Uhunt Fossicking For White Gold

Uhunt Mag Information

  • Posted By : BRISTLE UP
  • Posted On : Jun 30, 2019
  • Views : 511
  • Category : PIG DOGGING » STORIES
  • Description : "Hunting and fishing in cape york"

Overview

  • By Mark Walters

    A year had passed and just in time, we were all keen to get amongst some good quality hogs and no work for two weeks. The first six of our group left Geelong for Enngonia NSW, where Tony would join them with swag and dogs. Tony has good experience hunting swine, spending most of his time in red wood country dreaming of that monster that got away on the last Cape trip. Next stop was for me, inland from Townsville at the Oasis Roadhouse. After a small stop we hit the road for Mareeba, our final pick up. Ryan had just started a new job and could not afford to lose six days to travel so opted to fly. We spent one more night on the road and then we were on the station for some serious action. Setting up camp, we were soon getting a game plan together for some hunting locations nearby. All our hunting would be on bikes with three of us manning the 6-wheel buggy. This year we were crossing a main river to hunt the far reaches of the station. This area was new and not hunted as hard as previous locations, so we knew we were going to find hogs there, it was just a matter of time. Not long on the hunt and the dogs had jumped from the bikes and were soon battling with a nice tusky cape yorker. Not the monster we were hoping for, but it was only the start of a two week trip. A few pics and the jaw removed then we were off. Coming up on a swamp we split up and went each way, this would prove to be the most effective method as not much could get away from the team. Anything that had just left the swamp the dogs would pick up the scent and head off into the ridge country and nail it on dry ground.

    However, if the dogs ran in, you knew you were going to get wet feet. The dogs had just nailed a good boar and all the commotion pushed a small mob out where we got another small boar, not a bad first morning. As this was a great looking spot we decided to cook up lunch. Ben never ceases to amaze me with the amount of effort he puts in to prepping food for this trip each year; even our lunches were gourmet and only cooked off a butane stove on the tailgate of the Buggy, a true asset to the team. That night Drewy (our navigator) plotted out a course for the next day’s hunt. His is a skill that only years of hunting could muster. Sun up, breakky and we were gone again. Arriving at the new location Drewy called over the radio “any minute now boys get ready” and on cue a hooky boar jumped from his dust bed and ran straight past Luke. “Terrance” (the up and coming dog) held this boar on his own until back up arrived and it could be dispatched. Terry proved to be a huge asset on this trip holding boars well above his class, allowing us to get the numbers up. We hit some nice creek country, soon Tony’s dogs were barking and the sound of a good hit up got us all going. As we got there, the pig tried to make a break for cover. Tony’s dog Frank and pup Aster had the boar sorted. We did manage to score a few more boars that afternoon.The next morning Mark, Tony, Ryan and Tom would go fishing and we would go for a hunt and regroup at the end of the day. Tom didn’t have any urgency to leave early so decided to go for a sneaky walk along the creek we were camped on.



    Armed with his 243 and a back pack he was off before the heat of the day kicked in. In the Cape you don’t need to go far to get a hog if you know where to look. It wasn’t long before the sound of the 243 hitting home echoed back to camp to let the boys know that Tom still has what it takes. After that they hit the fishing hole and bagged out, it was fish for dinner and to top off the day Tom managed to score another boar on the way back to camp. The hunting team managed to bag a few boars also. That night Mark and I decided to go for a run in the car after dinner. Knowing that we wouldn’t have to go too far we just took two dogs, Boss and Ella. If there were any boars out then these two would find them. After about half an hour we had a good solid jump, these two just kept getting further away; 1km, 1.8km.We started the car and started tracking but they just kept going. Sometime later and about 5km from where we started we had managed to punch through some heavy scrub to find two exhausted dogs bailing a nice boar. With one last bit of encouragement Mark managed to get the dogs to get hold of him so we could dispatch him where he stood We gave the dogs a well deserved drink, then went back to camp for a rest. The next day, Drewy and Hoppie plotted a hunt close by just to see how much was going on in the area. Luke went solo and I decided to have a walk from where Tom left off the other morning. I had Luke drop me about 4km from camp where I would start walking and see what I could pick up. About two hours in and I was starting to think that Tom had got the only boar on the creek.

    I took an offshoot that went out into open ground it looked so impressive that it was only going to be a matter of time. On the last bend before deciding to turn back I came across a mob of about 40 pigs. I quickly got in position, waiting for a chance to take out a nice boar. They all looked the same so I selected one and fired. The sound of the shot quickly scattered the mob and I quickly managed to get two more shots away before they disappeared. The next day consisted of hunting some swamps again so we all teamed up and followed the plan. It wasn’t long before we were smashing hogs, with nearly every swamp that still had water on it producing boars. We decided to walk around for a bit and it wasn’t long before Hoppie’s dog Mozzie had her head in the air. Second guessing the wind until she made a heading for the middle of the swamp she found a small mob had camped up in the middle and did not want to leave. Luke was in hot pursuit with his two dogs and it was soon chaos. While all this was going on a sneaky boar tried to head out the back. Luckily Ben was there with back up and a chase was on. This boar covered some ground but Ben has excellent stamina and managed to get the upper hand and take him down. This place is the Mecca of hog hunting and if you’re willing to get out and look you will be rewarded. We managed plenty of good quality boars over the trip totaling around 60 sets of ivory. This was another epic adventure I’m sure we will never forget.