Boar catchers

Getting back in the swing with the locals

2009-08-24T12:01:00.008+10:00

MARY had her first local run for me in a long time this morning. She's been working with Paul to fill the gap left by the death of one of his mainstays, Kevin but recently came back to me.
Mary is an accidental dog, the product of an unplanned brother sister mating involving Tiger and Paul's Hannah.
She's only a little dog, maybe 26kgs but is an enthusiastic finder and will grab whatever boar she finds. Mary had a great run during our recent northern trip and did all the work again today.
Jen and I headed off at 5am for a block south of here that often produces decent boars. We had Mary, the pup Gina and fat Bob. Bob has been on the gravy train staying with friends of ours while I was away. He's overweight and unfit so I knew Mary would have to carry the weight of the hunt.
True to form it was Mary who jumped first. We'd been hunting for a few hours when the little grey dog dived off the driver's side of the tray and went like a bullet across a gully and up the other side. Bob went too and so did we.

I knew the track crossed the gully and would cut Mary's present line further up the hill so we drove as quickly as you can in steep county and hit Mary and Bob's path where they rejoined the main track. They had followed the main track and I thought they might now just be running on spec. We pressed on quickly anyway and I was proved wrong. The dogs had been on a scent that had follwed the maion track and we saw Bob on a little sow up ahead. I stopped and grabbed the big dog and the pig and said to Jen, Mary must be up ahead. Jen said she was, she could see Mary on the ridge with a little boar. We drove straight to her and Gina was released to give her cousin a hand.

Mary has plenty of guts but I wanted Gina to gain more experience while helping keep Mary out of any trouble.

Only a little boar but plenty of drive in him so it was a reasonable return to the local hunting.

It was also a good workout for the truck which had undergone a number of repairs and modifications since the return from the bulls for boars hunt. My springs were shot and had to be replaced, the frame had cracked and had to be rewelded, the rails carrying the tray were also cracked and had to be replated and reinforced.

I also had a dual battery system installed as well as a 45 litre ARB fridge.

Add that to the new turbo-charger, all new shocks, new radiator, new head gasket, new manifold bolts and new brake and clutch master cylinders (and more) done before the northern trip and the old truck is back in full hunting kit.

It's not a pretty vehicle and it's tortured in the bush but whatever bends or breaks is replaced with a better version of the same thing so you can hunt in rough country with confidence.

And with the fridge installed, it is luxury plus as the warmer weather approaches.

Using bulls to catch boars

2009-08-15T12:58:00.007+10:00

MY recent trip north after boars introduced me to an entirely new way of hunting, using bulls to catch boars.

I'd caught pigs off carcases before but it was a hit and miss type of thing. Always worth checking a body in the bush because it might hold pigs...But this was different. It was a specific tactic to attract big toothy boars out of their hiding spots into a GPSed area.

Brett had developed the method on this particular block because dead cattle had proven his best producer of good boars. So after years of leg work he had started specifically hunting scrub bulls (to help reduce the feral cattle population for the landholder and...) to draw out the best boars.

My son Paul and I were lucky enough to see the system in practice, first hand.

It all starts immediately after the basic camp is set up. Straight out on the track to look for likely bull areas. The idea is to get the bulls on the ground as quickly as possible to give them time to 'ripen'. That took about five days in the climate we were in.

After the bulls are shot, near water, near a track somewhere reasonably accessible on foot, it is checked every day for tracks and it's state of decomposition. In this spot the pigs seems to have had little to do with people and scent does not seem an issue. Each day the bull changes and so do the tracks. After they've blown up and started to deflate, a dingo would usually open them up properly. The hide seems too thick for boars to open on their own.

Once the bull is open, the boars drag out pieces of meat and toss them up before appearing to swallow them like an oyster. (We know this because we also had a trail cam set up on different baits every few days.)

Just before the big gorge begins, you could expect one boar and sometimes two, to move in to claim the feast.

We'd arrive at night and check the baits, fresh tracks might tells us one was close by. Sometimes there was no sign at all but often they dogs would drop their nose to the ground or stick it up in the air and run straight onto a tusky pig.

The drill was always the same; load up the selected dogs and plate them up (put on their protective breastplates). Check our tracking gear had plenty of battery strength, same with torches and cameras. Throw plenty of food, water, go fast drinks such as V or Mother and first aid gear on board.

Drive to within a km of the bait (sometimes a lot closer if the bait had been well placed), unload the dogs and walk in. We'd have two definite luggers and two trainees. We also had one veteran finder out of the two luggers as well. The objective was to leave enough opening for a younger dog to step up in performance but not so much of a gap that we risked losing a good boar.

If we made it to the bull without the dogs hitting a boar we'd look at the body, check for signs of boar activity and wait while the dogs continued to scout about. While the bull was approaching the prime rotting time the boars seemed to be closer in but after the feeding had begun the average distance from the body increased.

Mostly, if it was on, it was on from the word go. The dogs would head to the bait more agitated than normal. They'd either pounce immediately on a boar within metres of the bait or start zig zagging through the grass or running in big circles. The zig zags would turn into a big arcing run straight to the pig. And the circles either sent a dog off at a straight line tangent to land on the pig or the circles got tighter and tighter and ended up with a boar in the bullseye. It was wild, knowing it was all about to happen but not surte just where, maybe right at your feet...

It was always at night time and it was always quiet, just the dogs getting through the scrub. Really straining your ears to hear the first sound of the dogs hitting a camped boar, full of anticipation. Then the sound and you're full of adrenalin, running through long grass and scrub to get to the fight. You can see the tusks on these pigs from a good way out in the light of the headlamps. You can see them banging into the dogs' breastplates and, sometimes, the dogs.

You know they will whack them into you if you give the pig the chance too.

It is a high risk, high yield way to hunt and it gets results.

I say high risk for a few reasons, one is the country we were in, scrub bulls and crocs for a start, the second is loading the dog's up on boar after boar especially if those boars are meat eaters. The risk of dogs getting cut up and the potential for significant infection was high.

And the risk of treading on some of these boars was just as real. We didn't know where they'd be and they weren't the type of pigs to yield ground. Some were caught within metres of us in the long grass, just standing there...

However, the inherent dangers for dogs and hunters with this type of hunting also creates a testing ground for the younger dogs. You can't make a dog want to grab a nasty boar. They either want to do it or they don't. You find out very quickly with this type of hunting whether or not your young dogs have the heart for the trade.

The green dogs in this hunting team did the job. That was expected of course. It wasn't a random collection of dogs but a team of younger or inexperienced dogs bred for the job. It was a matter of putting the work in front of them to see how they would react. And this was an A grade way to do that.

The whole thing was well planned and well executed and a credit to Brett's research on the pigs that live along Secret Creek.

Pig stats for the trip: 28 pigs in total, only five sows, of the 23 remaining boars 16 were crackers.)

Three weeks in the dust...a boar catcher's daily journal

2009-07-16T10:08:00.019+10:00

Ted drinking at the Serpentine...

Saturday July 18, 2009

LEFT with son Paul from his home just out of Inverell at 3.15pm. Nine dogs on board, the experienced Betty, Pepper, Ted and Mary. The green dogs were Donna, Gina and Stan and pups were Roger and his sister Susie. Our hunting partner Brett had already left South Australia to meet us in Augathella, Qld. We had about 1900kms to drive but Brett had to cover about 3000kms. We got to just north of Roma and camped on the road. Cold camp. We kept in contact with Brett on the mobile and he was in good spirits. He'd already seen a bloody good boar walk across the road in front of him near Tilpa in NSW.

