Standard pig hunt
So here we are, down on the edge of Lake Benmore in Canterbury, New Zealand with my partner Sharn and our 3 kids. We drove in late last night and set up camp, prepared for hunt ahead. The sun is still yet to rise and the children are running around playing as we collar the dogs and organise what gear we will be taking on the days mission.
I will head off with the dogs to see if we can track a wild boar and Sharn go of in the opposite direction with the children in hope of spotting a deer. My bag pack is filled with a light snack and a empty bottle as I know there is a stream up the gut I will be walking. My knife belt is equip with knife and dog first aid kit, something I never go without on any hunt. So with my GPS unit in hand I head off into the hills with the dogs leading the way.
Ive always lived by the rule “hunt with the wind in your face, never let the pig get a wif of you before you get a wif of him or hell be off and away. Pigs have incredible noses and they know the terrain a lot better than us. I think of this as I slowing make my way up the hill keeping a close eye on the GPS to see what the dogs are doing. If there has been a pig rooting around last night, my dogs will hopefully pick up that sent and follow it to where he is hiding out.
The dogs are on! I hear a faint bark in the distance, signalling Batman (my main dog) is bailing a pig. I can’t hear any squealing so fingers crossed he’s a biggy. Picking up the pase, I head in the direction of the noise, using the GPS to guide me, jumping over streams, tunneling through bush on my hands and knees with my heart rate beginning to rise! I make it to the bail up to see the 3 dogs surrounding a wild boar. I asses the situation carefully and get set up to take the shot. As I do so the dogs sensed my presence and lugged up. I safely put my rifle aside and grabbed my knife. I grab the boar by his back legs and attempt to heave him over, but he is to heavy for me to flip. I take a different approach, sliding my knife in between his ribs, into his heart, ending his life as quickly and as cleanly as possible.
Succes! “Good dogs” I say as I give all our clever dogs a congratulatory pat! It really is the pig dogs that do all the hard work and man do they love it. Next, I gutt the boar, this is vital for 2 reasons, 1; because removing the internal organs preserves the over all quality of the meat and 2; nobody wants to carry that extra weight out do they now!
I make a hole with my knife between tendons on all four legs of the pig. This is so I can thread through a piece of rope from my dog kit, attaching the left front and left back leg together, and right front and back leg together, making him into a back pack!
Up onto my back he goes and off we go down the hill with the dogs in toe, back to the campsite to see what the others have found.
