sambar358 wrote:While it's easy just to blame deer hunters for this sort of thing.....the reality is in many areas that quite often it's someone else and most certainly during winter on the Dargo High Plains the cross country ski set and the snow tourists are the main culprits going in beyond the gate (which is usually closed but without a padlock fitted) and driving up to and beyond the snowline.
Yes it is a bit easy and I find myself falling into it often but that is because of what I have seen first hand. I do acknowledge there are other idiots doing the same and we came close to pinging some last winter. They were apparently not deer hunters as they did not have guns with them when searched by Police. Not enough evidence to prosecute for the intrusion but they were certainly idiots as they were towing a trailer for the motorbikes through deep snow until they got stuck. It must have taken a while to get out as we heard them go up in the dark and we only missed them by an of hour or so the next morning. I have seen with my own eyes though, deer hunters just below and above the snowline and past the locked gate areas after the gates have been busted. The gates are not at the snowline so there would be lots of deer on the other side of them before the snow. It is equally as hard to blame the snow tourist and XC skiers as the main source. The padlock to the Dargo gate is probably cut each year. I doubt the Alpine shire really cares anyway but that road gives access to many other tracks they will not repair. Once all the agencies get serious about enforcement and then collecting the cost of repairs to the road thing will change.