Sunday July 19, 2009

UP at dawn. Cold start but into Augathella by 9am. Radiator leaking so got to work on that while we waited for Brett. Radiator repair a success and dogs well watered by the time Brett arrives at 11am. We all pressed on to Winton Qld and the Tatt's Hotel. Had a top counter meal and warm welcome from the locals. Stayed off the grog but looked a good spot to prop if you weren't on a mission. First of the backpacker girls we struck on the trip. Lots of European (particularly German) girls working in the Outback. Certainly brightens up the trip. Obviously very good news for the young blokes working in remote areas...

Brett, Paul and I camped on the road south of Cloncurry.

Monday July 20, 2009

INTO Cloncurry for the final shop. Turned north toward the Burke and Wills Roadhouse to fuel up. More backpackers in the middle of nowhere. Amazing how things have changed since I first came up here in 1983. We pressed on into the dark and hit the worst of the bull dust roads. Made it to within 20kms of our hosts camp when the road took its toll. The shock absorbers on my Rodeo gave up and Brett's trailer sheared a bolt holding on his springs. After a bit of discussion, Brett went ahead to get some new bolts from the owners place and we made some repairs. Good sign for the trip, not the problems but the way we handled them. No whinging, no tears, just form a plan, work together, and get moving again.

Made it to our hosts place and head for our camp about 70kms away in the scrub. Made it to about 10 kms from our planned camp and dropped our swags for the night. Very tired.

Tuesday July 21, 2009

PRESSED on to Blind Boar Lagoon and set up camp. Scrubby, seasonally flooded country. Hard going. Immediately got to work finding some of the bulls missed in musters before we arrived. Big bulls, crazy wild and dangerous. We shot a couple and marked their positions with a GPS. This was the plan. Hunt bulls, then hunt the boars that come in to claim the carcase from the 750sqkms of scrub we'd had been allowed to enter.

Went for a float in the boat on the lagoon to look for Saltwater Crocodile slides (they will eat you so we wanted to know if there were any near camp). Saw a good boar (but no tusks) digging on the water's edge and Paul got off a shot with a Ruger 308 to put him on the deck. First pig down.

Wednesday July 22, 2009

AWOKE to the heaviest dew I've ever experienced. Literally dripping off everything. Swags damp as buggery. Went to one set of the stockyards on the property to help with the drafting of the day's catch. A lot of cattle trucked out for sale are scrub bulls mustered with helicopters or caught alive by blokes driving bull catchers. Without doubt one of the most dangerous things you can do. The bulls are knocked off their feet by the bull catching vehicle and then swarmed by blokes who grab the tail, run it between the bull's back legs and hang back. Another bloke straps the bull's back legs while he struggles (off balance because of the tail man...) to get up. Same bloke straps the front legs. Couple of men try to hold the bull's head while the tips of the horns are sawn off so the captured bulls can't gut one another in the yards. Tied bulls are dragged onto a truck and taken to the yards. The are not happy campers at the best of times but by the time they are in a yard, they are furious. I have never seen anything as angry as a scrub bull.

We went for a scout in a potentially good spot but it had been thoroughly disturbed by the mustering chopper so no pigs were seen.

Thursday July 23, 2009

IN the stockyards helping with the draft. Mostly cleanskin cattle and all unhappy to see people. Had a lot of help from the local Aboriginal blokes. Friendly blokes who often spoke to one another in their own language, especially when there was a bit of action. Happy blokes, often laughing (mostly at us...) One very sad note, Athol, one of the Aboriginal boys received word that his four-year-old daughter had died this day from Swine Flu. Upsetting for the family, mates and we fellow workers. That was the last we saw of Athol...

In the midst of that Paul and I went for a ride in a bull catcher with the hostess and the bull catching son. Didn't see a bull but had a bloody good scoot about. Good drivers and real good mechanics/welders (same thing up here...).

Got away from the yards and went for a look along the Serpentine. Ted put up a little mob and grabbed one. Brett (the bloke) grabbed one as well.

Friday July 24, 2009

VERY hot today. Did a lot of walking and checking water holes for sign. Visited the Croc Hole, a remote bit of water that has displayed big saltie croc slide marks in the past. No new slides and nothing much in the Redclaw traps. Spooky spot. Oozes danger in the water...

Went out for a hunt at about 10pm to check baits for activity. About midnight hit our first proper boar, a mad fighting pig on Rogan's Waterhole bait number 1. Slashing good fighter, long pig with average tusks for up here and a genuine test for the dogs. He had claimed the bait and was lying up about 80 metres off until it ripened. Pigs can't eat meat like a dog, they tear it off and swallow it so the meat has to be decayed to the right degree for them to do their thing. Mary the dog wore a puncture in under the butt of her ear but is in good spirits. Bit of bush vet work and she's fine.

Saturday July 25, 2009

PAUL and Brett grabbed the quads and went for an explore. We used GPS technology and bush smarts to find likely spots when we had time to look. I stayed in camp and washed my filthy clothes in a bucket and made some Hardtimers, little biscuits that cook well in a camp oven, last for ever and fill a void when you are hunting hungry.

Out again at night and grabbed a good boar on a big bull bait about 500m from camp. Brett's dog Wolfie did a great job picking up this boar. We saw a couple of dingoes in the headlights and hung the trail camera on one of the baits at Rogan's Waterhole. Checked Redclaw traps in their new spot and had plenty.

Sunday July 26, 2009

WENT for a walk around Blind Boar Lagoon after crossing it in the boat. Totally unprepared we were barefoot and without a catching dog. The boar we'd shot on the water's edge had been chewed up and moved by another pig so were were looking for more sign of the size etc of the animal that was working the area. Good tracks led off in one direction and I followed them. Brett and Paul were further out on the wings when I came across the boar just nosing about in the sand. He stood to bluff me and I was very aware I was without a hound to help so I called for Brett and Paul for back-up. The boar started to head off but Paul and I (barefoot remember) started trotting and trying to turn him back toward the lagoon. He'd chase us a bit but we had some luck because it appeared something from wrong with his siting capabilities, couldn't get a could target on us. Meanwhile Brett, the fittest of us, ran back to the boat, roared off to camp, grabbed Paul's Betty and came hurtling back. After much running about in circles to keep the boar within site and interested in us, Paul saw a chance and committed himself to grab it. He's a big bloke but remarkably quick when he needs to be so he rushed the pig from what we worked out was it's blind side and grabbed his tail. Boar played up and swung to get Paul but Brett was coming through the scrub with the cavalry. Betty hit the boar and it hit her in the shoulder...

All good again after a few dog repairs and a lot of fun for the day. The boar had a crook eye and that's what buggered him for charging, no binocular vision to judge distance.

Went out for a look at the baits at 10pm and hit a good boar on Three Bull Swamp, Brett's dog Bucks and my Pepper did the honours. Good teeth and no dog damage. When down to Rogan's Waterhole bait number 2 and found a good black and white boar that jumped in the water. Scary stuff. There are crocs in that water. Brett did a quick strip and went in knee deep or better to help Bucks and Pepper. Bad place at night, fighting a good pig in deeper and deeper water where the salties live. Brett got hold of the boar and dragged him to us and we pulled them all out of the water. Good boar.

Arrive home at camp at about 3am to find dog Donna dead on the chain. We thought snake but more likely ate a cane toad, according to the property owners. No good.

Monday July 27, 2009

WE walked again near camp and found the remains of a very old Bora Ring, a ceremonial place used by Aboriginal people before white people came to the area. We stayed out of it and left it in peace.

Went bull catching again. Brett was in on the bull catcher this time and did a few nosedives into the front when the holes, ant hills or trees were hit. Wild and crazy stuff. Saw heaps of bulls caught. Some were killed in the process so we marked their sites in some new country for potential pig baits.

