Uhunt Mag Information

• Posted By : BRISTLE UP
• Posted On : Jun 30, 2019
• Views : 706
• Category : PIG DOGGING » STORIES
• Description : “The damage was amazing, trees down roads washed out and big hail scattered over the ground.”

Overview

• By Harley Sampson
  
  The summer months can be pretty challenging in the mountains and the start of this season has definitely been just that. With summer storms comes good rain which in turn provides a lot of feed and water throughout the ranges. The hogs spread out and the bigger smarter boars find refuge in the secluded hard to reach valleys and creek systems where food and water are close to camp so they don’t have to travel much. With Christmas closing in fast, I wanted to get the dogs out as much as possible as they would be penned up for a week while we were away. Dodging the storms was the hardest thing, 70mm in two nights made most of the tracks inaccessible due to the steep nature of this area but I hit as much country as possible which after a few hours of Ute finding it eventually paid off. Just after daylight, my team of stumpy tails left the truck at speed, I watched them working through the undergrowth on the handset. They worked out to about 500m and it wasn’t long until they were treed and I could faintly hear the bail down in the gully below. I arrived to find them bailing in a reedy choked creek so I couldn’t see much but I could smell boar and hear him chomping his jaw. 
  
  
  
  I eventually picked up some movement in front of the dogs and made out the shoulder of a good black boar so once the dogs were clear I took the shot. A wild little scrap erupted but it was short lived as he went down fast. I dragged him out into the open to see a fat as mud young mountain boar, plenty of pats for the dogs and we headed for home to recharge for the next night. I had teed up a run with a good mate Luke or ‘choppy’ as we call him for the afternoon and into the night. The storms rolled in again around 3 pm lashing the area with heavy rain, hail, wind, thunder, and lightning! We sat it out until the storm passed, then followed as it crossed the ranges, the damage was amazing, trees down, roads washed out and big hail scattered over the ground. But as we got to the property the view was spectacular, the sun came through and the mist rose from the gullies as we watched the dark clouds and lightning slowly drift away towards the coast. We put my two Stumpy’s up with Choppy’s Kelpie/Coolie and Stag/Bull/Stumpy and hit all the tracks we could. After a few hours with no interest, the dogs finally jumped but only half-arsed so we didn’t take much notice, we thought they were just mucking around. We pulled up and once they were gone for a bit I checked the tracker and saw they had pushed out a fair way into a bit of rough country. 
  
  
  
  They weren’t treed but were staying pretty still so we listened carefully to just hear the sound of a bail when the Garmin came up treed. After a steep descent, we got down there to find them with a big old sow in some logs in a prick of a spot. We eventually sorted out a way in and got in and got the job done. It wasn’t a boar but a good find none the less so was better than nothing, plus the dogs were pretty pleased with their efforts. With that being the only pig for the night I was back out again the next day on my own with the dogs but still restricted by wet tracks and trees down, I only had a small area to hunt on this property. Just as I got to the gate my old dog let out a couple of yaps, I got through the gate and let her out. With the pups in tow, she took off flat out across the paddock and into the creek. They were already 400m out according to the tracker and still moving quickly. I drove down closer but it wasn’t long before they were treed and I ran into a Ferny gully where they had a big black sow, she wasn’t going anywhere! After shooting her there were pats all around, especially for the pups. I covered a lot of country in those few hunts for very little really but like I said it’s hard going in the hills through summer so I was pretty happy in the end. Plus, the pups done well and the more experience they get while they are young the better.