Sticking the Pig

Morning all,

Currently in NZ and contemplating doing a few write ups on the hunting ive been lucky enough to get involved in over the next few days. Been lucky to bag 5 Himalayan Tahr, 8 goats, a nice fallow buck and a pig.

I'll start with the pig hunt and if theres any interest I can write up about the Tahr (contact details are available if people want to do that sort of hunting).

Anyway, we started off early on the saturday morning driving just shy of an hour and a half to the hunting area with my guide, meeting up with another two lads with 5 dogs for day break. I never expect hunting to be easy but I am not afraid to admit that i was naive in my approach to pig hunting.

We cracked on, letting the dogs into the scrub trying to scent any pigs in the area. We climbed and climbed through the hills and native bush until we came up onto the 'tops'. Few fallow showing but no sign of a pig! We had a root round and sat up glassing whilst the dogs investigated the gullies below us, even with a bit of sign (digging) still no pig by what should have been lunch time.

We decided to head over to the other end of the permission which was just pure up hill, a normal hill over here is like climbing the brecons back home. We just kept gaining altitude for 2 hrs until we hit this area along a fence line that was like pig meccah, literally 800 metres long and coming out 50 metres from the fence was just pig sign everywhere.... we followed the sign to a break in the fence that led into the native bush. The track we got onto was like the m25, literally two metres wide of muddy tracks, im not sure how many of you have been to NZ but their native bush isnt managed like our woods back home.

We followed the track for about 800 metres which took about 40 minutes and we were contemplating heading back... the pig hunters were determined to get me onto one and said we should just push out into the scrub, i thought they were ****ing mad but on we went.

Within 50 metres of pushing into the bush weve got squeeling! Hoorah! The dogs had caught a nice 80lb boar and had him pinned in the thick stuff, we got into the pig, calmed the situation down and then I got to dispatch the boar with just a knife, exhilarating!

Pig gralloched, legs tied and on my back, one last look up hill and we saw a further 15 pigs including some big boys right on the brow, definitely a spot for the pig boys in future!

The extraction was horrible to say the least but well worth the experience! After 8 hrs hunting a well deserved beer was had by all. Bit of an essay but hopefully someone finds it of some interest, its certainly different to smacking a roe buck over!

 

[User00033]

That's the way Josh. None of this "you need a minimum of .270, actually make that .30-06" nonsense!

Get in there, grab it and stick it!

 

[Gsd99]

Definitely mate! So much controversy back home with "oh i wouldnt shoot a red with anything less than 270 blah blah blah" seen pictures of 14 point stags put down with a 222 out here all fully legal (and rightly so!)

 

[The hunting Finn]

Nice story about a different hunt! I woudn´t however do it with a knife with a cabonsteel blade less than 12 inch.
Don´t forget to tell us about the goats and Himalayan Tahrs.

 

[Ooops]

Currently in NZ and contemplating doing a few write ups on the hunting ive been lucky enough to get involved in o

Very interesting Josh. Please share the rest with us.

 

[John Gryphon]

No you may not need an X calibre but you do need at least a .270 calibre dog or two if you are going to stick wild pigs.

 

[User00033]

I do love the dogs John. And pig hunting with dogs really is all about the dogs, not the pigs, when it comes down to it. What I mean is, the bond between hunter and his dogs is far more complex than some would realise, from the attention to the breeding line, the training, the selection (and rejection) of dogs as they either pass or fail their tests. And the extremely deep level of respect (and love) for the dogs. Obviously kiwi pig hunters are a hardy breed of men and women, and they don't like to show their soft side much, but when they lose dogs to pigs its a personal tragedy, deeply felt.

Pig dogs are a motley looking crowd for sure, but one for absolute sure, when you look into the eyes of a good one there's an intelligence there, like in the eyes of a good heading dog. I do love a dog that just knows what to do, with a minimum of instruction. Pig dogs work as a team, with strictly defined roles that the dogs implicitly understand. Finder, bailer, holder. The hunter cannot afford to have any anti-social traits, so there's no fighting between dogs, ever. Not permitted.

I don't go pig hunting as often as I used to, simply put I can't keep up with the young fellas let alone the dogs. These days, my role is "keeping the quad bike's seat warm" and directing proceedings from afar.

 

[User00033]

Tell us more about your trip @josh3105, with some idea of the places you're hunting too please.

 

[th32]

Thanks for posting. It'll be great to know about your thar hunting in NZ. Did you go solo or guided?

 

[Klenchblaize]

I have just the knife for this but sadly no longer the backbone for 3-hour piggyback extractions since my L2 vertebrae went all lunar landscape.

K

Sold: - Tops Wild Pig Hunter

A Beast of a Knife: As new with sheath. £175 including P&P. K

www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk

 

[Old-YOP]

Hope that bugger on your back really is dead!

 

[Gsd99]

Thanks for the positive responses thus far guys. I agree about the pig hunting, its so much more about the dogs than it is they pig, the tasty bacon is just a by product! Its a real shame we can do the same sort of sport back home but thats never gonna change now!