We reset our Redclaw traps with fresh meat and headed off into the evening to drive a creekline about 60kms from our camp. We had Coco, Ted, Hassle and little pup Susie on the truck and Ted and Coco found a little boar, Hassle joined in and Susie had a bark. All good but a long way back to camp. Arrive home very tired from the day.

Tuesday July 28, 2009

DAY off. I cooked more Hardtimers in the camp oven. Love those biscuits. Eventually went for a ride and found a big permanent water hole to our west. Called it Water Big, and found croc tracks there. Only small so probably a freshie but still wakes you up a bit. Paul did a bit of exploring and Brett had an encounter with as bull in the scrub. He surprised it while he was exploring on the quad and it shook it's head and came at him. At 20 metres he stood up on the quad and fired a 30/30 into the bull's face. A couple actually. This baulked the bull giving Brett time to gt off a couple more shots and turn the bull. A 30/30 will stop a lot of things but it is definitely not a one shot stopper of these bulls. Death or Glory moment for Brett. Lucky to get out of that.

Wednesday July 29, 2009

A 2.30am start. We check a couple of baits for no result. Got to Three Bull Swamp and the dogs started going off. Ted and Stan flew straight to the second bait at the site and grabbed a cracker. He had great teeth and put on a good show. We threw the boar and killed it, all the time calming the dogs down and making them sit and behave. We find this gets things back on a controlled footing very quickly and reduces the potential for dog fights etc among a mixed team of hounds. It also allows the dogs to start thinking again. And that's what happened. Ted and Stan calmed and were let go again and flew off to find another boar not 50 metres from us in the long grass in the dark. The boar rushed and came straight back to us with Ted and Stan right behind. Little Mary was right in front with us and took the boar head first in a great, gutsy tackle. Very very happy with her.

We checked more baits until after dawn and then checked the Redclaw traps. Heaps, so we had a big lunch of the crustaceans. Tasty when cooked in a boiler full of salty water. We ate about 60.

Went for another daytime scout and found a mob on Super Secret Creek. Picked up a couple of mob pigs but it looks like a good spot for pups in the future. Paul saw Stan chasing one pig then to be joined by a dingo on the chase. Weird. Dingo eventually twigged to Paul and evaporated into the scrub.

Thursday July 30, 2009

ANOTHER early start. About 2.30am. Hit a good black and white boar with one tusk. Wolfie did very well to persist to find this bloke. On the way in I ran off an embankment and hit the other side of a channel at (what is for me at 49...) full pace. Stunning but not a knockout. Brett rolled his ankle as well. It's seasonal flood country so cattle tracks and pig wallows make for dangerous running in the dark.

Pressed on to Rogan's Waterhole to check the trail cam. A good pig had been on the dead cattle there about an hour before us. We let the dogs settle down and just do their thing and it was Wolfie again who started to drift out. He started zig zagging and then took off in a big arc to the west. We could tell from the tracker which way he was going so we cut across and covered 1.25kms before we hit Wolfie and the trail cam boar. Real good boar but Wolfie was hot and tired. Hassle the pup flew in a lugged the boar one out allowing Wolfie to relax and start to cool down. Good effort by Wolfie and very happy with Hassle's heart for the rough stuff.

Picked up more Redclaw from the traps.

On the way home in the daylight we noticed a good boar's tracks right near camp and the tracks of a dingo bitch and pups trailing the boar.

Later in the day we went exploring again. We finally made it to a secluded waterhole deep in the rocks. Amazing spot. You wouldn't know it was there.

A bit further on Brett confused a dingo by dropping to all fours and drinking at a lagoon. Dingo stayed and watched before suddenly twigging and disappearing.

Friday July 31, 2009

EARLY start to be in the stockyards 80kms away from camp for a big day. We helped with the drafting of captured cattle, marking calves, loading bulls onto the road train for their trip to the meatworks. Big day, lots of work. Brett got chased in the yards by a bull. I got a squashed finger from being too slow to get my hand out of the race. One nasty black bull killed himself in the yards rather than go up the race. Ferocious animals.

Picked up the new shock absorbers we'd had trucked in for my Rodeo and put them on back in camp.

Saturday August 1, 2009

FISHING and crabbing day. Went down to Mud Crab Camp with the bull catching bloke and a couple of little boats. Dragged for live bait and picked up heaps. Set the crab pots and started fishing. Fish were quiet but we landed Mangrove Jack, Skipjack, Spotted Cod, Shark, Shovel-nosed shark and catfish. We did very well on the crabs as well. Heaps of tucker.

Saw buffalo tracks but no buffs and negotiated a boggy salt pan to get in and out. On the way home Brett's boat came off his trailer rack when the welds on a cross member gave way. More repairs...

Sunday August 2, 2009

GOING again at 2am, and onto a great set of tusks at what we called the Hated Baits Mate. The Hated Bait was a bull that didn't produce a boar and it's Mate was one we shot nearby but dragged to a new spot. So the Hated Bait's Mate yielded a beauty. Super thick teeth.

Back home I washed more clothes before heading off to further explore the area around Water Big. Brett went off to cut an Ironwood rail for his trailer (ended up carrying his boat the whole way home...) Paul cooked and we had excellent crabs. So many you got sick of them...

Monday August 3, 2009

A 2am start. We went to the big bull 500 metres from camp. There'd been tracks on the path nearby and a trail cam experiment had shown a good boar was on the carcase at that time the night before. We let the dogs out and started walking to the bait. We closed on the bull and the dogs shot straight past and onto a toothy old boar. Great start. Up on the Hated Bait's Mate, Wolfie started doing concentric circles closer and closer in until he hit a great fighting boar. He was young and full of go. He hit Wolfie in the shoulder and opened him up. Ted and the trainee Stan hit the boar and he threw the lot around, rushing them through the sand. Paul grabbed the pig and rolled him. An even better night. Some vet work on Wolfie. The wound took about nine staples and we spent some time dressing it properly. Pressed on at dawn to a new spot and Ted spooked a mob in the long grass after a major exploration. He grabbed a big sow, Stan found and grabbed a sow and Wolfie grabbed another passing sow. Paul was following a boar from the mob and called Ted through to grab it. Another four but nothing special. We sat around camp for a while after that, too hot to get any sleep. 2pm and we headed for a remote spot to try our luck.

Three more for the afternoon. Two little boars and another sow. We were now running Mary, Coco, Bucks and Hassle. The dogs run in shifts to allow recovery time... Of the three Hassle caught his first on his own. And I knocked myself out (briefly) crashing into or over something during the chase.

On the way back we did the baits again and hit a ripper pig on the Rogan's Waterhole 1 bait. Coco and Bucks drifted off and picked up a good fighting pig about 100 metres of the bait. First find like that of their own. Good work.

Home at 2am. 24 hours without sleep.

Tuesday August 4, 2009

BRETT and I rode off cross country on the quads to find Lake Mystery (that's what I called it anyway after the odd fruitless search for swamps...). It was a freshwater lake in a dry, salty area and we thought we knew where it might be. Paul took the truck around the two known tracks to circle us. He might have to get us out and either way, if it worked we'd all meet up at Mud Crab Camp to check out traps. We broke through a lot of scrub. Quads went very well. No tyre trouble. Amazingly we met Paul as though it was all planned that way. He had scored a top boar along the way with Brett's Coco. Boar was lying in a mud wallow and took off when the truck stopped. Coco nailed it within 50 metres. More good work.

We parked the truck and jumped on the quads to go a bit further. Brett had Ted, Hassle and Coco on the back when he found another good hog, a black and white boar and our last for the trip.

