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• Posted By : UHUNT APP - Jesse Farr
• Posted On : Jun 08, 2020
• Views : 35841
• Likes : 23
• Category : PIG DOGGING » STORIES
• Description :

  I soon realised I had made an epic fuck up and forgot to turn off the headlights. At this point, I knew we were up shit creek.

Overview

• 
  Written by Frog Dogs Australia. www.frogdogsaus.com.au

  
  These 5 pigs were the toughest I ever got back to a box in my hunting career. We started the night out leaving Burke and Wills roadhouse at 6 pm to do a run of turkeys nests on the western side of the Leichhardt river where there was a run of dead cows (at least 2 on each nest) and this particular run held good heavy pigs, now with every bore runner and ringer owning a rifle these pigs were” toeier than a Roman sandal”. 
  
  
  

  So we loaded up the “A-team” of Tango, Sada and Curry all exceptional dogs. We had only just crossed the Leichhardt when we had our first “yahoo” from Tango at about 70 kilometres per hour, so we slowed down. They were off nailing a good 60kg dressed boar a few hundred meters from the Ute. It was an easy carry out back to the Ute to gut him and put him on the rack.

  We then headed off to our first turkey's nest, and because these pigs were trained well it was full noise in the 45 series to try to get the jump on them, cruising at a steady 90 kilometres per hour. Around 1 kilometre from the turkey's nest dam the dogs screamed on the back, as we slowed down they floated off the Toyota straight up the road 500 metres, then split, Tango went left, Sada & Curry right.

  Now remembering there was no such thing as Garmin trackers or glow sticks, we didn’t even have a GPS at this stage but we purchased one later in the season. These dogs would travel long distances to catch pigs so you had to grab your dolphin torch, your knife, pig hobbles, then get out of the Ute check the stars and figure out where you are, and how you were going to get back to the Ute after catching the pig. Once you caught the pig you then had to carry it back to the closest track so you could pick it up in the ute.

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  Once this was all sorted you would listen for the dogs, if you heard nothing for ten seconds it was time to move in the direction the dogs travelled. So I went right and followed the 2 bitches, and Troy went left following Tango, who was around 600m with another good Gulf boar around the 60kg dressed mark. I wasn’t so lucky and had to pull up after 500 or so meters and listen, I could only just catch the faintest bark at least another kilometre away. So I pinned my ears back and covered the ground looking for tracks on pads to get an idea of which way they had gone.

  On my run I went past a busted up old deady which had some big tracks around it, I was hoping they had caught the pig off this dead beast and weren't too far away. I eventually got close and now could hear Sada barking and Curry having a hard time with this pig, it was then I knew he was a gooden!! They had him in a bit of thick gidgee timber and by the look of him he was going be in the 80s dressed. Now Sada was no bailer, but she used to bail to conserve energy, then when I got there I would sool her in and she would grab hold, and in turn, I would be grabbing the pig at the same time.

  Which I did, I tipped him over and dispatched him quickly. Curry had taken a couple of hits as she wasn’t as smart as Sada and stuck with him but nothing major. It was then I heard Troy “cooee “ out from only 500m away, as he had carried his pig back to the Ute already he heard Sada barking; and as a good offsider does, he headed my way.

  I “cooed” back and shone the dolphin torch and he drove as close as he could and came over to help drag the big fella to the truck. We loaded him up and gutted the pigs and put them up on the rack. It was a good start, the first dam and 3 good boars down. Only 5 dams to go, it was shaping up to be a great night ahead, at least that's what we thought.

  As we got back on the track heading for our second turkey's nest dam and another dead beast, we didn’t really get far before the dogs floated again all heading in the same direction, 90 degrees to the track, and 100m in, they had another 50 kilo dressed Boar. Which we drove to, gutted and loaded on the rack.
  
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  Once we washed our hands and got back in the truck we give each other a bit of a smile and made the mistake of counting our chickens before they hatched, claiming we were going to get 20 plus boars for the night. Let's just say we couldn't have been more wrong. Anyway, we got back up to top speed in the beige rocket. We were still a couple of kilometres away from the next nest when trusty Tango screamed off the back again, as we slowed down they floated flat out on scent.

  Again we collected torches, knives and so on, checked the stars and listened, not a sound for more than ten seconds, so off we went in their direction. We ran another 500 odd metres and had another listen, that's when we heard a good battle going on deep in some more thick gidgee country. We headed in and the dogs had a good nasty 55 kilo dressed boar who was turning it on!!

  We got the pig after some hot stepping, stuck him and began the big carry out back to the Ute around a kilometre away. Swapping between the 2 of us when we got tired.

  After the carry out back to the Ute which took over an hour and a half, I soon realised I had made a fuck up and forgot to turn off the headlights. Now, these days we have dual batteries or a jump starter pack but back then we had nothing. These old Toyota’s always had some wiring demon in them somewhere that would wear batteries out every 6 months. So we gutted the pig and racked it and decided to try to push start her, after many unsuccessful attempts we couldn’t get enough speed to get the bitch to turn over. After a discussion we felt there was only one last option, that was to push her into a black soil gully, hoping that extra downhill speed would turn her over. We also knew if it didn’t work we were fucked!!!. So we gave her one last push into the gully and I jumped into the driver's seat as we went over the edge with speed and completely missed putting the fucker in gear !!!!!!!! F#$@F#$&
  
  
  
  Let’s just say our relationship became strained for a short period of time. After we settled down Troy decided that because we weren’t far off the road we would sleep in the car and wait for help. I said no way, we're not wasting these good pigs I will head back to the station and get help. It was around 10 pm when I headed off, I was carrying a portable UHF, gun, torch, a water bottle and a tin of spaghetti. I only got 50 metres into my trip and turned back leaving everything but the UHF, water and torch behind. All that stuff was too fucking heavy!!! I walked and jogged for hours coming across pigs, bulls, dingoes and snakes not really knowing how far the station was. I got tired at one stage and pulled up for a nap using the graded rill for a pillow.

  I wasn’t asleep for long when I felt something close and heard loud sniffing. I woke to see 2 large dingoes sniffing my feet, at this point, I sprung up yelling and screaming and thank fuck they took off!!! After this sleeping was no longer an option, so I kept trudging all the way back to the station. I ended up stumbling in at around 6 am to find not a single fucking person in sight, there was hardly a vehicle anywhere, I was absolutely gutted !!!!!

  I went into the kitchen got a drink and thought I will have to call Burke and wills roadhouse to get the box operator to come rescue us! It was then I heard a vehicle and I ran out and just waved them down, it was a contractor from the feedlot who I knew. He asked where the fuck did you come from !!!! To which I explained our conundrum. He then told me how lucky I was that he had come along, the Mt Isa rodeo was on and the entire station had left the day before to go!!

  So that’s my story of the toughest load of pigs I’ve ever done. It definitely wasn’t all big boars and glory all the time, though it was a fun but hard way to make a living. In the end, the boars went 60, 50, 55, 81, and 65 dressed. I walked 28km that night, but we got the pigs to the box just in time so they weren’t condemned. All that for $350 which was well and truly eaten up with diesel and the cost of a new battery.

  Want to Support Frog Dogs Australia ? head over to their website and check out their merch. www.frogdogsaus.com.au
  
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