Gus’s big boar

This was to be Gus’s sixth hunt at just over 25 weeks old.
This hunt was planned the week before when I was away on a training weekend for Search and rescue.

While there I had car pooled with Kieran Mcgarrity and being a pig hunter I could not help but talk about pig hunting, something that Kerrian had never done before but would love the experience. So the following Wednesday Kieran turned up just before daylight looking forward to an adventure. We took three dogs Tig, bro and Rastus along with my young pup Gus. I had let one of my neighbors know that we would be hunting his place and he was hoping that I could catch a big black boar that he had seen a few times and it was making a mess of his driveway so he was happy for us to go for a hunt. We parked the truck up and started walking. Less than a hundred meters along the track the dogs had a wee look up above the left side of the track but returned so we carried on. About one km along the track we cut off the bottom side and across the creek, this is when the dogs started having a good look around. We had climbed about two hundred meters up the face when we stopped and watched the GPS to see Rastus and Bro tracking a couple of hundred meters above us before tracking out of this gully over to the next gully then down hill before these pigs had crossed over our scent where we had crossed the creek. Meanwhile Tig was out to our right in the next gully over and Gus was one hundred meters up the gully we were in. Just as the bark indicator went off for Bro and Rastus I noticed a pig of about one hundred pounds sneaking out above us so I gave Kieran the gun so he could have a shot. The pig was a wee way out and his shot must have missed as the pig high tailed it out of there pretty fast. We did take Gus over to where the pig had departed from but he did not track too far. So we carried on around to where the other dogs had a young boar. Tig had caught up to the other two so we quickly dispatched this pig and I let Keiran carry him back to the truck. We were less than one hundred meters from the truck when Rastus and Bro tracked off on the same place that they had gone earlier in the morning. I was not expecting too much when they both opened up with a good bail one hundred and fifty meters away. When Gus and Tig arrived we had a four dog bail. The direction we took to the bail meant we had to get around and above before we got to close. Pigs can move very fast so I don’t like approaching from below. It was good to see young Gus happily helping out with the bail. I offered Keiran the fourty four to take the shot which he gladly accepted. From where I was I could see the back legs of the boar through the scrub so I encouraged Keiran to go the the left to get a clear view while I filmed him. Keiran took a few seconds looking around as he explained later he was worried about where all of the dogs were. When the shot rang out the boar rolled down into the creek as Keiran turned to me and said f##k that’s a big pig.

We quickly followed down where the boar had rolled and looking over into the creek I got to see this boar properly for the first time and crikey he was big.

This tough bugger did not want to die as he was still on his feet trying his best to fight even though the shot in the head had slowed him down. I had to sacrifice my dry feet by getting in to stick him while the dogs were keeping him under control. Once he was stuck and stopped kicking I turned to Keiran and had a hand shake as big boars like this don’t come along very often. Standing back I got to admire this big black boar and I’m sure it’s the one I had been told about. After a couple of photos I gutted him then looked for our best option out of there. I knew through Search and rescue training that Keiran had a good level of fitness and he was happy to have the first carry. Keiran done very well for his first time carrying a big boar.

A lot of first timers don’t get there balance right and fall easily. Next was my turn for a carry and I’ve always enjoyed carrying pigs so he felt good on my back and it did not take us long to have him back on the truck.

Back home he pulled the scales to 171lb. Putting him into the chiller I grabbed out a 97lb boar that I’d caught seven days earlier. With this boar I showed Keiran how to skin and process the meat ready for the oven so that Keiran could take some meat home with him.

With the 171 I processed him a week later and got our local butcher to put him through the mincer. All of this mince I bagged up getting fifty-two bags and I donated it all to our local food bank. This is what I do with all of my excess pork as I don’t like seeing any of it going to waste and some people are living in hard times. It’s sad when we have a system where we have a working class people who are struggling to afford to put food on the table. I encourage all hunters to get in touch with their local food bank and supply them with all of your excess meat.

When I was judging at the North Canterbury hunting comp This year they had two locals Steve Hill and Adam Kreisel who were taking any excess deer that hunters wanted to donate and they processed all of the meat and gave 870 kgs of mince and 50 kgs of back straps to Hope community trust.

Hop over and like this page Hunters4Hope !!! Outstanding work going on here, helping hunters get surplus meat to those in need 🙏

Hunters4Hope is a not-for-profit group of volunteers based in North Canterbury, helping hunters donate their surplus venison trim, to be processed into mince and given to local charities and Foodbank.

They have drop-off freezers located at:

Oxford Ag Services, Cheviot Transport, Amuri Transport, Claas Harvest Centre- Waipara, Hunting and Fishing Rangiora

Please make drop-offs during Business Hours only, and identify each bag with name and contact number,(tags supplied)
Happy hunting Bill Westwood

This article will be sent off to the New Zealand Pig Hunter More pork magazine so keep an eye out for it if you would like to read one of Gus’s articles in a magazine.