A good few years ago when I was 16 I was sitting on the porch of Totara Flats hut with my pack and rifle, 4 doc blokes landed their helicopter on the flats and came up to the hut, one of then started giving me a hard time saying if I didn't have a hut ticket I had to go somewhere else, I said I wasn't staying in the hut just sitting out on the porch with my pack. He still said I had to go somewhere else and demanded to see my rifle, I was only a kid and four grown men fronting me wasn't a good feeling, when the lippy bloke went to grab my rifle I stood up and told him to fuck off, he took a step forwards like he was going to step me out, one of his mates then told him to leave me alone as I was just a kid. I cant tell you how pissed off I was and that prick made me feel like a criminal, here I was at 16 thinking this grown man (tough guy wanabe) was going to flatten me. It would be a different story these days if that happened, the bloke would be picking up his teeth and crawling back to his chopper, I should have made an official complaint to DOC but I was young and didn't know what to do. I must admit for a few years after that I had a strong disliking for DOC because of one assholes attitude when they should have been encouraging young fellas like me.
Since then I have met some outstanding fellas that work for DOC over the years who have gone out of their way to help me out in the bush, telling me where the animals are, giving me a lift on their quads/4x4.
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