Me an the dogs had been laying around getting fat, to much swanning around on the boat drinking wine and eating cheese. The forecast wasn't great for the next day though, 50 Knots, so slept in a little, drawing the curtains around 7.30 to not a breath of wind and a clear sky, feeling a little guilty now I set about getting my hunting gear together, then let the dogs off. We were soon on the water in my little dingy heading for a likely spot, arriving after 9am,  shit the day was nearly over, talk about a late start, but as there are a lot of deer around I thought we might be able to get a little training into the pup, who had been spending a lot of time and energy chasing them lately. Climbing the hill I had all the dogs loose, soon they were heading in all directions, Puk seemed to be stationary about 200 meters away so I decided to make for her, being a holder she never barks so if she has stopped it normally means she has a mouth pull of pork, soon we were wrestling with ...

The Havlock Pig Hunt has been and gone, we have been stopping the odd pig since, but mostly been busy selling Material Girl and finding a new boat, so while it's still fresh in my mind here's how the Annual Havelock Pig Hunt went.  I awoke Friday morning to 40 Knots of Northerly with driving rain, forecast was, rising to 50 Knots during the day, yay! The dogs poked there heads out of their Kennels wondering what I was doing up at 6.30 in the driving rain, I was thinking about just going back to bed and poking my head under the covers, bugger this I was thinking, but then who knows tomorrow could be worse so I thought, off we went, the boat trip was bumpy and we were soon on the hill slipping and sliding around in the mud, we walked and walked the wind howling now at 50 Knots, until we had ended up in the big native, the dogs could be seen climbing out on the tracker, the KieKie in this area was impossible to get through, I was on my hands and knees crawling up through a ...

The Shortest Day Pig Hunt. It started Friday morning and the build-up hadn't been great, dog trouble? Oh no! They have been on a roll, three Boars in a row since Ming passing on. No, I'd slipped up big time, managing to sink the Material Girl (my yacht) Wednesday night, she was on the bottom still hooked on the mooring out front, but below the water. My attitude to her sinking has surprised a few friends, I haven't been upset really, to be honest I was more upset about Ming dying, I've been a risk taker all my life and if your gonna take risks you're gonna lose from time to time, and she was only a boat for Christ's sake and I sunk her with my own stupidity, whats done is done, crying about it won't change a thing, time to move on now, she will be on Trademe with a $1 reserve in a week. She has been a lot of fun all the same. Hey and when some-one tells you your boat will cost you 15% of her value every year, don't laugh! But still cheaper th...

Suckers and Squealers. I've meet my far share of both over the years and that's about all Me and the dogs have been finding lately. Well, that's apart from the boar that ended Mings life, and one other, the one we were looking for today. This pig had given me the slip at-least 3 times during the last couple of months, I just hadn't managed to get the holder there in-time, and before long he had taken the Bailers up and over the top ridge around 700 meters from sea level, never to be seen again. Up early and soon on the hill with the three bitches Lu, Puk and Jude, Ming's death had left a huge whole in the pack, but I was sure the others would step up. Windy this morning, blowing from the Northwest, a chance of showers, I had a plan to see if I could drop in on that allusive boar today, we'd only been climbing a dry Manuka ridge for 10 minutes, the scrub now starting to thicken up under the Manuka, the dogs now started winding up the hill, "her...

It had been a sad few days, with lots of reminders of Ming everywhere. It's times like this I start to question why I hunt with dogs, whats the point! There are lots of arguments around Pig hunting with dogs, humans have been hunting with dogs, since not long after the first wolf was first tamed, we then started breeding them, to the point where we now have a huge variety, mainly descendants of hunting breeds, even the poodle was a hunting dog originally used by wealthy Germans to hunt ducks. Without a doubt, dogs love to hunt and they especially love to hunt with their owners, who I believe get just as much pleasure from the hunting as the dogs do, just like we love to compete, huntings hardwired into our nature. Some of-course say pig hunting is barbaric. This argument coming from someone who doesn't eat animals or use animal products, is a compelling argument, but for anyone who eats meat, yet then likes to criticise pig hunters, I would say, if you can't bring ...

Ming on the hill last week. She died this afternoon in the Vets after being ripped this morning by a young Boar and losing a lot of blood. Loved this Dog and will write a story about her tomorrow.                             Ming Sun Bathing on the deak.

  Ming  found and caught her first pig at 8 months, she saw her last almost 4 years later at 4 years and 7 months old, what a ride we had, she was my Main dog and will be sorely missed, more courage than was good for her, she could Find, Hold and Bail, but more importantly she was also a great friend who gave and received affection freely. Below are some pics and links to old stories involving Ming, the story of her last hunt follows. Ming at 8 weeks. Lu and Ming with the pigs from  Pork Chops  at 8 and a half months. One year and 4 months old Ming laying down and Lu  160lb Club Boar that opened Ming up from the story  Ming Ming below, back from the vet with war wounds from the boar above. Ming below in the middle with the boar that got us third place in the  Annual Havelock Hotel Pig Hunting Comp The old boar Ming found in  Mutiny On The High Seas! Ming on the right, fr...

Doing the Penguin I was cold and wet, due to the bush I'd just spent a few hours walking through, being soaked from a couple of days rain.  Ming my main dog was around 200 m away down the hill. Lu, Puk and Jude were with me tied to some trees, as I prepared to take a dump, break one off, lighten the load as they say, I'd stripped a few Rangiora leaves to use as toilet paper, now having spent a bit of time in Rangiora years ago, I'd come to the conclusion once in Rangiora you can't wait to get out, and once out, you'd never want to go back. So wiping your ass with Rangiora seems a fitting use …….. Anyway I was all set, with a couple of big rocks to cover the job, I propped the gun against a nearby tree, and dropped the shorts, now on with the business, I heard some noise coming up the hill, Ming coming back most likely, then two hinds came into view stopping right in front of me, "you've got to be bloody joking", I thought, shorts around my a...

My God Son Xavier was on his way for Easter, along with his father Shaun, who, in all his wisdom had made me the God Father of Xavier. I had been discussing this with some friends the other day before he arrived (yes I still have a couple left, but not for long after this story) I was informed a God Father is responsible for the God Sons spiritual guidance, "this must be some kind of a sick joke" I thought, they have the wrong man here, even the mention of the word God! Which by the way is Dog spelt backward, makes me snigger,  whenever I hear people talking about God and or Religion, the saying "you've been sold a pup" always comes to mind, and being responsible is something entirely alien to me, my whole life has been about avoiding responsibility, and I might add it is one of the few things I have become quite good at, but then a couple of scenes from the movie 'The God Father' flashed across my mind, hookers, money, huge piles of drugs, sure it ...

Well more like, Beth do you hear me calling!, I was wandering down through the Native with that bloody Kiss song playing over and over in my head. "Beth I here you calling but I can't come home right now". I had been yelling out to Beth since I'd made it back to the ridge and not a sound heard in reply, "shit I hope she's alright" I thought. You see this was Beth's first pig hunt and after picking her up at 6.30 in the tinny, we set off for a likely spot, the boat was a little crowded with me and the four Bitches, Ming, Lu, Puk and Jude having put on a little weight over summer, my shorts had shrunk last year, so I now had a new pair, the only fault with them was the label was a misprint obviously, as I'm a 42 and these said 46. Anyway off we go, the boat struggling onto the plane, in boxing terms, 'we were a bunch of heavy weights'. Now we were early and there was no moon this morning, the gully we were intending to hunt looked as bla...