Description :“I saw Boz go straight into a thick patch of long grass”
Overview
By Michael Wraight
It was just over a year I finally got permission from the property owner to come out to his place and have a look around for a few pigs as he said there a few getting about after the rain. So my first thought was to call my dad Garry and sister Kylie to see if they were keen to get stuck into a few. They both said yes, including my nephew Aidan who had been hounding his mum to come also. Dad would meet us on the property at 6.30 on Saturday morning as he was coming from Charleville. We met up with the owners and had a good chat. The owner wanted to get into his cattle work, so I gave him a quick hand-throwing some lick bags on the ute. He said he’d give us a brief outlay of the property as he was taking us to our camp. So we followed him in our vehicles and reached our camp and dad said: “Did you see that ginger and black boar cross the track?” I said, “No, you’ll have to show me where he was later.” After setting up our camp, we drove off to the back of the property to have a look at the country and get to know our bearings better. Later that afternoon, Kylie and I jumped on the quad to check out a different track that led to a couple of dams.
We got to the last dam, and the dogs were keen as, so I headed in the direction the wind was blowing from, with no jump, we had a bit of a look around and headed back to the dam. About 20 minutes later, the dogs flew off and hit the ground running. We looked ahead and saw two good-sized pigs running from the dam. Peppa had hold of a good Boar. I dispatched him and rode over to where another dog Boz had a good Sow as well. Kylie took care of her, and we took a couple of photos, and that was us done for the day. The next afternoon we went in the car for a look to see where Dad saw the boar earlier the morning before. On the way there Kylie and Dad shot a Sow each out of a small mob. After a bit of discussion, the plan was to walk tomorrow late morning to see if we could get that Boar. On Monday morning Kylie and I went to check the furthermost dam on the block where we saw some pig tracks on Saturday. We got to the dam, the dogs were only half keen, and so I decided we should have a quick walk up through the gully. We were about 700 meters in, and Peppa, Leo & Boz took off.
(Left - BOZ DANE/BULL ARAB/WOLFHOUND/PIT BULL Right - PEPPA - BULLARAB )
They were treed quarry at 1.17km’s. I finally got within sight and saw they had a good hold of a huge Sow which I guessed her weight at about 110kg. I got in and dispatched her, got a photo and we went back to camp for a quick feed and ready for the next walk. We got ourselves ready at our walking spot, I nominated myself to go high in the thick scrub near the top of the ridge with the dogs. Dad was going to be a little lower in the ridge and Kylie, and Aidan went out in the open with their rifles. I got around the bend in the ridge close to where Dad saw the Boar cross the track previously. The dogs were getting keen by this stage. I saw Boz go straight into a thick patch of long grass where a huge grunt and hit up took place. I stood for a moment to see where the other dogs were, and sure enough, they made their way to him and lugged up. I got to where I could see the dogs swinging off this massive Boar, what a sight. I tried to tip him, but there was no way I was going to be able to, so I just held onto him and finished him off. After all the commotion I called dad over to have a look, he said: “Holy crap, he’s huge!”
About 20 minutes later, after taking a heap of photos and chatting to dad, I yelled out to Kylie to come up. Dad and I just went for a quick walk while Kylie and Aidan were making their way up, we got 100 meters and the dogs hit up again, then silence. A couple of pigs run past us, but the tracker said treed quarry 175 meters in the direction Kylie was. I ran down the steep descent to where they had this Boar held. This pig had some good fight in him and was giving it to the dogs. Dad said that was the ginger and black Boar he had seen previously. We dragged the Boars to the closest bit of clearing we could get the quad too. The Boar on the ridge wasn’t so easy, and my arms were hurting like hell. We hooked up the quad and took the Boars to a good-looking tree to weigh them. The first Boar went 119.55kg, and the second went 108.15kg. I was stoked and could not wipe the smile off my face. Two awesome Boars, so close together. That was us done for the trip, and we just chilled back at camp with a few beverages and a nice meal to finish the day. This trip was definitely worth the wait.