Bad Teeth and Pedro the Bailer.

I hadn't been hunting as much as I would like over winter with my neighbor Pedro, so we planed to team up and have a poke around on friday.

Pedro arrived on the four wheeler around day break, I arrived in my dingy, managing to stay dry for a change, unlike a few days before when me & the dogs (Bitches) had arrived at our destination with me having a cunning plan to made the dogs all stay in the boat till I got out, then the mongrels all leapt off the boat pushing it out into the bay, I'm not joking these dogs have it in for me, so out I waded at 6am over my nuts to retrieve the bloody thing, while they looked on from the shore, Ha bloody Ha, they got me again.
 But today I managed to out smart the pot lickers arriving dry for a change, two of them managed to leap into the drink while disembarking at the jetty though, Ha bloody Ha.

I meet Pedro as arranged, he had Zak his old dog and a pup with him, me well I had Ming, Lu & Puk the holder, my pups were at home today.
 We started climbing up through the regenerating native as you do around here, up, down or sidle take your pick, nothings flat, up through the Mahoe(whitieywood), Rangiora, Puahou(Five finger) and Bracken we went, it was a perfect cool morning with the Katibatic air flowing down the hill, on through young Manuka and Darwin's barberry with a bit of Mingimingi thrown in, speaking of Ming she was was away up the hill with Zak, seemed like they were onto some fresh scent. 

Me and Pedro had teamed up and hunted this spot last year, at the time the dogs soon had two bails going at the same time, Ming & Lu slowly climbing out after one pig with me in pursuit, Pedro away around the face on another with his two dogs Goldie & Brin and my holder Puk who decided on the easier pig, or so it seemed at the time.
 I had caught up with my two, Lu had a rip in her shoulder it turned out and the both of them were dog tired, the boar keep breaking the bail whenever I got close, so in the end I called them off, then the radio squawked it was Pedro asking me to get my ass down to lend a hand. 

When I arrive on the scene he had a boar bailed on the edge of a bank in amongst a patch of Gigi, yes Pedro the Irish bailer was barking at the pig keeping it interested, he had a pair of holders with him Puk & Brin (Goldie was missing) but as the pig was quietly standing they had decided there work was done, so Pedro had a mexican stand off, with him doing his best dog impressions.
 I'd arrived with the gun (as pedro had left his behind) but what a funny sight, the pig looking up at us with it's ass end backed into the Gigi, fumbling around in my pocket for a shell, I loaded the cut down .357 single shot I carry "Bang!" I shot the boar straight between the eyes or so I thought, down he went, then Ming & Lu jumped bravely on the boar, followed by me and Pedro the Irish bailer, the boar was only stunned and proceeded to start bucking like a bull, this was one pissed off pig, as you tend to be when you've been mauled by a couple of meat heads then shot in the head by another, it turned out later the bullet had ricocheted out of his eye socket, my second lesson in head shooting.
 Years ago I had taken a head shot at a stag in the roar down south west-land and only managed to take it's jaw off, much to my regret, later that night having it explained to me by my more experienced hunting partner that a deers brain is about the size of a tennis ball, just a little smaller than mine I was told, and once you think about it how many of us can hit a tennis ball with a standing shot in the heat of the moment.
 So no more head shots from me till now, but it was the only shot I had, in this case the .357 magnum probably didn't have enough punch, so another lesson, freaked me out a little as a dog could have easily taken that ricochet, this pig finally died, we then discovered it had killed Pedro's main dog Goldie up the hill before stopping here.

Anyway back to the story Ming was climbing out on the same ridge she and Lu had chased that pig last year, I had had a pig give me the slip about 4 times in the same spot, when the dogs were just pups once it had taken then right over the top of the ridge at 2000ft then blew them off in the goats, another couple of times they had a pig bailed but had coming off it when I arrived thinking they were in trouble know doubt and the last time was when I shot the boar in the eye socket.

Back to the present, I was watching Ming climbing out but couldn't hear any barking, then hello she started coming straight down hill fast, boris had had enough or maybe a deer I thought, me of little faith, she was only 100m away now and letting off the odd deep bark, I let her sister Lu go with Puk the holder, we could hear Puk trail barking so I was still thinking red skin and then about 300m around below us they stopped in the creek, we were off down through the native, this looked promising, not much barking so they were holding something and it wasn't small as no squealing.

 Down and around we went I could hear the scrap now in the creek, I burst on the scene with my three dogs holding a boar in the creek slowly walking them down stream, Ming & Lu on an ear each and Puk in her favorite spot on the front hock, it appeared the pig was trying to drown Puk and the bugger did manage to drown the tracker Puk was wearing after first ripping a hole in it. 

 I slipped on his back reached under for an opposite front leg, over he went me laying on the pig while getting my knife out and breath back.

Was this the pig that had given us the slip all those other times and got away the day Goldie was killed? well I will never know but suspected this was him. 

     Lu with the Boar

Pedro arrived and we inspected the dogs Puk had a few holes around the shoulders and around her rip collar as usual, Ming only had one small skin rip, I was pleased about that because these tusks were as sharp as I've seen, she must have been on him for a while to as his ears had had a good working over, we dragged the pig down to the track then Pedro took it home on the four wheeler, he went 110lb and later after skinning him I removed his jaw, this old boy had very bad teeth.

A healthy jaw on the left and the jaw on the right is from the old boy pictured above with Lu.

I have a theory about bad teeth and towy boars, a bit like the saying "a bear with tooth ache" or is that a sore toe! well you get my drift, anyway after skinning him it was obvious this old boar was only going to be good for dog tucker really.
 On my way home after butchering the pig at pedro's I dropped into one of the neighbors foolishly offering them some pork, "love some" they said, they then invited me to dinner on sunday............, what could I say.

So as I sat down to sunday dinner chewing on the smelly old bugger I was thinking this old boy has had the last laugh.