A Great Conservationist...Speaks

FROM THE GRAVE

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Another good man gone. A wealth of knowledge there.

When Bill died I inherited many of his papers, a finished manuscript and a couple of unfinished manuscripts, a rifle, and my wife a 410 shotgun. We both got an expensive old book each. Mine was of the Pheasants Of The World with spectacular prints of hand painted birds.

My years of enjoying Bills company has not come without cost. I had to promise I would pick up the battle against 1080 where Bill left off
on his sick bed. You see Bill had taken part in the early experiments with hand sown and aerial sown baits in the Southern Lakes District of which he was in charge. The sight of the hundreds of his beloved kea lying dying and dead next to the single furrow of ploughed earth that stretched for miles sickened Bill forever. It wasn't just the kea, there was present just about every bird specie from the Southern Lakes District lying next to that single furrow of earth.

The only thing Bill was glad of, he was able to get the tractor in and he buried those baits and carcases as deep as he could before they could do any more damage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Graeme Sturgeon

When Bill died I inherited many of his papers, a finished manuscript and a couple of unfinished manuscripts, a rifle, and my wife a 410 shotgun. We both got an expensive old book each. Mine was of the Pheasants Of The World with spectacular prints of hand painted birds.

My years of enjoying Bills company has not come without cost. I had to promise I would pick up the battle against 1080 where Bill left off
on his sick bed. You see Bill had taken part in the early experiments with hand sown and aerial sown baits in the Southern Lakes District of which he was in charge. The sight of the hundreds of his beloved kea lying dying and dead next to the single furrow of ploughed earth that stretched for miles sickened Bill forever. It wasn't just the kea, there was present just about every bird specie from the Southern Lakes District lying next to that single furrow of earth.

The only thing Bill was glad of, he was able to get the tractor in and he buried those baits and carcases as deep as he could before they could do any more damage.

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So, the mistakes of yesteryear are really no different to the mistakes of today. Who in their right mind would have an experimental bait line 'miles' long? I guess back then Kea were a targeted species, yes/no?

Bill was a great man and to me at least, Iconic. He is sorely missed and I continue to try to honour his knowledge and his work.

Bill had, and leaves us a legacy of a philosophy which he legitimately based on a foundation of long practical and scientific experience. The current short term policies of political convenience that are threatening our game animals, sports fish and gamebirds, our hunting dogs and much of our traditional social fabric as well as our natural environments and our natural species are some things Bill never gave up contesting, and nor should we.