10 wee hunting/pig hunting tips
Always hunt with the wind in your face. If the animal smells you before you smell it, you will have minimal chance of taking it home.
Go slow. This is extremely important as the more time you spend waiting, watching and listening, the higher the chance is you’ll come across an animal. My man likes yo say, “smokers catch more pigs, because their always stopping for a dart!”
Take notice of your surroundings. It’s super easy to get confused as you change your location constantly. I recommend you pick distinctive objects like big old trees, rivers, hut or fence lines to avoid walking in circles in dense bush. We usually hunt with a GPS so that makes life easy.
Learn how to read your dogs. It is a wonderful sight to see when a hunter communicates with his/her dogs through a handful of subtle gestures and commands. Batman, who hunts exclusively wild pigs, will let us know when there is a deer near by coming in and silently sticking close by our side. Very handy!
Look for sign. Tracking your prey can be pretty exciting, especially when you come across a massive patch of freshly turned up earth (pig rooting) or a sizeable trotter print one the mud! If you know what your looking for, this will heighten your chances of sneaking up on whatever your after.
Check the weather. I think this ones pretty obvious but had to pop it in. If the wind is blowing a gale in all different directions then your dogs are pretty unlikely to pick up on a reliable air sent. If it’s poured down the night before, the rain will of washed out any ground sent from pigs the day before. If it’s going to be a scorcher then get up before a sparrows fart and hunt early or in the evening after the suns calmed down. Hunting your dogs, midday in the hot sun will rinse them. Never, let your dogs over heat and always keep them watered.
Be prepared. Having your gear organised is so important and really makes all the difference between a good hunt and a mess of a hunt. I have a check list in my head I run through before I leave the house. Obviously the list gets a few alterations if the kids are coming along to! They love it!
Study the area before you go. If you don’t do this you’ll probably miss out on some sneaky wee spots where tasty animals could be hiding! If you are familiar with the lay of the land then when a pig shoots off up and over a ridge, you have you’ll have a fair idea of where he’s gone and you can put the dogs into place.
Who else could be near. Weather it be farm land or doc you need to know who else is around. In New Zealand we have hunting permits and licenses to keep everyone safe. When we hunt on farmland we always make sure we have a yarn with the farmer about who’s about and what the stock are doing before we get into it.
Gun safety. I saved the most important tip for last. Well its not really a tip, rather common sense. Know the 7 rules of gun safety, which are..
treat every firearm as if it’s loaded
always point firearms in a safe direction
Load a firearm only when ready to fire
identify your target beyond all doubt
Check your firing zone
store firearms and ammunition safely
avoid both alcohol and drugs when handling firearms
