I consider myself very lucky to still be in contact with some of the guys I went to school with. Every year we all make the effort to catch up at Christmas time and this was to be our 30th anniversary of Santa clause night. Each year the night is held at a different person’s place and this year was at Wayne and Karlee’s between Alexander and Clyde.
Wayne had contacted me two weeks prior to see if I could provide an animal for on a spit.
I accepted the offer and said I could either provide a wild pig or a sheep. Two weeks prior I had caught three pigs but did not have freezer space for them so they were donated to the guys at Search and rescue.
So six days before Santa clause night, I took Bro, Rastus and Gus out for a hunt. Early on in the hunt Bro had checked out a native face and around into some pines before returning. Now I believe a pig had broken out and crossed the track 1.5 km further on. When I approached where the pig had crossed the three dogs tracked off with Gus only going 500 meters before returning to me while the other two dogs tracked up and around the big native gully before heading around through the Douglas firs into the next gully where they bailed up the 60 lb boar 500 meters away. Gus could not hear the barking untill we got around into that gully. As soon as he heard them he was off to join in. By the time I got there the dogs had a hold of the young boar so he was quickly dispatched and carried out.
Back at home, I had three wild hoggets that I wanted to go into the freezer. These hoggets were born in the pig block and never handled, so they were as mad as. Recently I noticed that there was a lot of grass in the hut block and not as much in the pig block so I left the gate open for a couple of days and they came through so I had more chance of catching them. At first, I could not get near them or their mothers, so I put our two rams in with them who would come to me when called. With the rams, I managed to get the ewes out but these three hoggets would just keep hiding in the scrub. Two days prior I spent a bit of time trying to get them into the yards but every time I got close to them they would Bolt off to the other side of the gully.
So today as I returned from my hunt I decided to take the dogs around the hut block and get the sheep out through the gate to the yards using the dogs. Bro and Gus are not encouraged to work sheep but Rastus has been and is very good at lambing time at catching lambs without biting them.
So with these hoggets I spotted them up on the far side of the block and as I approached they bolted down across the gully and up into the far corner on the other side like last time. This time when I went across to them I sent Rastus after them and while they tried to hide in the scrub Rastus hunted them Out and they bolted down into the creek into the open. It was here that I shot one of them and that got the other two too break out through the gate. I quickly bleed this sheep then got Rastus to catch one of the remaining sheep so that I could cut its throat. At this time I had to tell Bro and Gus to get outside as they were not allowed to join in. With the second sheep dispatched I put Rastus after the third sheep as it jumped the fence into our native block but Rastus was quick to catch that one for me to dispatch. I did have to drag it back thirty meters to the fence but I was happy the three sheep that had been escaping me for the past year were finally sorted. Skinning and gutting did not take long so now we had an option of either pork or sheep for our spit on Santa clause night.
One of these sheep ended up on the spit and it would have to be one of the best animals I’ve eating off a spit roaster as the meat just feel apart. One of the other sheep went into our freezer and the third one went to my mate Dave for coming and staying at our place to look after the animals while we were away. The pig was boned out and marinated for on the BBQ.
The Santa clause night was over two nights and it was great to catch up with my old mates.