle.

Is that a wood-burning cooker with an electric fan? How well does it work?

Hmmm... Maoris. Not wanting to create an awkward situation, but I understand that I am part Maori :rolleyes:. I wonder sometimes if that might be a factor in how I feel so close to the earth. Nevertheless, I think that God may have created different races and religions so we could all laugh hysterically at each other. Some of my Maori brethren have not helped our reputation, however the actions of some of my Caucasian forebears (and contemporaries) really make me cringe. And I've probably done things that upset both groups. :)
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That makes sense, the DOC gave us a stern talking to about being in the area off trail. They said there were holes and pits that we might fall into, sounds like an old mining site. They were really cool with us though and just wanted to make sure we got back on the trail and didn't chop or process any wood that wasn't already dead and on the ground, which we would never do anyways out of respect for such an amazing forest. We were there in winter so there was literally no one else on the trail, it was awesome. The bk9 performed flawlessly even with wet cold cramped hands, and there was plenty of old dead wood laying around for the camp stove.

L&P!! Yes sir that is the stuff, I love it. Need to order a crate of it. Now if I can only find a place in the US with good NZ style meat pies I'll be set. Coramandel had "mussel sausages" too, some of the best local seafood I've ever had. I Really miss it.

The camp stove is a biolite, we bought it right before the trip because we didn't know if we would be able to find white gas, and we knew we definitely couldn't bring it on the plane. We didn't know that there would be so many awesome camp gear shops like bivouac. The stove is pretty cool, it has a secondary feature that generates electricity so you can charge usb devices, but it is pretty weak. Not something to rely on, but it did come in handy to charge our headlamps. The real benefit is the external fan, it generates heat very quickly and almost no smoke, a few thumb width sticks will boil water in just a few minutes. I wouldn't take the same stove on an extended trip again tho because it's pretty damn heavy. I'd probably go with an alcohol stove on our next trip.

I'm completely ignorant of NZ history and culture, and don't know anything about the Maori except that they were some of the best warriors in history and I wouldn't want to make one angry. I was just passing on an anecdote of our one and only experience. the owner of the B&B we stayed at told us that the Maori were "hard dudes", which seemed true in our one and only verbal altercation. I hope I didn't say anything stupid or offensive, that wasn't my intention at all. I see it like a b&b owner in Georgia might tell a group of tourists that the local army rangers are "hard dudes". I think he was just trying to save us from an ass whooping since we were going to check out the pubs.

What are the knife laws like in NZ? I only ask because we heard different things from different DOC officers. One guy told us it was ok to process dead wood on the trail but to keep the knives in our packs while they're not being used. We lived out of our packs and it was raining the whole time, so when we spotted dead dry wood or tinder we would stop to collect some, and it was a pain to not have the knives easily accessible. We had another DOC officer tell us that we couldn't process any wood at all, and that we shouldn't take our knives out of our packs ever, and that wood burning stoves weren't allowed on the trails. I ended up strapping the bk9 to the side of my pack and kept it hidden with a blue pack cover, so I could still get to it without taking the pack off, but still kept it off my belt. Most of the DOC guys didn't seem to care, maybe because it was winter and the trails were empty and we explained that we were being very respectful to the forest. Can you carry locking folders in the city?
 
Heh. My brother moved to the United States quite a long time ago. When he has come to visit us down here, one of the first things he does is buy a meat pie or two. And he will often eat it accompanied by Watties tomato sauce (ketchup in your language?).

I carry a locking folder in the city. I am seldom without one. In fact I almost feel a slight sense of panic if I find I've left home without a blade. To help prepare for the times when I may not have a locking folder, I have a small slipjoint folder in the coin compartment of my wallet.

Dang... I almost felt stressed just thinking of the possibility of being knifeless

You can be in big trouble for carrying a knife. But in my unprofessional opinion you are only likely to be in trouble about a knife if you are suspected of being the troublesome type... or if you have been involved in some crime or incident. I think carrying a knife 'without a proper purpose' is something I have read about. I've also read about people 'possessing an offensive weapon'.

However.... I remember having a pocketknife on my first day at school in 1960, and I've carried one most days ever since. It is part of getting dressed. And I have never had a spot of trouble. I don't pull out a massive folder in public, as I know this could spark controversy or alarm. A little plastic Swiss Army or something cute is good to have for such occasions. A wooden Opinel folder is almost a fashion accessory, and I'd happily bring it out on a park bench to cut my gruyere cheese or my expensive organic apple.

I think it would be deemed a 'proper purpose' to be carrying a knife hiking or hunting.... or if you were an electrician.... or a warehouse worker that had to open packages for instance.

I keep my knives out of sight if I'm somewhere that I'm likely to encounter other people. I've even carried a 12" bladed machete, and my BK9 on a cord baldric under my left arm (not at the same time). Quite often I've carried smaller fixed knives more or less horizontally on a belt, and generally the knife will sit nicely under an 'untucked' shirt or a jacket under my small but useful pot belly. I've found this to be a practical way to carry a fixed blade when hunting because I can draw it with either hand if one of my hands is occupied with another task. And being located in front, and under my clothing, it doesn't catch up in the bushes so much when I'm pushing through thick vegetation. The knife has to be a good fit in the sheath though to help ensure that it will still be there when you need it.

I am not 100% familiar on laws relating to weapons. I'd be unlikely to carry one in my pocket on an international flight, but apart from that I just try to be aware of who might be offended. My excuse for carrying a knife (if I wasn't hunting or hiking) is that I am a keen bushcraft enthusiast and gatherer of mushrooms and plant materials. I've even written a book on primitive skills. So I figure I'm sweet. I'm not a criminal or of an aggressive nature.

There are thousands of hunters and fishers in this country, and I would be very surprised if any of them did not carry a knife of some sort when hunting or fishing. It is part of our culture.

Yeah, I'd keep a fixed blade out of sight on DOC administered land, particularly in the more popular areas with high visitor numbers. I would also avoid cutting any live native plants, although I'd have no hesitation cutting an introduced plant like gorse, broom or pine... however I would keep my activities as private as possible. Some non-knife city folks might freak out seeing someone attacking a plant with a weapon. I'd even be fairly surreptitious about gathering dead wood for a fire as some may be of the opinion that it should rot on the ground. I'm sure that the local DOC rangers would tell you about local guidelines for this type of thing if you asked. Some places may have a total fire ban.

We have our share of 'hard dudes' down here I suppose. I guess it is pretty much the same all over the world.
 
there's many youtube devoted to the subject.

guys with suppressed .22 or even larger pellet air guns, night vision, and 100s of kills per day.

almost like a job :D
 
An old timer I knew would stuff all the holes he could find with rags and nerf balls. Then he’d attach an extension onto his exhaust pipe and stick in a hole. Move from one hole to the next. They’d all go to sleep.
 
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