Old mate Nook greeted us at the plane in his 77 cruiser, we had made it to The Cape! We had barely unpacked before we were blasting down the dusty tracks on the way to the river. We spent the afternoon flicking lures and we had been warned about the Saltwater Crocs, there was Mark waist deep, half way across the river retrieving his brand new gold bomber and mumbling to himself about it being one of the dumbest things he’s done. The next morning we drove for about 45 mins until we got to a swamp, where Nook sent us on our way. We got no more than 100 metres, Mark leading with his Remington pump 308, when a big sow popped its head up and BANG! It was the first pig I had seen and I was keen to get one myself now. We came across another swamp where it was my turn to lead. Creeping, we constantly checked the wind and we came to a clearing where we could see a family of sows. I instantly brought up my Tikka T3, took aim and fired. I had shot my first pig!
It was high fives all around, but it wasn’t over yet, we were looking for the elusive boars. We kept going to the next swamp and couldn’t believe our luck! About 400 metres away we could see at least 30 pigs, so we stealthily made our way to the other side. Mark and I picked out our targets and began shooting them, I took out 4 and Mark took out 5. What a first day we had! We then walked back to the car and started the drive back to the homestead. We were coming across an open plain when out of nowhere a massive boar walked out of the long grass and stared at us. Nook slammed on the breaks and Mark jumped out of the car, securing the first boar for the trip. As we got over to it we saw he had a good set of tusks and if I had to guess it would be about 80 kg, it was a good pig!
The next morning we drove about an hour and a half to our hunting area for the day. It was still really hot but we got to the first dried up creek, jumped out of the car and started our walk. We went about two kilometres in the full sun before we popped our head around a corner. A boar was standing there staring at us, it then ran up the bank so we gave chase into the open. Mark fired at him while he was on the run but he disappeared into a bush. Then out of nowhere the boar came back running straight back at us, Mark fired again and the boar then dropped right in front of us, it was a close call. After we removed the bottom jaw, we moved on to find our next swamp, this time I was on point as we came to a bluff, and standing directly on the other side was a very large boar. He was trying to figure us out but before he could run away I raised my rifle, and fired. My first boar!
I was so ecstatic, we ran over to retrieve him and found he was a big pig with very good hooks. After we took some pictures we removed his hooks and moved on to another swamp which looked like piggy heaven with mangroves surrounding the water. We were walking around the edges through short buffalo grass, when we came to the rounding at the top, a massive boar came running out of nowhere like a freight train. I brought my rifle up and aimed at the front of his nose. Not only did I get the big boar but I bowled him over while he was in full flight!
We couldn’t believe how big he really was, easily over 100 kilos with very big hooks. I was so over the moon and I gave Mark the biggest high five. We removed his jaw and were picked up by Nook, starting the drive over to the next area, when a huge cleanskin Brahman with massive horns walked calmly out towards us. I jumped out of the car and hid behind a tree to fire at the black bull, with one shot he hit the floor! I walked over and his sheer size came to light, I just couldn’t believe the day I’d had; full of excitement and a lot of firsts.
I went on to shoot three more boars over the remainder of the trip and 20 sows but the barramundi eluded me. I had the time of my life and was lucky enough to share this experience with my best mate who I learned so much from. This was definitely a trip of a life time and is something I will never ever forget, just packed with highlights. On the way home Mark and myself both slept on the planes, dreaming of the adventures we had just made and lifelong memories we had just created!