We checked our traps to find some commercial fishermen had their net strung right across the estuary. They'd also ratted our crab pots. They didn't find all of them however, and we still got a great feed.

Both quads made it home on reserve tanks.

Wednesday August 5, 2009

PACK up day. Spent the morning sorting and packing all the gear. Made it up to the house late in the day having already flattened the springs on the Rodeo. First the shockies and now the springs... We shifted the load around on the Rodeo and got about 25mm of travel in the suspension and set off to get past some of the worst roads. We camped near the Leichardt River Falls but well up out of croc height.

Thursday August 6, 2009

GOT going at dawn after given the dogs yet another walk and water. You have to do lots of this if you want your dogs in good condition. They can suffer on the big trips. We had tea in Longreach and Brett went on ahead. He had his timetable and we had ours so that was the end of our joint trip. From their Paul and I camped south of Barcaldine and we kept in touch with Brett by phone.

Friday August 7, 2009

DAWN start and we made it to Moonie in the day. We stopped to rest the dogs and ourselves. Brett got home to SA that night at 10pm. Big drive.

Saturday August 8, 2009

LANDED at Paul's place to a big reception and started unpacking...until next time.

Another couple of steps on the road...

2009-07-08T22:27:00.006+10:00

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.

Donna nails her first rough boar

2009-07-05T17:03:00.006+10:00

TOP: Donna, her boar and me.

ABOVE: Simon and the boar.

BELOW: Loaded up with the boar.

IT was only a little more than two weeks ago that I was excited about Donna finding and stopping the first couple of pigs on her own. Well, this morning she started playing A grade, choosing and stopping a rough scrub boar one out.

I was hunting with Simon, one of the blokes who has a dog from us, searching the steep, scrubby hills that have yielded for me in the past. We'd started at dawn, covered plenty of ground for no result when two sows appeared in view high up on yet another ridge. (It's all ridges and hills on this place...) Simon suggested a backtrack to make the most of the wind and the 'shadow' of the ridge so we could sneak up on the pigs on foot. We went through a fence making sure to cross one strainer post beyond the pigs so any twang on the wire would stop at that post and not carry up to the pigs. We eventually made it to just below the area we'd seen the pigs. Simon said he was sure there'd be a boar with them but I thought it might be too late in the season for them.

How wrong I was.

Donna took off on the scent of the pigs but she passed straight through the two sows which ran across in front of Simon and I. Simon's dog Duke and my dog Bobby were unclipped but both grabbed the one sow as the other disappeared over the edge and into the scrub. We got the dogs off and sent them again. Donna was still somewhere in the bush on her own.

We had no idea whether she'd just missed the pigs altogether or was on a mission.

Duke and Bob were out in front. They dropped over the edge of the fall and it was on. Donna had been lugged up on a good boar that only made a sound when the other dogs hit it. When they pushed in to grab the pig, Donna let go and sat down to watch. Simon was all over it and got the boar under control in a second. It was a great catch.

To say I was amazed is an understatement. I knew she'd lug up but she had only found one pig before and had never grabbed anything of note on her own. Today though she ran past sows to grab a good boar in rough country on her own. She is bred well and is very smart so I believed it was only a matter of opportunity. I just didn't think it would take this few opportunities to start showing her potential as a working dog.

We picked up another two for the morning to make four for the run but nothing of note, a little 15 odd kg (dressed) pig and a 45-odd kg boar that ended up in a dam. Simon did the honours and let me tell you, I'm glad he did. It is a cold proposal getting into a dam in this country in Winter to get a pig...

Donna is by Charlie out of Liz (RIP)

Teaching a reluctant dog to find

2009-06-19T12:38:00.009+10:00

ABOVE: Paul watching Hannah after she's jumped on a scent in the long grass. Reluctant finder she is not...

DOGS that have shown no propensity to find pigs can be trained to look for pigs. I can't promise miracles but if the dog shows a willingness to chase things and is responsive to you it can be be taught to find.

I've previously listed a combination of nose, drive and responsiveness as the keys to developing a quality finding dog but without any obvious nose, dogs can still find pigs if you get the basics right. You're not going to get a world-beater necessarily but if you work on your dog you can expect to get its best. He or she might ever only be an ordinary performer when compared to purpose bred dogs but if a dog you love is now a better worker, who really cares.

If you really want dogs to find, get dogs from people who breed them and offer a money-back guarantee but that isn't possible for all chasers all the time.

So this post is for people with dogs that seem to have no finding ability whatsoever. With no apparent nose, the dog will have to have that willingness to chase things and be responsive to you to have a chance. I say 'apparent nose' because all dogs have excellent senses of smell. However, not all dogs are enthusiastic about using theirs. The ability is there, just the urge to react to it, is not. Your job is to create that urge as a means of pleasing you. It's a bit by bit process but if you are going hunting anyway, it seems crazy not to polish the abilities of your pack. Getting a dog to find is all about putting them in places where there is likely to be a reward. This means walking. You have to be on foot to have the maximum communication with the dog and be closer to scent.

A lot of pig catchers don't hunt. They walk while their dogs hunt. If you walk like that with a dog that doesn't want to use its nose, they will simply fall into step behind you and walk as well. Walking to a dog is almost hypnotic so the reluctant finder just switches off.

You have to hunt a bit like a dog. Don't walk in a more or less straight line, quarter back and forth and check things out. If there's a watering point, go and squat down in a few spots and look for tracks. If they are there or if you see any sign anywhere, get down again and look at it intently. A responsive dog will see that and come to look too. As soon as they sniff the sign say a key command such as 'get out' or 'pigs' or whatever. If the sign is very fresh, be more activated and create a bit of excitement and repeat your key command. Move out from the sign on tracks or pads and repeat the command. If the dog looks at you, just doing something positive and like nod and say yes. This helps get the dog 'up' at the concept of scent. Responsiveness to you is crucial. Then if you do find a pig, which you will if you persist, the drive to chase it comes into play. If you are in pig country and walking likely spots, the very least that will happen is that you will bump into a pig while hunting like this and that helps the dogs get the message even faster.

It is a simple process but can take a long time depending on the dog. To help speed things up, take every opportunity to move into the downwind position on pigs seen in the open. Give the dog a chance to smell them before he sees the pigs or is released. While you're doing all this and watching the dog's reactions, the dog will show you it is learning by spending more time nose down or bobbing its nose up and down in the air. Keep getting down yourself to show you are vitally interested in where the dog is sniffing.

If you have any hope with the dog, this will get them out looking for a pig.

Now a bloke with his own view on finders, their selection and training is Troy Crittle. The link below is to his take on the whole thing. It's on boardogs.com and was written early this decade so some of the dogs pictured might be out of date. But Troy's stuff is worth reading.

http://www.boardogs.com/Troy_Ute_Finder.htm

Donna debuts with two...

2009-06-18T15:07:00.017+10:00

TOP: Donna and her black and white boar.

ABOVE: Notice the slope of the track getting ridiculously steep going into the gully.

BOTTOM OF PAGE: Bob and his little boar. (The blue box on top of Bob's neck is one of the Titley radio transmitters mentioned this page.)

IT was Donna's day today.

I went for another look this morning for the big white boar I've been tracking for a few weeks on one of my rough hunting spots. Didn't find him but found two other boars and a sow and Donna caught two of them.

That's significant in this camp because Donna, bred to find and hold, has only been used as a back-up dog until today. A back-up dog doesn't have to do much, just help out another dog already on a pig. She'd missed the boat on early training because she'd managed to get herself pregnant because of my carelessness. I was doing a breeding with an outside dog to get the dog's owner some pups and Donna joined the fray. The end result was an extra pup for my mate and Donna out of action. That was last Spring and we see few pigs during the Summer so this Winter was her first chance to do something for herself. Well, this morning she took her chance, twice....

