The APDHA (Australian Pig Doggers and Hunters Association) had its annual general meeting within striking range of my place at the weekend and one of my mates (Steve) from had driven 14 hours to the meeting with his daughter and her boyfriend (Cassie and Matt) to attend. They planned to head home direct from the meeting but I convinced them to head instead to my place a bit more than an hour away for a Father's Day hunt this morning.
They camped out our place last night ready for a 4am rise this morning to give us plenty of time to be on the ground ready for the earliest possible light this morning.
We did my standard track around a productive quarter of my mountain block, showing the kids their first deer (a couple of red stags) and then their third, fourth, fifth and more deer (various fallow).
Overlooking a particularly productive basin and ridgeline we saw our first pigs. Three grazed apparently unaware about 600 metres as the crow flies, giving rise to hopes that we might be able to cut them off before they made it into the blackberries.
We had the dogs individualised on the truck (ie each dog held separately on a quick release or cage or whatever) so we had the option of getting every possible pig by releasing each dog as required. And it worked like a dream.
We got above the three we'd seen and when they took off across the slope we spotted a bonus bigger boar attempting to make a sneaky escape on his own.
Steve's Tash and my Geoffrey were given that job and Steve and Cassie were dropped on the pig before Matt and I did a quick U turn to get the other dogs as close as we could to the original three. Steve's Wal was let loose after the mob and grabbed a little angry boar and we passed that catch to put Matt's Surge out after the one pig we could still see.
Now this was when Surge surprised me by chasing the smaller pig before peeling off and turning as though he was heading back to Wal's pig.
But the young bloke's dog had spotted the third of the trio spearing off down the ridge and its was another fair sort of a boar. It's a useful dog that picks bigger pigs and this dog had done it.
Matt grabbed Wal's pig and I ended up down the usual rocky slope in a blackberry with a toey boar held by surge.
In about a minute and a half we had three of four pigs sighted and all boars.
We all looked at one another as though were champions. It was quick, it was tidy and it was effective. A great little effort with each dog and handler doing what was required. Doesn't always work out like that but when it does, there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction I can tell you.
A bit further on we picked up another pig, a sow after Geoffrey jumped on a scent down an eastern slope in the sun. Tash went to and probably caught the pig but we don't know. Either way, it was caught and on the outside of the berries so that was another bonus.

Plenty of other wildlife about too, including a clutch of tiny wood ducks we spotted after the parents did the "I'm injured, chase me..." dance.

A happy hunt and a happy start to Father's Day...

Cassie and Matt with the best of the boars.



Steve and the same boar.



Matt and Steve with the boar I got in the berries with Matt's dog.



Cassie and Matt with Wal's little boar.

I have a lot of respect for all pig dogs the world over. Mine are useful dogs but there are thousands of them out here as I am sure there are in the US. I do feel proud of them but not because I think they are the best, just that they do a tough job well.

Cape York is crawling with pigs and there are indeed a lot of good teeth to be had. There are great boars too in the Northern Territory but you can find good teeth and big boars almost anywhere there are pigs in Oz. Some of the best some from just west of me in a band that stretches from Goondiwindi down through Mungindi and Moree and out through Walgett into the Macquarie Marshes.

A quick tale of two pigs...

I went out laying poison baits for foxes today on contract for a couple of landholders whose lambs are due. All up it's about 9000 acres so I need to kill a lot of foxes to make an impact. I prefer to trap but trapping just doesn't cut it on that scale. Anyway, the boars in this area often move into near the lambing paddocks to position themselves for the easy pickings living or dead lambs offer. I'd been talking to one of the landholders about pigs in general and what different sign indicated. When I met him at the house yesterday he said he'd seen some sign down near the creek beside his main lambing paddock. "Based on what you said, I think it will be a boar on his own."
I got most of the baits laid and went for a look myself.
There was plenty of sign but the breeze was going the wrong way. I passed the area and swung around into the breeze to give the dogs a better chance and almost instantly Dave and Mary went. It was only a couple of seconds and they were in the thick bottlebrush on a rough little boar. He was nothing special but tough and with the little bit of dancing around He was on the deck.



While I was feeling happy with myself I got a text message on the phone from a mate of minewho has a couple of young dogs from my yard.
He'd been out the night before and caught a few before his kelpie (a sheepdog) bailed up a big fella. Dama was on his own with a big pig the kelpie was stretched controlling when his 12 month old Jack (out of my Suzie) came screaming out of the dark and smacked onto the pig. Adama told me it was a struggle for the young dog but he held firm and the knife was pushed home.

It was a barra (castrated boar) and weighed on the electronic scales came in at 127.2kg liveweight (279lbs). A good boar for the young dog to hold. (The pig bottomed out the farmers scales pictured and was transferred to the electronic scale to get an accurate reading.)



This is Jack (brown dog) and Jess (grey) with the kelpie.



So two pigs, one small, one big and a long way apart but I like to think I had a hand in both of them. That's what I tell myself anyway...

