It all started when I called into a pig hunters house and somehow got talked into “viewing his two last pups” being the dog obsessed person I am, I left with one that was in for a long 5-hour drive back down south. I called him Baz.
At 8 months old Baz got his first taste of pig hunting, running a pack of hard holders at the time and being the build he was, he was defiantly more suited to being a bailer but no, he was straight into it holding with the others.
Baz had seen a good few pigs and had endured a couple of poke holes but never really showed his potential until he was about 2.5 years old. This is when he was getting more mature and learnt to use his noise to find a pig, stop winging in the box on the way out hunting and stop being arrogant towards other male dogs then packing a sad when he got told off.
When I meet my partner Brian, Baz was 1.5 years old, they had a love hate relationship and I kept hearing the comments “Why do you keep that asshole dog” But I knew he had it in him, he showed so much potential but just needed a bit more time.
When he starting shinning and finding his own pigs, his confidence grew and grew. His bad habits stopped and he knew he had a job to do. The only trouble was he only liked to hold, even by himself with no dogs in sight he would hold everything.
That was until July 2020, Up in the tussock country where you cant see a sheep let alone a pig walking around. The boys were walking up a hill and Baz dog took off, then there was barking. Now Baz’s bark was not a nice bark, it was high pitch and sounded like a dieing cat. Brian, who never really carries a gun after knowing Baz always holds everything but his main dog Fern would bail, was very grateful he had the gun this day. Getting to the area Baz was barking but not being able to see anything in the tussock, Brian put the gun down as he climbed over some tussocks to see what the hell Baz was barking at knowing Baz never barks. That’s when the pig being bailed turned and Brian fell on his ass, luckily next to his gun he just put down and BOOM, Boar down! This boar was one old bugger, had clean ears but heaps of body battle scars. He looked like he was losing condition and a younger, stronger boar had probably recently kicked him out of his area he’s been camped up in for a long time. Brian was lucky he didn’t have to far to carry this 190LB as a track was above him but it was still a good challenge. The week after this, Brian and Baz where “best friends” Baz dog even slept inside next to the fire that night, Brian had never let him do that before!
The next weekend come around, I had a friend visiting so I was in town and Brian took Baz, his new best mate and a couple of other dogs out hunting with one of his friends. I had a snapchat from Brian of the noise of dogs bailing, he said “oh man it’s a S**t hole in here, will take us awhile to get to the bail”. A couple of hours later I had the phone call. Baz was holding a 90 pound sow while the other dogs where bailing and him and the pig had gone off a waterfall bluff. The pig had landed on Baz and killed him instantly. I was absolutely heart broken and Brian knew it would be hard phone call to make to me. Our dogs are our children, we would do anything for them.
Brian carried Baz for 2.5 hours out of the gut and up the hill to bring him home. I know its part of pig hunting and the risk we all take, but it sure does leave a hole in your heart losing a mate like this, you just have to remember he was doing what he loved, what he lived for. The next day we took Baz back up the hill, not to far from where he had passed and buried him looking out towards the bush and the hills, the places he lived to be in. I carved out some antler with “RIP Baz” and placed it on a post so everyone who happens to visit this spot (being public land) will know Baz is buried there.
We had the 190 capped out in the freezer but wasn’t sure if we would get it mounted. After Baz’s passing, that Monday I took it straight to Calibre Taxidermy in Timaru. We just got the boar back 10 months later and the same I day I picked it, it’s on the wall. In memory of Baz dog and the one boar he bailed, all by himself even.
We still go visit Baz on the hill, we take the other dog there like his best mate Frankie that was the only other dog he liked. It wasn’t that long ago when we went, there was pig rooting all around him! I’m sure he’s absolutely fizzing and barking at them in dog heaven. Rip Baz Dog
Georgie Hendrie