Tough Fight
Tough fight
Harvesting time around the local Cain paddocks up North can be very productive. With the Cane slowly disappearing boars can be a lot easier to detect in the blocks that are still standing.
One such area I had been hunting last year had produced 3 quality boars well over the 100-kilo mark. Two of these boars had inflicted injuries too my dogs, after those encounters Toa and Missy had a holiday at home for a good two weeks.
Now that the Cane cutting season was in full swing I was very anxious to once again hunt around the same area that had produced these good boars.
The area had been quiet before the harvesting started, It almost seemed that the pigs had disappeared and gone else were, so I decide to give the area a rest and let the harvesters do some work, that’s when I would return.
I picked up a couple of mates at around 7 and told them of my plans to hit this block that backed on to swamp country.
It was around 7.30 pm when we arrived, quickly the dogs jumped out and went to work.
I had with me Toa, Brin and Missy all consisting of Bull Terrier/ Greyhound Breeding, the other dogs were all Bull Arabs, Angel, Mini and young Flash just 4 months old.
As we slowly walked down a well used the track the dogs were working to our right hand side, even young flash was keen.
Then without warning all dogs just vanished in to the Cane, I remembered back to last year when myself and Brett had nailed a large black and white boar in exactly the same patch of Cane, could we be so lucky to yet again nail a top boar.
We all stoped and listened, anticipation grew as we waited for a dog to hopefully run into a pig.
Then it came; Brin hit what seemed to be a good pig.
Then silence, had the pig eluded her? We listened carefully hoping for another contact. And then it came, but way in the middle of the block.
This boar had not acted like those before him, instead this pig decided to take the dogs in to the middle of the block, were he could do more damage, and that’s what he did.
Brin was busy bailing as we ran down the block to try and get closer.
We stopped to listen once again, buy this time other dogs had arrived and sounds of a fight could be heard, and the way it sounded the large boar was causing some injuries as dogs screamed in pain.
This block was still large and the Cane was think it was not easy going, time and time again we fell over and had to pick our selves up to move on.
As we slowly made our way through the paddock I kept on thinking about the dogs, it had sounded like the boar was causing havoc in the tight Cane, the longer it took us the worse it would be for the dogs.
Heat is another factor, once inside a large paddock of Cane it’s amazing how quickly dogs can over heat in long-winded fights.
As we arrived on the scene all of us were confronted with a large boar giving the dogs hell.
As the torchlight hit him he jumped forward, lifting Toa across his head and over the opposite side.
Quickly grabbing his back leg; I slipped the knife in as quickly as possible.
The boar collapsed to the ground his fight was over but not before he had inflicted some heavy injuries on my dogs, Angel and Mini had escaped injury.
The night was only early so we all decided to drag the monster back to the Ute, well it took one and a half hours, by the time we reached the Ute fatigue had defiantly set in.
Once at home the dogs were attended to.
Brin, Missy and Toa had been punished through out the fight and would be in need of
Some stiches as well as couple of drainage tubes thanks to the local vet, they were going to need a couple weeks off, that was for sure.
On the scales the Boar weighed in at 109 dressed not a bad effort, but it had come with a price.