I got onto the place just as it was becoming light. Cold but it was going to be a good morning. Overcast and half rainy, in the high stuff in Winter is a perfect combination for pigs. Bobby had a half-hearted jump on a scent but was quickly back on the truck. His lazy approach to the jump told me it was a false alarm but I don't mind if the dog checks out a couple spots along the way. I like to allow them to work as they choose so long as they aren't playing or stretching their legs. If hunting off the truck, the dogs are allowed to jump if they need to empty out or on a pig scent. That's all. They have to remain professional at all times to be on my truck. (Again, one of the reasons we breed our own dogs...).

So a false jump out of the way and within 100 metres I see a reasonable boar on the opposite ridge. Bobby was very activated so I've assumed it's the same pig he smelt a ltitle ways back up the track. He goes. But way too early, the boar can see us and he's seen Bobby hit the ground and aim for him. It's all a long way off (always is in this country...) and the boar bolts for the scrub. Bobby is running and I've taken off in the truck to get the other dog closer to where the pig ran from.

I see the boar hit the fence and he bounces off.

This property is run by a family who take their beef business very seriously. They've got 18,000-odd cows on 60,000 acres and everything, including the fencing is done properly. The boar hit the ringlock boundary fence and he really bounced. He had one more go and then took off along the fenceline over the ridge. I'm running now, crossed a fence, Donna and Bobby are going wild, all run and no focus. And then Bobby disappears into the thick stuff.

I run radio tracking gear on the dogs because when these ones go, they go. Sometimes it's a couple of kilometres into horrendous country and if they grab a big boar...well it's my job to grab it and stick it so I have to be able to find the dogs. I run a combination of a US Mk 4 Sniffer receiver, Australian Titley tracking collars and a Titley yagi style aerial. (My son Paul runs a Titley Regal 2000 receiver, Titley collars and US made Wildlife Materials trackers and a Titley aerial). These things have never failed us, you can always get a signal. Or so I thought.

Bobby's gone and I can't hear a thing. It's a climb back over the ridge and to the truck for the tracking gear. I get there, switch it on and there's absolutely no signal from the black dog. Can't believe it. My mind's racing. Did I switch it on? How rough did the boar look? Was he bad enough to be a dog killer? Why can't I get a signal?

In this type of situation the remedy would normally be to go to a high point and try again. But I was already on a high point and there were heaps of other high points (and deep low points) all around me. For the next 30 minutes I drove as much as I could in a big semi circle around the scrub Bob was in. Still no signal but if the collar had failed I was at least leaving a scent trail to help him find me. I was starting to worry when I stopped on another hill and checked again. Signal! I had him. He was two ridges away from where I'd last seen him and up on the side of a scrubby hill. Took a few minutes more but I got there with Donna to take over if Bobby had indeed stopped a big boar. It wasn't the monster I'd been hoping for. It was the same pig I'd spooked earlier. He had a lump on his near side front shoulder that I'd seen when he bounced off the fence. It was topped by scar tissue that was showing white and it had stood out across the divide. As I said, no monster but a huge effort by the dog to stay with this pig. They were buried in a washout, in a gully surrounded by timber and scrub on the opposite side of a couple of ridges. No dramas with the boar. He might have dressed 40kgs but it's a guess as I didn't weigh him. Anyway with the pig carried out, gutted and on the truck, it was all systems go again.

Donna seemed more psyched than normal and about 30 minutes later flew off the truck with Bobby as a couple of pigs disappeared into the ever present hillside scrub. They both hit the scrub and then Bob reappeared. He went back in but as he did I heard yip and then a grunt back in the bush. Donna was on and I was thrilled. She'd had to trail the mob into the tea tree and dogbush after giving them about 300 metres (uphill) headstart. She'd done that and stopped one. I could hear Bob heading for the pig and I was glad. Rough boars don't make any sound that carries when they lock together with a dog and this big wasn't squealing. Then Bob hit it and it squealed so I knew it wasn't a big bloke after all. I got in, got the pig and gave Donna a pat.

With the second pig, a sow about 40kgs dressed, on the truck I went again.

I was heading out of the property's prime pig hills when I spotted another one. Same thing, as the first, reasonable boar on the next ridge. I edged as close as I dared without spooking the boar. This time Donna jumped first and ran in a beeline for the boar, Bobby went second and was obviously sore footed from the usual rock cuts this country produces. It was up to Donna, she was going to get there way before Bob and stopping the boar is the job of whatever dog hits him first. The black and white boar was a bigger animal than the first two of the morning, still no monster but might provide some sort of test for the white bitch. Well, it spotted the dogs and took off like a rocket, not a fast enough rocket as it turns out, but a rocket all the same. He ran down into a sharp gully but Donna closed the distance brilliantly, grabbed him by the ear and wheeled him. Bob got there it and it was all over. That pig was held and doing no damage.

I rolled him and Donna had her second catch of the day and the third pig for me.

He's unweighed like the rest (destined for pet food and not export for human consumption these ones) but might make 50kg dressed.

Good morning for me and a good hurry up for Donna who is off on big boar duty in the Gulf of Carpentaria in a bit more than three weeks.

How to stockproof a dog

2009-06-16T14:24:00.003+10:00

ABOVE: Ours pups want to chase and 'lug up' from the word go. Redirecting that drive to be pig specific is crucial to developing effective working dogs.

STOCKPROOFING pigdogs is one of the most important tasks a catcher can undertake. For a dog to be stockproof it must utterly ignore everything but pigs (and some can even differentiate between wild and domestic pigs).

So how do you get through to a tough dog that you want it to chase somethings but not others? In the past a lot of dogs were belted into submission after they made mistakes. Eventually it worked but it was hard on dogs, stock and the people involved. It is also unnecessary and worse, makes the task of training harder, much harder.

The key to stockproofing is in getting control of the dog's psychology (indeed, understanding dog psychology...) in the yard before you go into the field. In the dog's mind it is in a pack, you and your family and the rest of the dogs in the yard are that pack. Dog's understand pack structure and accept it without question but part of that is that, if there is a perceived lack of leadership of the pack, one of the dogs (or several) will attempt to fill the vacuum. If dog's aren't led, they will make the decision to lead.

Dogs that chase stock are deciding to lead the pack.

We start all stockproofing with basic long lead training (see quick guide or blog archive right for info) to get control of the dog's mind. It's about showing you are the dominant dog and that comes down to a function of your state of mind. For instance, you never ask a dog to do anything.

You tell a dog to do everything. The dog wants clear and firm direction and it's up to you to give it to them. So, do the long lead training and get your timing right. You'll know you've got it because the dog will start anticipating what you want it to do, looking to you to see if it has read your pattern properly. Once this level of control has been achieved and repeated off the lead, you introduce them to stock. Ideally you have an experienced dog who shows the pack minded young dog what is expected.

However, not everyone has that experienced dog (or it's the experienced dog that is the problem) so what do you do from scratch?

Always, long lead training and then...

Take the dog on the long lead around some stock. Be relaxed. If you are tense it can translate as excited to the dog and provoke an attack. Use the same principles as basic long lead training, correct the dog at the moment it moves to look at stock. Jerk the lead (harder for harder dogs...) but make it a bang, not a pull. You are not trying to hurt the dog, just surprise it out of its interest and make it pay attention to you. I just make a sound like 'AH' as I jerk the lead. Keep doing that over a couple of visits and you'll know when the dog is switched on to 'no stock'. The dog will put it's head down or to the side or look at you with a lot of white in its eye whenever it is near stock.