I feel very lucky every day. Dogs that can do the job and more land to hunt than I can possibly cover. On the mountain block I get about 350 a year. It's 16,000 acres and I'm not taking any off alive so that helps keep the numbers ticking over. I just stick and leave most but take what I need for the table and for dog food. If I wasn't hunting alone I think I'd get more. The same family company that owns the mountain block, owns another 120,000 acres around home as well so I am blessed for hunting access.

A few scenery shots from different spots I hunt around home.

This is the cord passed through a chain collr on the dog. Pass it through the collar, a D on the collar, whatever works for you.



This washer set up allows you to manually lift the post so you can load the loop into place.



The buttons in the cab. Left for left release, right for right release. The switch only stays on (and the quick release open...) for as long as you have your finger on the button. If you use toggle switches that so on, you'll burn out the solenoid or the wire or your truck.

Thanks everyone for the interest.
I had a message from one forum member seeking more information on the quick release set-up on the tray of the vehicle. I've taken some more photos and hope that helps explain it for anyone interested.
These are becoming quite common among hunters in Oz now...

This is the basic rope connector I use. It's push mower starter cord knotted in a loop and with shrink wrap on the end to protect that from fraying and near the loop so there is a much more sure release. Too big a loop and it can get caught up on the solenoid bar when released. You can use chain, rope, leather whatever works for you or have available.



This is how I have the rope attached to the headboard of the vehicle.



This is how it looks when the look is hooked up (minus the dog). The post on my set up lifts vertically when the button is pressed so theloop just slides out with pressure from the dog.



This is the release unit. There is a solenoid inside the case with the post welded on. When the power hits the solenoid it pulls the post up. You can use almost any solenoid (out of the trunk of a car for instance...visit a car wrecker or buy new, it doesn't matter).

I know them to speak to on forums. Having said that there are lots of blokes hunting them but the people I am talking about are the people recognised as the holders of the breed. There is a bit of a seperation now though with one of the blokes Rod Barker now starting a new line of dogs. He calls them R and R hounds and has a thread going on realhunters forum. Some impressive looking animals in that mix too.

One dog, one brain. Two dogs, half a brain...and the same goes for boys.
A saying of my fathers, possible stolen from someone else.

And thanks again for the welcome back and generous comments.

This should give you a laugh then...and remember, it's not an accent to me, it's just the way I talk ha ha.

http://youtu.be/kYWOZ5FjLBA

They are crossbreds bred within the one family of dogs. The base breeds include wolfhound, English bull terrier, dane and others but it would be 30 years or more since a purebred anything was used in them. We just breed for performance including finding, courage and manageabilty. The idea is to have a dog that will find a pig, hold it and then let go on command. Each dog is expected to do all that on their own although they aren't always required to work alone.

One of my son Paul's dogs Buster after a boar on the wheat stubble. He's by Kevin out of Hannah and properly hard.



Suzie, Buster's sister. This boar was no monster but she stayed with it for hours after her tracker failed. I found her sitting under a tree and when I called her she wouldn't come, just wanted to go back to a little patch of scrub nearby. I went to her after a bit of a climb, let her half sister Mary go on the track and this boar was tired and camped up in the bush. Very happy with her tenacity.



Big fat sow we caught in a barley crop. Thought we had a boar by the lack of sound...

This is the family shot I mucked up in the posts above...

Mary, Dave and their daughter Jess.



I can't find a modify post button on here. Am I missing something somewhere? Any advice would be appreciated.

Here's a pic of one of our other passions here. That's my eldest son James with a Murray cod. They are a native fish that can get to about 5ft long and at the right size are great eating. We catch and release though. They were over fished for decades so now we might keep one out of 100 that we catch. Catch and release fishing is very big here as is restocking and habitat work.



Some of the gorge country we fish.



Sun rise on one of the hilly hunting blocks.

Thanks for the welcome.

Another pic. This pregnant sow was lounging in a dam on my mountain block.



A few boars around a little sow.



A black snake. We have a ridiculous number of dangerous snakes in Oz. Nine of the world's top 10 are here. The black snake (red bellied black) only comes in at about number 12 so it's not at the top of the tree but it can still kill a dog or a person. The good thing about black snakes though is they are confident. They don't fear bite so if you're cool, they're cool. They can also withhold their poison and give a warning bite. Further they kill and eat eastern brown snakes (number two on the world's deadliest list). The eastern browns are sudden death so anything that east them is a friendin my book.

Family shot
Little Mary, Dave and their daughter Jess. Jess is a quality hard finder. Very happy with that cross.



Some of the country I am hunting.



Good boar Suzie found and caught.

Big rough fella I caught on my mountain block. Nasty boar caught by Suzie with help from Dave.



Decent little boar out of the blackberries. That's Dave in the photo.
He's by Bob out of Tess (all our blood) and has turned into as good a dog as I've bred. Easy to handle, great finder, fast and a ton of guts. Lets go on command too. Big respect for Dave.