Waiau competition

Waiau pig hunting competition
Prize giving

Labour weekend the 21 of October 2012 was the weigh in day for the annual Waiau pig hunting competition. One of the main organizers of this comp is Joanne Moriarty and this year she has done an exceptional job of advertising and running this comp with the numbers up on previous years. She puts this

Truck load of pigs
A full truck load of pigs and there is even a deer under there somewhere

down to advertising in the hunting magazines and putting up a site on face book for the Waiau pig hunting comp. Our Ridgeling team this year consisted of Hemi Taurima, Andy Moriarty, Matt Simmons my wife Janice, myself and our newest member of our team Peter Lyall. Peter comes from Wakefield and has had many years of involvement with pig hunting competitions so he did not need any training at all. We had a few pigs came in early at the start of the weigh in, probably because there was

Pigs at the waiau comp
A line up of the pigs at the comp as they were coming in

a prize for the firrst animals weighed in. After the first half an hour things went quite for the next hour and a half although there was one group of hunters that came in during this time and asked if we would weigh their pigs for them even though they where not entered in the competition as they where driving past on their way back to Wellington  for a competition up their when they saw the pig hunting competition sign out front and decided to stop in. They had

Hares, rabbits and possums
Line up of the children’s section

three respectable boars of around the 150 pound mark so I am sure they will do well at their comp. These three guys had to catch the ferry later that day so had left by the time the big mad rush started. As the pigs started rolling in it was good for me to be able to stand back and watch how well our team was working, from giving out tags for hunters to put their names on, to scrutineering and getting the hunters themselves to see if their animals had been cleaned and prepared properly.  Then onto the scales and lastly to be lifted onto the racks by the two strong guys that had been supplied by the Waiau comp. Andy Moriarty’s team where hoping that they where going to be the first hunters this year two break the two ton mark at a ridgeling comp down south. However they did

Kids carrying comp
A young fella carrying a rabbit around the course

fall short at a respectable 193 pounds. This comp is helped out by the local farmers as well as the pig hunters and for that reason they have a section for sows as well. Along with the children’s section which was very well supported this year. Last year the children’s section weighed in thirty animals this year there was over ninety animals weighed in. A lot of the children had a real good time in the carrying competition.   There was a total of 29 boars, 18 sows and three deer

A potential pig hunter getting some extra training on the carrying course, he was fast

weighed in.                                                                                               This year I sponsored a prize for the junior section of 24 dog training for one junior and one parent.

The results this year are as follows.

Heaviest boar

1st Craig Dewar  193 pounds

2nd Shane Dunlea  177pounds

3rd Andy Moriarty  150 pounds

4th Corey O’Donnell 140 pounds

5th Martyn Satterthwaite  135 pounds

6th Andy Gardner  128 pounds

Junior section

Cory O’Donnell 140 pounds

Average weight

Kane Spinks  98.5 pounds

One each side of average

Beau Moriarty  100.5 pounds

Dan Pemberton 95.9 pounds

Best tusks

Jamahl Cole 18 2/8

Heaviest sow

1st Trevor Loyd 149 pounds

2nd Steve Davidson 125 pounds

First three animals weighed in

Blair Patterson

Steve Davidson

Craig Dewar

Heaviest stag

Curtis Morgan 294 pounds

Junior Section

Heaviest Possum: Samantha Moriarty

Heaviest Hare: Shanya Nickless

Heaviest Rabbit: Tom Bell

Heaviest Eel: Tom Galbraith

10th Rabbit Weighed in: Tom Bell

Kids Carry Races

Rabbit Carry Girls aged 0-6 Katie Gardner

Boys aged 0-6 Jack Satterthwaite

Hare Carry Girls aged 7-11 Tayla Duncan

Boys aged 7-11 Josh James

Hare Carry Girls aged 12-14 Rosa Thompson

Boys aged 12-14 Josh Creedon

Pig Carrying Competition

Kids 6-9yrs (team of two): Angus Gardner & Isaac francis

Kids 10-14yrs (team of two): Kitty Brett & Esther Thompson

Kids 16yrs and under – proper carry: Hannah Forbes

Women’s: Nicky Gardner

Men’s: Gary Nichol