After that, take the dog by itself on the truck for a drive through stock (vary the stock to suit what you are likely to encounter). If the dog appears to look at stock, just repeat your rousing tone from the long lead training. (If you want even more security, tie the dog to a 10 metre rope on the truck, that way if it does decide it wants to chase stock, you can time a rouse to coincide with the moment the dog is about to hit the end of the rope...)

And the final thing...might sound strange but it is important. Be calm. Don't get all activated about whether or not the dog will go for the stock. Believe it won't and that you're the leader of the pack. Dogs can read you like a book so you have to pick which page they get to see. It must always be the chapter marked 'In Control'. Anything else and you risk the dog picking up on that as a weakness in leadership and a reason to start making too many decisions.

The method as described is the longest way you'll need to do it. Most dogs get it about half way through and that's that.

As always, if you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer it.

Last stand in the afternoon

2009-06-13T18:34:00.009+10:00

TOP: Hannah holds the boar as Paul runs up the ridge. Pix taken on the run.

ABOVE: Paul and Molly and the boar.

BOTTOM OF PAGE: That's Hannah (foreground) and daughter Mary (grey bitch) and the 77kg dressed boar.

PERSISTENCE paid off for son Paul this afternoon when he grassed a 77kg (dressed) boar that had dodged the dogs and the landholder three times before. The boar was a cracking fighting pig initially grabbed one out by Mary after being wheeled by cousin Molly in a top display of pace up the hills.

The action started as Paul and the dogs climbed up a ridge in the Rodeo testing the breezes that swirl around the sharp little hills in which the boar had been seen during the past month or so. This particular landholder wants us to target these big boars because he has seen six of them mob up on his lambing ewes and kill them. He wants the boars gone.

Hannah had pulled up sore in the leg after taking a few bumps from the rocks last week. She was rested and daughter Mary given the job of finding. Cousin Molly was also unclipped. She has a great nose but won't lug. Mary, however, has a great nose and no fear.

Both dogs disappeared on a mission down into a gully. Paul knew it well. He'd only been there the week before and left behind a pig carcase. Was something feeding on it? At that moment a big, tall and very fast boar broke out of the gully and flew up an opposing ridge. Paul said he was staggered at the boar's pace. It just ate up the ground. But Molly is lightning fast and she wheeled the boar before the top of the ridge in a grassy clearing. Molly barked just as she closed on the boar, it spun to meet her and she dodged to nip at his back end. As the boar did a full circle trying to get to Molly, Mary hit him head on and stuck. He hit her up the ribs and opened her up but she didn't falter. Then Hannah (who had been released by Paul when he saw the pig) hit the boar and Mary let go to look for any other pigs that might be running (we teach them to run on...let go on command or keep going if there are too many dogs and grab the next pig...). Paul arrived after shooting a great pic on the run of Hannah holding the boar. He grabbed the pig and stuck it, checked out Mary and attended to her, and then set about getting the pig out of the hills and onto the truck.

The boar dressed 77kgs for the export trade.

How do you define 'hard' in a dog?

2009-06-13T09:16:00.006+10:00

ABOVE: Bobby being hit in the breastplate by a toothy boar. This is a rare pix for us because you can only grab a photo if someone else is going to roll the boar and the photographer isn't needed. The object is to have the dog on a boar for the least amount of time possible. We don't risk the dogs to get action shots...

CATCHING wild boars with dogs is a risky business. There are a number of variables that come into play at the moment of contact that can dramatically increase that risk to dogs and hunters. Wild boars are observant, quick learners and can be ferocious when caught. And some are a lot worse than others....but the type of dogs and tactics you use can provide a bit more predictability in the encounter.

I like working dogs described in the pig catching world as 'hard finders'. The finder part is self-explanatory, they will find pigs, but what is 'hard'? Defining the term is challenging because although there is some commonality of language in the world of pig catchers, there can be regional or cultural variations that confuse the issue. The best I can do is define the term as it applies to my world. To describe a dog as 'hard' indicates that it is tough but how tough and what tough means to people is all up in the air. Perhaps it's easier to describe what I expect dogs to do at the business end of a hunt.

Sometimes the boars run and sometimes they back up to fight immediately but whatever they do, I expect the dog to grab the boar by the ear. That's the hold that offers the best control of the head in my opinion and the most predictable range of movement by the boar. The dog has to have enough heart to take on a much bigger, better armed opponent and stick until the hunter can get control of the boar's back leg or legs. When that's achieved, the dog is told to let go and it does. That's a basic pigdog but it's not a hard pigdog.

For a dog to be considered 'hard' they have to be prepared to stick to the pig no matter what. Now, the phrase 'no matter what' covers a range of potentially very serious consequences when it is applied to grabbing a wild boar. We have a vet on call 24/7 to back up our treatment of any injuries to dogs in the field but the bottom line is that for a dog to be hard it has to choose to stick to the boar, whatever injuries are sustained. This has nothing to do with ego or anything else. It is actually the safest option we have for the dog and the hunter.

A wild boar knows that the person is the main thing in the encounter. If a dog is attached to a boar and you appear in the midst of that battle of wills, the boar will do its utmost to get you (well that's what they are like around here...). They try to break from the dog to get at you or try to drag the dog to you, all the time spinning and trying to rip dog and hunter both with those tusks. If the dog is hurt and gives up, you are both in serious potential trouble. A man on foot with a knife has to be very quick on his feet to avoid the attention of an angry boar that's already had a win over the dog. If the boar doesn't get you they are then capable of going back to give the injured dog a bit more of a lesson...

However, if the dog has the will to stick, even if injured, the hunter can get to the controlled boar, get the dog off, get the boar on the ground and help the dog. All of this can happen within seconds of the initial grab. In more than 30 years working pigdogs on rough mountain pigs, I have found that this system results in the least possible injuries.

The dogs need to be hard to give the hunter a constant in a sea of variables. The hunter has to back the dog by saddling him up with protective equipment and being prepared to go forward into a spinning mass of teeth, tusks and bristles. If the dog is hurt the pig might be less controlled than normal , so the hunter has to be prepared to now accept a greater risk to themselves in order to complete their part of the contract. Running hard finders can put you in some genuinely frightening positions but if you can rely on the heart of the dogs you bred, the fear of failing the dog overcomes anything else.

Long lead training

2009-06-11T12:11:00.004+10:00

ABOVE: Gina the pup is the model showing about how much slack to have in the long lead. Even at a longer distance keep it ready to reach the dog with a quick and well-timed jerk.

Long-lead training of dogs is a technique to which I often refer in conversations or writing about pig catching. So what is it exactly...?

Long-lead training is a physical way of affecting the psychology of your dog. Even the most hard-headed hunting dog can be corrected without the need for violence. Certainly there is a pull on the dog's neck via the lead but nothing like some of the old methods to adjust the attitude of a tough dog.
There are two keys to it. The first is timing. The second is distance.

Start with a piece of rope about 15 to 20 metres long. Attach a dog clip to one end and that end to the dog. Loop the rope over your secondary hand (left if you're right handed and vice versa) and let the lead coming in and go out as the dog does what it does.

