MAY 30...My 49th birthday
Had a young mate stay over at our place last night, Tom. I took Tom for his first pig hunt last year and got four little ones. Anyway Tom is now 11 and stayed with us last night to offside for me on this morning's run. A 4.30 rise and and gone a bit after 5am, we picked up a 45kg (dressed) boar on the way to our main objective. All very straight forward. Bobby off the ute and pig caught.
We made it to our current hotspot on this property and I was telling Tom about the big boar and his mate I'd seen in the distance last week. We rounded a bend going up a big hill and Bobby went again. He headed for the same ridge Mitch and I had seen two good pigs last week. But this time he came back in the opposite direction and started down into a big big gully.
I looked ahead of him and there was the big white boar from last week and hisblack mate just topping the crest of the next ridge. Long way but way down in the gully, there is Bobby. He's flown across the last cutaway and jumped onto the climbing slope like a machine. He was powering up this slope, I've got to say it was beautiful to watch. He's a big striding dog and has some real power on hills when he's fit. Well, apparently he's almost properly fit because he just ate up the ground. Can't say enough about how good it looked to me. I said to Tom 'he's going to get the bastards, shit, we've got to get there..." Then it's the mad drive. We have to head away from the action or drive off a cliff, so around here and there and then off the track to follow a spur to where we last saw Bobby crossing the ridge not a minute behind the boars.
I stopped and jumped out. Nothing. Then Donna pricked here ears, jumped and flew down the hill into the scrub. She hit and then we knew. Bobby was lugged up on one of the pair and Donna was letting out the odd 'holy shit' bark. Down I went, depositing Tom behind a climbable tree half way to the action. Bobby was on, Donna let go as soon as I arrived. Way too early but Bobby was professional and waited for the word. Good rough boar in a bad spot but I was super happy with the black dog. He'd grabbed the smaller of the two but he'd stopped the bloody thing on a wicked slope not 200 metres from where I'd last seen it and I was over a kilometre away point to point when I last saw them. Only guess how far Bobby had run and at what speed but in this country, that boar was pulled up fast. Stuck the pig standing rather than risk rolling him on a sliding slope. Gutted him and tied his legs Kiwi backpack style and set about getting him out. He was a bit messy for the (export meat trade chiller) box (not throat stuck) but I wanted to try getting him out in one piece. Just a straight up ego thing. Wanted to carry him out and weigh him to back up the dog's effort. And I wanted to know if I could... Ugly job, probably only 100 metres if that but ugly. Made it until the last 10 metres then had to get Tom to drag me by the hand so I didn't overbalance backwards. I drove him like a horse and he hooked right in. He's 11 but that extra effort kept me moving forward let me tell you. Got to the truck, felt pleased with myself and had a V and a chocolate Monte biscuit. Great morning. Bobby's boar went 73kgs dressed.
No comments:
Post a Comment