I had been so busy lately that I was almost starting to get withdrawal symptom. It had been almost two weeks without catching a pig so after putting in an 11 hour night shift in a milk tanker I got home in the morning and was out on the hill by 6am. I knew that there would be a pig on the face opposite my house as I could see some pig rooting starting to show up over the previous week. Also over the previous week each time I went down to the cattle yards with the dogs Fog had let me know that there was a pig up in my covenanted block. This is where a hunter needs to be able to read their dog. Because my dogs have pig around them all of the time they don’t just go off on their own unless we are hunting and Ive had Fog many times let me know where the pigs are giving me the choice to either send him away after them or just keep him in.
For this hunt I walked the dogs down my drive and up the ridge so that I would come in above this pig. Everything went to plan with Tig putting up the bail with Fog not to far behind him but Rastus had tracked off the wrong way so I gave him a tone on the collar so he came back towards me until he heard the other dogs then headed for them. Rather than heading around the hill through the tight scrub I headed back down the ridge to the start of my drive and walked up under this bail. I was almost expecting the pig to break down into the creek but he did not so I had to work up and above this boar. Once I was in close above him he tried to break but the dogs were not going to let him get away and bailed him in the creek just behind my cattle yards. In here it was easy to come in above him and shoot him on top of his head. Only ten meters to drag him to where I could ride the four wheeler. He got a quick ride up to the scales where he weighed 144.6 pounds then was put in the chiller. I was back sitting on the deck enjoying a cold one by 7.30am loving life.