Timing....This is the most important factor in the process. You are looking to create a situation in which you will call on the dog for its attention, give it the chance to respond, read that response and act. For instance, allow the dog to wander at will (attached to the lead) and then call it to you. You must have the lead loose but it still needs to connect firmly with the dog's neck for this to work properly. You get used to how loose to have it through a bit of practice (see the pic above...). When you call the dog if it looks at you and then goes to look away, jerk the lead. Don't pull the dogs head off, it's not about pain, it's about surprise and redirection of attention. Have the collar (preferably chain) high behind the ears for this too. It makes a difference. I usually say the dog's name (or whatever the command) again and if the dog still doesn't come I jerk it again but not as much. I find that about two third to half pressure lets them know that the first instance was not an accident. The timing of the jerk has to be spot on for immediate affect but even if you get it a bit wrong the dog will get some sort of message and you will get better with practice. Some dogs go insane and fight it all. Let them and stay calm. You can't be annoyed for this to work either because it will be a confusing intimidatory signal to the dog which can over ride whatever lesson you are trying to teach. And be consistent. Don't say anything more than once without jerking that lead. Every time you speak it has to mean something. The timing can be worked out by watching the dog. You will see them hear you (ear movement) and ignore you (ear movement, eye movement, body movement). You jerk the lead as close as possible to the time after the dog hears you and is making the decision to ignore. Get it right and it changes the way the dog thinks for years. I've found that about 20 minutes to an hour for two or three days is enough to get any dog into shape, including stock-proofing.

Distance...This is where the long part of the lead comes into play. Dogs get used to how far you can reach to get them. (That's why so many dogs react if you pretend to pick up a rock, they know your reach has just been extended...). If you learn to manage tension on the lead to allow a quick response at distance (say 15 metres), the impact on the dog's thinking is dramatic. It changes the dog's concept of your reach, in much the same way as electric shock training collars. They are illegal in New South Wales so I've never had any experience of shock collars. I can tell you though, hunters that have used both have told me the long lead method is quicker....
The distance at which you can command the dog's attention and action sets in the dog's mind and translates into excellent manageability in the field when everything is happening fast and is fuelled by a lot of adrenalin.

Long-lead training sounds like a difficult technique to describe because you almost have to see the difference between a good job and a bad job. It's a split second's difference. But once you see it, it looks obvious. It's all about reading the dog and whether or not he/she is giving you 100 per cent of their attention. In the field this type of training has resulted in us being able to call a dog off a small pig to grab a bigger one. I recommend it.
If there are any questions, just ask and I'll do my best to fill in any gaps I've left...

Cheers

A boar for my birthday

2009-06-10T17:48:00.005+10:00

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.

A great day in the garden...

2009-06-10T17:25:00.006+10:00

MAY 14...The best day's work of any description I've ever done.

I was gardening on one of my client's places and was on the two-way talking about a pump that had failed. The property manager was with the header driver in a sorghum crop and they were looking at pigs. He said to forget work and come up, he wanted them gone.

Got up the road and into the crop and got some directions from header man Dave. Started edging around the stubble as the harvester belted through the crop. Then Dave was seeing pigs weaving in front of him, he was on the two-way, then the manager was on the radio, he'd seen a mob pop out of the crop in front of him and turn back in and there was a good boar with them.

I ran into the crop with Ted (the only dog I had) and he hit pigs and caught a 25kg (guess) boar. He went again and chased another...straight at the header. The pig veered off but Ted was very committed and kept going. Horrifying second or two as Ted seemed to disappear into the header. Actually the tynes on the reel (big rotating bars that drag the crop through the comb fingers and into the teeth) hit Ted on the head and Dave threw it out of gear in the absolute nick of time. I called Ted off and pissed off away from the header and back to the truck. One pig.

Dave's back on the radio and he can see pigs and this time so can I. So it's on, across the stubble racing the header to cut off a mob of about eight. There was another one to the right. Ted went off the truck and got one just through the fence. Might have made 30kgs (dressed). Second pig. The pigs are now charging across an open grassy paddock and Ted's going for it. He's got another one (25). I eventually got there and that was three pigs and one vomit (by me...I was having a go as long as Ted was, but suffering).

He got one more right at the edge of an unharvested crop. And then went in the crop. I threw up again, gave up and started running back to the truck to get ready for some serious pursuit. Hard climb, not steep but long, back to the truck. When I get there the manager is parked about 100 metres away in the stubble. Back near a radio I hear him say he's got a good boar bailed up with the Landcruiser 'I've been campdrafting him...'.

I fly out of crop number one heading across the grass toward the second crop. I'm ready to get the trackers out when I see Ted coming back. He's seriously buggered. Too unfit for proper numbers. And he's carrying one leg, a rock cut from two weeks ago has opened up again from his pad about 11 cms up the inside of his front leg. Manager's on the radio saying have I got the dog 'this is a big pig' . I'm saying yes but he looks done and I doubt he'll be any good. About to find out anyway because the manager is saying let's go. I have a look at Ted, he's sore and fairly hot but he's not breathing so hard so it's on. Boar's squatted in the grass. Ted walks around to him and a top boar stands up and in Ted goes. The boar's belting Ted off every time he comes in, but he keeps coming in. Ted's got nothing much (my fault, poor conditioning) but he keep's going so I drove around to cut off any escape and provoked a charge from the boar. Good hooks hanging out of his mouth, he woofs under the Rodeo two or three times, spins around, Ted goes again and so do I. I fly out of the truck and it's me, the pig and Ted all in about 2 metres diameter. Ted goes in again, boar goes forward and goes for Ted, I grab the bastard's tail. Stuck him standing as the manager watched from the Landcruiser...

The boar dressed out at 82kgs.

Old hunts, old dogs

2009-06-10T14:22:00.003+10:00

This a story I wrote for boardogs.com in about 2000. That's me and Sailor (a Doug Mummery dog) in the pix...It all happened about 1980 so I'm about 20 and wearing a Tulare (California) Union High School t shirt from my one day in school in the US, but that's another story.

The Blackberry Boar.

ONE of the advantages of hunting pigs in the New England area of New South Wales is the blackberries. The bushes themselves are a pain in the neck but in late summer these tangles of vine and thorn produce kilos of sweet fruit for those prepared to make the effort. They can also produce a few kilos of pork as well...
Quincy Adams and I decided to take advantage of the longer afternoons to head for a spot about 30 minutes from town in the hope of spooking a pig or two. It was typical western New England country. Hills, a mix of timber and cleared country, big granite outcrops...and blackberry bushes. As a weed the blackberry is a problem but from a porcine point of view the plant represents a safe haven, a cool protected spot to push into and set up camp. To us the bushes represented the potential for pigs.
We'd stopped the truck at the head of a gully that stretched away to the south and carried blackberries of varying sizes along its entire length. The property manager had seen a decent sized boar working in the area but it had always managed to slip away into this gully before he could get a bead on it. Bad news for him but good news for us.
We set off down the slope with Sailor (a foxhound x mastiff/bully bred by the late Doug Mummery) and Bob a hard little bully type (out of Sandy by Souphound). Sailor could find them, no problem, and Bob had a ton of guts so we felt fairly confident that if there was a hog in the area, we'd all meet up for a chat.
From bush to bush and out into the long Darby's oats Sailor quartered back and forth. Nose to the ground, nose in the air it made no difference. Nothing stirred. Mobs of roos watched us pass before hopping away into the timber. Bloody roos. Why couldn't they be pigs. Dry runs are a part of pig chasing but they are never much fun.
We reached a branch of the gully and turned in. It was a spot I hadn't been before and I thought I'd walked almost all the 50,000 acres to which I had access. More promising bushes and more disappointment. We had to face it. It had been a pleasant stroll but not much of a pig hunt. Oh well, at least the dogs had had a bit of exercise and we'd been able to spend the afternoon in the bush. And, of course, there were the blackberries.
The bushes groaned under the weight of ripe, sweet fruit so Quincy and I decided to cut our losses and have a feed. Dodging the thorns as best we could we were quickly purple from the juice and filling up on vitamin C.
Bob was lying down under a tree and Sailor was at my feet as Quincy and I tried to outdo one another in the glutton stakes. Sailor was relaxed. Like a big Labrador he lolled around soaking up the late afternoon sun.
And then things changed. They changed really fast.
Sailor was an excellent finder but even the good dogs have strange moments and this was one of them. It was as though something dawned on him and he rolled upright and looked into the blackberry bush over which I was trying to reach. Weird, I thought. He hasn't reacted all afternoon and now he's staring into an empty bush. Is it empty? I got onto the balls of me feet and shifted my weight away from the bush and then the place erupted. A big black and white boar charged straight out of the bush hitting Sailor in the mid-section, in turn, driving him into my legs. I moved backwards so fast I must have looked like a spider on speed.
The big bastard drove harder into Sailor who slipped off the pig's face and grabbed an ear as Quincy screamed for Bob. Of course, Bob was already on the way and hit the hog hard on the nose. Quincy and I flew in almost knocking one another over to get to the thing's back legs. And with that we had a knife in him and he'd had it.
He was a beauty. The fact that Sailor is dead now, killed on the Cape York Peninsula via snake bite and I have hair in the photo dates this little adventure fairly badly but it remains one of my most interesting memories of chasing hogs and one of only two times that I have been properly charged in 24 years in the game.It was a sobering experience but did nothing to curb my love of getting after the pigs with a handy dog or two. And, boy, do I still love eating those blackberries.