I will at some point get round to writing about the Tahr, maybe even tonight, but to answer a few questions i hunted over on the west coast and stayed at butler top hut, hunting butler valley and the ice lake. I did it guided but not guided in the sense of 5k gbp to shoot a Tahr, i got a really good price and we effectively went out as mates and went on a shooting trip, very little pressure on either of us and the 'guide' was still able to earn a nice little profit.

Josh

 

[Gsd99]

Also, i think the blade on the knife was 9 inches

 

[John Gryphon]

I do love the dogs John. And pig hunting with dogs really is all about the dogs, not the pigs, when it comes down to it.

Yes agreed,I spent many a year with my own dogs driven bullschitt distances to get in among the pigs.
I still have my old sticker somewhere,its been a while since she was red.

I sneaked up on this sounder while they were dust wallowing and sleeping. As I was hunting Fallow I crept back away.

 

[Gsd99]

Yes agreed,I spent many a year with my own dogs driven bullschitt distances to get in among the pigs.
I still have my old sticker somewhere,its been a while since she was red.

I sneaked up on this sounder while they were dust wallowing and sleeping. As I was hunting Fallow I crept back away.

Brilliant picture

 

[foxdropper]

Do they use Apbt for the holding dog mate as in the states or is it another sort of strong dog .
Got a dvd somewhere called tooth versus tusk and there’s some action on that to make your arse twitch .

 

[Gsd99]

I couldnt tell you the exact breeds mate, i think the general attitude coming from the guys i spoke to was breed good pig dogs together and dogs that are good will be carried on. I think its similiar to certain types of lurcher you see back home, combining attributes that you want such as say a whippets speed with a pbt strength/fight etc. I may well be corrected by the aussie/kiwi guys on this forum

 

[User00033]

There is nothing remotely close to a "breed standard" for a pig dog, that's for sure!

Pig dogs vary in their degree of mongrelness from pure mongrel to first cross, and everything in between. There are as many different approaches to the ideal pig dog attributes as there are sizes and shapes of pig.

A lot has to do with the dominant pig genetics, terrain and the environment.

Pig genetics influence the choice of dog in terms of the dog's agility and speed and whether they are preferred to bail or hold. In some areas e.g. my North Island hunting area, pig genetics are dominated by extremely sharp, but not so long tusks. There are also a lot of very strong, but medium sized pigs. This combination means a fast pig, with lethal weapons, and that is often a more dangerous proposition that a very large pig with long, but relatively blunt tusks.

Combine a fast, tooled up pig with very tight scrub and native bush, and dogs inclined to try and hold, and you have a close quarters fight that will result in an unacceptably high number of dog injuries and death. Therefore, you don't want holding dogs, but bailing dogs. It is a really important distinction. You want bailing dogs that are fast, nimble, brave, but not inclined to excessively bite the pig, they are required to bail up the pig and keep it there in one spot without unnecessarily risking their lives.

Then there's the opposite scenario - South Island open tussock country, not a tree or a bush in sight. There, the pig can cover big distances very quickly, and the dogs need to be able to pull it up fast. Also, many South Island populations are dominated by pied pigs or ginger pigs, and a lot of these pigs have very large jaws that aren't anywhere near as sharp as some of their black "razorback" cousins up north. This is where the holding dog comes into play, a larger dog that is capable of hanging on to a pigs ear and staying put.

Some pig dog teams are dominated by holding dogs, so two holders, one finder / chaser that will start to bark when its onto a pig, which is when the hunter will release his holders. Oftentimes, it'll be two finders / chasers / bailers, with one large, heavy holding dog held in reserve until the bail has started in earnest. There's all sorts of permutations and a serious pig hunter will mix and match his team according to where he's hunting and what he expects to find there.

In my pig hunting experience, I've very rarely come across bull breed dogs. The iconic pig dog look is the pitbull / mastiff type with a massive collar and chest shield, but I've never hunted with a dog like that. All of my mates' dogs are light, lithe, fast as and with tremendous stamina. This kind of dog:



This is George, a bitch, pack leader and extremely tenacious. She is also a survivor, all her compatriots were killed last year.

I've come across fox terriers, Staffy's like mine, several heading dogs (collies), Huntaway / Ridgeback crosses (popular), a first cross Doberman / Weimaraner and many lurcher types. Perhaps the closest we have to an official pig dog breed is the Lockley.

Lockley hunting dogs

One thing is for sure, good pig dogs are worth a lot of money, and deals with bitches and dogs between serious pig hunters is a carefully planned business. Once a dog proves their potential and gets a solid track record, their use as breeding stock massively inflates their value. The last litter my mate Stuart had with his lead bitch were all traded bar one - not for cash but for some fairly significant farm related business, baling, fencing jobs, a very good endurance horse... Serious business these dogs!

 

[Gsd99]

Really good and interesting insight!

 

[Ooops]

Fascinating stuff dodgy. I was wondering what the different terms meant, i.e. bailing etc. now I know