I was at rugby league training on Saturday morning, our team manager was telling me that he had been to a spot he owned looking for deer mid week and had heard pigs in the scrub. The plan was hatched while we were training, as the dogs were already in the back of the ute. After training we headed off and on the way he showed me another block to have a look at after we were done.
We pulled up to the spot and I was told we were going to drive up the river bed. We drove about 2km up the river bed until we got to the spot that he had heard the pigs a couple days before. We had 3 dogs with us, Blade who is getting on a bit now but still finds and catches pigs at the age of 11, he used to bail but as he has got older he has decided to hold a bit more. Marshall who is about 4 is a finder bailer and is starting to go really well and Sarge who is about 18months old is a finder bailer. I let Blade and Marshall out the box and they went straight across the river and Blade went up stream while Marshall went down stream. I gave them a few minutes to get ahead before I let Sarge out. Sarge went across the river and followed Blade up stream.
Blade came up treed 170m upstream from the truck, Sarge got there very quick and started to bail so I raced up there to see what they had caught. I climbed through a small patch of blackberry to find them with a small boar that was about 30lbs. After I dispatched this I noticed Marshall had come up treed about 80m from the truck down stream and was bailing 20 barks per minute. I started heading that way and as I did Blade and Sarge carried on up stream. When I got back to the truck Marshall had gone quiet but the manager of our league team yelled out from the bush as he had gone and grabbed it. I headed across the river to him and dispatched the pig he had which was a nice 90lb boar. By the time I got there Marshall had already headed up stream. I dragged the boar back to the side of the river Just in time for Blade and Sarge to catch another one up stream. Marshall got there and I had both Marshall and Sarge bailing. They had done a big loop and caught it only about 50m from where the first pig was caught. We made our way back up past the ute to find that they had it caught in a big patch of blackberry. We made our way around the edge of it in the native until we got to about 30m away. We slowly made our way through the blackberry to find them down in a muddy hole with another boar about 70lbs. After dragging it out of the mud and sticking it we decided that was enough for that spot for the day. We got the 2 bigger boars back to the ute.
As we drove back down the river bed I decided I would go have a look in the other block I was shown on the way to this one even though we already had 2 for the freezer.
I pulled up and unlocked the gate and drove about 100m past the gate and let my 3 dogs out again. Blade jumped up on the back of the ute the other 2 decided to run up the track. I only drove about another 150m when Blade jumped off the back of the ute as both Marshall and Sarge came up treed and both barking 20 barks per minute only 120m in the scrub. I was contemplating if I needed to take my 44 mag with me or not, so I decided to wait until Blade got there to see if he would hold it. He went straight in and went into a bail so I decided I’d better take it with me. I made my way into the scrub, underneath was quite wet as we had recently had quite a lot of rain. I got to about 40m from where the dogs had the pig bailed when I saw his mark in the mud. I got to about 3m from the bail but couldn’t get a clear shot. As I was trying to move to a better position the boar broke. The dogs pulled him up again about 30m further through the scrub next to the creek on a small grassy clearing. As I popped out of the scrub the boar charged Marshall but just before he got to him Blade grabbed him by the nuts and sat him down. This was my clear chance at a clear shot from about 1.5meters away. I shot him straight between the eyes and he dropped like a stone. I dragged him out as it was to thick to get him on my back to carry him. I got it back to the ute for some photos then off to weigh it. The boar weighed in at 143lbs. It was good afternoon all done and dusted in 2 and a half hours.
Clinton Harvey