For those of you that don’t know, in this district we grow a lot of potato’s. Paddocks and paddocks of them in fact.
This wee hunt started a couple of weeks ago when a fellow forum member that I often hunt with contacted me to let me know that a bloke he knows was having trouble nailing some pigs that were turning up uninvited in a potato crop.
It wouldn’t normally be any trouble to shoot a couple but these cunning beggars were waiting till after dark to wreak havoc on the spuds.
So the wife and I finish work early one day, load the dogs up and head over to see what we can do.
We get to the end of the gravel road, wifey decides that a crossword puzzle is more interesting than blood and guts so stays in the ute.
My mate and I go for a wander up the hill to where another guy is waiting for the pigs with his rifle.
Sure enough, it gets too dark to shoot, so we quietly make our way down a fence line, with a nice breeze blowing out of the scrubby gully where we reckon the pigs are coming from.
We put my good holding dog Puddie over the fence so he can be 1st to the pigs, and we keep my bailer dog Tye and my mates hard little heeler/staffie bitch Juno in the paddock, just in case.
Not 5 minutes later we spot the outline of what looks to me like a nice young porker moving out of the gully and into the paddock.
Tye starts moving off ahead of me like he’s supposed to, but hasn’t got a smell of it yet.
Pig gets suspicious and knows somethings up, so freezes in the paddock while Tye is still working his way down the fence.
I have a look at the tracker and Puddie has gone off down the gully hunting.
Then all of a sudden Tye gets a nose full of scent, scoots out into the paddock and the chase is on!
He gets the Pig bailed up by a hedge and Juno goes flying past me (for a little dog she’s incredibly fast).
Then my mate overtakes me just as his dog grabs the pig.
Pig manages to get free, runs through a gateway and bolts for the scrubby gully, (he’s not too keen on being near mashed potatoes 😂).
I’m yelling for Puddie to hurry up.
Pig only gets about 30 metres before Juno reattaches herself to the pigs arse and sits it down.
About this time my mate decides he’s not going to sit back and watch his dog get hurt, so goes in to help his fierce little warrior.
Pig spins around, takes one look at my mate and charges him.
Mate grabs the pig by the ears.
Pig bites his hand.
I keep yelling for Puddie to hurry up and help.
Mate loses patience and sticks the pig.
I still yell for Puddie to hurry up!
Pig dies.
Puddie finally turns up (I forgot he can’t get through fences 😧).
We carry the pig (boar about 70-80 pounds) the short walk back to the ute.
My wife had heard the barking and was stoked we got one 😊
And it’s still only 6PM Friday!
http://images.fishnhunt.co.nz/images/Maddoghunter/potatoboar.jpg