Another couple of steps on the road...

ABOVE: Donna with her pick of the mob and one of Ted's little pigs. Very unusually coloured pigs for us. Photo was taken at about 1000 metres and shows some of the country we hunt.

THE big white boar I have missed twice (that I know of...) was nowhere to be seen today.

It was a bright, cold, Winter's day in the hills and you can sometimes find a decent pig on an eastern slope getting a bit of morning sun. I checked but nothing today. (Worth checking again though because there was a fair bit of sign on the slope.)

I was hunting with Donna, Ted and a young dog of ours, Stan. Stan had never seen a pig before and this was his first run. They got their chance when we found a mob of smaller pigs stealing stockfeed dumped on the ground to help cows and calves get through the cold.

Ted picked up the mob's scent first and his energy pulled the other two dogs with him. But after a bright start Ted fell short by grabbing the first pig he came to. It's falling short in my eyes because there was a bigger boar available and that's the one I want. The good news is though that Stan saw Ted on the pig and lugged up immediately. First pig he'd seen and he was straight on.

No time to enjoy that. Too much dog for the pig for a start but the main reason was Donna was off on her own again but this time I got to see everything in more or less clear country. Donna had galloped through (and over) the pigs to get to the biggest boar. It wasn't a big pig (maybe dress 45 to 50kgs) but it was the biggest available and that's a good sign in a young dog. Very early days and it might all be a series of lucky breaks but she certainly has my attention. I want to see how long this dramatic start lasts and for how long she continues to improve. The good dogs get good quickly and keep learning all the time so she has a long way to go.

So with two pigs on board for dog food, Ted had the chance to redeem himself slightly with a relatively short find on a steep slope.

I'd moved a kilometre or so from the first catch when Ted left the truck and disappeared down a gully and up the opposing slope. He grabbed another little boar, but again, a bit unworthy of the dog. Still, the landholder on this property wants every pig gone so they all go.

That finished the catching for the day although I did spot another mob and began a stalk but they winded me at about 400 metres and I let them go for the scrub. The dogs could have picked up a couple if all went well but I worry about teaching them to catch little ones.

I'll get rid of them all as the landholder requires. I just prefer to start at the top and work my way down.

So not a hunt that produced a big boar but it represents another few steps in the starting and training of our younger dogs. Stan is on now so his basic real hunting training begins and Donna is showing signs of quality.

Perfect timing for Donna as she is heading for the Gulf of Carpentaria on a three week hunt targeting the big meat eating boars on dead cattle baits. That's when we'll find out how much of her improvement is good luck and how much is good form.