Balls out and Pierre's first pig!


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 a boar around 60lb which was dispatched, the other two dogs turned up as I dragged the pig down to the shore.

We had hardly broken a sweat and so decided to have a look at another couple of spots, around an hour later having worked up a good sweat we found ourselves above the area Puk had found the small boar earlier, once again we had dogs running in all directions at one stage something large rumbled by, but I never got a look at it, soon Udit started trail barking near-by and as she wasn't moving very fast I thought she must have been on a pig for a change, she managed to stick with it till Lu arrived and the bailing then reached fever pitch, the pig broke a couple of times and I was starting to think it might get away. Where was Puk the holder, I had a look on the tracker seeing her 800 meters away, she must have her own pig to chase, Lu and Udit started to tire the pig out and I was making ground now, soon finding myself sliding down a steep bank through the bracken and manuka, Lu could be seen with an ear in her mouth laying back onto the pigs shout, not the best position but it gave me a clear shot with the .357 magnum 'Boom' the boar around 100 lb staggered around a bit then collapsed. "Well done Girls" I yelled, this late hunting was turning out alright after all, we soon had the boar on the beach with the one Puk had found earlier, but where was Puk? Looking at the tracker she was in a creek 1 km away, it would be quicker to go back for the dingy and scoot around to her, so we set off leaving the two boars in the shade for pick-up later, 20 mins later we arrived at the spot where Puk had grabbed a sow, it had drowned in the creek, well what a morning three pigs with a 9am start.

Balls out! Two Boars on the beach.



A couple of days later while diving with my neighbour Gary and his two woofas, he mentioned Pedro my pig hunting neighbour was going to take Pierre the young frenchman (woofa) out pig hunting and was I going along, yes I said, I would like to tag along, and so later I arranged with Pedro to meet the following morning at 6.30, we split up with Pedro taking the bottom root and me and Pierre the high ground, we had quiet a sweat up by the time we arrived at an area where the pigs like to hang out, we were standing in fresh pig rooting with Lu and Udit running around, not a bark could be heard tho, so I let the holder Puk off the lead, and she off up the hill with Lu and Udit hot on her heels, up, up, up they climbed, Pierre had wanted to go into the virgin forest and was about to get his wish, as the dogs we're 800 meters above us now heading for the ridge, the pig must have got a head start. I said to Pierre, there's no point in following to fast, as these things some times tend to end up where they started, meaning the pigs do a big loop and shaw enough the dogs were now sidling across the hill, before long coming down past us about 200 metres away, the pig making a down hill run, where he can out run the dogs, then sidling again to almost complete the loop, I could hear the dogs bailing on and off, and this always give you an adrenaline rush, so off we sped down through manuka and Darwin's barberry, normally this is where you loose the newbie, but Pierre was keeping up ok, the pig keep breaking, one minute we were almost on them, then all would go quiet with the pig breaking over into the next gully, the pig was starting to tire now tho and we were soon on him, it was a him, a boar about 110lb was scoffing and blowing with Puk&Lu holding him, Udit bailing up a storm as is her job, I got around behind the boar grabbing his back legs then driving him off his front legs, then reaching under to grab a front leg to stop him getting up, Pierre giving me a hand while I stuck him, "Good dogs" I said, Pierre was smiling from ear to ear, his first wild pig, an experience he won't quickly forget.

Pierre with his first Boar


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