Vulcan State Forrest, overnight hunt in August

I've been looking at the vulcan state Forest for a while and decided to do a weekend hunt for some deer, I knew it would be cold and probably wet so I packed my kit, food and off we went. We started off at 5:30am from bankstown and it really shouldn't take more than 2.5hrs max but due to weather it actually almost 4hrs to get there. The Vulcan State Forest is past Oberon and I've actually never been there in winter, it snowed!!!! I had no idea we were heading into the snow, the first signs of this were on the highway when a car drove past us in the opposite direction with snow all over it. Me and my brother looked at each other and said " was that snow??"

Sure enough the sides of the road turned white and the tree branches had thick layers of snow. The area is filled with pine trees, shrubs, rocks and it was all covered with thick snow, It was beautiful. When we got to the entry point that I marked on my GPS the snow was so thick the car get bogged so I had to reverse and we hiked in. Now I've been snowboarding before and it was awesome but Its completely different when you're actually walking through a snow covered Forrest, in the ski fields its flat and crowded. When you're in a snow covered Forrest and there is no one else around, it is pristine and quiet. All you can hear is the wind and rustling of the pine trees.

Its a strange feeling you get when you're hiking in the snow, a sense of isolation, knowing that there is no one else around. You peer through the pine trees, through the shrubs but all you see is white. Snow and mist gently blow across your face with snow flakes dancing over your shoulder as it tumbles down your jacket, visibility was also low making it hard to guess the time by the amount of light available. Its a eerie silence, a feeling that both me and my brother got, we didn't speak that much while we were walking, I guess we were in awe of the snow covered Forest and how it seems to engulf us the moment we left the road, there are no trials or tracks, within 50meters into the Forest I realised if my GPS failed we would be in trouble, Its at this point it hits you that this could turn into a life and death situation if we were unprepared.

So we hiked in about 1.7km into the Forest it got thicker and colder. The temperature would have been about 2-3c, the snow was wet and felt more like drizzle after a while, and it was still falling when we found a spot to setup camp. luckily it cleared briefly allowing us to setup camp, the was our first priority was to get setup before dark, it could storm or blizzard any time so we had to make sure shelter was setup well before we trot off looking for deer. We decided to setup our tents right next to each other in order to talk through the tents especially during the night, it would be way too cold to get out for a chat during the night. We found a spot under a few pine trees, amazingly the whole area was covered in snow except under the pine trees, I figured maybe the pine needles were somehow melting the snow? we setup our tents and I used a tarp to setup a cooking / admin area so we could sit down under some cover in case it started to rain.

We were preparing to head out when we spotted a deer scratching on the tree right next to my tent, we were thrilled this was a excellent sign of deer activity.  The more we looked the more evidence we found of deer activity around our area. As we started to head out to a way point which I marked on my GPS we found trail after trail of what I am sure was deer. We found lots of droppings all over the place but I'm not sure if they were kangaroos or deers. We learned tracking animals in the snow wasn't as hard as we thought, we actually found it easy due to the snow prints they made, it was very clear and precise. We could clearly see different animals were moving around the area. We found kangaroo/Wallaby, Wild Pigs and Deer paw prints, I am very sure of the prints but I will do some further research to be sure.

By the evening we only managed to spot a few kangaroos and a Wallaby, so it was OK. We just felt so privileged to be there it didn't bother us at all. Dinner was instant noodles and tea, it's nice to have instant noodles out bush, I've done that for many years and it never fails to satisfy. I was actually surprised to find there were no leeches at all, we're thinking maybe they're frozen? One of the good points about hunting in winter is no refrigeration is required, we could of simply hung the meat and it would have been fine. If you're wearing the appropriate clothing its fantastic we were warm and toasty the whole time, unlike in summer its blazing heat and humidity there would be no way to cool down.

By the end of the day both of fleece gloves were soaking wet, so were our shoes and socks. I also then made the mistake of putting my wet jacket and boats in the swag so now my trousers from knee down were wet, which made my sleeping bag wet. Also because I didn't bring enough pegs to hold the corners of my swag down and me kicking about I kicked out the pole that was holding the bottom of swag up so that meant the damp underside of my swag was simply resting on my sleeping bag. Many many lessons learnt here, it was a cold uncomfortable night but you deal with it.

The next morning we got up and it was very different, we almost didn't recognise where we were. most of the snow had melted and the air was clear and crisp. blue sky's also adorned us, the sunlight was a relief from the cold damp night, I stood there soaking in the rays recharging my batteries. breakfast was, yup you guessed it instant noodles. We filled our bellies and packed up our gear ready to head back, but before we left we decided to have one more walkabout in the hope we might catch a deer by the river. I sat a course on my GPS and came to some shallow rivers. It was beautiful, clean and unspoilt its amazing when you go somewhere and find it in a pristine state, if we had found any rubbish we certainly would have taken it out with us.

As we walked around and found all sorts of prints and animal droppings we came across quite a few sites where wild pigs had been. The ground was all ripped up and plants uprooted, some of the areas were quite large, it seems this Forrest like many others have a serious issue with wild pigs, if I come across any I'll be doing my bit to reduce their numbers that's for sure. As for spotting deer seems we simply got up too late, next time it'll be a much earlier start, but it was hard getting up in the cold. We hiked back to my car and upon getting GSM coverage I called my wife to say hello only to be told someone had reported our car abandoned on the side of the road and they were worried about our safety in the Forrest. Luckily she convinced them we were well equipped and no less than two GPS units, slightly damp and cold but otherwise no problemo. This is the first of many trips and what a awesome trip it was, I'm packing my gear right now as we speak for my next hunt..

Lessons learnt:
1) Always have a pair of dry socks to sleep with.
2) Do not put wet clothes or boots in your tent/swag.
3) Don't go overboard with food, bring less.
4) Use gators, especially in snow.
5) waterproof your shoes.
6) check your pack, try it on with some weight in it and make sure it sits right and comfy.
7) Dump all unnecessary gear at the campsite before you go on a walkabout.
8) Minimise clothing.
9) Might be a good idea to let the police know you're there, especially if the weathers going to be bad.