A day off from the milk tankers and the dogs needed a run. For the last month Tig had not been out for a hunt as I was consentrating on putting a lot of time into Bolt on the Pigs and Tig being a possum dog may have confused Bolt a bit. First time I had gone so long without catching a possum. Watching how different dogs can hunt different animals has taught me to know what animal the dogs are tracking without seeing the animal.
So for this hunt I had all four of my dogs, which in most cases is too many dogs as the more dogs you have the more likely they are going to grab a pig unless of course they get onto a good scrappy boar.
The first pig the dogs got onto must have been in a mob as all four dogs barked for a few seconds before the pigs broke. They were in mature pine trees with a lot of blackberry and made the most of the thick cover. Rastus and Bro tracked a pig out to 800 meters before the pig went up hill then back around heading back towards there starting point. At this stage I’m standing on the road as one of my neighbors, Graham pulls up for a yarn. While talking I’m watching the GPS and could see that the chase was coming back my way and had just mentioned this to Graham when Gus and Tig took off. I did see a black flash going through the blackberry and as Gus jumped the fence his back foot went between the top wire on the netting and the barbed wire which left him hung up. I quickly ran to him and tried reaching over to lift him back but he was thrashing around too much so I grabbed the wires and pulled them apart as hard as I could and luckily for Gus he broke free. However the barbed wire had dug well into the palm of my hand. I didn’t have time to think about my hand as the dogs carried on after the pig and Gus luckily can’t have been hurt as he tracked after the pig. Rastus and Tig gave up on the chase after about another km and I could see on the GPS as Bro was doing the big circuit again Gus was a bit behind but the two dogs were heading towards each other. At this point Gus grabbed a 40 pounder so I headed to him and called him off. Finally getting all of the dogs back we regrouped and Carried on. Gus showed no signs of having a sore foot so that was good.
Next spot the dogs got keen on was above the track and this young boar was not hanging around. Gus got left behind and returned to me but the other three dogs caught up with this 70 lb boar around in the next gully 800 meters away. It took a while for Gus and I to get there and dispatch this boar. I was not going to carry this boar back the way I had come from as the terrain was too thick so I had an 800 meter carry down this gully then across the river, so wet legs to a track that I could get the bike to later.
To get to the bike I had to walk around the road and then along another track back across the river and it was here that the dogs took off again up into the thick blackberry. They had crossed the creek and gone up a step bank and were eighty meters away. I did get a four dog bail for about a minute before they grabbed this boar. Looking up at the spot they were in I decided to give Tig a tone on the collar as I knew it would have been him holding and he responds well to the noise by letting go and sure enough the boar broke over the edge and down into the creek 30 meters away where the dogs grabbed him again. Thirty meters might sound close but when you’re faced with a six foot tall wall of blackberry it takes a bit of effort to get through and I had no gloves. I managed to fight my way through and stick this 98 lb boar.
Once I dragged him onto the track I walked back to the bike and rode to collect both pigs then head home to hang them both up in the chiller.