What makes a finding dog?

2009-06-10T13:18:00.007+10:00

The most important thing a pig dog can do in the country we hunt is find the pigs. Ours will find them on the ground or off the ute, sometimes close by and sometimes not. Finds of 2kms are regular. If the dogs are working off the tray (of the vehicle...see Russell pictured above), they will jump and go on the scent of a pig. Like most working pig dogs in Australia, they do it without command, the command is implied because they are wearing they're protective breastplates...

But what is it that makes a dog do that, and why will one dog be better than another?

I think the capacity to find and particularly to find off the tray of the truck is a combination of three factors:

Nose...the basic scenting ability of the dog in question. All dogs have great senses of smell but some are more acute than others.
Drive...the degree to which the dog wants to chase and confront things.
Response...I sometimes just call this brains but it is more about how responsive the dog is to what you expect of him or her.

It's my belief that you have to have two of these factors in play to get a dog finding from scratch and all three to have the basics of a quality finding dog.
Nose is almost a given but some dogs certainly appear unresponsive to scent and that's what makes all three factors so important. For instance a real tough dog with plenty of drive and a good nose will get pigs whether or not he does what you say at other times. A smart dog with a good nose will get you pigs. But what if the dog exhibits no scenting ability whatsoever? I think then it is a matter of working on what the dog does have and that's drive and the willingness to please you. With those two factors strong in the dog you can make a finder out of him. I'll save how for another day.

We breed our own dogs to do the job we want and that makes it all much simpler for us. We're not 'breeders' but pig catchers who breed their working dogs to make sure we have what we need. A few pups go to friends and that's about it. My original stock was very good, two old blood Butters workers, Russell and Cathy, from there we have added some height and pace but managed to hang onto the nose and drive. We expect ours to show interest in finding or be finding pigs by six months and be grabbing pigs (lugging up) by about the same time. We don't always hit that mark but whenever they start, they all find pigs. What we are now pursuing is a boar bias in the finding and big pig selection on a running mob. We've got a couple of dogs showing one or both traits and they will be likely breeding matches if they stay consistent. We are trying to chase the peak of talent we see in our dogs. Can't really say how they compare to everyone else's dogs only that they consistently get us pigs in really challenging country. So which ever dog does the job the best out of each generation goes on the breeding roster. That's how we hope to lift the average of every litter we produce. It's a long term thing but we're breeding replacements anyway, why not try to make each crop of replacements an improvement?

When one of our dogs smells a pig they jump from the vehicle immediately. The urgency with which they go tells us how close and/or strong the scent is. We run lights and radio tracking gear on all the dogs to help us keep up with them but if they fly off the truck and the light goes straight into the darkness (especially into the wind), we know it's on. One of the big things is reading your dogs' thoughts. That's easy when it's with the aid of a red light disappearing into the abyss (message is clear...dog is very intent on getting to that spot). But there's much to be learned about finding from observing your own dogs' behaviour. Some hunters have misread finding signals and tried to train it out of the dog...For instance, if the dog is playing up, howling, barking or whinging on the way to the hunting spot, it might not be a lunatic. It might be telling you it can smell a pig right now, right here. Some dogs act differently if it's a proper boar. One of mine looks like it's the happiest days of his life if he twigs that a boar is backed up against a log or something. He wags his tail a lot, props up higher (looks like a little lion) and goes all mad in the eyes. If you are watching, especially when hunting on foot, you can call it before it all happens and get on the balls of your feet...

So what makes a finding dog? I say its the combination of their scenting ability, their desire to get out there and their responsiveness to you...that's the dog's part anyway. The other and most crucial factor is you. Your basic obedience work in the yard, care and nutrition, putting the dogs in the paddock and then learning to read their signals as well as the pig sign, is the big factor in bringing a dog on. You have to get out and look for the pigs yourself for the dog to get the message. Walk likely spots, drive likely spots and do it a lot, even if you aren't getting pigs. One will appear one day and when it does a smart dog can click in an instant. Even if they don't they will be on their first step to becoming a finding dog.

Cheers.

Some history...

2009-06-08T13:53:00.010+10:00

I started catching pigs with my own dogs on my own country when I was 17. At the time I was about 99 per cent enthusiasm and 1 per cent knowledge but I managed to catch a few pigs and slowly improve the quality of the thinking involved in the process. At that time my main hunting focus was on 50,000 acres of hill country west of Bundarra in New South Wales. At the time, the late seventies, the district slipped into a major drought. As conditions deteriorated from west to east in NSW, the wild pigs moved in the same direction. Massive numbers of pigs came east through the country split by the Gulf Creek Rd closer to Barraba and up into the higher ridges just above the Gwydir River in the granite country. That's where my country was.
The first morning Rob (Boora) Kent, his cousin Chris Kent and I looked out over a particular cleared paddock in the midst of the big granite boulder ridges we counted 153 pigs in different mobs. We could not believe it. Down the slope we went, picking our way through the timber and rock to line up the best possible pigs we could see. (Best for us is always, big boars). We had the dogs held so we could get as close as possible to the pigs before the action started. This gave us a chance to catch them before they hit the blackberry bushes...more on blackberries later... We crept closer and closer, straight into another 36 pigs on the slope. All our plans immediately went to shit as dogs, pigs and young blokes went everywhere. We ended up with 32 for the run and some cracking good boars among them.
From then on Boora and I in particular crawled all over that 50,000 acres catching pigs every spare moment we had.
It's a fair while since those early days now and some of the faces have changed but the hunt for the big boars that walk the hills around my home town still fills every spare moment I have.

So, what's it all about...?

2009-06-06T09:49:00.004+10:00

G'day and welcome to the hunt. I'm Ned Makim and with my son Paul and a few mates we spend our lives looking for big wild boars with our dogs. There are a lot of reasons we do it...it's necessary environmentally, it's necessary agriculturally, it is genuinely dangerous and it is a massive adrenalin rush. We breed our own dogs and love them like family but they remain working dogs, respected and loved first for the work they do in the Australian bush.
So this site will detail our dogs, our hunts and us. Feel free to comment or get in touch. I'm happy to answer questions if I can...
Ned.